Achieving your dreams sometimes requires more than just hard work.
Oftentimes, it also requires money to obtain the training and experience to be good at what you are pursuing.
One woman who had been dedicated to working off her student debt unexpectedly had her luck change when she met one special restaurant patron.
Melissa Mainer dreamed of being a nurse, but she had to work hard to get there.
Nursing school isn’t cheap. So when Melissa decided to follow her dreams, she knew it would come with a hefty price tag.
She took out a student loan with no plan to pay it off, but decided to enroll in school anyway.
Her only thought to pay it off was that she would have to work hard on side jobs to pay back the loan.
Although she would try hard to pay off her debt, she wasn’t hopeful. She tells CBS Evening News:
“I don’t ever think I saw the end.”
So she got a job waitressing to help alleviate some costs, and it helped her meet their customers.
She started working at the Peachtree Restaurant where she became acquainted with the regulars.
Benjamin Olewine was one regular that she got close to.
Because he spent so much time at the restaurant, he wanted to get to know the waitresses who worked there.
Benjamin also happens to be a millionaire from his career as Chairman Emeritus at Cisco.
When he met Melissa, he was retired and focused on giving his fortune to people who might need it more than he does.
Benjamin and Melissa crossed paths at just the right time, and he decided to help her out.
Benjamin’s generosity extended beyond landmarks named after him to the people in his life.
He wanted the waitresses at the Peachtree to not have to struggle, especially when he learned about Melissa’s story.
So he decided to leave her a tip that went above and beyond the standard 20%.
This tip allowed her to pay off her student debt.
The total of his bill was $3.45 that day. Benjamin decided to extend his payment dramatically beyond that.
While they were settling up, Benjamin offered to pay for her entire tuition to nursing school.
He wasn’t joking either! Although Melissa didn’t believe him, he insisted on asking a few times until she agreed to allow his kindness.
It’s especially life-changing given that student debt is now considered a crisis.
The estimated total of student loan debt in America is now over 1 Trillion dollars.
That means that a huge swath of people who went to college still have to pay off huge amounts of money, oftentimes with high-interest rates.
While this problem is bigger than just one waitress and one kind man at a diner, acts of generosity like this can help get someone through a tough time and can chip away at the problem.
We don’t always know what someone is dealing with, and being kind can always go a long way.
Benjamin stayed true to his word and it changed both of their lives.
Benjamin’s offer was not just a one-time deal.
For years after he proposed this to her, he continued to pay every tuition bill she had. It totaled over $20,000.
Benjamin’s help was essential in getting Melissa through her nursing program, and she now gets to live her dream and help other people.
To make this even better, this kindness sparked a friendship between Melissa and Benjamin, who would regularly meet at the Peachtree to catch up and eat a meal.
Learn more about this beautiful story in the video below!
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