Page 15 - Sum17 Cascia Flipbook

YOUR GIFT SHAPES THE FUTURE
Making Giving a Priority
Cascia Put this Alumnus on Solid Ground
Charles Stivale ‘67 and his wife, Nancy Kozak, were on campus for the 50-year reunion in May.
Charles J. Stivale ’67
Distinguished Professor Of French, Wayne State University
What inspired you to become a donor?
Like so many alums, I have been a donor throughout my life because my education at Cascia Hall provided me with the solid grounding in the humanities that led me toward a career in education. During my career in university-level French teaching, I came to understand how much I drew from all my six years at Cascia, both in the classroom and extra-curricular activities and the friendships I made and maintained. I also must mention the teachers who have stood forth as
models for me in my career, among whom are Father Gaffney, Father Hamilton, and Father Spielmann, and Mr. Shaw and Mr. Borchert.
What considerations contributed to making a planned gift, and why at this particular time?
Two events in 2016 caused me to re ect on increasing charitable contributions, rst, planning to start phased retirement from teaching, and later in 2016, my mother’s passing in October.The latter event made me recall how much Olive gave me throughout her life, and more importantly, as a single mom with a professional career, how much she placed her trust in the teachers within Cascia’s strongly Catholic educational structure to guide me through middle and high schools. So, as executor of her estate, I realized that I could join her gratitude toward Cascia to my own. I discussed nancial planning for
retirement with my advisors, and between this advice as well as useful advancement material on the Cascia website, this moment seems to be timely for making more speci c commitments and estate plans.
What results or impact do you hope to achieve with a planned gift?
In consulting with my advisors and the Cascia advancement staff, I understand more clearly that two ways to give are available to me: most generally, an end-of-life bequest through careful planning with my estate lawyer and nancial advisor, and also a more precise donation toward a newly endowed fund (or an already established fund) from retirement fund distribution.With both approaches, I hope to contribute to increasing nancial aid for students and also to endowing a fund to support a department chair’s salary. The different funds and forms of donation available through Cascia’s advancement efforts allow a donor to de ne charitable goals quite readily. I realize that everyone has their own circumstances, personal and nancial, that contribute to such decisions about giving, but for me, the timing of life events pointed me toward a way to establish a lasting contribution to a worthy institution.
Blake Hastings ‘67, Olive (Stivale) Swearengin†, and Charles Stivale ‘67 had lunch together
in 2014 in Scottsdale where they enjoyed reminiscing about great Cascia times! Blake was the first member of the Class of 1967 to join The 1926 Guild, and Charles is the newest member from that class.
I came to understand how much I drew from all my six years at Cascia, both in the classroom and extra-curricular activities and the friendships I made and maintained.
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www.casciahall.com | SUMMER 2017