Frugal social worker leaves $11 million to children's charities
A Washington State social worker named Alan Naiman left $11 million to children's charities in his estate, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Naiman inherited several million from his parents, but he saved millions more by living frugally and working side jobs. He was not married and had no children, though he cared for a developmentally disabled brother until the brother's death in 2013.
"Saving money was sort of a game to him," said Naiman's friend Shashi Karan. "He would brag about how he had a whole day out and didn't have to spend a single cent."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Among the organizations Naiman benefited are Washington's Pediatric Interim Care Center, which cares for infants born dependent on drugs, and the Treehouse foster care organization, which plans to use the funds to expand its college and career counseling.
"The frugality that he lived through, that he committed to in his life, was for this," Jessica Ross of Treehouse told the AP. "It's really a gift to all of us to see that pure demonstration of philanthropy and love."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Finger-prickin' good: Are simpler blood tests seeing new life years after Theranos' demise?
Today's Big Question One Texas company is working to bring these tests back into the mainstream
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Cop benched after NFL star handcuffed in traffic stop
Speed Read A Miami-Dade police officer detained Dolphins star Tyreek Hill before the game
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unchecked wildfire sears Southern California
Speed Read Firefighting crews continue to battle wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties amid heat wave
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published