The Hartwigs Establish a Charitable Remainder Trust

It is an event that only the people privileged to work at Covenant House get to experience. It is more of a look, really. A look of hope, of promise. It is the look that comes over a kid’s face when he or she starts to believe that Covenant House is truly their family, a place where they are welcome to stay and plan for the future.

The look often comes over our kids’ faces when we tell them there are people out there, people they’ve never met, who love them and care about them. People like Charles and Kitty Hartwig.

“Life is so very precious,” says Kitty, “especially young life with all its promise for the future. It’s inconceivable to Charles and me that today, in the richest country in the world, thousands of young people are blatantly used and abused and their lives are wasted. Being a kid, on the street, alone, with no hope, is the worst thing imaginable.

“We’ve been impressed with the compassion and dedication Covenant House uses to rescue these kids from life on the streets,” says Kitty. “So many of them are wounded—broken in body, soul and spirit. Because of Covenant House, these kids get a second chance in life. We really feel it’s the Lord’s work and that the people at Covenant House are blessed.”

By recently establishing a special Charitable Remainder Trust, Kitty and Charles will help Covenant House care for our kids in the years to come. “Because we really believe in this work, we felt we should do something special to support Covenant House in California,” says Kitty. “The ‘charitable remainder’ trust we chose makes our special contribution a reality, and the financial benefits make it easier to accomplish. The old stock we used to fund the trust had been accumulating for decades. It was time for a change. The increased income we now receive provides us comfort that we’ll able to meet any future needs of our own.”

It takes a lot of people to turn a kid’s life around. Sometimes it takes an outreach worker brining a homeless, hungry child a sandwich at four in the morning. Other times, it’s a job counselor, using skill and patience to help a kid find that first good job. And sometimes it takes people like Kitty and Charles, who feel in their hearts the need to help our kids and be part of the Covenant House family.

“A few days ago, a woman said to me, ‘I’m so sorry for you because you have no grandchildren.’ We feel the kids at Covenant House are like grandchildren,” says Kitty. “Through Covenant House, we have a link to so many young lives. We many never meet these kids, but we know they are out there. And we know that with the help of Covenant House, they have a chance to make it.”

Tonight, we will tell our kids that there are friends like Kitty and Charles out there who care. And tonight, more kids will start to believe their lives aren’t over at 16.

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