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Stories of Giving

People making a difference in the lives of others today and for generations to come. What will be your story?

Planning For A Lasting Legacy

Helen Hardt Oskar was passionate about supporting her Neenah-Menasha community where she grew up.

Helen Hardt Oskar was passionate about supporting her Neenah-Menasha community where she grew up. She loved her church, and she loved Doty Park. Helen was a Red Cross volunteer during World War II, serving in Italy, Egypt, and Africa. She worked for the U.S. government in Budapest, and she was a secretary/assistant doing legal work in New York City.

Helen returned to Neenah in 1979. She created her Helen Hardt Family Fund and joined our Himebaugh Legacy Circle with plans for continuing to support many causes in the Fox Valley dear to her after her lifetime through an estate gift.

When she passed away in 2008 at age 93, Helen’s fund was administered by her successor advisors in her family, and when the last of her family advisors died a few months ago, her fund became a field of interest fund administered by the Community Foundation according to Helen’s wishes.

Annually, the Helen Hardt Family Fund will continue to support up to 15 organizations she loved according to current needs in the community, including Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Doty Park in Neenah, and the Evergreen Foundation at the Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh where she lived.


Have you given thought to your own legacy and how you can make a difference to a loved one, your community and your favorite charitable causes? Your Community Foundation is happy to help with your long-term charitable planning to help you make an impact on the people and projects that matter to you long after you are no longer here. The Himebaugh Legacy Circle recognizes those who have made future plans for their favorite charitable causes through a bequest or similar deferred gift to the Foundation.