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Recently, EHS was the recipient of an extremely generous legacy donation that came to us after a supporter of our shelter passed away. Dorothy McIntyre had the foresight to plan her estate and because of this, we’re now honouring her legacy by caring for more cats and dogs as they wait to find their forever homes.
It’s not always easy for people to think about estate planning. Drafting a will can seem like a daunting task; it can also be upsetting for people who don’t want to think about the idea of death.
But when given some thought, it can make people feel more at ease, especially when they know their money will be directed towards organizations they care about.
This was the case for Dorothy who passed away last year. She left a significant legacy gift to EHS that was completely unexpected for our shelter, but her family tells us it’s just a continuation of her life’s work of caring and advocating for animals. Dorothy worked for almost four decades at CHCH television in Hamilton as a commercial artist (hand painting weather maps and graphics before computers took over). In her spare time, she was a supporter of animals, and after her passing, her niece found a trove of correspondence between “large corporations, newspapers, television networks, embassies, governors, mayors, ministers and even the Prime Minister. There is even a letter from NASA acknowledging her concern regarding their animal experiments.” Dorothy was very concerned for the welfare of animals, both domestic and wild.
We’re incredibly grateful that Dorothy thought of our small shelter when she planned her estate. As an all-volunteer rescue, we rely entirely on fundraising and donations. We have big goals to continue helping more and more animals, which means our fundraising targets are also growing. Her donation will make a real difference to us.
Whenever we receive a substantial gift we consider how we can use the donation to improve our rescue organization and we are pleased that we are able to leverage part of Dorothy’s gift to improve our website, which will help us find homes for more cats and dogs, something we know Dorothy would have liked.
While it’s a difficult thing to think about, we hope you may be inspired by Dorothy when doing your own estate planning. Bequests are a very special way to be remembered and benefit shelter pets who need a second chance to find loving homes.