Sweet Surprise for Local Entities
by April 4, 2011 12:00 am 56 views
Mercy of Northwest Arkansas and the Benton County Sunshine School recently learned they have benefited from the kindness of Marjorie Kjelland.
Kjelland retired to Bentonville in the early 1980s and shortly afterward established a trust that was to be split 50-50 between Mercy Medical Center and BCSS at the time of her death. Kjelland died in April 2010, and the recent distribution of the trust means both organizations will receive about $1.3 million.
“I’m sorry to say that I didn’t know about this gift during her lifetime,” Mercy Health Foundation vice president and chief development officer Clark Ellison said in a news release. “Mercy would have loved to be able to say thank you for such an incredible gift.”
No one at BCSS knew about the trust, either. The mission of BCSS is to serve people with special needs. It currently serves 150 infants and young children in a preschool center in Rogers, and more than 500 families in the surrounding community.