People can really surprise you sometimes. In this case, the surprised were 26 students, their parents and their teacher at Rio Vista Elementary School in Anaheim, Calif. The people who surprised them? A couple, moved by a sermon, that’s giving up on a personal dream in order to help those kids go to college.
This is Marty Burbank and Seon Chun-Burbank. They are changing the lives of 26 kindergarteners.
Credit: Marty Burbank / Facebook
The Burbanks have pledged to give this class at Rio Vista Elementary School $1,000,000 to pay for their college.
Credit: CBS Evening News / YouTube
The students of this kindergarten class are all English-learning students and will be the first students in their families to go to college, thanks to the Burbanks.
Well, to be exact…
Credit: CBS Evening News / YouTube
“I just can’t believe it. I can’t,” Maria Rodriguez, a mother of one of the students, told KNBC. “I don’t believe someone would be this interested in paying the tuition of this many kids.”
The Burbanks have been volunteers for years, but last December they wanted to do more.
Credit: The Passion: Live / Fox / Passion: Live / Giphy
Marty Burbank was thinking about buying a yacht, until his pastor delivered a sermon that would completely change his mind.
Credit: Telemundo 52 / NBC Los Angeles
“…and he was talking about charity and giving and when he gave that sermon I just felt moved that buying a boat was a very selfish thing for me and I could do so much more to impact the lives of these kids,” Burbank told Telemundo 52.
So, instead of the boat, the couple decided to help 26 kindergarten kids go to college.
Credit: Marty Burbank / Facebook
The couple have long loved sailing, even getting married at sea, but the pastor’s message inspired them to give it up for a greater good.
Enter Tessa Ashton’s kindergarten class.
Credit: Marty Burbank / Facebook
The Burbanks know Ashton from church, and Marty Burbank knew there was so much he could do for the kids.
Ashton admits that she was unsure what the couple was going to offer when they first reached out.
“And he offers a game changer for their life,” she continued to CBS Evening News.
But there is a catch: The kids have to write an essay or draw a picture, once a year, showing the Burbanks what they want to become.
Credit: CBS Evening News / YouTube
BRB. There’s something in my eye.
Credit: The Hot Hits Living LA / Giphy
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