During the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s commencement ceremony, speaker Rob Hale surprised the 1,200 graduates by handing out $1,000 each, split into $500 for themselves and $500 to donate to a good cause. Hale, a billionaire philanthropist from Boston, has made a habit of giving away large sums of money, inspired by his own experience of losing everything in a previous business venture. He hoped to instill in the graduates a spirit of generosity that they would carry forward in their lives, despite not being able to guarantee that they would do so.
Following the ceremony, graduates found themselves thinking about where to direct their newfound charitable gift. Tony da Costa chose to help an acquaintance of his mother who was struggling with an illness, while Kamryn Kobel donated to the Y.W.C.A. in Worcester, where she had learned to swim as a child. The significance of the gift was not lost on the graduates, who were initially skeptical about whether the cash-filled envelopes they received were real, but were ultimately moved by the opportunity to make a substantial charitable contribution.
UMass Dartmouth, a smaller campus with a significant population of first-generation and lower-income students, was not the first institution where Rob Hale distributed his split gifts. He had previously done so at other schools with similar demographics, aiming to reward hardworking students who had overcome obstacles to pursue higher education. The impact of his generosity was evident in stories like that of a graduate who donated to a local organization that had helped her family in the past.
For the graduates, the experience of receiving and giving away the money was a chance to put into practice the values they had learned during their college education. Ali McKelvey, inspired by her studies in health and society, chose to support a women’s shelter in her hometown. The opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others was an empowering one for the graduates, many of whom had never had the chance to give on such a scale before.
Through his philanthropic gestures, Rob Hale hoped to encourage a spirit of generosity and community support among the graduates, particularly in a time of social and economic turmoil. He believed that by experiencing the joy of giving, the graduates might be inspired to continue doing so in their own lives. In choosing institutions with diverse and hardworking student populations, Hale aimed to reward those who had demonstrated resilience and determination in pursuing their education, regardless of their financial background.
Overall, the unexpected gift from Rob Hale at the UMass Dartmouth commencement ceremony left a lasting impression on the graduates, inspiring them to think about the impact they could have on the world through acts of generosity. As they moved on from college and entered the next phase of their lives, they carried with them the memory of the billionaire philanthropist’s simple yet profound gesture, a reminder of the power of giving back and making a difference in the lives of others.
