Gretchyn Meinken knows Alexandria well. Since becoming a resident in 2000, she joined a local law firm in 2015 and has been dedicated to helping people with estate planning and administration ever since. Gretchyn has a deep understanding of the financial planning needs of senior citizens, which inspired her to partner with Senior Services of Alexandria. As she worked with seniors to ensure they could age in place with dignity, Gretchyn became invested. Soon, she was serving on the board of Senior Services.
Things got interesting when Gretchyn’s client asked for help to establish a future fund as part of her estate plan. “She was very charitably focused,” Gretchyn recalls. “She very much wanted to make sure she can help the charities where she’s lived for a very long time. That’s beautiful.” This client didn’t just have a goal, she also had a direction – to connect with ACT.
Gretchyn had never heard of ACT until her client’s passion for community impact piqued her interest. “We have a lot of wealth in this community, but there are also many people with unmet needs,” she notes. “ACT makes it easier for us to find charities that align with our passion projects.” Together, Gretchyn and her client set up a future fund through ACT that would ensure her inheritance would be funneled to local charities after her lifetime.
It’s this local focus that captured Gretchyn’s imagination. “There are tons of national charities, and they’re wonderful,” she says. “But with ACT, we know that we’re giving to local charities that are helping the people in our community.”
Gretchyn is a firm believer in stepping outside one’s comfort zone. “We have our little bubble, and we can have blinders on for what’s happening in the community around us. There are so many opportunities for us to get outside of our bubble and help people who need it,” she says. “That’s my hope for Alexandria – that we can all take a moment, take the blinders off, see what’s there, find a passion project, and get involved.”