Pat Kirkpatrick: The Joy of Giving
By Karin Evans
When Pat Kirkpatrick was thinking about retiring from her job as a fundraiser for Disability Rights Advocates, she had a chat with an older friend about what to do with the rest of her life. As luck would have it, just after she actually retired, Pat was out jogging when she ran into that same friend. “What are you doing with your life now?” asked the woman. Pat said she was thinking of getting involved with Ashby Village. The friend smiled and said emphatically, “Don’t think about it, do it!”
Pat jogged home, picked up the phone, and learned there was an orientation session for Ashby Village volunteers that very weekend. “And so,” she says with a laugh, “I jumped into the deep end and I haven’t regretted it since.”
Her schedule as a volunteer, Pat says, is a bit “eclectic”—ranging from driving members to medical appointments, to hosting living room sessions for those who’ve recently joined, to reading aloud to a member who is visually impaired, to being a member of the Ashby Village Bridge Club. “I take very clever 95-year-old women to bridge games,” she says laughing, “and they just kill me every time with their very nimble minds!
“Now I have all these girlfriends and boyfriends who are 90-plus. I get to hear about their lives and it’s a thrill,” she says. “I really like to get to know people. It’s like opening a surprise package each time I respond to a request. I meet someone new and find myself thinking, what an interesting person! They all provide a role model to me as I get older.”
“Volunteering has given me so much back. It’s pure joy!” says Pat. And the Village makes volunteering flexible as well as fun. “I have never seen a more dedicated and committed and charismatic staff, a group of people so devoted to the organization.” In addition to her other volunteer activities, Pat supports Ashby Village with advice about effective strategies for development and fundraising.
“I really believe in the mission of Ashby Village,” Pat says. “As so many more people are growing older, we have to think about options that are much more pleasant and exciting than assisted living or nursing homes. “It’s not just coincidental that this movement is taking place in Berkeley, the birthplace of disability rights, where we have a much more vaulted notion of how people with disabilities can spend their lives.”
Pat knows a lot about that vision. Her first job was running a program to train adults with mental disabilities to work in the catering business. “I got the idea from Japan and decided that I wanted to shatter stereotypes and make others aware of what people with cognitive disabilities could do if you only gave them a chance.” The program was resoundingly successful.
Meanwhile, Pat’s husband, Sid Wolinsky, had founded the now-renowned Disability Rights Advocates. Early on, that group won a landmark case against Boston University after the institution had cut out its programs for students with learning disabilities. “We went to trial and won,” says Pat. “I was so thrilled.”
She told Sid that Disability Rights Advocates needed a fundraiser if it was going to survive, and Pat went to work in that capacity, a job that lasted until the day two and a half years ago when she retired. Sid, who will turn 80 on the Fourth of July this year, has been in the trenches for 50-plus years, she says. “He’s a wonderful role model and has been my mentor, too. He’s my major warrior in life. I wish there were more of them around.
“Sid and I really have shared the same values, about giving back to the communities in which we live,” adds Pat. And that has meant offering financial support to good causes.
“I feel passionately about the Ashby Village Founders’ Fund and I believe in the “It Takes a Village” scholarship. I very much like to dedicate my money to making sure that people who otherwise can’t afford Ashby Village can enjoy the services. I think it’s a very important aspect of the village,” Pat says.
“When my husband turned seventy years and six months old, he was required to take a distribution from his IRA,” she adds. Congress has passed legislation that allows you to choose not to take the money personally and pay taxes on it, but to roll over the amount directly into a 501(c)(3) charity. It’s a great way to make a donation. “We have our favorites,” Pat says. “Every year we give to Ashby Village.” LEARN MORE about IRA Rollovers to charitable organizations.
Whether the gift is of time or money, Pat firmly believes there is deep satisfaction in giving. “I am a strange duck,” she says with a laugh. “I feel very strongly that people get caught up in what they think they need in life, more and more physical items and expenditures and treats for themselves. I’m not saying for a moment that I don’t have a wonderful life and glorious things, but I really think twice about the money I have now and how I want to spend it.
“I know I want to spend money on good charities and good groups providing wonderful services and advocacy. It’s the only way our society will be one in which I want to live. Because I am a fundraiser, I get frustrated with people who feel they can’t give. I feel life is much more wonderful when you are giving. I try to do that in my life and hope it rubs off on others!”