Estate Gift to Riley Creates an Enduring Legacy

Elizabeth Grant has a message for anyone who isn’t sure they can make a difference: do it anyway.

Elizabeth is leaving a legacy for kids through a planned gift of real estate to Riley Children’s Foundation. She knows firsthand about the level of care a gift like hers makes possible. Elizabeth says she first “fell in love” with Riley Hospital for Children as a young nurse when she traveled there by ambulance with patients from Bedford, Indiana.

Years later, her grandson Oliver was airlifted to Riley after being kicked in the face by a horse. He was 2 years old. “I think they’re instruments of unbelievable good,” she says of Oliver’s surgical team, who were able to reconstruct the little boy’s face. “They didn’t just save Oliver. They saved all of us.”

Elizabeth’s 4,000-square-foot home was more than 90 years old when she moved in with her family in 2004. After her two youngest sons graduated from high school and moved out, she felt the property needed to serve a new purpose. “I consider myself to be a steward of it, not an owner,” she says.

How a planned gift in your will can help Riley

Making a gift in your will gives you the potential to support Riley with a larger gift than you could during your lifetime. Many donors like Elizabeth choose to leave a gift of real estate through their estate plan, allowing them to retain use of the property during life while creating a meaningful future gift for Riley Children's Foundation. Gifts of real estate may offer estate tax benefits and can help you make a larger charitable impact.

In as little as one sentence, you can help Riley Children’s Foundation continue its work for years to come. In certain cases, you can also see immediate impact when you document your future estate gift.

Turning a home into a mission

Today Elizabeth’s house operates as a bed and breakfast. Elizabeth also uses the land to raise alpacas and miniature donkeys. Nigerian dwarf goats live on her sister’s farm nearby, and the family has started making goat’s milk soap. One soap mold that Elizabeth bought says “Every Child Matters,” inspired by Riley.

It’s been four years since Oliver’s accident. He is doing well, and Elizabeth takes comfort in knowing that her gift will support generations of future Riley kids like her grandson. “This puts meaning to that disaster. Something good will come out of something that broke my heart,” she says. “There is an internal peace that comes with knowing that you’re trying to help.”