Rachel N. Kolb Legacy Fund
What is the “concept” of a Legacy Fund for prison ministry? Basically, these funds are “set aside” and earn interest for the purpose of insuring the permanence and long-term stability of the ministry until Jesus comes.
The first requirement is to create and build a nest egg. This is difficult to do in a ministry that usually spends every penny it gets. This means that at some point, the ministry has to “bite the bullet” and decide to set funds aside. It’s easier to dream and talk than do, Kings Crossing Prison Ministry is blessed with the following two key ingredients.
#1 – The idea and need alive in the mind of Buck Griffith (Director of the program) for years. With 50 years of jail/prison ministry experience, Buck thinks “long range” and sees the BIG picture. This is a constantly growing and expanding mission field.
#2 – God sent the late Rachel Naomi Kolb our way. God blessed her financially. She was born in 1915 and knew that her time on earth was limited. Prior to her departure, she wanted to do something that would really make a difference. She purposed to donate $10,000 a year for three years to some worthwhile endeavor.
Buck shared the idea of the Legacy Fund with Sister Kolb. She enthusiastically endorsed it. She was already an “occasional” donor to the ministry. Rachel and her twin, Esther Blagg, came to Corpus Christi one day a week from their home in Portland to get their hair fixed and spend time grading Bible correspondence courses at the prison ministry office. Both were excited about their work. They shouted out loud when a prisoner said he or she wanted to be baptized! These responses were a loud confirmation that they were already making an eternal difference.
The next step was to more fully explore the idea of a Legacy Fund with the elders at Kings Crossing Church of Christ. These godly men provide the oversight for this ministry. All were enthusiastic about what this could mean to the ministry’s long-term future. With the elders’ wise input, the following actions were suggested and taken . . .
• A special account was opened in which funds could be securely invested. Help was given donors desiring to transfer stock or shares, avoiding or minimizing fees, penalties, taxes, time, etc.
• In addition to Sister’s Kolb’s gifts, friends and supporters were encouraged to become contributing partners in this venture.
• A “push” is made annually in August. Gifts can be made at any time, but extra effort is made each August to grow the fund.
• To maximize the funds, the elders agreed to not withdraw interest earned until the fund reached $50,000. It was thought that it may take five years to reach this milestone.
December 2, 1993
The Prison Ministry Legacy Fund was officially “born” on this date. No one could have predicted what was about to take place.
A large number started donating to the Legacy Fund. They were sold on what we do. After 50 years of fruitfulness in this mission field, they expressed their confidence in this way. Plus, they loved the thought that their gifts would never stop giving! In fact, the nest egg created would only grow larger. It was exciting and contagious!
Over the first three years, Sister Kolb’s gifts totaled $30,000 and matched by others. Indeed, in less than three years, the total exceeded $50,000!
In the beginning, Sister Kolb wanted her gifts to be anonymous. Esther Blagg, Rachel’s twin, was the only other person who knew about her generosity. We honored Rachel’s request throughout her life. Esther preceded her in death on October 26, 2006. Rachel passed from this life on January 3, 2012. At her funeral, Buck let everyone know of Rachel’s gifts and how much the Legacy Fund prospered over the years. As far as we know, no other family member knew anything about her gifts. The Kolb family was literally shocked to hear this story and the major role she played in making it happen. One relative said after the service (joking but proudly): “I wonder what else she did we don’t know about?”
Rachel was a quiet, humble and meek Christian lady. She was embarrassed by attention drawn to her. She preferred to stay in the shadows. But now that she has won the final victory, it seems appropriate for us to refer to this as The Rachel Kolb Legacy Fund. As of July 31, 2012 the fund value stood at $259,664.77. Then, we learned that she included us in her estate planning and blessed us with another $60,164.69, bringing the total to $319,829.46! Of course, gifts are continually being made and as of the latest statement the total stood near $1,000,000!
A few have questioned the wisdom of making these numbers known . . . fearing donors might reduce support. Some feared it would be more difficult to attract new donors as well. What do you think? We don’t want that to happen to a growing ministry like this. It is possible, but we have spent much time in prayer over this. First, we believe in transparency. Also, we believe that our supporters believe in us and in “how” we are doing what we do. We believe they want to support a healthy effort and one that is proactive concerning future needs. Since this is a work of the Lord’s church and we are aware of our influence, our fund management people are instructed not to place our funds in questionable or unethical ventures (alcohol, nicotine, casinos, etc.). .
We further believe that sharing this data will result in more gifts because it allows gifts to keep on giving. No one likes seeing their money vanish or go down a hole. We update this information annually to allow everyone to see the state of this Legacy Fund. We welcome questions. Most of all – we seek your prayers!
You know we are transitioning Dale Underwood into his new role as “Director.” A successful succession