United Way Receives $278,000 Bequest
From The Estate of Ronald G. Kremski
Earlier this year, our United Way received notice that we had been named a beneficiary of the estate of Ronald G. Kremski. As we would soon learn, this retired General Motors, UAW member, had a very soft spot in his heart for people with disabilities. He had designated that United Way and his daughter, Tiffani Jones, give $244,000 of his bequest to programs that were benefiting people with any kind of disability. After several discussions and agency site-visits, the decision was made to allocate the bequest to five (5) local programs:
- The Center for Gerontology, for their Adult Day Care Program
- The Community Access Center, for their Senior Citizens Program
- The Disability Network, for their Accessible Recreation Program
- The Family Service Agency, for their Visually Impaired Program
- The Genesee County Association for Retarded Citizens, for their Work Activity Program
After visiting and viewing each of the programs, Tiffani Jones state, “When I started this process, I thought the decision would be clear-cut and we would give the money to one program. I soon learned that each of the five (5) programs selected was achieving great results; and the need was far greater then the financial resources available. The decision-making was far from clear-cut and proved to be very difficult.”
United Way’s Executive Director, Ron Butler stated, “We are very grateful to Mr. Kremski. This was a total surprise and came at a time when the needs of our at-risk children, families and older adults are far greater than the resources available. All five (5) programs selected are making a real difference in the lives of our citizens. They are also members of our health and human services “safety net” of programs that because of our economy, is very fragile and struggling to meet people’s needs.”