
This is one of those stories that stays with you.
She spent her life doing other people’s laundry… and gave everything away.
Oseola McCarty was a washerwoman from Mississippi who lived a quiet and humble life.
She never owned a car. She walked everywhere.
She never went to college. She didn’t even finish middle school.
But over the course of her life, she saved about $150,000—money earned from washing clothes by hand for others.
And what did she do with it?
She gave every single dollar to the University of Southern Mississippi…
…to create scholarships for African American students who couldn’t afford education.
“I want to help somebody’s child go to college,” she said.
“I can’t do everything. But I can do something.”
Her story spread across the country and moved thousands.
Not because she was rich.
But because she had almost nothing—and gave everything.
She proved that it doesn’t take wealth to make a difference.
Just heart.
