Why it feels so good to have a plan
Ask Suzanne Hermreck why she made a plan to include Solar Cookers International in her estate plan and she will tell you, “I love the mission. Solar cooking is brilliant. It makes sense.”
Including SCI in her will makes Suzanne extraordinary to SCI, but she lives a very ordinary life in a small house in a quiet neighborhood with her dog, Kima. Working fulltime for the state, Suzanne also recently completed her degree in clinical psychology out of a deep desire to help at-risk youth.
She’s an avid reader, crochets, quilts, and has volunteered as a docent for an art museum. Her goal is to live gracefully, and she believes in “living simply so that others can simply live.” Yes, she also loves epigrams.
Her desire to give back deepened after traveling to Mexico where she saw what people endured without sufficient resources, particularly in schools.
Suzanne first heard about solar cooking at her university and understood the immediate benefit for women and children, so she volunteered for a speaker’s group until she graduated. Later when she learned about Solar Cookers International’s help for refugees, particularly in Darfur at the time, she wanted to be part of the program by giving.
“Solar cooking offers safety and a better use of resources,” she said. “And water is a big issue. Solar cookers can heat water to safe temperatures, and water doesn’t have to boil to kill harmful bacteria.”
Suzanne wants to give back because, “all things are connected. And I am truly blessed.”
Feeling blessed leads Suzanne, and her parents, to donate and volunteer for a wide variety of charities, but “Most charities don’t have fun events like the Solar Cooker Cook Off. It was amazing to see all the types of cookers available, talk with people who are using and improving the tools of the mission, and the variety of foods that people can crate with solar; and you get to taste it too!”
“It feels so good to have a plan and to know that others will benefit,” Suzanne said. “If everyone included even a small percentage of their estate, we could change the world.”