Dale Shroeder never went to college. And he never married or had kids of his own. But he had a dream. And that was to see small-town poor Iowan kids, like he had been, have an opportunity he never had. Even though he spent over 60 years of his life working as a carpenter with two pairs of jeans to his name, he saved almost 3 million dollars so that he could send 33 kids, that he would never meet, to college. Recently all those who benefitted from Dale’s generosity, dubbed “Dale’s Kids,” got together to honor and remember the stranger who became like a father to them. There is a concept in Judaism that one’s students (those we influence and impact) are like our children. So while Dale never had biological children of his own, he most definitely has many children today. These doctors, lawyers and other professionals are not just “Dale’s Kids” theoretically, but they are who they are because of him. And the future generations that come from them will always be connected to Dale as well. While there were no strings attached to his generosity, there was one request he had which was reiterated by his close friend: “All we ask is that you pay it forward. You can’t pay it back, because Dale is gone, but you can remember him and you can emulate him.”
