Generous Couple Funds Gift Annuity

Gene Lafitte has a unique perspective on St. Tammany Parish Hospital. The Mandeville attorney is a member of the board of trustees for the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, a position that has allowed him to get to know many staff members on a personal basis. He can also talk about STPH from a patient's viewpoint: Lafitte had a hernia repair at STPH, which gave him a chance to experience for himself the hospital's reputation for excellence in care.

"I was not disappointed," Lafitte says. "It is a remarkable place that makes a huge contribution to the quality of life in Northshore communities. It's more than a hospital—it's a medical center that brings us world-class healthcare."

Lafitte, along with his wife, Jackie, gave stock to the Foundation to fund a charitable gift annuity, which provides them payments for life. Their gift offers a number of tax advantages, but Lafitte also says it makes his job on the Foundation Board easier "since a big part of that job is asking people to support the hospital."

As CD rates are declining, gift annuity rates are holding steady. Established by the American Council on Gift Annuities, rates are based on the donor's age on the date the gift is given. A donor aged 75 receives an annuity for life based on a rate of 6.7 percent. The rates are capped at age 90 at 10.5 percent.

Lafitte, who is semiretired, encourages other members of the community to consider giving. "I think it's an important thing for people of my age—and really of any age— to establish a relationship with a hospital that they trust," he says. I certainly have an abiding interest in St. Tammany Parish Hospital. It's a wonderful place."

More information on giving opportunities, including charitable gift annuities, is available by contacting Nicole Suhre, CFRE, Executive Director of the St. Tammany Hospital Foundation, at 985-898-4171 or nsuhre@stph.org.

To run a personal calculation or to learn more about charitable gift annuities, go to www.stph.org/giftplanning.