Estate Gifts Provide Funds for International Camporee

ALVARADO, TEX. – I have witnessed many miracles since joining the Texas Conference. It is inspiring to see faithful members who made estate plans decades ago, specifying churches and ministries, provide amounts that are currently needed. 

The latest stories involve two Pathfinder clubs that were surprised to receive funds from estates. Those funds enabled them to attend the International Pathfinder Camporee in Gillette, Wyo., August 5-11, 2024.

Sylvia Suttles, treasurer for the San Antonio Highland Hills Seventh-day Adventist Church, shared with me that the expenses would have probably been too much for their Pathfinder club (pictured right) to attend had they not received the funds from the Cecil Sauls estate. Members were shouting and praising the Lord the day I presented the check to the church congregation.

The second story features the Denton First Seventh-day Adventist Church Pathfinder club in Pilot Point, Tex. (pictured left). The Charles Gaines estate left a house and all of its contents to the Texas Conference. Needing everything cleaned out so the house could be sold, Uzziel Maldonado, trust services associate director, contacted Juanita Clarke, Pathfinder director for the Denton First church, to see if the group would be interested in preparing for and conducting the estate sale in exchange for receiving all the proceeds from whatever they were able to sell. “They were appreciative of this opportunity to raise funds for the camporee,” Maldonado said.

Find more inspiring stories and estate planning information at GratefulLivingTexas.org.

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