How your name can be remembered 100 years from now

Future Nursing students will receive financial assistance.

Imagine you wrote a letter that would live on forever and be read by people in the future. The lucky individuals who read your letter would tell others and feel most grateful. That's exactly what Bonnie Huybens did. Let me tell you how she accomplished this feat and how her words will live on forever.

Bonnie left a gift in her estate to endow a bursary for nursing students in perpetuity. After Bonnie passes on, each year, a nursing student in need will receive financial help. But while Bonnie will never meet the students who will benefit from her bursary, she came up with a brilliant way to connect with them. 

Every student that receives a bursary from Bonnie will get a special letter from her, too. One that she has already written.

In Bonnie's letter to the student, she will congratulate them on choosing nursing as their profession. She will encourage them to make the most of their career. And Bonnie will share how nursing has opened so many doors for her. She will explain in words that will live on forever that the student will find nursing incredibly rewarding. They will benefit from meeting many wonderful people, caring for many of them and saving lives. Bonnie will tell the student that they will make an enormous contribution to whatever community they work in because nursing is truly a meaningful career.

That's Bonnie's second gift to the student: inspiration. 

Because there is a time when every student finds the workload overwhelming. But these students have Bonnie's letter to inspire their perseverance.

The letter's beauty is that the recipient knows that someone they will never meet wanted them to succeed. It's a pretty great gift. And one they are sure to treasure for the rest of their lives.

Bonnie's gift will mean that each year a nursing student with financial difficulties will get a bursary in nursing at the University of Alberta. Her bonus gift is her letter of support.

And as you probably know, the University receives many generous bequest gifts to endow scholarships in particular faculties. They range from engineering to sociology, from athletics to nursing. You get to choose.

Should you wish to consider a gift in your will to help students in need or to fund research or a faculty you deeply care for, it doesn't have to be a large gift. Most legacy gifts are a small portion of an estate. But there are major tax advantages to each person who leaves a legacy in their will to U of A. We can help you with that if you wish. 

Please contact a member of the Planned Giving team, Kathy Fitzgerald at 780-492-2616 or kathy.fitzgerald@ualberta.ca, Julian Solberg at 780-492-4811 or julian.solberg@ualberta.ca, each of us would be happy to answer any of your questions.