Some gifts arrive with a ribbon. Others arrive with a lifetime behind them.
David and Greta Menke, longtime residents of the Village of Bristol, spent their years building a life in Kenosha County. At some point along the way, they made a quiet decision that would outlast them: Hope Council on Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse, Inc. would be part of their legacy.
They put that decision in writing through their family trust, and it recently became a $50,000 gift to our organization, one that will support Hope Council’s work for years to come.
It’s the kind of gift that doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because two people looked at the community around them, thought carefully about what mattered most, and decided that Hope Council belonged in that picture.
Why This Gift Resonates So Deeply
Substance use and mental health challenges rarely announce themselves from a distance. They show up close to home, in the lives of a coworker, a neighbor, a sibling, or a childhood friend.
Hope Council Board President Brian Sheffler says that’s exactly what makes a gift like the Menkes’ so different from a typical donation.
Recovery, he points out, is rarely a straight line. It’s a long, often invisible process of a person reclaiming their own life, piece by piece. Gifts like this one recognize that the work of getting there deserves real, sustained support, not just a moment of attention when a crisis hits close to home.
What an Unrestricted Gift Actually Makes Possible
Not every dollar that comes into a nonprofit is created equal. Restricted grants must be used exactly as a funder specifies. Unrestricted gifts, like the one the Menkes gave, are different. They give Hope Council the flexibility to respond to whatever the community needs most in a given year.
That might mean opening another night of the Loved Ones Support Group for families who don’t yet know where to turn. It might mean keeping recovery coaching available for someone who simply needs a person who’s been there to say, “You don’t have to do this alone.” It might mean funding prevention education that reaches a teenager before a habit ever takes hold.
Unrestricted gifts allow an organization like Hope Council to stay responsive instead of rigid, meeting people exactly where they are rather than where a grant says they should be.
The Weight of Being Trusted With a Legacy
There’s a particular kind of responsibility that comes with a gift like this, one that goes beyond gratitude.
A family spent decades building something, and in their final wishes, they chose to hand a piece of it to Hope Council. Sheffler and the rest of the board don’t take that lightly. Every dollar of an estate gift carries the expectation that it will be used in the spirit the donor intended: to help people, quietly and without judgment, for as long as the need exists.
That sense of stewardship shapes how Hope Council operates day to day, not just how it handles a single gift. It’s the same trust a person places in the organization the first time they walk through the door, unsure of what to expect. The Menkes extended that same trust from a distance, without ever needing to sit in a waiting room themselves.
A Ripple Effect Across Kenosha County
Sheffler hopes the Menkes’ gift does more than fund programs. He hopes it starts conversations at kitchen tables and in attorneys’ offices across the county, conversations that might not otherwise happen.
Kenosha County is full of people doing quiet, often unglamorous work that keeps the community healthier: food pantries, youth programs, recovery organizations, family support services, and more.
A gift of this scale, made by a family with no public profile to protect and no expectation of recognition, is a reminder that supporting this work close to home creates a kind of impact that’s difficult to replicate any other way. When one family chooses to invest in local nonprofits at this level, it can inspire others to imagine doing the same.
Not Sure Where to Start? You’re Not Alone
If you’ve ever thought about including a nonprofit in your own estate plans but weren’t sure how, you’re in good company. Many people never do, not because they don’t care, but because the process feels unfamiliar or reserved for people with far more wealth than they have.
It isn’t.
A legacy gift can be a fixed dollar amount, a percentage of an estate, or whatever remains after other wishes are honored. The real requirement isn’t wealth. It’s a conversation, usually with an attorney or financial advisor, about directing a portion of what you’ve built toward something that will continue doing good long after you’re gone.
