Sending Students to College

Oral Lee Brown, Founder, Oral Lee Brown Foundation, Oakland, CA, who works as a real estate agent in Oakland, California, knows the high cost of an education. That's because she's sent dozens of students to college. The kids owe it all to a chance encounter that brought Oral Lee to one of Oakland's poorest primary schools. As she stood before the first-grade class, she made an impulsive promise to pay college tuition for any student who finished high school. She's used her limited income to keep that promise and raised $1 million more to give three other classes a chance for college. The many kids she's "adopted" regard her fondly as a mentor, tutor, and second mom. For Oral Lee, it is a simple matter of giving back and saying thanks for all the blessings she has received.

Oral Lee Brown
Oakland, California

"Somebody has to train these kids. Somebody has to teach them, and if not me, whom? If not now, when? We must do it. It's got to be done."
Oral Lee Brown

Recipient of the 2006 Caring Institute Award