Photo: GoFundMe
While she may not make the cover ofForbes, a North Carolina barbershop owner wanted to do her part to relieve the debts of students in her community after hearing a rousing commencement speech from a billionaire.
When Season Bennett heard that investorRobert F. Smith had pledged to pay off the debtsof the 400 students graduating from Morehouse College this year, to the tune of $40 million, she immediately understood how much an impact the charitable act was going to have on these young people with dreams of changing the world.
“It just seems like that’s just the basic in our culture,” Bennett said. “You need to get at least your high school diploma.”
“We called the school to find out if there were any graduating seniors that wouldn’t be able to graduate because they owe fees,” Bennett wrote in the description of aGoFundMepage she started to pay off the student’s debt, which totaled $4,500. “We were told that there are 14 seniors at East Mecklenburg High School who can’t walk at graduation or receive their diploma because they owe money.”
She added: “We don’t know these students and may never have a chance to meet them, but we know that everyone should be entitled to the high school diploma that they earned.”
After posting the GoFundMe, Bennett helped to raise more than a $1,000, but she got the added boost she needed when the daughter of Carolina Panthers player Thomas Davis came across it.
“He said, ‘You know what, whatever need you have left over, we’re going to make sure these students graduate,’ ” Bennett recalled.
Thomas donated $4,000, which helped Bennett surpass the goal she needed to help the students pay off their debts. The rest will be going to an anti-suicide program, she wrote on the donation page.
While she may not have the cash flow of a billionaire, Bennett managed to use her talents to help a group of students who felt the pressure mounting just as they should be celebrating a milestone.
source: people.com
