1 Oral Lee Brown made a promise to a group of 23 East Oakland, Calif. first-graders in 1987, "Stay in school, and I'll send you to college." The realtor began saving immediately, putting $10,000 per year in a fund from her $40,000 salary. She also held fundraisers to raise the money. Ms. Brown did more than simply make a promise to the children; she became an active part of their lives. She became benefactor, mentor, and second mother to 23 first-graders. She began with regular visits, Saturday tutorials, and parent meetings. She tracked each child's attendance and grades; bought gifts; and purchased supplies. Ms. Brown took the students on recruiting trips to colleges and attended nine different high school graduations. She also accompanied each student to college. Nineteen of the students enrolled in college and three others went into trade schools. One student died at age 13. Several have already graduated from college. With her initial commitment to 23-first graders nearing completion, Ms. Brown has tackled another challenge. She recently "adopted" another class. This time, she is sponsoring 20 ninth graders from six different Oakland high schools. "Somebody has to train these kids. Somebody has to teach them, and if not me, who? If not now, when? We must do it. It's got to be done," said Ms. Brown. image/jpeg College_bus.jpg 193591 2006-08-21T10:49:31-06:00 21 image/jpeg College_14x48.jpg 164414 Helping Others application/x-pdf ORAL_LEE.pdf 2768568 image/jpeg ORAL_LEE_thumb.jpg 8514 32 image/jpeg ORAL_LEE.jpg 238652 2009-11-18T21:17:54-07:00