Well-known for his generous ways, billionaire Robert T. Hale Jr. gifted students $500 and asked them to donate the other $500.
The University of Massachusetts graduation ceremony was bright and happy despite the dark and gloomy weather.
Thanks to the commencement speaker and the CEO and Founder of Granite Telecommunications, Robert T Hale Jr., who showed his generous side to Class 2024 students.
The UMass Dartmouth presented Hale with the Chancellor’s Medal for his charitable works towards the community.
SIMILAR: One woman donated $1 Billion to Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NYC.
Hale began his speech by talking about his career and mentioned a massive loss of $1 billion that he suffered once.
He shared his personal experience of failure and how he overcame the loss with resilience. He also advised students not to let their failures define them and to rise above them.
Before the graduates received their degrees, Hale explained that he had more than just advice to give.
That’s when security brought two large duffel bags onto the stage, each stuffed with envelopes containing cash, according to a press release by the UMass Dartmouth.
And then, in Hale’s typical giving style, he gifted each graduate student who walked on stage that day with cash worth $1,000.
But there was also a catch, all the students were given two envelopes each, one labeled as ‘Gift’ worth $500 and the other labeled as ‘Give’ also worth $500.
He then asked the students to keep the envelopes mentioned ‘Gift’ for themselves while the other envelope ‘Give’ was for them to donate to a charity or any other cause, close to their hearts.
All the students were in a state of disbelief; some were happy, laughing, and cheering, as nobody expected such a wonderful gift at their graduation ceremony.
He added that for him and his wife Karen, “the greatest joys we’ve had in our life have been the gift of giving.”
He went on to say, “These trying times have heightened the need for sharing, caring, and giving.”
Hale then ended his speech by saying, “Our community and our world need our help now more than ever.”
