The following story first appeared in the Summer 2005 Glenmary Challenge.
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Giving In Order to Receive
Bill and Anna Fougerousse, a Michigan farm couple, have gifted Glenmary for 30 years
By Margaret Gabriel

RURAL CONNECTION: The Fougerousses, married 65 years, appreciate the importance of rural parishes like their own in Hillsdale, Mich.

With a wry twist to his voice, Bill Fougerousse, a longtime Michigan farmer, recounts how he learned an important lesson about charitable giving. He always tried to do everything right, he says. But regardless of his best efforts, things inevitably seemed to go wrong on the farm. During a particularly bad patch, he remembered something that he had lost sight of: that it is in giving that one receives.

Bill told his wife Anna that they might be able to turn things around by giving away some of their material goods. “So we started giving to four charities every month,” he says, “and we found ourselves gaining ground. We had a bumper crop the next year, and we were much happier.”

This turn-around occurred in the mid 1970s—and Glenmary was one of the four charities Bill and Anna adopted. They learned about Glenmary’s work in the rural areas of the United States through a mission appeal at their parish in Hillsdale, Mich. Following that appeal, Glenmary began receiving a monthly donation from the Fougerousses. Along the way the couple also joined Glenmary’s Boost-A-Month Club, a giving club that encourages monthly giving and sends members a monthly newsletter that reports on the many facets of Glenmary’s home mission ministry.

Bill grew up in southwest Indiana, an area where Catholics were a distinct minority. For that reason, he took a great interest in Glenmary’s mission of bringing a Catholic presence to the small towns and rural areas of the United States. Bill and Anna are both impressed with the amount of good Glenmary does in and for impoverished rural counties—and they have always felt very good about assisting Glenmary in its efforts through their monthly contribution. But recently they realized they could do even more—by making a major gift to Glenmary.

“Our tax preparer noticed that we had been giving to Glenmary on a regular basis and suggested that we give a lump sum,” Bill says, pointing out that their money (the proceeds from the sale of some farm land) was not making the same gains it had been making several years earlier. “It wasn’t making us richer or poorer, so we decided that the best interest it could gain would be to give it away.”

The Fougerousses decided to make a major gift immediately rather than leave it as a bequest at their death. They also decided to give the gift without any restrictions as to its use. Bill and Anna, who say they admire all the missioners they have read about since becoming involved with Glenmary, particularly enjoyed meeting Glenmary Father François Pellissier. He visited them in Michigan in January of this year to thank them personally after Glenmary received their major gift.

The Fougerousses told Father François of their attraction to the volunteer program at the Glenmary Farm. They like knowing that their gifts are helping, among other things, to provide students with an opportunity to be involved in mission work.

“We’re too old to help in that way, but we can help by sharing with others,” Bill says. “I like the thought of helping college students stay busy. We admire the time that the students give and the devotion they have.”

Bill’s life as a farmer has taught him the importance of dedication, hard work and prayer. To Bill and Anna, that combination is evident not only among the student volunteers at the Glenmary Farm but in all of Glenmary’s work.
“Glenmary accomplishes so much for the people and for the community,” says Anna. “And it is good,” Bill interjects, “not to forget our own people” right here at home.