Giving to save a little one's life

Ginnie Mueller is glad to know her support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is helping to save lives. “Like many people, I have a certain amount of money to give to charity,” she explained. “There are so many charities that need it. But I give to St. Jude because I like what you do with children. It means a lot to me to know I am helping save a little one’s life.”

Mrs. Mueller has chosen to establish two charitable gift annuities with St. Jude. “The annuity gives me a chance to give to a good charity, but it also gives me something in return,” she said.

Charitable gift annuities offer annual payments at a fixed rate, based on the age of the annuitant, for the rest of one’s life.

Mrs. Mueller is in her 90s and believes that the best thing to do as one gets older is to keep busy. The Pennsylvania resident swims and does aquatic exercises several times a week at the indoor pool in her retirement community. She also teaches at a nearby school and fills her social calendar each week.

Like many St. Jude supporters, Mrs. Mueller enjoys visits with her local St. Jude representative.

Jennifer has been wonderful, I’m very fond of her. We have a delightful time together and she keeps me up-to-date on everything happening at St. Jude.

Ginnie Mueller

Mrs. Mueller attends local luncheons for St. Jude supporters, but she has not visited the hospital itself.

“At this point in my life, I have done all the traveling I want to do,” she said. In fact, Mrs. Mueller and her late husband, Robert Lee Mueller, spent more than seven years sailing around the world on their 58-foot sailboat. “It was an exciting experience,” she recalled. “My husband and I visited nearly every country.”

As a young woman, Mrs. Mueller ran a private residential school and then worked in the patent department of an electronics company. Her husband was a chemical engineer who had a number of patents himself.

The Muellers first connected to St. Jude when a local craftsman working on their home introduced them to his mother, who explained the lifesaving mission of the hospital.

“She was an entertainer and she had met [St. Jude founder] Danny Thomas,” recalled Mrs. Mueller. “She was so enthusiastic for St. Jude. After that, whenever I had something extra to give, I gave it to St. Jude.”

She has “so enjoyed her association with St. Jude” that Mrs. Mueller recommends St. Jude annuities to her friends as well. “In fact, I have two friends considering taking an annuity now!” she added proudly.