Making Every Day Christmas
Percy Ross grew up poor. But he had a dream that if he worked hard, he could become a success. And he did.
Ross made a fortune. Then he set a new and unusual goal for himself. He decided he would share his wealth with others - one dream at a time. CBS News Anchor Dan Rather has the report in the continuing series on The American Dream.
At the Minneapolis office of multimillionaire Ross, every day is Christmas.
"Are there any checks you want me to sign right away?" asks Ross.
"That lady in New Orleans - did you send her the $2,500 for her operation?" Ross inquires.
For the last 17 years Ross has been giving away his fortune.
Says Miss Webber: "Here is an interesting letter from a woman who wants to buy a bike for a boy who is on welfare."
"Send her $200 to buy a bike," Ross replies.
"I would like to go to the individual who doesn't get help from anybody else and needs a little bit of hope," he adds.
"I decided to use the motto, 'He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes,'" he quips.
Ross hasn't always lived such a privileged life. Life was anything but easy for the son of Eastern European immigrants who grew up in northern Michigan.
"My dad had a rough time making a living," Ross recalls.
His father was a junk dealer, and Percy, by age 6, was learning the family business.
"It was quite often that the Salvation Army would come over to our home with a hot meal for our family," Ross says.
Later as a businessman himself, he suffered three separate bankruptcies. Ross finally hit the jackpot in the plastic bag industry - a company he bought for $30,000 and sold years later for $8 million.
Ever since, he has been giving it all away. First it was bikes to poor kids. Then it was money - and lots of it.
In 1983 he started a syndicated newspaper column. The column appeared in 800 publications; readers would write in requesting financial assistance.
As Ross reads a letter, he says, "Oh, 'I'm 82' - she's the same age as I am, Miss Webber."
"Noooo, you're 83," says Miss Webber.
"Oh I'm 83; who's counting?" Ross says.
Ross received hundreds of thousand of letters but sometimes just sending a check wasn't good enough for him.
He recalls, "I got a letter from a gal who said...things are so rough, my husband is out of work...and we could sure use some money for milk."
"Instead of sending her $400 or $500 to buy milk for a year, what I did was, I went to a cattle auction and bought a cow," Ross says.
Just how much has he given away? That's his little secret.
"Am I a better person if I gave away $2 million a year than if I gave away a million?" asks Ross. "And it's not the amount of money that I give away or share with other people," he says. It's "the spirit in which it was given, hopeflly to make a difference in other people's lives."
Ross is now calling it quits as a columnist. But if he likes a letter, he just may continue making every day Christmas.
"If people use that principle and think of every day as Christmas instead of just one day a year,...this world would be a much better place to live in," Ross says.
Ross hopes others will follow his example. And you don't have to be wealthy to do it, he observes.
Give one bike to one child who wasn't expecting it, he says, and just maybe make a dream come true.
©1999, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. Ross made a fortune. Then he set a new and unusual goal for himself. He decided he would share his wealth with others - one dream at a time. CBS News Anchor Dan Rather has the report in the continuing series on The American Dream.
At the Minneapolis office of multimillionaire Ross, every day is Christmas.
"Are there any checks you want me to sign right away?" asks Ross.
"That lady in New Orleans - did you send her the $2,500 for her operation?" Ross inquires.
For the last 17 years Ross has been giving away his fortune.
Says Miss Webber: "Here is an interesting letter from a woman who wants to buy a bike for a boy who is on welfare."
"Send her $200 to buy a bike," Ross replies.
"I would like to go to the individual who doesn't get help from anybody else and needs a little bit of hope," he adds.
"I decided to use the motto, 'He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes,'" he quips.
Ross hasn't always lived such a privileged life. Life was anything but easy for the son of Eastern European immigrants who grew up in northern Michigan.
"My dad had a rough time making a living," Ross recalls.
His father was a junk dealer, and Percy, by age 6, was learning the family business.
"It was quite often that the Salvation Army would come over to our home with a hot meal for our family," Ross says.
Later as a businessman himself, he suffered three separate bankruptcies. Ross finally hit the jackpot in the plastic bag industry - a company he bought for $30,000 and sold years later for $8 million.
Ever since, he has been giving it all away. First it was bikes to poor kids. Then it was money - and lots of it.
In 1983 he started a syndicated newspaper column. The column appeared in 800 publications; readers would write in requesting financial assistance.
As Ross reads a letter, he says, "Oh, 'I'm 82' - she's the same age as I am, Miss Webber."
"Noooo, you're 83," says Miss Webber.
"Oh I'm 83; who's counting?" Ross says.
Ross received hundreds of thousand of letters but sometimes just sending a check wasn't good enough for him.
He recalls, "I got a letter from a gal who said...things are so rough, my husband is out of work...and we could sure use some money for milk."
"Instead of sending her $400 or $500 to buy milk for a year, what I did was, I went to a cattle auction and bought a cow," Ross says.
Just how much has he given away? That's his little secret.
"Am I a better person if I gave away $2 million a year than if I gave away a million?" asks Ross. "And it's not the amount of money that I give away or share with other people," he says. It's "the spirit in which it was given, hopeflly to make a difference in other people's lives."
Ross is now calling it quits as a columnist. But if he likes a letter, he just may continue making every day Christmas.
"If people use that principle and think of every day as Christmas instead of just one day a year,...this world would be a much better place to live in," Ross says.
Ross hopes others will follow his example. And you don't have to be wealthy to do it, he observes.
Give one bike to one child who wasn't expecting it, he says, and just maybe make a dream come true.
©1999, CBS Worldwide Inc., All Rights Reserved
