Billie Wisnieski comes from a culture of stepping up and giving back. She is a founding member and treasurer of the Howells Community Fund. Gifts from her parents’ estate gave an early boost to the Fund’s unrestricted endowment campaign. Recently, we visited with Billie to talk about her own estate plan to include the Howells Community Fund as a beneficiary.
“I wanted to do good for more than one or two people. My planned gift will go to the Howells Community Fund. That way it will benefit several hundred people. After all, there are more than 600 in Howells!” Billie said.
“My gift is simply a bequest in my will. For me it was easy. There are some stipulations for my nieces and nephews and a few other organizations, but by far the largest designation will be for Howells. I have no stipulations as to how it should be used, because I know my gift will be used to do good in the future.”
Billie explained her motivation. “It all comes back to stewardship of your hometown. You have to step up, to set the example, because if you are not willing to give back, how can you ask others to do so? It’s about how you feel about your hometown and what you need to do to make things happen.”
