Afterlife: Nurture a Good Cause with Your "Stuff"

Afterlife: Nurture a Good Cause with Your "Stuff"

By Melinda Gustafson Gervasi

November 22, 2024

Earlier this month I read a short novel that explored the issues of sudden loss, grief, and human connection.  Afterlife by Julia Alvarez focuses on the newly retired Antonia who suddenly finds herself a widow.  A former English teacher, Antonia routinely pulls quotes and phrases from literature to apply to the situation at hand – and through the course of his novel she faces plenty of challenges.  In the year following her husband’s accidental death she is confronted with a sister in crisis as well as a young undocumented immigrant living on a neighboring Vermont farm who is about to give birth. Personally, while reading a specific passage in Afterlife I too had a quote jump to mind:

 “What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains, and is immortal”. - Albert Pike

This quote by Albert Pike leaped to my mind when Alvarez described Antonia donating her late husband’s truck to a local charity; “...he lives on, in her choices and in the vehicle’s afterlife”.  One small phrase in the book linked directly to my work as an estate planning and probate attorney, and my 2013 book Middle Class Philanthropist: How Anyone Can Leave a Legacy.  Her husband’s earthly time had ended, but his favorite truck was given to a local charity for a low-income person in need of a vehicle.  Through her choices, his tangible items took on another life.  

Working with my estate planning clients, many toss their hands in the air in frustration – “what am I going to do with all of my stuff! My kids don’t want it.  My friends are as old as me!”  For those seeking an answer about what to do with all the things we have crammed into our homes and storage units, one option is to consider how tangible items may have a life after you are gone.  Turn to a beloved nonprofit as a possible answer. Here are a few suggestions that might speak to you:

• Donate household furnishings to a local nonprofit that helps people get settled into a home after being released from prison, being homeless, or as a newly settled refugee;
• Give clothing to organizations that help people with professional attire who are interviewing for jobs following a long period of unemployment;
• Add books to Little Free Libraries or donate them to public libraries that have book sales to support their services;
• Direct hobbyist or professional equipment to a trade school or school-based program;
• Suggest household plants be given to a low-income nursing home facility to add some cheer to the halls;
• Have a yard sale with no price tags, just donations that will go to a local nonprofit (have information on hand for the organization).

I hope this short list of ideas sparks creativity in your own mind - challenge yourself to find ways for all that stuff to promote something you cherish once your earthly days are over.  Please remember that a blog is not legal advice.  It is meant to spark thought and discussion.  Seek out legal advice from an attorney licensed in your home state.  Thank you for reading, be well, and share this post with others who might find it helpful.