Ronald Read grew up in the small town of Dummerston Vermont. He was determined to be the first in his family to graduate high school, so he walked and hitchhiked ten miles every day to get to school. He served in World War 2 and then worked at a service station till he retired. After he retired, he got bored and worked as a janitor for JC Penny. Ronald was well respected by his family, friends and coworkers. When Ronald passed away, however, he shocked his community.
On the outside, Ronald had lived a pretty simple life. What people didn’t realize was that Ronald had been researching and investing in stocks his entire life. Over that time his stock investments had grown to be worth millions. When Ronal passed away, he left those millions to his local community, giving 1.2 million to the local library and 4.8 million to the local hospital. His donations were the largest gifts the library and hospital had ever received.
Ronald went out in a big way by giving away millions to his local community, but it doesn’t take millions to leave a positive impact on the world. You can make a big impact just by giving of yourself. Renatus tries to instill a mentality of servant leadership among its members, which makes a huge impact in local communities of its members. Think about the ways you can serve your local community that will have the biggest impact. Doing those things will help build you and your local community.