I often dream of winning the lottery and using the money secretly/anonymously to help people.
I think my parents taught me that. They were both so poor as kids that they sometimes went hungry, but grew up to be middle-class Americans. They passed along to me the dream of lightening the load of others.
Here are two older guys who are living that dream.
Mitchell E. Davis
Mitchell E. Davis is a retired ophthalmologist who has donated over four million dollars to worthy causes, like medical funds for people who can’t afford care.
He started with a small inheritance from his parents, both Russian immigrants. Lived frugally, never married, never had kids.
His acts of generosity make him happy. He has a firm rule, though. He’ll never donate to an institution or cause that approaches him first. You can read more about him here.
Donald Friese
Donald Friese was sent to an orphanage when he was five. His parents had too many children to feed so they gave the little ones away. (Breaks my heart to write that!) When he was old enough to get a paying job, he started out as a minimum wage worker bee, and ended up owning the company.
When it was time to retire, he found a buyer but felt badly about his employees. So he gave all 1,800 of them a nice cash bonus. Each averaged $60,000. Except for two longtime workers who ran some of his warehouses. Them, he called into his office and gave each a check for a million bucks. “We were all crying,” he said. You can read the rest of that story here.
I hope you enjoy these two stories as much as I did!
I enjoyed these uplifting stories. The generosity of the human spirit can be amazing. It strikes me that it is often those with the least amount to give are the most generous souls.
People who have deprived childhoods can go one of two ways—either they become incredibly generous, like the two examples you show, or they can become misers, always afraid, and protective of their ‘stash’. I know this to be true, since I’ve seen it in my own life, but I can’t tell you what makes the difference. There are many people who live small, impoverished lives, even though their bank balances are huge! I’m glad you wrote about the generous people instead!
Stories like these restore my faith in mankind (which has been in short supply given the asshats in DC and other crap going on across the country these days). Thanks, Lynne. This was a lovely way to head into the weekend. XO