Why She Wrote a Will
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by Diane Wegener
An Interview With Susan BellSusan Bell noticed a flyer about Shalem's Spiritual Guidance Program one day in the mail when she was working as a consultant for the Diocese of Washington back in 1981. She was drawn to it. It was "like someone had finally named what I was looking for my whole life." Susan was then both working and in graduate school and had no time for a new organization or program in her life. Another flyer that came in the mail gave her the same intrigued feeling. She tried to ignore it but found it compelling. Still, she threw it away. When the third notice of this program came she called the contact person at the bottom of the page. The name was Tilden Edwards, and she left a message for him to call her. She hoped she could meet this man and that he would say oh, no this program was not for her and thus end the distraction and let her get back to her life-at-hand. Tilden called her back during dinner, she remembers, and they made an appointment. Once she had met with him, Susan knew that this program was going to be a priority in her life.
After completing the Spiritual Guidance Program, Susan felt the tremendous loss that is natural at the end of an intensive program. The leaders did address this issue. Program participants were asked to consider how they might find support in their lives for their spiritual journey. How could this level of nurturing be continued? Susan was not certain. Well, fortuitously for her and for Shalem, she was asked to serve on Shalem's Board. "I thought I was a strange choice, but accepted because it allowed me to stay connected." Very quickly, she was asked also to serve on the Development and Communications Committee. After her first meeting she received a call from Susie Dillon, the Nominating Committee chair, telling her that the Development Committee chair had resigned and asking her to assume leadership of that committee! With help from Patricia Clark and others on the committee, Susan learned about fund-raising and remained the chair for two years. "Serving on the Board and on the Development Committee was a wonderful way of staying connected to a community of people who had become important in my life."
Although Susan knows that there has been much change and growth at Shalem in the 13 years of her involvement, the most important thing for her is the way Shalem has stayed the same. "There is a continuity of leadership. People involved are from very different places but share something; that something is the support of our desire and attention to and intention toward God. Shalem supports and nourishes this desire."
Susan believes that Shalem offers freedom for each person to find what they need and work it out in their life. "Shalem's strength is offering freedom for individuals for following the directions they need to go in their own life." This is offered with the support of community. Susan explains that community is very important because so much in our culture does not support our values. "We need and depend on each other. We weren't meant to walk this walk alone."
Four years ago, Susan made out a will. She explains that she put Shalem in her will for the same reason that she put her children in her will. "Shalem and my three children will be the inheritors of what is left when I die. Shalem and my children are what I care about for providing ongoing support. You put in your will what is most important in your life. You want to continue to support what you care about."
The Development Committee, under Susan's leadership, began an endowment, The Shalem Fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide for the long-term ministry of Shalem. Susan notes the connection between her work helping to start The Shalem Fund and providing for Shalem in her will. Her work with The Shalem Fund included letting people know they could make gifts to this fund through their wills. This was not a short-term fundraising campaign to help with immediate expenses for a project or program, so bequests from wills were appropriate. Susan explained that because of her work with the fund, she knew that giving to Shalem in this way was possible. "People don't generally think about wills. When I realized that my kids could inherit (my estate) at the age of 18, I was motivated to write a will! I feel better having a will." She adds, "a will is an important responsibility. It is another way of taking care of the people and things that are important to you."
Susan is now a social worker with a private practice in psychotherapy in Alexandria, Virginia. Asked if she has any specific hopes or visions for Shalem's future, she replied, "My hope for Shalem and my children is that they will grow in the ways they are called into. Money supports this in this world. I would want Shalem and my children to have the resources to follow their mission as this mission unfolds."
© 2008 The Shalem Institute.