Only 15 years ago the Cooper Landing Senior Citizens Corporation Endowment Fund and Endowment Fund Board were established to accept donations including funds and property willed or given to the Endowment Fund. These donations could be memorials for people who had died or honorariums for individuals still living. Over the years, these memorials grew and the challenge facing the board was how to recognize the individuals who had died and had been remembered with donations to the Endowment Fund. After considerable research, Vice Chair Jacque Greenman recommended a “Memorial Tree” modeled after one she had seen during her travels in the Lower-48. After discussion, the board adopted the concept.
Working with Alaskan Memories in Anchorage to complete the Memorial Tree design and estimated costs, the board for Cooper Landing Senior Citizens Corporation, Inc. (CLSCCI) and the Endowment Fund voted unanimously to provide the money. The design included 125 gold leaves with 38 leaves engraved with the name and year of death of each person who had received a memorial gift; the remaining blank leaves will be used for future memorials. The finished tree is 65 inches tall and 60 inches wide and has a bronze trunk with an antique finish. Once all of the current leaves are added, the Memorial Tree can be expanded up to 200 leaves.
The tree is located in the entrance of Helen Gwin Commons at the Eagles View Senior Housing Unit, at the intersection of Snug Harbor Road and Campus Drive in Cooper Landing.
Eighty-seven individuals and/or couples have donated to the Endowment Memorials and to the Endowment General Account. Because the Endowment Fund receives no government or grant funding, it would be impossible for the Endowment Fund to operate without this private support.
If you wish to honor a friend or loved one who has passed with a “leaf” on the Memorial Tree, simply send a donation of any amount and the name of the person as you want it spelled on their leaf and the year of their death to: CLSCCI Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 552, Cooper Landing 99572.
Honorariums for living individuals can be sent to the same address. An honorarium makes a wonderful holiday or birthday gift for that “hard to buy for” person. The recipient will receive a frameable certificate letting them know you have honored them in this way. Honorariums and other donations are put in the Endowment Fund’s general fund and are invested to advance projects serving the area’s seniors. Always be sure to include the name of the person you are remembering as you want it as well as your name and address.
For information on the Endowment Fund, contact any the board at the address above or by calling 907-595-3000.
