Individuals in common (or “average”) roles can also make having an impact seem to be more accessible — and a more-compelling moral necessity — to others who have typical, or even outstanding, resources to make a difference.
For example, the Washington Postnoted that this waiter’s and part-time teacher’s financial support of low-income students in Ghana inspired both his friends and wealthy members at the country club where he works to also donate. While bed nets or other investments may be higher value from an EA perspective, this is still an interesting case study of an average-income person (from a U.S. perspective) having impact well beyond his own professional work or ETG capacity:
To help supplement his teaching salary, Quarcoo was working part time as a waiter at Woodmont Country Club, an exclusive golf and tennis club where initial membership costs $80,000.
When some of the members learned about his efforts to help students in Ghana, they asked if they could chip in, said Quarcoo, who has worked at the country club since 1975. He also is a part-time substitute teacher in Montgomery County.
“I have never asked for donations, but people are generous and wanted to help,” he said. “A member would say, ‘Hey, Sam, next time you go to Ghana, let me know. I will try to help you.’ By word of mouth, it took off from there.”
Quarcoo’s humble nature and desire to help is contagious at the country club, said Adrienne Maman, a donor who met him about 35 years ago when he waited on her family’s table.
“His heart is right in front of you — you can see his soul when you meet him,” said Maman, 67, who lives in Chevy Chase, Md.
“Sam is a genuine person who just took it upon himself to help these schools,” she added. “Single-handedly, he worked on his own for many years until people slowly began to find out. He has never wanted anything for himself — everything he does is for the children of Ghana.”
Even though Quarcoo has been furloughed from waiting tables since March because of the coronavirus pandemic, club members still donated $19,000 to his efforts this year, he said. The funds were used to buy supplies for nearly 2,000 students.
I really appreciate your sharing a story that I probably wouldn’t have seen in my other reading. Regardless of the details of where he donated, interesting case studies of philanthropic success can be valuable to the EA movement in many ways.
Thanks so much for the kind feedback, Aaron! Here’s one involving a cataloguer at a library in the “unexpectedly significant financial impact from a person with average income, in a U.S. context, category” — in case anyone finds it interesting: Librarian Quietly Saved $4 Million, Left It to School Where He Worked. Some might see it as a cautionary tale, since Morin’s alma mater was then criticized for spending $1M on a video scoreboard for its college football team. Of course I think many of us would’ve wished he’d encountered EA and saved >1,000 lives in expectation from the gift (by offering it to AMF or an EA charity of your choice) instead.
A brief synopsis of his humble life and outsized impact comes from this CNBC report:
New Hampshire resident and librarian Robert Morin led a simple life.
“He would have some Fritos and a Coke for breakfast, a quick cheese sandwich at the library, and at home would have a frozen dinner because the only thing he had to work with was a microwave,” Morin’s longtime financial advisor Edward Mullen told the Boston Globe.
You wouldn’t know it from his lifestyle, but Morin — who graduated from the University of New Hampshire before working in the school’s library for nearly 50 years — was a multimillionaire. In fact, very few people didknow, until he died in March 2015 at age 77 and bequeathed his entire $4 million fortune to his alma mater.
It was a complete “surprise to the university community,” Erika Mantz, director of media relations at UNH, told CNBC. ”People were honored and excited to learn of his generous bequest.”
Individuals in common (or “average”) roles can also make having an impact seem to be more accessible — and a more-compelling moral necessity — to others who have typical, or even outstanding, resources to make a difference.
For example, the Washington Post noted that this waiter’s and part-time teacher’s financial support of low-income students in Ghana inspired both his friends and wealthy members at the country club where he works to also donate. While bed nets or other investments may be higher value from an EA perspective, this is still an interesting case study of an average-income person (from a U.S. perspective) having impact well beyond his own professional work or ETG capacity:
I really appreciate your sharing a story that I probably wouldn’t have seen in my other reading. Regardless of the details of where he donated, interesting case studies of philanthropic success can be valuable to the EA movement in many ways.
Thanks so much for the kind feedback, Aaron! Here’s one involving a cataloguer at a library in the “unexpectedly significant financial impact from a person with average income, in a U.S. context, category” — in case anyone finds it interesting: Librarian Quietly Saved $4 Million, Left It to School Where He Worked. Some might see it as a cautionary tale, since Morin’s alma mater was then criticized for spending $1M on a video scoreboard for its college football team. Of course I think many of us would’ve wished he’d encountered EA and saved >1,000 lives in expectation from the gift (by offering it to AMF or an EA charity of your choice) instead.
A brief synopsis of his humble life and outsized impact comes from this CNBC report: