Iowa man’s wish puts 33 strangers through college

2019. IT TURNS OUT ONE MAN'S MASSIVE GENEROSITY KEEPS SPREADING. IN HIGH SCHOOL, KIRA CONARD WAS STUCK. THE WINTERSET NATIVE HAD THE GRADES TO BE A THERAPIST - BUT NOT THE TUITION MONEY. <SO I GREW UP IN A SINGLE PARENT HOUSEHOLD AND I HAD THREE OLDER SISTERS SO PAYING FOR ALL FOUR OF US WAS NEVER AN OPTION.> SO AT HER HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION PARTY, SHE WAS PREPARING TO BREAK THE NEWS - COLLEGE WASN'T POSSIBLE. <ALMOST MADE ME FEEL POWERLESS. LIKE I WANT TO DO THIS. I HAVE THIS GOAL BUT I CAN'T GET THERE JUST BECAUSE OF THE FINANCIAL PART.> BUT THAT'S WHEN HER PHONE RANG. <AND I BROKE DOWN INTO TEARS IMMEDIATELY.> THE MAN ON THE OTHER END DROPPED THE NAME - DALE SCHROEDER. <HE WAS QUIET. DALE WAS VERY SHY.> THIS MAN KIRA HAD NEVER MET GREW UP POOR, NEVER MARRIED AND WORKED AS A CARPENTER FOR 67 YEARS AT THE SAME DES MOINES BUSINESS. á <HE WAS THAT KIND OF A BLUE COLLAR, LUNCH PAIL KIND OF GUY. WENT TO WORK EVERY DAY. WORKED REALLY HARD. WAS FRUGAL. LIKE A LOT OF IOWANS.> AND, TEN YEARS BEFORE KIRA'S DILEMMA, HAD WALKED INTO HIS LAWYER'S OFFICE. <HE SAID, 'I NEVER GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO COLLEGE. SO I'D LIKE TO HELP KIDS GO TO COLLEGE.'> THEN CAME THE JAW-DROPPER. ááá <FINALLY, I WAS CURIOUS AND I SAID, 'HOW MUCH ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE, DALE' AND HE SAID, 'OH, JUST SHY OF 3 MILLION DOLLARS.' AND I NEARLY FELL OUT OF MY CHAIR.> WHEN DALE DIED IN 2005, THE GUY WHO OWNED TWO PAIR OF JEANS-- <HE HAD CHURCH JEANS AND WORK JEANS.> LEFT BEHIND A RUSTY CHEVY TRUCK - AND INSTRUCTIONS TO SEND SMALL TOWN IOWA KIDS TO COLLEGE. <HE WANTED TO HELP KIDS THAT WERE LIKE HIM, THAT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO COLLEGE BUT FOR HIS GIFT.> KIDS LIKE KIRA. <FOR A MAN THAT WOULD NEVER MEET ME TO GIVE ME BASICALLY A FULL RIDE TO COLLEGE. () THAT'S INCREDIBLE! THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN!> BUT FOR 14 YEARS-- <LONG TIME NO SEE.> IT HAS. <GOOD TO SEE YOU GUYS.> <WE'RE IN PELLA.> <I'M TRAVELLING TO BOSTON EVERY WEEK NOW.> DALE SCHOEDER'S OBITUARY SAYS HE DIED HAVING NO DESCENDANTS. <SHE SLEPT THE WHOLE WAY HERE.> BUT THE 33 IOWANS WHO GATHERED AROUND HIS LUNCH BOX WHEN HIS MONEY FINALLY RAN OUT DISAGREED. THEY CALL THEMSELVES DALE'S KIDS. <DALE WOULD BE EXTREMELY PROUD.> THE MAN THEY NEVER MET CHANGED THE COURSE OF EVERY LIFE IN THE ROOM. BUT THEY FOUND OUT THERE WAS A STRING ATTACHED. <ALL WE ASK IS THAT YOU PAY IT FORWARD. (14) YOU CAN'T PAY IT BACK, BECAUSE DALE IS GONE, BUT YOU CAN REMEMBER HIM AND YOU CAN EMULATE HIM.> EXACTLY WHAT KIRA HAS DONE SINCE WE FIRST SHARED HER STORY. <SINCE I WAS 12 YEARS OLD, I KNEW I WANTED TO BE A MENTAL HEALTH THERAPIST.> DIPLOMAS NOW HANG ON THE WALL OF HER WEST DES MOINES OFFICE ABOVE KIDS FIDGET TOYS AND KLEENEX BOXES. <MY CLIENTS HAVE FACED A LOT OF HARDSHIPS. BUT THE COOL PART IS THE RESILIENCY. IT'S THEIR DETERMINATION, THEIR MOTIVATION, THEIR TENACITY, THEIR THEIR SOUL.> EIGHT YEARS AFTER SHE WAS CONVINCED HER DREAM WOULD NEVER COME TRUE, SHE'S LIVING IT. HELPING IOWANS GET THROUGH THEIR DARKEST DAYS. <THIS IS WHERE I GET TO PASS ON THE TORCH, RIGHT?> AND KIRA STILL WONDERS... <HOW WOULD DALE FEEL KNOWING THAT WE ARE LIVING THIS DREAM THAT THAT WE TOOK WHAT HE GAVE AND WE'RE WE'RE RUNNING WITH IT AND WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE AS MUCH CHANGE AS POSSIBLE. YOU'RE KIND OF LIVING HIS DREAM. YES. YEAH. YEAH. THAT. THAT HAS NOT FALLEN SHORT ON ME. YES, I AM LIVING HIS DREAM.> BECAUSE A CARPENTER KI

News We Love: Iowa man's wish puts 33 strangers through college

Dale Schroeder grew up poor, never went to college, and never married

Updated: 11:11 AM EDT Jun 17, 2023

Students all over Iowa know how much of a burden student debt can be.It's so overwhelming that many students don't go to college.That was going to be the case for Kira Conrad — until a carpenter from Des Moines, Iowa, she had never met changed everything. That was Dale Schroeder, who grew up poor, never went to college, and never married. When Schroeder died in 2005, he left behind instructions to send small-town Iowa kids, like Conrad, to college.Sister station KCCI first met Kira in 2019. Since then, she's attempted to pay forward Schroeder's generosity."Since I was 12 years old, I knew I wanted to be a mental health therapist," she said. Diplomas now hang on the wall of Kira's office in West Des Moines. Eight years after she was convinced her dream would never come true, she's living it, helping Iowans get through their darkest days.And she still wonders: "How would Dale feel knowing that we are living this dream? ... That we took what he gave, and we're running with it, and we're trying to make as much change as possible. "Yes, I am living his dream," she said.

Students all over Iowa know how much of a burden student debt can be.

It's so overwhelming that many students don't go to college.

That was going to be the case for Kira Conrad — until a carpenter from Des Moines, Iowa, she had never met changed everything. That was Dale Schroeder, who grew up poor, never went to college, and never married.

When Schroeder died in 2005, he left behind instructions to send small-town Iowa kids, like Conrad, to college.

Sister station KCCI first met Kira in 2019. Since then, she's attempted to pay forward Schroeder's generosity.

"Since I was 12 years old, I knew I wanted to be a mental health therapist," she said.

Diplomas now hang on the wall of Kira's office in West Des Moines. Eight years after she was convinced her dream would never come true, she's living it, helping Iowans get through their darkest days.

And she still wonders: "How would Dale feel knowing that we are living this dream? ... That we took what he gave, and we're running with it, and we're trying to make as much change as possible.

"Yes, I am living his dream," she said.