Miner-Shoemaker Fund Story - Family Roots Run Deep

An aunt’s legacy. A family’s desire to use accumulated wealth to support and better the community. The involvement of future generations in a tradition of charitable giving and community involvement. These are the reasons a niece decided to establish the Miner-Shoemaker Fund at The Luzerne Foundation.

Her aunt had lived her entire life in Luzerne County. When she passed away her niece could have used the inheritance to directly benefit many organizations in the community, but felt the family money had been accumulated over many years in the Wyoming Valley and thus should be contributed back to worthy nonprofit organizations in the area. After tithing a portion of the estate, she and her husband established a donor advised fund, the Miner-Shoemaker Fund, to do just that. As they stated, “That’s where it came from and that’s where it should stay.”

Over the two years of its existence, The Miner-Shoemaker Fund has contributed to organizations in areas that were of special interest to their aunt and father such as music and history. The fund has also supported women in crisis, youth, neighborhood centers and others. The Luzerne Foundation provides information about organizations in need for review and grants are made twice a year.

The next generation of the family is also actively involved in the Miner-Shoemaker Fund grant making process. Two daughters (grandnieces) living in other areas of the county are learning about their heritage and the community where their family has its roots through their participation in reviewing requests and supporting area nonprofits. It is the family’s wish that this legacy live on for many generations to come.