Honoring a Life and Supporting a Community
For Harvey Simmons, charity begins at home, and for the past 10 years home has been Thompson Health’s independent living community of Ferris Hills at West Lake. It’s where he wants to make an impact both now and in the future.
Working with the F.F. Thompson Foundation and his financial advisor, Harvey is engaged in what is known as planned giving. In his case, that means donating the required distribution from his IRA to the Foundation with the expressed wish that the funds support Ferris Hills and its enriched living community of Clark Meadows. It also means that one day, part of Harvey’s estate will go to Thompson.
“My goal is to be considered a Samaritan,” he said.
A native of the Mohawk Valley village of Scotia who graduated from Clarkson University and received a Master of Science in Business Administration from the University of Rochester, Harvey worked for General Dynamics for 13 years and then spent 28 with Xerox, retiring as chief engineer.
He and his wife Carol, a retired elementary school librarian, were living in Rush and spending winters in Venice, Florida when they received a postcard from Ferris Hills encouraging them to instead winter there. They decided to take a tour and discovered an old friend lived there with his wife. They were also intrigued by a ‘try before you buy’ program Ferris Hills offered at the time. After twice renting an apartment at Ferris Hills, the senior community was on their minds, especially while raking leaves on their 12-acre homestead and then again while stranded at home during an especially snowy March. They thought about all of the fun they could be having at Ferris Hills.
“We said, ‘It’s not an if question. It’s a when question,’” Harvey said regarding their decision to buy an apartment.
Once they did, Harvey said he and Carol began enjoying what he describes as “a community of friends.”
When Carol was having trouble breathing in late 2016, the couple found themselves experiencing another aspect of Thompson Health – the Emergency Department. It was there that they first met a pulmonologist named Dr. Justin Weis. After Carol’s subsequent diagnosis of non-smoker lung cancer and throughout her treatment, Dr. Weis was a steadying presence in their lives.
“He’s on my list for sainthood after what he did for Carol,” Harvey said, noting Carol was “the unofficial president of the Justin Weis Fan Club.”
Although Carol passed away in 2017, “she really appreciated his care,” Harvey said. “He did everything he could.”
In Carol’s memory, Harvey was among the donors supporting the building of the hospital’s Marilyn Sands Outpatient Clinic, which houses pulmonology, pain management, and gastrointestinal services. But it was another philanthropic project – also in her memory – which spurred him to spread the word among friends regarding the advantages of planned giving. Harvey wasn’t the only resident of Ferris Hills grieving the loss of a spouse in 2017. That year, several widows and widowers banded together and put forward the money to purchase a new gazebo for the Ferris Hills courtyard. They collectively raised over $10,000 in 24 hours and, Harvey noted, it led to some discussions about charitable donations.
“One of the things we discovered with the gazebo project was that people didn’t understand what they could or should do with their required distribution from their IRA,” he said. “One of the best investments you can make with that money is to donate it to the charity of your choice through your financial institution. It’s the absolute best investment you can make as far as a charitable deduction.”
“You really get a double benefit,” he said. “The charity benefits, and you get this wonderful feeling that you made a difference in the world.”
As part of a generation touched in one way or another by the Great Depression, Harvey understands there’s often a fear of winding up with not enough money. However, he said that after a detailed financial review, just the opposite is true in most cases.
To find out how you can make a bequest or set up a charitable gift annuity, visit www.ThompsonHealth.com/Foundation or call 585-396-6155.