On Monday, Bloomberg declared Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos the wealthiest man in history. With a worth of $108 billion as of January 12th, he dethroned the previous title holder, Bill Gates, who is worth $93.2 billion.
Bezos donated $33 million in college scholarships for DREAMers. According to TheDream.Us, a nonprofit organization that works towards college access for undocumented immigrants, the donation by Bezos and his wife MacKenzie is the largest in the history for them and will fund 1,000 scholarships.
“Thank you, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, for the biggest grant in our history. Because of you, 1000 #DREAMers will be able to go to college,” TheDream.Us wrote on Twitter.
Jeff Bezos’s father, Mike Bezos, a Cuban-born engineer, adopted Jeff when he married his mother in 1968. Bezos was four years old. The CEO graduated from Princeton University in 1986 and worked in Wall Street in the computer field.
He founded Amazon.com in 1994 after learning about the rapid growth in Internet use. His parents invested $300,000 into Amazon.
“My dad came to the U.S. when he was 16 as part of Operation Pedro Pan. He landed in this country alone and unable to speak English. With a lot of grit and determination – and the help of some remarkable organizations in Delaware – my dad became an outstanding citizen, and he continues to give back to the country that he feels blessed him in so many ways,” Bezos said in a statement.
Even though Bezos is now worth more than any other billionaire, others have donated more through their charities foundations, like Bill Gates or the Mexican Carlos Slim. However, it seems that Bezos is following those philanthropic steps.
He asked his followers on Twitter to come up with helpful ideas back in June. And in September, he signed an open letter with 400,000 other executives to demand President Donald Trump to continue with the DACA program.
DREAMers enrolled in college under TheDream.US get $33,000 in scholarship aid for four years. 2,850 students are currently enrolled.
This article was inspired by Mashable // Jeff Bezos is donating $33 million to help undocumented immigrants