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| Leaving a Legacy to Benefit Many of God's People |
It's hard to believe that something good could come as a result of a terrible natural disaster. But it has.
In early 1997, the Red River, which flows north along the borders of South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota and into Canada, flooded the upper Midwest. Thousands of people were forced out of their homes and businesses.
As soon as people heard about the disaster, donations started to come into LCMS World Relief-eventually adding up to more than a million dollars. Included in those donations was a $3,000 gift from a woman in California. Hans Springer, LCMS Ministries Support
Director of Development for Human Care Ministries (which includes LCMS World Relief), personally went to the Red River area in June 1997 to examine the work being done by LCMS World Relief.
So, when the California woman called Springer on a Monday morning in late June to ask how her donation was used, Springer was able to tell her that his funds had helped buy generators, pumps and wet-vacs. "Those folks needed help," Springer told her, "and your gift really helped."
The Start of a Two Relationships
The woman from California, Ethel Hagenlock, told Springer that she had a brother, Clarence Reisner, who wanted to know more about the LCMS World Relief efforts. As he talked to Springer that day, he asked if Springer could help him do something to feed the hungry in this country. Reisner had a sizeable trust fund that he wanted to "do something with" to help other people.
Springer referred him to Frank Spiva, who at that time served as Senior Planned Giving Counselor for the LCMS Foundation in California. Over the next few years, both Springer and Spiva got to know Clarence very well and visited with him many times. Their relationship grew into friendship. Clarence and his sister, Ethel, even gave Springer some of the deep blue larkspur she has grown for years in front of her ranch-style home in an unpretentious subdivision in Reseda.
A Gift for the Lord's Work
Reisner was 94 when he died last December. He left an eight-figure trust in the care of the LCMS Foundation for distribution to various ministries and charities, social service agencies, organizations to feed the hungry, Bible translators, medical clinics, heart associations, colleges, congregations, schools, hospitals, mission societies, plus many others.
"Clarence worked incredibly hard all his life-and with a lot of different people," Spiva said. Reisner owned farms, operated a cold storage plant, had a trucking business and a Christmas tree business, as well as built subdivisions of single family residences.
Since he had seen so many people who needed help over the years, Spiva added, "He had a heart for those people who were having a hard time in life- especially for the hungry and homeless. Only our Lord knows how many souls will be touched by Clarence's wonderful act of stewardship."
In addition to the trust he set up through the LCMS Foundation, Reisner gave away many thousands of dollars each year to charities. "It's a lot harder to give it [money] away than it is to earn it," he commented quite often. Even though he gave away substantial amounts every year, his estate kept growing.
Springer said that when he meets with potential donors, such as Clarence Reisner, "I have an opportunity to help them grow in their faith because of the gifts they make. The church has needs- and we have the opportunity to put those needs in front of the people of our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod."
"Hopefully," he added, "as they give and as we provide feedback to the donor on how we use what they give, they grow in their faith." As part of the LCMS Ministries Support staff, "We want to grow the giver's heart for the Lord's work," he said, "and people like Ethel and Clarence are a marvelous example of that."
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