Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle is proud to present the second of five inspirational women as we recognize and celebrate Women's History Month. This week we remember the Giving and Hope done by Ms. Oseola McCarty. 

Ms. Oseola McCarty 

Ms. Oseola McCarty was an amazingly inspirational and "Giving" woman! Oseola was born on March 7, 1908 in Mississippi. From her very humble beginnings, she followed in the footsteps of her grandmother and aunt who raised her and became a full-time laundress when she needed to drop out of school in the 6th grade. She worked hard throughout her entire life and took great joy and pride in that work. She once said " Everyone needs to work hard at somthin' to feel good about themselves. Every job can be done well and every day has its satisfactions…If you want to feel proud of yourself, you've got to do things you can be proud of." When Ms. McCarty retired in 1995 at the age of 86, she had saved $280,000.00! She immediately decided to give most of it away! Ms. McCarty set aside enough to live on and then gave $150,000.00 to the University of Southern Mississippi "to fund a scholarship for worthy but needy students seeking the education she never had." She, like those of us in Giving Hope, Women's Giving Circle wanted the satisfaction of giving while living and seeing the benefits of that generosity. She also wanted to give locally knowing that there was need right there. Today, the University of Southern Mississippi continues to award several full tuition McCarty Scholarships every year! Ms. McCarty passed at the age of 91 in September of 1999.

We can be grateful for the example and legacy of philanthropy Ms. Oseola McCarty left for all of us to aspire to. From an amazingly simple beginning, working hard to fulfill her dream of Giving Hope to others, Ms. McCarty "knew she didn't have to save the whole world" but what she could do was "something to help somebody. And (she said) what I can do I will do"! May we all share Ms. McCarty's ambitious goals and be grateful that we too can Give Hope through our simple generosity to those in need in our local communities.