[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 26 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H608-H609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1920
                     RECOGNIZING DR. IRVING FRADKIN

  (Mr. KENNEDY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Irving 
Fradkin of Fall River, Massachusetts, a finalist for the national 
``Citizen Service Before Self'' award.
  The son of Russian immigrants, Dr. Fradkin's story of service began 
in the late 1950s. As an optometrist opening his new practice in a 
struggling former mill city, he was immediately struck by how few of 
his young patients had plans to go to college. When he asked why, the 
response was always a simple answer: My parents can't afford it.
  At the time, the average cost of tuition was a couple hundred dollars 
a year. Dr. Fradkin did the math. He figured that if each of Fall 
River's 30,000

[[Page H609]]

households gave a single dollar, they could send every single 
graduating senior in the city to college. And so Dollars for Scholars 
was born.
  With the deep faith and compassion of a tight-knit community, Dr. 
Fradkin began collecting as little as $1 from his neighbors and friends 
to provide scholarships to the local students. Over four decades later, 
what began as a card table operation in a determined Massachusetts town 
became Scholarship America, an organization that has awarded nearly $3 
billion in scholarships across 38 States.
  At 92 years old, Dr. Fradkin continues to fight for that city that he 
loves and the students that have made his life's work. Tonight, I 
congratulate him and his wife, Charlotte, on a recognition deeply 
deserved.

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