Oseola McCarty

My hero is Miss McCarthy. She helped the world get richer by donating $150,000 to a college university in Southern Mississippi. The money was for scholarships for needy students.

She lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She was a washerwoman. She was a hard worker for almost 70 years. A washerwoman is a woman who does someone's laundry. She saved almost all she earned.

She didn't get a good education because her mother, aunt, and her grandma became sick. She quit school at 12 so she could nurse them until their deaths because she was loyal to her family. By that time she became an elderly woman.

She is more generous than Ted Turner is. Turner gave 1/3 of his money to the United Nations (which is $1,000,000,000). Miss McCarthy gave away almost all her money. For donating money for scholarships, she got the presidential citizen's medal, Wallenburg humanitarian award, and an honorary doctorate from Harvard, etc. She carried the Olympic torch in Atlanta.

I've learned to stop asking "Santa" for presents so "Santa" could save more money. I've also learned to always buy 1 Christmas present for myself if I want one to save "Santa" money.