WesleyLife Foundation Donor Spotlight: Dr. Suzie Glazer Burt

Ask Dr. Suzie Glazer Burt why she gives, and her answer begins not with obligation, but with a sense of joy.

“My life has been made joyful by giving,” Suzie says. “And if by sharing my own story of joyful philanthropy I can help influence others, I will have done something that means a great deal to me.”

That joy, along with a deeply held belief in leaving her community better than she found it, has shaped Suzie’s remarkable partnership with WesleyLife Meals on Wheels. At the heart of that partnership is a vision that’s easy to understand, even if achieving it is anything but simple: No one in our community should go without food.

“I appreciate everything Meals on Wheels provides to those who are less fortunate and hungry,” Suzie says.

For Meals on Wheels clients, a daily meal is about far more than food. A nutritious lunch can help an older adult remain healthy and independent. A familiar face can ease isolation. For someone recovering from an illness or managing a medical condition, the right meal can be an important part of healing.

Suzie understands all of that. More importantly, she has acted on it.

Needs become opportunities

Suzie’s generosity funded a refrigerated truck that delivers flash-frozen, medically tailored meals throughout the community. But Suzie didn’t see the truck simply as something she could fund herself; she saw an opportunity to encourage others to join her.

By stepping forward first, she helped create momentum for additional partners to get involved, extending the reach of the original gift and helping more people receive the nutrition they need.

It’s an approach to philanthropy that says a great deal about Suzie: Give generously. Give where it matters. And when possible, inspire someone else to give, too.

That philosophy came to life in another extraordinary way in 2021. At the time, WesleyLife Meals on Wheels needed a new home that would allow the program to grow. Drake University had a need of its own involving its former School of Education building.

Suzie saw an opportunity.

Her $1.05 million gift to Drake made possible the transfer of the building to WesleyLife — bringing together two organizations important to Suzie and creating a new home for a program important to the entire community.

Today, the WesleyLife Meals on Wheels campus is helping transform what’s possible. Meals prepared in Suzie’s Kitchen are nourishing people throughout Central Iowa. The campus enables WesleyLife Meals on Wheels to significantly increase the number of meals it can produce, while an on-site hydroponic farm provides fresh greens to enhance their nutritional value.

The location also creates opportunities for multigenerational connection, with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa anchoring one end of the Drake University campus and WesleyLife Meals on Wheels serving from the other.

And every day, Suzie’s generosity travels far beyond the walls of the building she helped make possible. It travels in meals headed to the homes of older adults. It rides along in the refrigerated truck carrying medically tailored food to people who need it. It shows up in a knock at the door, a conversation, a well-being check, and the reassurance of knowing someone cares.

Lessons and ongoing impact

Suzie’s impact won’t end with the lives being touched today.

Through a $1 million estate gift to WesleyLife Meals on Wheels, she is helping ensure the program will continue nourishing and connecting people for generations to come.

For Suzie, that desire to make a lasting difference began long before her relationship with WesleyLife. She credits her mother, Maddie Levitt, with teaching her two lessons that have guided her life.

“She taught me that first, there’s no fun like work. Second, the greatest responsibility and the greatest gift any of us have is to leave our community a better place than we found it,” she says.

Suzie has taken those lessons to heart. Her generosity has helped create a home for WesleyLife Meals on Wheels. It has helped put medically tailored meals within reach of people who need them. It has inspired others to join her. And someday, through the legacy she has planned, it will help feed people she will never meet.

Suzie’s vision is a community where no one goes hungry. With her help, WesleyLife Meals on Wheels gets closer to that vision with every meal delivered.