帮助孤儿

当唐纳德·莱恩 16岁, his father was hit by a truck and killed while crossing the street in a small Colorado town. The loss left Lahn without support at a critical time.

“I didn’t have anybody to tell me how to do things, how to go to college,” Lahn says. “I didn’t have a father to give me guidance. 这是一场斗争.”

Lahn paid his way to a college in his home- town of Denver and later discovered that some classmates, including ones who were not as academically gifted or motivated as he was, had scholarships that reduced their financial burden.

“It’s too bad I didn’t know,” Lahn says. “I obviously would have qualified. 我成绩很好.”

Lahn, 他现在已经退休了, set up a scholarship for 欧文康考迪亚大学 undergraduate students who had “a similar experience as I had, who didn’t have one or both parents,他说. “That was the motivation: to provide a scholarship for somebody else to help them.”

Lahn was an early supporter of 欧文康考迪亚大学 and later became a 受托人, serving on the investment committee which manages the university’s 捐赠基金.

“[The University] has grown a great deal and I like what they’re doing,他说.

Lahn had grown up in the Lutheran church and the Walther League youth organization popular in Lutheran churches at that time. He met his wife, Wanda, while serving in the League’s leadership. Lahn had already moved to California and passed the CPA exam on his first try. He later joined Prudential Overall Supply in 1967 and worked for the company for the rest of his career, serving his last ten years as president. Prudential rents uniforms and work clothes and operates thirty industrial laundry plants mainly in the West.

“The company grew and I grew with it,” Lahn says. “我在那里很开心... It was a wonderful relationship. 我工作到68岁. I was having too much fun running a company.”

Lahn started his endowed scholarship with money from stock he owned in the company.

“I liked the idea of an endowment,他说. “他们没有花钱. It lasts forever, as long as the Lord wants it to last. Whatever the earnings are is used for the scholarship.”

In tailoring the scholarship to students affected by the loss of a parent, he recalled losing his father who worked for the railroad and was visiting potential freight clients in southern Colorado the day he died.

"I wanted to provide for somebody who had a similar type of problem. That was my personal experience and it led me to think I would like to make money available to someone else."

“My mind went back to what happened to me,” Lahn says. In the aftermath of the accident “our faith became even stronger. That’s what keeps you going during those days. 上帝照顾了我们. 我们很幸运... I wanted to provide for somebody who had a similar type of problem. That was my personal experience and it led me to think I would like to make money available to someone else.”

The Lahns’ scholarship this year went to Vinnie Rodriguez, a freshman from Anaheim Hills who is studying 业务. Rodriguez’s mother died suddenly when he was nine, and his father died when he was eleven.

“When my parents passed away my sister took me under her wing and started caring for me,罗德里格斯说. “She whipped me back into shape and made me more studious. I aspire to be like her, a very caring person. 她就像我的新榜样. 我的成绩提高了. My emotions went from upset and depressed to having a more positive outlook on life. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows but I stay positive.”

When Rodriguez applied to 肯考迪娅 he thought the costs might be too high for him. “Thanks to my sister I found this scholarship and it actually applied to me in many ways,他说. “It’s a challenge growing up without a father. 你 don’t really know w在这里 to go. 你r dad teaches you how to shave. Now you have to learn all these things on your own.”

Rodriguez says his strength comes from God, his friends and his family. At 肯考迪娅 he has discovered he enjoys public speaking “which is a surprise. I was scared to go up t在这里 [in front of the class], no doubt, but I found out it’s my favorite.”

Lahn still runs the profit-sharing plan for his former company. His two daughters are now grown, and Lahn and his wife live in Palm Desert w在这里 he is an elder at their church.

“What I like about the scholarship is that it’ll help many students long after I’m gone,他说. “我对此很满意. 做得很好. In fact I just made a contribution this year.”