The Amazing Mrs. Tussing

Janet Tussing has an important mission—making the Paul and Carol David Foundation Burn Institute at Akron Children’s Foundation the best in the nation.

"People will want to come to Akron Children’s Burn Center because it has the most brilliant and caring surgeons, nurses and staff—and the patients will go on to be seen as survivors, not victims," said Janet. "That is my purpose. I feel it's God's calling for me."

To achieve this goal, Janet has supported the center in many ways, including making a blended gift, which combines annual gifts of cash and/or appreciated stock with a planned or future gifts in her will and through two charitable gift annuities. Her current gifts fund projects in the burn center now, and her planned gifts will create an endowed fund that will provide ongoing support after she has passed away.

A Heart for Helping Others

As a child, Janet's mother taught her the important lesson: If you see someone in need, help them if you can. This philosophy served Janet well as she grew up and became a teacher at Case Elementary in Akron, where she involved her students in service projects for Akron Children’s Foundation. In 2008, after a hospital chaplain visited her church, Janet decided to support Akron Children’s financially. Our Burn Center soon became an area close to her heart.

"I can't think of anything worse than a burn," said Janet. "I decided to give things to the Burn Center that either focused on safety or relieved pain and suffering."

Janet made outright gifts of cash to help buy equipment, fund a recognition program for burn survivors and establish a respite area for nurses working in the Burn Center.

To extend her support far into the hospital's future, she has also included a gift to the Burn Center in her will, used her required minimum distributions (RMDs) from her IRA for projects and recently made two gifts in the form of charitable gift annuities (CGAs) that not only support the Burn Center but give her an added source of income for life.

Janet has arranged for her gift to do even more after her lifetime. When she's gone, the balance in her annuities will go toward a fund she set up at our hospital, the Janet L. Tussing Endowed Fund. It will help support the Burn Center with capital projects, equipment, staff or patient programs and more. Until that time, Janet is using the RMDs from her IRA to build and grow the fund.

"I love helping people," said Janet. "When I started, the most important things were not only to help the child or person who was burned, but to ease the pain that the families feel. That's the reason I do everything. And I'm not finished yet!"

To learn how you can support Akron Children’s through a blended gift, contact Jason V. Sanders, JD at 330-543-8343 or plannedgiving@akronchildrens.org.