Originally from upstate New York, Rachel and Allan Page moved to Arizona in 2011 to be closer to their daughter, who at the time was living in San Diego where her husband was stationed at Coronado Naval Base.
Their move was in large part prompted by the news of a new grandchild on the way. “We have always enjoyed traveling to Arizona and said we would love to retire there someday,” Rachel says. “And a grandchild cinched it – we were buying a home in Arizona to be closer to our grandson!”
Around the time their grandson was in preschool, his teacher suggested Rachel and Allan Page’s family pursue an evaluation for autism based on concerns they were seeing. Shortly after, the family received an autism diagnosis for their young grandson.
Despite Rachel and her husband in Arizona, they were committed to learning as much as they could about autism, including local resources. In her research, she found SARRC’s Grandparent’s Support Group and started attending the monthly meetings.
“I found SARRC’s Grandparent’s Group along with a wealth of good information that would help both me and my daughter in helping my grandson,” Rachel says. “I really enjoy the meetings where speakers address different topics and current research articles are available to learn more. Not only has this information helped me understand how to support my grandson, but it is also often shared with my daughter and her husband as we all continue on this journey of support for their grandson. What we learn really does allow us to provide help from afar for our grandson.”
Since 2016, the Pages have been dedicated to supporting SARRC, including becoming Multiyear Visionary Partners or MVPs, pledging an annual donation for five years or more in support of SARRC’s programs, services and research.
“We are impressed with SARRC’s vision and efforts to help our children grow into the best they can be and its commitment to learning as much as possible about this special challenge that is growing in number,” Rachel says. “I believe the resources that SARRC provides local families are invaluable and hope further research on this growing important topic will teach us more to help our loved ones.”
Newly retired after 35 years as a financial adviser taking care of clients in 26 states, Rachel was very familiar with gift-giving strategies. “My favorite task was helping my clients fulfill their charitable intentions through our discussions on gifting, estate planning and charitable remainder trusts,” she says. “In most recent years the wonderful ability to direct required minimum distributions from their individual retirement accounts (IRAs) to their favorite charities without paying tax on those distributions became increasingly utilized.”
The Pages now are using those strategies to make gifts to their favorite charities, including becoming SARRC MVP donors.
Allan still enjoys his consulting work on renewable energy with most clients in New York. So the couple often returns to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., their former home of 44 years. Rachel has previously served on the Dutchess County Planning Board, boards of the Hudson Valley Community Foundation, United Way and St. Francis Hospital Foundation. Allan has served as the president of a local business Chamber of Commerce and Boys Scouts of America.
Are you interested in making a difference by becoming a SARRC Multiyear Visionary Partner? Learn more here.
