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Fluhrer estate gives $625,000 more to valley Fourteen agencies, charities will benefit By John Darling A bequest from Margaret Fluhrer's estate will add $625,000 to the family's Ames-Fluhrer Charitable Fund, bringing to $2.8 million the total designated to benefit Rogue Valley agencies and charities. Fluhrer, who died Aug. 29 at age 103, was the last surviving member of the longtime Medford family that founded the Fluhrer Bakery. The family came here from Minnesota in 1913. She became one of the region�s few women at the helm of a business during the 1940s and 1950s, managing the large bakery when her husband, William Fluhrer, served in the military during World War II. She took over the business when he was killed in a plane crash in 1948. Managed by the Oregon Community Foundation, the Ames-Fluhrer Charitable Fund will distribute more than $100,000 next year, said OCF field representative Kathleen Davis. The agencies served will see an increase in their annual payments. They are the American Red Cross, Southern Oregon Goodwill Industries, United Way of Jackson County, CERVS, Medford Gospel Mission, Mercy Flights, St. Vincent DePaul, Rogue Valley Council, Salvation Army, ACCESS, American Cancer Society, Crisis Intervention Services/Dunn House, and Southern Oregon Humane Society, plus one agency outside the area, Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Raphael, Calif. Fluhrer designated that 5 percent of the fund's earnings be distributed to the groups annually for 20 years. In 2020, the funds will be awarded to applicants in Jackson County on a grant basis, Davis said. "These nonprofit agencies are very grateful for a stable source of income. It's a tremendous boost for them," she said. "She understood what it takes to make a community healthy. Her vision for this region's long-term health will have a profound and positive effect on us for many years." Fluhrer and her sisters, Constance Fillmore Ames and Eleanor Sheffield, were long active in philanthropy and community service. They established a deferred fund with OCF in 1989, then the Ames-Fluhrer Fund with just over $1 million in 1995. The fund is managed by three national investment firms and has averaged about 16 percent annual earnings over the last 10 years, Davis said. "Margot and her sisters were caring members of this community for over 90 years and her bequest demonstrates understanding of the need for ongoing funding to support valuable local organizations," Bill Thorndike, OCF board member for Southern Oregon, said in a press release. OCF, founded in 1973, manages 700 charitable funds with more than $400 million in assets throughout Oregon. It also manages the Bill and Florence Schneider Charitable Fund of $6 million for similar social help interests in Southern Oregon. On the Net: Oregon Community Foundation: www.oregoncommunityfound.org Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA