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The Jensen Family Charity Fund
Lowell and Helen Jensen were always grateful for the support the community gave them through the years in their business of home heating oil and as a gas distributor. To return a gift of thanks to the community, Lowell and Helen set up a Charity Fund with the emphasis on feeding the poor and needy or helping in any disaster or crisis in Central Oregon. This gift of $30,000 was to be invested in perpetuity with only the interest earned used for distribution for the needy.
This fund was called the JENSEN FAMILY CHARITY FUND and was given in October, 1994, to Father Luke Sheehan council 1872 Knights of Columbus, to administer. In 2004 it was brought to the council’s attention that any income from funds invested in a money market or mutual funds by a Knights of Columbus Council is taxable. Father Luke Sheehan Council, upon finding this information to be correct, voted to give the original $30,000 to St. Vincent de Paul and hold a growth value of the account of $10,000 for a period of 3 years. In 2007 the council set up an account with The Legacy of Faith in the name of St. Vincent de Paul for $10,000 with the same intentions as spelled out in the JENSEN FAMILY CHARITY FUND. With this account set up, St. Vincent de Paul added the original gift given to them of $30,000.
This account is now administered by the Legacy of Faith in perpetuity with the original intentions of the donors Lowell and Helen Jensen. Any additional donations may be added to this fund at any time provided the original intentions remain.
Lowell and Helen had been married for 72 years, until Helen’s death in 1998. Lowell was a member of the Knights of Columbus for 73 years and was the oldest living member in the Knights of Columbus in the state of Oregon until the Lord called him on May 7, 2006 at the age of 99.