Dedicated Volunteer Supports Scripps With Generous Gift
Volunteer Ruth Graul supports the ongoing efforts of Scripps Health and Scripps Health Foundation
In 1974, Ruth Graul started volunteering at Scripps. Thirty-five years later, she is still one of our most dedicated volunteers, with more than 34,000 volunteer hours to her credit — and counting.
“I started volunteering when Scripps was on Prospect Street in downtown La Jolla, and my daughter was a student at The Bishops’ School across the street, so we carpooled together,” Ruth recalls.
“I worked mostly on the floor doing anything that needed to be done, washing patients’ hair, running things down to the lab, helping with meals, discharging patients. When the hospital moved to the current location, I went with it.”
Volunteering with Scripps Health Foundation
These days, most of Ruth’s volunteer time is with Scripps Health Foundation, where she does computer work.
Her husband, Bill, a retired chemical engineer, is a long-time volunteer in the forensics lab of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Together, the Grauls donate a great deal of their time to their community.
They also show their support in other ways. In 1999, the couple established a generous charitable gift annuity in support of orthopedics research at Scripps Clinic. A charitable gift annuity combines a donation to charity — such as cash or securities — with an annuity contract, essentially creating income for both giver and receiver.
Supporting Scripps, giving back to the community
Donors transfer assets to Scripps, and receive regular fixed payments from Scripps for the rest of their lives. Benefits to the donor include guaranteed regular income (which may be partly tax-free), an immediate charitable income tax deduction, possible estate tax savings, and for gifts of appreciated property, favorable tax treatment on the gain.
In addition, there is the benefit of supporting lifesaving care at Scripps.
“We had money we wanted to donate,” says Ruth. “We have always been supporters of Scripps, and it was our way of giving back to the community.”