The Life Changing Gift

Like most people, Horace Cardwell had a humble beginning. Horace was born in 1882 New York City, as the son of a blacksmith. Working long hours with his father growing up, he scraped together meager savings and a dream of going to college. Horace wanted to be able to give his future family a better life than he had growing up on the lower east side of New York City. All throughout school, Horace worked as hard as he could to get the best grades; he knew that being a blacksmith was not for him. Using connections he made through his fathers shop, he tried to find someone who would loan him money for to study law. What Horace received was even better than a loan, it was the gift of a lifetime.

The granter wanted to help him, not burden him with loans; therefore Horace was told not to worry about paying back a single cent. The only condition of the scholarship was that he worked hard in college to make it worth it. Graduating with honors in 1906, Horace quickly found work for Wall Street, making more in a year than he made his whole life working for his father. This allowed him a comfortable life, finding a wife shortly after graduating and ultimately having two children. Horace worked hard on Wall Street, before starting his own law firm serving some of New York's finest individuals.

After a few years, Horace was making more money than he needed, and he did not want to keep it all for himself. Horace Cardwell decided that he needed to help other people like he was helped. He knew full well that without the generous scholarship he received, he would still be working in that old blacksmith shop with his father, doing back-breaking labor day in and day out. He found that he could give up to 3 students the ability to go to college each year, so that is what he set out to do.

That summer, in 1915, Horace took out an ad in the local paper, and received many calls regarding his generous offer. As he could only fund three of the forty-six students, he decided to hold interviews. With each student, he asked why they wanted to go to college, he asked about their family, and he asked what their goals were for their lives. The first applicant he got was a young woman of eighteen, Elizabeth, who wanted to become an English teacher, following in her mother's footsteps. Throughout her interview, she showed a real passion for the work. Elizabeth had spent many hours cleaning her mothers classroom and tutoring during her time in school. Horace, knowing the value of education and teachers, agreed to fund her studies; provided that she agreed to continue her good works in the city.

The second applicant that Horace funded that year was a law student, which reminded Horace a lot of himself at that age; driven. This young man has not able to find any work during his teenage years. His family was not well off, his father worked as a porter. This was his only chance at going to college and breaking out of the crushing poverty he had grown up in. During his interview, this young man by the name of Charles, said he would be working in a packing plant in three months without college. His family could no longer afford to feed and clothe him. He wanted to go to college so that he could take care of his parents, like they had taken care of him for the last 18 years. Not only did Horace agree to send Charles to college, he offered him a job when he graduated as well.

Horace could not decide who to fund for the third student, so he simply didn't. Instead, he sent the money to his Alma Mater and let them decide how to best support the students with the money. The college told him that they would be able to use the money to help more than one student, as he would have. This greatly pleased Horace and he decided that he would each year send the money to the school and let them distribute it based on his criteria.

As life went on for Horace, his law firm became more and more successful, especially after people learned of his philanthropy. The more money that he made, the more he donated to the school before he officially partnered with the law school to offer many internships. His notoriety helped many law students find lucrative positions shortly after they graduated. For over 30 years, Horace was a well known member of the city's collegiate society. Have donated enough money to put over 200 students through college and giving internships or paid positions to over 100 more. The school honored him by naming the law library after him, where he could often be found talking to students.

As he got older, Horace became the subject of many fundraisers. He became the unofficial figurehead for the law school that had so greatly changed his life. He held fundraisers at the school, in the library, and in his own house. His life gained more meaning the more students that he was able to help. It was this devotion to helping others that inspired countless students to follow his example. Horace gave as much as he possibly could because he knew just how important one opportunity can be in someone's life. After all, one act of kindness sent him on a journey he never expected.

Upon his death, Horace made one last donation to the school. He provided the school with not only his life savings, but also a large stock portfolio which would be able to sustain the college's endowment for at least 100 years. The college officially named its law school endowment “The Horace Cardwell Fellowship” so that he would never be forgotten. Hundreds of students graduate each year by the generosity of Horace, he changed each of their lives just as his life had been changed all those years ago. Many of the students who received the scholarship went on to make positive changes in other people's lives, some of them by focusing on cases involving the less fortunate, others by helping others go to college too. Horace took the generosity of one person and passed it on to hundreds, who in turn passed it on even further.