Heidi Hahn and Phil Goldstone, Leaving a Legacy of Support for Students
Heidi Hahn and Phil Goldstone have been donors to Los Alamos Employees' Scholarship Fund (LAESF) from the program's beginning in 1999. They were inspired to give by their Laboratory colleagues who started the program and by its mission to encourage local students to pursue higher education.
Heidi became involved with the Advisory Committee from the start, helping to develop a fair and balanced system for student selections, guide the program as it grew, and support fundraising efforts. She spent about a decade on the committee and a year as its Chair.
After Heidi stepped down, Phil joined the committee, and with others helped develop and start up the Regional College/Returning Student Scholarship to support adults pursuing career opportunities with a two-year degree or certificate after being away from formal education.
"Once we saw some of the scholars' applications and met them in person, we were really hooked," said Phil. "What better way could there be to give some of these deserving, determined students from our New Mexico 'neighborhood' a helping hand?"
For many students, the knowledge that someone has recognized and supported their quest for a college degree is an added value. "In the more rural areas of Northern New Mexico, the students being rewarded could also be examples of success for their classmates," added Heidi.
Heidi and Phil continue to promote and support LAESF any way they can. They make contributions during the annual fundraising campaign and believe that it is important to support local students well into the future to continue building a strong local workforce.
"Every year when we meet our new scholars, it is among the most fulfilling things we do. Even better, now we're seeing some of them come back to work in their communities—and to careers at the Lab," said Heidi.
"As we've gotten older and thought about estate planning, we specified a very small number of charities for legacy gifts. One of those is the LANL Foundation, specifically for LAESF," said Phil. "It feels good to know we will continue to help support scholarships and the students in Northern New Mexico, even when we're not here to do it in person."
For donors like Heidi and Phil, LANL Foundation has set up this
LANLFlegacy.org website with resources for making legacy gifts of stocks, annuities, real estate, retirement assets and bequests. This website is a helpful guide for anyone looking for information on chartable giving, not just those designating support for the Scholarship Fund through the Foundation.
Make a Legacy Gift to Support Education Programs or Honor a Loved One
For more information about the scholarship program that supports students from seven Northern New Mexico counties, or for questions about making annual donations or planned gifts contact Tony Fox, Vice President of Institutional Advancement & Scholarships at [email protected] or 505-753-8890.
