Jon and Marsha Habegger

Jon and Marsha Habegger have a deep love for serving their community. For Marsha, that love manifests in the form of spending hours every week volunteering for several local nonprofits. For Jon, his love for community brought him to a similar—but different—venture as Marsha’s in 2003, shortly after his retirement.

Jon’s ‘retirement’ turned into volunteering for the Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (Des Plaines) and the Tri-Cities Crop Walk (St. Charles). Soon, he found his way to Northern Illinois Food Bank—an organization aligned with his desire to serve the community and located less than 10 miles from home.

In the nearly two decades since, Jon has helped neighbors apply for SNAP benefits, installed a new database system, led volunteer shifts and packed thousands of meals for families and individuals throughout Northern Illinois.

While they volunteer in different places, Jon and Marsha’s mutual love for helping others led them to extend their support of the Food Bank even further five years ago when they decided to name it in their trust. A few years later, they created another planned gift: a Charitable Remainder Unitrust, also known as a CRUT, that named the Food Bank as a charitable recipient to receive funds left over in the trust upon their passing.

“It was a win-win,” Jon explains. “We got a tax deduction for our charitable donation and get five percent a year of the value of the trust. “I’ve always been brought up to think about serving or helping others,” he continues. “This is a way we can do that. [The Food Bank] is a good place.”

We’re inspired by Jon and Marsha’s commitment to their community, and very grateful for the countless gifts—of time and finances both—that they’ve made over the years. “I've found a family here. I enjoy being with all the volunteers, and enjoy the mission of the Food Bank.”
—Jon Habegger