For a lot of high schoolers, taking the step to college after graduation isn’t always an easy one. After all, it’s no secret that higher education is pretty darn expensive, and a lot of people have to pay off student debts for years to come.
Kira Conard knew that her family wasn’t in a financially good place when she was in high school and figured that she simply couldn’t afford to go to college.
The young woman had already accepted this and completely understood why it wasn’t possible, but then she received a phone call that would turn everything around.
The person calling her was Mr. Steve Nielsen, an attorney who represented Dale Schroeder.
The lawyer actually had an exciting and incredible surprise in store for Kira. He gave her some good news and told her that if she wanted, she could pursue all of her dreams and go to college.
Kira couldn’t believe it at first, but Nielsen assured her that it was because of the person he represented, Dale Schroeder.
The man left behind a lump of money so that Kira, a complete stranger, could go to college.
Tragically, the two would never meet. Dale Schroeder was a carpenter from Iowa. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us, as he passed away back in 2005.
The man had no close relatives or family members.
However, 33 complete strangers from Iowa received a special gift from the kind and hard-working man after he passed.
These people never even met him once, but they know what a kind person he was. These 33 people, who recently graduated from high school, all received financial help from Mr. Schroeder so that they could go to college. Kira was one of them.
Dale had a very frugal life, but looks can be very deceiving.
The man had saved up over three million dollars and wanted to spend it to help other people.
The attorney, Steve Nielsen, was also Dale’s personal friend. He knew him personally and recalls seeing him at church often.
“[He] went to work every day, worked really hard, was frugal like a lot of Iowans…. He had church jeans and work jeans,” the man said to KCCI.
Hard-working definitely isn’t an understatement, because Dale worked no less than 67 years. He was loyal to the same construction company in Des Moines the entire time.
One day, Dale approached him to talk about his financial situation. It was then that Dale revealed his plan to let other people go to college because he never got that chance.
“He said ‘I never got the opportunity to go college and so I’d like to help kids go to college’,” Steve says.
With the help of his friend and attorney, Dale would donate no less than his total savings of three million dollars to make sure kids can go pursue all of their dreams and goals.
After Dale passed, Steve kept the whole operation going. As of right now, Dale has funded the college tuition fees for 33 young people living in Iowa, all of whom are now thriving either at school or at work.
Recently, they all met up to honor the late man.
In 2019, the three million budget ran out. However, he was able to help almost three dozen people, even after he passed.
“For a man that would never meet me…to give me, basically, a full ride to college…. That’s incredible. That doesn’t happen,” Kira mentioned.
If one of the strangers accepted the offer, Dale only had one condition.
“All he asked was that you pay it forward. You can’t pay it back ’cause Dale’s gone. But you can remember him, and you can emulate him,” Steve said.
What an absolutely amazing and inspiring man! It’s incredible how he has helped out so many people in a selfless act. Even though he didn’t have any family when he passed, his legacy and kindness will live on forever.
Be sure to check out his amazing and inspiring story in the video below.
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