Three Great Gifts = One Wonderful Legacy

Betty Harris is an extraordinary example of an individual who has spent her entire life giving back to the community. Born in Indiana, Betty came to California in 1949 to attend junior college and decided to become a teacher. Upon receiving her teaching credential several years later, Betty began teaching 1st grade in the Ventura Unified School District. A few years later, she was allowed to take a sabbatical to earn her Master's Degree and a Deaf Education teaching credential, and began teaching deaf children in 1965. In 1990, she retired from the school system and continued to work with deaf children, ranging from birth to teens, and their family members in her home.

Clearly passionate about the needs of the hearing-impaired population, Betty wanted to ensure that generations to come would be guaranteed the same access to the necessary services and assistance. She created the Betty M. Harris Fund for the Hearing Impaired, an endowment established with the Ventura County Community Foundation, and has guaranteed the perpetuity of this fund with the creation of two VCCF Charitable Gift Annuities and a new life insurance policy.

The charitable gift annuities offered Betty a wonderful way to leave a personal legacy. Her $50,000 gift annuities provide her with lifetime additional income (some of which is tax free) and charitable income tax deductions. Upon her passing, the remainder of the annuities will be distributed directly to her endowment fund. Betty's life insurance policy, suggested by her financial planner as a very simple way to make a future gift to charity, names her fund at VCCF as the beneficiary of the proceeds.

Betty is not a stranger to charitable acts. She aids in feeding the homeless through her church, and is an active member of the Lions Club. Nevertheless, it is the deaf and hearing impaired children, her "babies", as she calls them, that have captured her heart, and it is with and for them that she has created a lasting legacy. We are honored to be able to assist Betty with these generous arrangements.

For more information on charitable gift annuities and/or life insurance policies as giving options, please contact VCCF.