The late Alison Hannan of Guilford, Vermont, who passed away in 2019, has left a total of $350,000 to the Vermont Community Foundation, designating half of it to the Foundation’s Samara Fund, which supports LGBTQ Vermonters. The gift comes from the estate Alison shared with her husband, Tom Hannan, who predeceased her in 2000. The couple had resided in Guilford since 1969.
Tom, a modernist graphic artist and jazz fan, specialized in designing LP covers, including at least one for a Miles Davis recording. Alison worked as an editor at Time Life in New York.
Specifically, the Samara portion is going to the “Our Work Is Not Done” campaign to grow the endowment and annual grant making. Samara is a community-directed fund that aims to ensure LGBTQ Vermonters are connected, healthy, appreciated, safe and empowered. They provide grants to nonprofits and scholarships to Vermont students.
“As the cochair of Samara’s ‘Our Work is Not Done campaign,’ I am deeply moved that this gift expands Samara’s capacity to meet the immediate and long-term needs of Vermont’s LGBTQ+ communities, which have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic,” said Richard Wizansky, Samara Fund committee member.
“It is the foresight of people who love Vermont, like Alison and Tom, to include charitable giving in their estate plans that helps power the work of the Community Foundation,” said VCF President and CEO Dan Smith.
“For Samara, this bequest grows the only fund in Vermont dedicated to supporting the well-being and empowerment of all queer and other LGBTQ+ Vermonters, a fund we’re proud to have as a part of the Vermont Community Foundation family,” Smith said.
For more, visit the Samara Fund webpage.
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