Like so many who relocate from a big city to Toledo, Meg and Dick Ressner discovered it was a place where they could have a special kind of impact.

“Dick and I met in Chicago while with Owens-Corning (OC), and moved here in 1989,” said Meg. “We fell hard for Toledo because we realized we could make a real difference here.”

The couple’s dedication to their new community began with volunteering and continues today from their residences in Toledo and Florida. “Early on, I served on the board of the Toledo Arts Commission, David’s House, and the OC Foundation — back then, you had to be physically present for meetings. Now, we can stay involved no matter where we are,” she noted.

Thanks to Meg’s prior involvement with the OC Foundation, the Ressners are also very strategic about their giving — so the couple’s philanthropic commitment to Toledo was a deciding factor in establishing a fund with GTCF. “When our financial advisor suggested we create a donor advised fund, we could have done that with any wealth management firm, and we vetted all those options,” she noted. “But GTCF is a leader in the community that is making a difference for Toledo — so if we were going to do this, we wanted to do it with them.”

Maintaining a philanthropic focus is another priority for the Ressners. “I had my causes, he had his — but with our fund, we said no, we’re going to make an impact with the things we care about as a family. Deciding that was the hard part. After you decide that, the Foundation makes it easy,” she noted. “I use their online system— we do all our stuff online and it’s simple. I like that — I do not like it when it’s complicated!” she laughed.

While also reserving a portion of their resources to support friends’ causes, the Ressners have dedicated their volunteer work and giving to women’s empowerment, autism, the Evans Scholar program for young golf caddies, and the new collaboration between First Tee of Lake Erie and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Toledo, serving youth in the Rogers-McTigue learning community. But when COVID-19 brought a halt to community activities, Meg found a new way to support Toledo with the creation of another fund at GTCF.  

“During Covid, my friend Annie and I were staying connected with Zoom coffee chats,” she explained. “We were talking about how lucky we both were — and Annie said ‘We’ve got to do something. What if we raised money to pay the restaurants to make food to serve the hospitals and first responders … they can be our ‘plus one’ for a meal.”

After their Zoom call, Meg promptly emailed several restauranteurs about the idea — and within a week of creating the Toledo Plus One Fund at GTCF, more than $20,000 in donations had come into the Fund and delivery of hot, restaurant-grade meals for hospitals and first responders began. Toledo Plus One raised more than $70,000, funding more than 4,100 meals.

Meg cites three reasons for opening a family fund at GTCF.  “First, it was a witness to the difference that GTCF makes in Toledo – it fits our ‘supporting Toledo’ strategy. They’ve also been incredibly helpful — we couldn’t have done Toledo Plus One if we didn’t have the Foundation to make it work. We trust them to manage our funds wisely. And, we wanted the flexibility tax-wise to release the money when we need to, in a way that is consistent with our strategy. Our GTCF fund makes all of that possible.”