Mary Gall has been a supporter of Episcopal Community Services for as long as she can remember and as long as the agency’s records go back without a trip to the archives. After several previous major gifts, Gall recently presented ECS with the largest unrestricted annual fund gift in agency history. Gall’s gift of $420,000 will build upon the legacy she began in 2009 when ECS established the Mary K. Gall Education Initiative to support ECS’ continuum of services that advance individuals and families to self-reliance.
“From what I know about what ECS does, I think they deserve to be able to do more,” Gall said. “They know a lot more about what is needed than I do.”
“We are truly blessed by Mary’s extraordinary generosity. This transformational gift will become the seed money for creating what we now know will be comprehensive education case management in our programs and services for children, youth and families, and gives us the opportunity to move forward with the initiative in a very proactive way,” ECS Executive Director John Midwood said.
Service was always important to Gall. For many years, she and her late husband, John Gall, maintained a 10-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail near Allentown, including constructing a whole new piece of trail when the route changed.
That wasn’t the only trail Gall blazed. She was one just a handful of female chemists when she began her career, working first for Rohm and Haas and later for Mobil. In addition to being one of the few women in the lab, she also helped implement emerging information technology that would eventually transform the chemical industry.
Five years ago, Gall realized that her retirement savings were more than adequate for her long-term needs and those of her stepchildren. In particular, she had an IRA account that required her to take taxable distributions and held stock in her former employers, Rohm and Haas and Mobil.
For her first major gift in 2006, Gall took advantage of the “charitable rollover provision” in the tax code, which for several years allowed seniors to donate up to $100,000 in IRA funds instead of taking them as taxable distributions. (The provision has since expired and is being considered for renewal in Congress.)
In 2009, the acquisition of Rohm and Haas by Dow Chemical prompted Gall to decide what to do with her holdings in her former employer and she chose ECS as the recipient of her philanthropy. This established the education initiative and set ECS on the path to find the best way to integrate education into its programs and services. Her most recent gift was from appreciated Exxon Mobil stock earned during her many years at Mobil.
In 2010, Gall attended the 10th anniversary celebration of ECS St. Barnabas Mission, a shelter for homeless women and their children. This visit cemented her resolve to support the work of ECS. “It’s very important that we have places for these families to go so they can stay together,” she said. “They have a lot of activities for the mothers and children, and the children have a safe place to play indoors and out, which I think is essential to their whole wellbeing.”
Apart from all of the tax and financial reasons for making her gift now, Gall has a simple reason for supporting ECS during her lifetime: “Why wait? When you think of all the delays of a will going through probate, it can be a gift deferred for too long. I want ECS to be able to use it right away.” Gall said.
