Mike and Marla Gibson (pictured are their 6 grandkids on a recent vacation together) - IRA

Marla and I moved to Santa Maria in 1988 to raise our children in a wonderful hometown community. Since then, they have all launched successful careers and two of them have blessed us with 6 grandkids who are now also growing up here in town. As wonderful as Santa Maria is, when I began volunteering for CALM in 2012, I was shocked to learn that 4,000 of the 5,000 reported cases of child abuse in Santa Barbara County occur in North County. Since discovering this, I have been a staunch advocate for CALM, joining their board and spreading the word about the excellent work CALM is doing in our community. My wife and I believe it is unacceptable to have this many children in our community enduring this kind of trauma. We give to CALM annually to support the work of its therapists as they endeavor to both treat the effects of childhood trauma and implement programs to prevent trauma in the first place. We also lead and encourage others to participate in a local annual fundraiser called "Ladies Get Loud" to raise money and increase awareness for CALM.

While these volunteer efforts are important and on-going, we also wanted to leave something that supports the future of the organization we love and believe in so strongly. Our largest asset that we have accumulated over our lifetime is our Individual Retirement Accounts. We have specified CALM and some other youth-oriented agencies to be a percentage beneficiary of those IRA's when we have both passed. It was a very simple process to name a contingent beneficiary and the percentage while giving Marla and I peace of mind knowing that our plan is in place. Future generations of children will be positively impacted thanks to our membership in CALM's Children's Legacy Society.