Hoping his own favorite stuffed animal would help raise Matthew Kamin's spirits, 6-year-old David Glattstein took it to his leukemia-stricken friend at the hospital in 1988. But when they arrived, David and his parents were told that Matthew, also 6, had died earlier that day. "I was sad," David recalls. "I wasn't able to give him the gift—or say goodbye."
Finally, David, now 18, has delivered his present—not the stuffed toy but something better. Using his own money, he has honored his friend's memory with a scholarship in Matthew's name to be given annually to a student from Swampscott (Mass.) High. Matthew's mother, Shelly Kamin, 45, had been dreading Swampscott's commencement on June 4, the day her son would have graduated. "But," she says now, "David was able to make it a beautiful day."
Choosing from 25 applicants who were asked to write an essay about how to make the most of life, David and Matthew's grandfather Harvey Michaels, 72, selected Liana Bryanos as the first recipient of the $1,000 award. "Living life to the fullest is making sure there are no gaps," wrote Bryanos, 17, who is headed for the University of New Hampshire. "Guilt and regret are dissolved, mistakes are forgiven, and peace is all I have to carry." The Emory University-bound Glattstein, the only son of parents Lisa, 43, and Sam, 50, raised the funds in the stock market, investing $5,000, which included money he was given at his 1994 bar mitzvah. He recognized a winner the minute he saw Bryanos's essay. It had, says David, "the heart and passion for people that Matthew had for life."
Your Reaction
