Robert Remick was a bus depot employee, a high school teacher, an artist and a farmer in Cottonwood County. He and wife Helen were generous people whose giving far outlasted their lifetime through The Robert and Helen Remick Charitable Foundation Trust.

Southwest Initiative Foundation has been a grateful recipient of substantial gifts from the Remick Trust to support our Southwest Initiative Foundation General Endowment, Growing Home Circle, early care and education and a memorial scholarship fund.

The Remick Trust also made one of the first gifts of farmland—240 acres—through our Keep It Growing℠ program. Over the last few years, farmland giving has become a cornerstone of the innovative and flexible giving options Southwest Initiative Foundation offers our rural region. And, it all started because of people like Bob.

Lakefield attorney Patrick Costello saw many clients who were charitably inclined and deeply connected to their farmland and neighbors. Pat wondered if charities might consider keeping and managing donated farmland, and knew immediately that community foundations would be best positioned for the opportunity.

Rather than liquidating the assets like other charities usually do with gifts of real estate, Pat’s model allows Southwest Initiative Foundation to receive remainder interest of the donor’s life estate and maintain ownership of the land after the donor passes.

Keep It Growing℠ has been a winning combination, gaining interest across the region and country.

The 352 acres of land Southwest Initiative Foundation owns outright today generates more than $60,000 annually to support programs and grant making. And, local ownership means wealth generated stays with local tenants, circulating throughout the community.