My friend and coauthor Nido Qubein shares the story of his sophomore year at Mount Olive College where he had saved $375 to buy a car. The cheapest one he could find cost $750. He was disappointed but not discouraged. He knew that if he saved more money he could eventually buy a car. He related the story to Verta Lawhon, his housemother. She was a good listener but only made $100 a month from Social Security and received $100 a month more from the college for serving as mother-in-residence. At the end of that month, Nido received a bank statement reflecting a balance of $750, even though he knew it should have been only $375.

He told Miss Lawhon about it, thinking that perhaps the bank had added incorrectly. Or had it? Could it be that this woman, making only $200 a month, had contributed $400 to a struggling student to buy a car? She had indeed. She explained: “I’ve decided it’s much better for me to invest my money in the life of a budding young man than to park it in my savings account.”

That was a huge turning point for Nido. It taught him that it is always better to give than to receive. Miss Lawhon taught Nido about sacrifice and generosity. Nido has since given away multimillion dollars in charity and is now the President of High Point University and serves on the boards of several national organizations including BB&T (a Fortune 500 company with $185 billion in assets).

For Nido, it started with an act of giving by someone who cared. The impact of your action can be beyond your comprehension!