In 1958, optometrist Irving Fradkin ran for the school board in Fall River, Massachusetts. He lost. But his campaign included a winning idea that has since sent more than 748,000 students on to higher education.

Fradkin had proposed that the community-at-large raise “Dollars for Scholars,” creating a scholarship fund for Fall River kids who couldn’t afford college. With just a dollar from each community member, the fund would quickly have a significant impact. People could do bake sales, auctions, phone-a-thons— whatever it took to raise some capital.

Fall River took up Fradkin’s challenge, and it worked. The community pulled together and its young people soon had a shot at continuing their education, whether they could afford to or not. To help grow the fund, Fradkin wrote to hundreds of people all over the country, asking them each to send a dollar for a Fall River scholar. One of the first dollars to come in was from former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Fradkin, once called “an optometrist with vision,” was sure the idea would work in other communities. He hit the road, explaining it to people far and wide. He was so convinced of the value of the program, he called President Eisenhower— collect—to ask for his support. Fradkin is a very persuasive man—over a thousand Dollars for Scholars chapters are now operating in every state and in the District of Columbia.

Incorporated as Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America in 1961, CSF has distributed over 776 million dollars through its scholarships and other support programs, making it the nation’s number one promoter of private aid for students.

Fradkin urges people who have gotten grants to contribute to the program themselves, and to give back in service to the communities that have helped them. Fradkin’s decades of helping kids get an education is his own way of giving back to the United States.