Three years ago, two high school seniors at Dwight Township High School in Dwight, Illinois, helped a homeless man who was walking in a blizzard with no jacket.
The students – Ryan Kodat and Luke Arnold – gave the man clothes, a jacket and money for a train ticket to Springfield, IL so he could be with his father.
The man’s father later passed away and left his son with an estate worth $1.2 million.
Herter used the money to move away to Santa Monica, California, but not before sending a $10,000 gift to Dwight High School.
On February 26, the school received a letter from Herter along with his donation.
School Superintendent, Dr. Richard Jancek, asked the board to consider giving two students, in each graduating class for the next 10 years, $500 awards for acts of humanitarianism.
His proposal was quickly approved and the school will soon post an application form for the award on its website.
According to Jancek, the best part of the gift is that Kodat and Arnold expected nothing in return.
Jancek spoke to Kodat recently.
“He said, ‘You don’t have to put my name on anything. We did it because it was the right thing to do, not to get an award. If the same thing happened tomorrow, we’d do it again’.”
