What if you could support Operation Eyesight – and still guarantee yourself and your spouse an income for life?
Our longtime donor Gwen is proud to tell you she did just that! After Gwen and her husband John sold their condo in 2009, she contacted Operation Eyesight to set up an annuity gift. Annuity gifts are set up through a life insurance policy that accumulates cash value. As you pay your premiums each month, your policy accumulates a cash value that grows over time.
The couple transferred a lump sum to Operation Eyesight in exchange for fixed, guaranteed payments for the rest of their lives.
“Many people don’t know about annuities, but these regular monthly payments really help us,” Gwen says. “At the end of our lives, if there’s any money left, it returns to Operation Eyesight.”
That’s just one of the ways Gwen has been supporting Operation Eyesight for over 50 years! She remembers meeting our founder, Art Jenkyns, and the doctor who inspired him, Dr. Ben Gullison, many years ago. She also went to India on a group tour in 2000, when she saw some of our work – and actually witnessed the miracle of the gift of sight!
“We went to rural areas, where people walked for miles and miles to get to an eye camp. I remember watching the cataract surgeries, and then going back the next day and helping remove the bandages so patients could see again,” she says. “I always say, ‘Thank you Lord, for the beauty my eyes behold.’”
Gwen is a longtime volunteer in her community of Delta, BC, where she’s worked at the children’s hospital, a hospice and at a crisis intervention centre, among other places. When asked what motivates her giving, Gwen says, “I feel a special affinity to help children and the aged. I just want to bring a little bit of joy to their lives.”