The late Frank and Tish Meehan smile for a Christmas photo. Their son,
Patrick, has carried on their legacy of love by making a $75,000 gift to ChildFund to honor his parents
after their passing.
When Patrick Meehan was growing up,
his parents, Frank and Tish, lived paycheck to paycheck. They couldn’t afford extras like
fancy dinners out, family vacations or college tuition for their children. Even so, Patrick
felt that his family was rich.
“Raising six
kids in Huntington Long Island, New York, is not an easy endeavor and will set you back a
couple of bucks,” says Patrick. “But somehow, they always found a way to donate to
charities. It wasn’t much, simply because they didn’t have much to give. But they still
managed to donate something, with the theory that ‘every little bit helps.’”
Through grief, generosity
The Meehans continued their habit of
charitable giving long after their children were grown, up until Frank passed away in 2005.
Later, in 2018, Tish also passed away, leaving the grieving family with a few details to
sort out. Patrick and his brother had received a small inheritance: some savings, and the
family home.
Patrick’s brother had the idea of giving his
share of the inheritance to charity, which made Patrick think carefully about what he
wanted to do with his share. Finally, he decided to invest it, with the intention of
giving away all the profits every year to charity. He then planned to put the remainder
of the funds in his will so that one of his nephews could continue the legacy of giving.
“My thinking
behind this idea was twofold,” Patrick says. “First of all, thanks be to God, I don’t need
the money. And second, it was not my money to begin with, but my parents’.
“I thought how
nice it was that my parents found a way to give to charity while they were here on this
earth and would, in essence, continue to do so for many decades after they were
gone.”
Being 'the safety net'
Then, in March 2020, the COVID-19
crisis took hold around the world.
One day while in quarantine, surfing the web,
Patrick came across an article from the United
Nations detailing the debilitating hunger and poverty
that lockdowns were causing globally. According to the article, 9 million more people
were expected to die within the year from hunger and hunger-related conditions, all
because of the pandemic. “It made me rethink my parents’ legacy,” Patrick says. “I
wrestled a bit about what to do.”
Finally, he came to the conclusion that the need
was too urgent to look away. He decided to donate all of the inheritance to charities
right then – including a $75,000 donation to ChildFund’s global COVID-19
response.
“I know people are hurting in this country, but
at least we have some safety nets in place to help the disadvantaged,” Patrick says.
“That is not necessarily the
case in other countries around the world, and I wanted to help be that
safety net for them. I chose to donate to ChildFund because I know it to be a charity
where the majority of donations go directly to programs and thereby impact the greatest
number of people in need.
“But this gift
really comes from my beloved parents,” Patrick continues. “Though they are gone from this
earth now, they are missed, they are loved, and they continue to give.”
