LaDonna EtzelLaDonna Etzel had a problem.
With her husband Harold deceased, LaDonna found herself the manager of an estate that included the large piece of Montana farmland that they had lived and worked on together for years.
The property needed work and upkeep that she couldn’t perform in her retirement years. She was moving to North Dakota and wanted to find the best way to turn her farmland into income, inheritance, and a charitable gift.
Help came in the form of Pat Bilow, a gift planning counselor working with the LWML Gifts of Love program and the LCMS Foundation. Pat and LaDonna met numerous times to talk about the best way to establish a gift plan that would help her manage the difficulties of her estate. With prayerful planning, LaDonna decided to turn the land over to the LCMS Foundation so that the sale could be tax advantaged, and the proceeds used to establish a charitable remainder trust. By creating this trust, LaDonna could reduce capital gains tax, receive income for life, leave an inheritance to her daughters, and make a gift to the ministries that she cared about.
LaDonna’s daughters L to R: Janet, Carmen, Lynette, and MelanieThe support of LaDonna’s four daughters, Carmen Madler, Janet Koppinger, Lynette Coop, and Melanie Kuca, meant a lot to her. In a 2013 interview, LaDonna recalled that “it made me feel better knowing that my girls were behind my decision.”
With all the trust documents signed, it was time to sell the Montana farmland. “The land was valued at roughly $250,000,” recalled Rev. Phil Krupski, Senior Vice President of Gift Planning for the LCMS Foundation. “When it went up for auction, a neighboring landowner purchased it for double its assessed value. That is unheard of! But look what a difference it made to God’s work on earth.”
A GIFT FROM THE HEART
LaDonna’s husband Harold had dreamed of working with Laborers for Christ in his retirement. Laborers for Christ is an organization of retired volunteers that traveled the country building, remodeling, or updating facilities for LCMS ministries. Things didn’t go as planned for Harold, as his asthma and a lack of funds prevented the Etzels from volunteering.
When LaDonna established her gift plan, she chose Laborers for Christ and Lutheran Women in Mission as the recipients of the charitable part of her estate. She had always been an active LWML member. By leaving a generous gift to these two ministries, she found a way to continue supporting the parts of God’s work that were closest to her and Harold’s hearts.
HONORING THE GIFT
LaDonna’s charitable remainder trust provided income for her remaining time on earth. The trust was established in 2012 and it helped take care of LaDonna’s financial needs until she died in 2014. When she was called home to heaven, the LCMS Foundation made sure that LaDonna’s plans for regular payments to her daughters were followed. When the trust matured in 2024, it was time for the remainder of the gift to be distributed to the ministries that LaDonna had designated.
When LaDonna established her charitable remainder trust, Laborers for Christ was a thriving ministry. But by 2021 Laborers for Christ had discontinued operations. This left a hole in LaDonna’s plan. More than $250,000 from her trust could not be distributed as intended. The LCMS Foundation’s Gift Acceptance Committee met to find a solution that would honor the gift that LaDonna had made, even in the absence of Laborers for Christ. After discussing options and contacting the Lutheran Church Extension fund (the entity under which Laborers for Christ operated), as well as LaDonna’s family, it was decided that the money would be distributed to Lutheran Women in Mission and designated specifically to help fund brick-and-mortar Mission Grants in the spirit of the gift.
That meant that Lutheran Women in Mission would receive two very important gifts from LaDonna Etzel. LaDonna’s original trust gift to Lutheran Women in Mission was unrestricted, which allowed LWML to invest a large portion of the assets in their endowment, per their gift acceptance policy. And then LaDonna’s Laborers for Christ gift would be designated to fund very specific mission grants.
THE IMPACT OF THE GIFT
When the LCMS Foundation notified LWML of the brick-and-mortar portion of the gift, the LWML Board of Directors approved four qualifying grants that were a good fit for that portion of LaDonna’s gift. Reflecting on the recipients of these gifts, Rev. Phil Krupski pointed out that “some of these ministries didn’t even exist when LaDonna’s gift was made. It is incredible to look back and see that, years and years ago, God was creating funding for future ministry.”
Camp Restore volunteers ready to give a tour of ‘Red House’ which is currently under construction.One of those newer ministries is Camp Restore Detroit. Camp Restore Detroit is working with Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church to reinvigorate neighborhoods in downtown Detroit. Their work to create a safe environment for the families living in these difficult areas includes building a community park, patrolling neighborhoods to ensure safe passage to children, and cleaning out abandoned buildings. Camp Restore Detroit was initially granted nearly $59,000 as the final grant selected at the LWML convention in Milwaukee. When LaDonna Etzel’s gift came to LWML, they were awarded an additional $30,727 to continue their work of caring for the people of Detroit. This brought their funding nearly to the $90,000 originally requested.
Another recipient was St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School, located in Cullman, Alabama. The $50,000 they received will help renovate their aging school building. St. Paul’s was established 135 years ago and is currently only one of two Lutheran grade schools in northern Alabama. The grant money will help replace windows, update the HVAC, and replace their broken emergency doors. According to Mandi Easterwood, the school secretary, “This money is life-changing for St. Paul’s.”
St. Paul’s check presentation. (left to right) Brenda Piester, Recording Secretary and LWML Board member; Dana Kritner, PK-4th Teacher; Emily Trahan, School Alumni and Parent; Amanda Lee, PTO Officer and St. Paul Church Council, Alumni; Cherie Endrihs, LWML Gulf States District President; Mandi Easterwood, St. Paul School Secretary
A third recipient, Ministry in Mission, is an organization that partners with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Haiti and its president, Rev. Marky Kessa, to spread the Gospel in Haiti. Recent hurricanes and earthquakes have caused damage to many preaching stations and churches throughout the country. Through their grant of $85,000, three Haitian churches are being rebuilt, and two churches are being repaired after suffering significant hurricane damage.
Ministry in Mission check presentation group singing the Doxology
The Dame Marie ELC church repaired with grant funds.
LWML Board of Directors presented mission grant check to Rev. Ray Wilke, President, Orphan Grain Train, also present was Craig Stirtz, Sr. Gift Planning Counselor, LCMS Foundation.Finally, the fourth recipient was Orphan Grain Train, a ministry based out of Norfolk, Nebraska. Orphan Grain Train received a grant of $100,000. This money will help with the expense of constructing the Orphan Grain Train Servant Center. This will expand the meal packing area, doubling the meal output of the facility to more than ten million meals packaged per year. It will also provide break and training space for volunteers. Orphan Grain Train is a Christian volunteer network that ships donated food, clothing, medical and other needed items to people in 71 different countries, including the United States.
Reflecting on the impact of the gift, LaDonna’s daughters shared that “we are filled with joy that even in our parents’ death, they are still spreading the Gospel. That is the true gift to us girls.”
MAKING AN ETERNAL DIFFERENCE
LaDonna Etzel had a heart for God’s work on earth and, through Lutheran Women in Mission’s Gifts of Love program, made a plan to help fund that work after she was called home to heaven.
Gifts of Love was established to help individuals and couples put a plan in place for blessing family and ministry with the assets that God provided during their lifetime. The partnership with the LCMS Foundation assures that these gifts are established, executed, and distributed with the highest integrity.
Working with a Gifts of Love gift planning counselor is easy, informative, and free of charge. Counselors have years of experience crafting charitable gift plans that will support Lutheran Women in Mission and the other ministries close to the hearts of LCMS members. Look what LaDonna was able to do through her gift plan. Now imagine what you might do with yours!
For more information about these mission grants, view the individual mission grant pages here: Camp Restore Detroit, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School, Ministry in Mission, Orphan Grain Train.
