Legacy Child Fund’s Inspiration – The Culver Family, In Memory of Chad Culver
In 2002, Chad, our oldest son, who was 19 years old, died in a motorcycle accident while away at college. We got that dreaded visit by a policeman at our door late that night. Our lives were forever changed. Our family, church and community poured out their love to us. Not just for a few weeks, but for the next few years. Even so, the grief seemed unbearable at times. The grief was so bad it would hurt physically.
During this time of grieving, we did more reflecting than we had previously on the important things of life. Before Chad’s death we often talked about being empty nesters, retirement and taking it easy. After his death our focus was constantly on the family. We focused on our 2 remaining teenaged children, and the many good memories we had with Chad. We realized that raising a family was much more fulfilling than retirement could ever be. So we explored adoption. At 47 and 44 years old, we wondered if we were too old. We didn’t think so, but what did the rest of the world think? I was ready to adopt, but my wife, Val, was not. Val prayed about it, asking God to show her signs that if it were to be, God would show her. Over the next several months we encountered several magazine articles, news articles and stories from friends of people our age and older, who also had adopted. After seeing countless ‘signs’ she felt like God said “Of course you should adopt, how many more signs do you need?’ So, we made a decision to start phase 2 of our family. We decided to adopt an infant and keep the fun times rolling! We returned from China in July of 2006 with our new baby girl!
We had been trying to think of something we could do ‘in memory of’ Chad for the past 3 years. Nothing seemed to fit. We considered having scholarships given in his name at school or donations to city parks for trees/benches, but those things seemed empty to us. It was during the adoption process that we became acquainted with several families who wished to adopt but could not afford the initial cash outlay it required. My wife and I talked about how it would be nice to help another family adopt, in memory of Chad. The idea of helping an orphan find a home, wow that was awesome!! What better way to remember a life, our son and our friend, Chad, than helping an orphan child get placed in a loving home? God truly can make good things happen out of bad!
The idea seemed so natural that we wanted to find a way that other grieving families could also express their love toward a lost loved one by helping an orphan child find a loving home. Thus was born the concept of Legacy Child – families helping other families adopt orphans in memory of a loved one that died.
Please consider making a contribution of any size to Chad Culver’s fund and help the Culver Family continue his legacy …
To DONATE BY MAIL, please make out the check to ABBA Fund (do not write the family name on the physical check, which will invalidate the charitable aspect of your gift ... instead either print out this page to send with it or include a separate note to request that we preference your gift toward the family profiled on this page) -- then mail your check and preference request to:
ABBA Fund, PO BOX 868049, Plano, TX 75086-8049
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**AN IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION FROM ABBA FUND ABOUT YOUR DONATION**
Using the online form on this page automatically submits a request to preference your gift to the family profiled on this page as part of ABBA Fund’s Christian Family Adoption Grant Fund. ABBA Fund administers this fund and maintains full control and administration of all donated funds. We also strive to honor our donor’s preference requests in accordance with IRS and Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) guidelines.
The IRS allows donors to state a preference of how their contribution is used and request that the gift support a particular family — and it allows the charitable organization (ABBA Fund) to fully consider that request as long as the donor understands and acknowledges for charitably given tax-deductible gifts that the ultimate authority regarding the disposition of your gift is at the discretion of the charitable organization. By using this online form, or other method described above, you are acknowledging an understanding of those IRS guidelines.