This small Wisconsin town raised money so all its high school seniors can get a college scholarship

Samantha West:

So, in 2001, Klopke started sending letters to people in the community he thought would be interested in starting a fund, and holding meetings.

Before Klopke and the group even started asking for donations, he remembered, a farmer who lived just north of town handed him $100 or $200 out of the blue, simply telling him to “use this to get the fund going.”

Twenty years later, after Gresham residents like that farmer contributed as little as $5 here or $10 there, the community has raised $1 million for the Gresham Scholarship Fund to help the youngest residents of the small town pay for higher education.

Over time, the scholarship amount awarded has grown, too. When the scholarship was started, awards amounted to $400 per qualifying student. Now, students get $3,250.

Newell Haffner, superintendent of the Gresham School District, said the fund has made a “big impact” in what he called an “economically depressed” area.