Frugal woman left $2.8 million1st batch of checks given to 11 nonprofit groups equals $2.3MBlanche Vavra was a frugal, private woman.
Her friends say she never spent a penny on anything but the absolute bare necessities. She had no children, was never married and lived a quiet life.
But eight months after her death, at the age of 90, with her generosity Vavra has affected the lives of thousands of people she never even met.
On Monday and Tuesday, representatives from First Interstate Bank and Moulton Bellingham presented 11 local nonprofit groups with checks totaling $2.3 million from a trust that Vavra had been, in one way or another, working on for most of her life.
"That was an amazing day," said Cynthia Reierson, a trust specialist and assistant vice president with First Interstate Bank. "Most of the people had never met her. Her story had to be told every time we went (to present a check)."
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