Planning for the Future

Her love affair with PBS started long ago with the original THIS OLD HOUSE. “In fact, that show is in large part, what inspired me to buy and renovate my first old home after college,” said Karen MacEachern, a John Swope Legacy Society donor from Newton, NH. I spent a beautiful sunny day recently with Karen, sitting in the backyard of her 18th century home and talking about PBS. “Lately, I’m loving ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU. It seems as I’ve gotten older, so has my taste in homes,” she said to me with a sly grin.

One of the most gratifying parts of my job is spending time with donors and learning about what connects them to New Hampshire PBS. I spoke with Karen recently about what she loves about NHPBS and why it has been so important to her to include the station in her estate plans.

“I especially like the British shows, like CALL THE MIDWIFE, THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW, MASTERPIECE and several of the BBC series that air on NH EXPLORE. Recently, I’ve been watching THE INDIAN DOCTOR, and have been struck by how similar the reaction to the current pandemic is to how those characters in a small mining town in Wales reacted to a smallpox outbreak.”

“There was a time when I could only receive the five NHPBS channels over the air. It was then I discovered I could watch news from around the world on NH WORLD — DW NEWS from Germany, NHK NEWSLINE from Japan and FRANCE 24 news. It’s interesting to hear a perspective on US news coming from another country.”

“That was also when I discovered NH CREATE. There are travel shows I really enjoy watching that I can only see on that channel. Even though I have more viewing choices now, I still tend to gravitate to those NHPBS channels.”

“My parents were also big fans of PBS. Since my parents were the beneficiaries of my estate, when they died, I needed to choose a new beneficiary. That’s when I decided to designate NHPBS. I did feel a little bit silly at first listing a television station as a beneficiary but, I thought about how much goodness I’ve received over the years from PBS, and it felt like the right thing to do.”

October 18 – 24 is National Estate Planning Awareness Week, and NHPBS wants to make sure that our members have the tools and information they need to make plans for their families and the causes that are important to them. NHPBS’ partnership with FreeWill gives our members a convenient and reliable way to write their will in 20 minutes or less. By making a gift to New Hampshire PBS in your will, you can ensure quality broadcasting for our community for generations to come. I invite you to go online to nhpbs.org/freewill and start taking control of your future today.

Tamara Hindle
Director Individual Giving and Donor Relations

Pressroom Contact

Carla Gordon Russell
Director of Communications
crussell@nhpbs.org
(603) 868-4339