LegacyStories.org Releases Legacy Builder Tool Chest to Make Legacy Planning Easy for Everyone

The word 'legacy' is being heard everywhere these days and it's having an emotional affect on Baby Boomers, their Greatest Generation parents and now their Generation-X children. Facing their mortality, they are starting to think about how they will be remembered and what they will leave behind.

These are the people who recorded the living history of the 20th century and their enormous library of life experiences will go to waste if not preserved and passed down.

Such a waste is far greater than most people know. A recent article in the NY Times references Drs. Marshall Duke and Robyn Fivush who created the "Do You Know Scale" as a way to measure children's behavior in relation to what they know about their family's history.

They observed that, "higher scores on the DYK scale were associated with higher levels of self-esteem, an internal locus of control (a belief in one's own capacity to control what happens to him or her), better family functioning, lower levels of anxiety, fewer behavioral problems, and better chances for good outcomes if a child faces educational or emotional/behavioral difficulties".

Defining and passing down a personal and family legacy can be the difference between success and failure for our grandchildren. It can also secure an honored place in family history for those fortunate few who take the time to execute a legacy plan.

To help people do this the experts at LegacyStories.org, a family history library dedicated to building, preserving and sharing legacies through story, have developed the first comprehensive 'Legacy Builder Tool Chest'.

The tool chest contains 14 drawers, each focused on a specific legacy topic, a "tool kit" with interactive how-to guidebooks, downloadable forms, video tutorials and lots of helpful resources. Toolkit topics include, "Life Lessons and Values", "Keepsakes & Heirlooms", "Vintage Legacy Photos", etc.

There is even a Toolkit titled, "Loved Ones in Care", to help caregivers build a legacy for for a child with a terminal illness, loved ones with Alzheimer's, in hospice care, and for seniors living in assisted or skilled nursing facilities.

"We have found that when it comes to leaving a legacy most people's priority is to pass down their life lessons and values." says Tom Cormier, co-founder of LegacyStories.org. "So, we provide the 'Life Lessons and Values' toolkit to all our members at no cost. Since membership in LegacyStories.org is free too, there are no obstacles to prevent anyone from securing an honored place in family history. They just need to take action before they regret it."

Content for the individual toolkits is contributed by top legacy industry experts including members of The International Assoc. of StoryKeepers and the Association of Personal Historians.

The web library offers unlimited published story pages where members can apply what they learn directly to their legacy portfolio for backup and sharing. Members can also upload vintage family photos into a slideshow and record voice narrations directly to the site, describing people in the photos who might otherwise be strangers to grandchildren.

The Legacy Builder Tool Chest is also being used by estate planners as a means of adding values-based elements and an ethical will to their financial estate plan.

Participants learn how to play a vital role in their family today as "effective elders" and also how to be one of the few "awesome ancestors" future generations will look to when they want to learn about their family.

"It's pretty sad when you think that with today's technology we can for the first time timelessly preserve the things that will matter most to our grandchildren, yet only a scant few people will ever take the time to do anything about it.", states Cormier.

"In less than 2.5 generations all they have lived for will be diminished to a dash between a birth and death date on a headstone, while they could be remembered forever and make such a big difference. It's a tragic waste!"

The Legacy Builder Tool Chest was developed to entice more people to do something, however large or small, to become an effective elder and an awesome ancestor before it is too late.