Remembering a charity

This week is Remember a Charity week – Maggie’s is coming together with a number of charities to let people know about the importance of leaving a gift to charity in their will after friends and family have been looked after.

Over 15 years ago Maggie Keswick Jencks started to leave her legacy by drawing up the blueprint for the first Maggie’s Centre in Edinburgh. Today, Maggie’s legacy has produced the pioneering centres that have supported thousands of people affected by cancer across the UK and beyond.

Without this vision Maggie’s would not exist as it does now and we would not be there to support people with cancer and friends and family of someone who is going through cancer.

15 years on, legacies are as important today as they were then. Gifts left by generous people have meant that we have been able to continue and to grow Maggie’s to help more people affected by cancer.

People like Douglas Mason.

Douglas was a visitor to Maggie’s Dundee. He was a lovely man with a genuine passion for the outdoors.

At the time, the garden at Maggie’s Dundee was in a state of disrepair. Douglas always used to say that it would be nice to have somewhere to sit and enjoy the views and get some ‘sun on his bones’.

Sadly, Douglas died before the garden was redeveloped, but he chose to leave a very generous gift of £50,000 for the Maggie’s Garden Fund as that was so important to him during his life and time he spent at the centre.

Douglas’s brother and his wife were invited to the garden’s official opening in 2009 so they could see how Douglas’s generosity had had a positive impact on so many people living with cancer.

After your loved ones are taken care of, a gift in your will can be a special way to support Maggie’s and could ensure you and your family make a lasting impact within the community.

Leaving a small percentage to Maggie’s, means your gift retains it’s value over time and it often allows people to be even more generous than they could have been in their lifetime.

Together we hope the legacy of one very special woman, Maggie Keswick Jencks, can continue for years to come in the centres that bear her name.

Find out more about leaving a legacy