Photo: A launch event was held Feb. 26 at the Welcoming Place in Akron, Pa., for the Luann Martin Legacy Fund for Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, a $1 million legacy gift pledged to MCC in honor of Luann Habegger Martin of McLean, Va., who died of cancer in July 2015. Ray Martin (center, husband of Luann) holds the document that he and MCC staff signed acknowledging the terms of agreement on how the donation will be used. Standing with Ray are, from left, Emre Ozaltin (son-in-law), Gregory Martin (son), Annette Martin Ozaltin (daughter) holding Troy Ozaltin (grandson), and Joanna Walker (girlfriend of Gregory). (MCC Photo/Brenda Burkholder)
Throughout her long career in international development–including with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)–Luann Habegger Martin of McLean, Va., worked to promote the well-being of women and children around the world.
Following Martin’s death in July, her family decided to make a gift of $1 million to MCC in honor of her legacy and lifelong passion for maternal and child health and nutrition.
The gift will increase MCC’s capacity to realize Martin’s lifelong dream of seeing more “healthy children, lives saved and kids growing up with meaning and a future.”
Projects improving health and preventing disease are an integral part of MCC’s development work, which seeks long-term solutions to poverty, hunger and poor health by working alongside local partners and communities.
The Luann Martin Legacy Fund for Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition will allow MCC to scale up its work with committed partners throughout eastern and central Africa that are addressing barriers to maternal and child health. Their work includes ensuring women, infants and children have access to adequate nutrition; providing prenatal and pediatric healthcare; and preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Beth Good, health coordinator for MCC U.S., observed that the mortality rate for children younger than five has fallen by half over the last 25 years. Yet nearly 6 million infants and young children die globally every year, mostly in developing countries. MCC’s projects will contribute to the global goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2030.
J Ron Byler, executive director of MCC U.S., said, “The church and her faith were vital to Luann, so I am especially pleased that the fund will strengthen and expand MCC’s commitment to partner with churches and other community-based groups working to improve maternal and child health and nutrition.”
At an event celebrating the fund’s launch in late February, Luann’s husband, Ray Martin, shared with a gathered group of friends, family and MCC staff why his family decided to donate Luann’s retirement savings to create the MCC fund.
“Our Anabaptist theology and culture emphasize the importance of service and community,” said Martin. Several of their family members served with MCC, he explained, and Ray and Luann knew the organization’s priorities aligned with the causes about which they cared deeply. “From the beginning of our marriage, Luann and I donated liberally to MCC,” he said.
Throughout their international development careers, he and Luann often encountered MCC service workers. He said they admired and appreciated MCC’s emphasis on relationship building, community development and partnerships with the church and other local organizations.
Through the fund, Martin looks forward to the opportunity to support MCC’s “growing capacity to incorporate cutting edge approaches into its development work while maintaining its commitment to relationship building and working with the church.” He also hopes his family’s story will inspire others who are considering how to share their resources in ways that reflect their faith and values.
Martin views the fund not as a gift, but an investment. “It’s an investment in healthy mothers, babies and families–and overall, a better world.”
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