ST. LOUIS — Students at two St. Louis Catholic high schools were met with an unexpected gift as they wrapped up the school day Wednesday. A husband and wife donated $250 to every single student at Cardinal Ritter and at St. Mary's South Side.
“What more can I do?” That's the question the donor says he asks himself when he wakes up. This week the answer came to him: bless every single student at two different St. Louis schools just days before Christmas.
Cell phone video shows some St. Mary's students gathering outside their lockers erupting in sheer joy when they heard a special announcement on the PA system.
"The roof blew off the building.... You heard throughout the building the biggest roar I've never heard. They were dancing, they were singing, there were tears, there was laughter, there were hugs,” said President Mike England.
That's because Judy and Rudi Roeslein made it their mission to gift $250 to every student at St. Mary's and at Cardinal Ritter Wednesday.
“When Rudi told me what his wife Judy wanted to do, I knew it would be a blessing our kids would remember forever. Judy and Rudi love our kids like their very own,” said Cardinal Ritter President Tamiko Armstead.
"I was able to help hand out the money and hand it to them and wish them a Merry Christmas,” said St. Mary’s Chief Development Officer Steffani Lautenschlager.
At her school, the students received gift cards.
“As any teenager, they were just giddy to have $250 that was their own. A few of them even said, ‘I'm going to save it because I'm saving for a car’,” she added.
"One of the young men said, 'Oh, this so is going to help my mom,'” England said.
At Cardinal Ritter, the donor gave the students cold hard cash. They also got a note that read:
"Be humble.
"Be hungry.
"Be Happy.
"...Passing on our blessings brings me happiness and joy that money can't."
"He told me, he said, ‘please tell them they can take the whole $250 and go buy a really nice pair of shoes if they want to go do that’ but he said, ‘tell them to consider taking part of that money and use it to pay it forward,'" England said. "I've been in education over 35 years and I've never been a part of something like what went on today."
Cardinal Ritter has around 450 students. St. Mary's has 225.
That comes to a $170,000 investment, just for the students.