It is amazing, and so welcome and refreshing, that people with good motives and financial means are willing to step up and assist good programs just because it is the proper thing to do.

Take the case of debt-ridden Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, which is due to get a $70 million lifeline. Mart Green, founder of the Christian office and educational supply store chain Mardel, says he will give $8 million to the university immediately with the rest to come after a 60- to 90-day review of the university’s financial records.

Green says his family must approve the financial review before the $62 million is provided. He also is requesting at least two seats on the university’s board of regents for his family members, which might be a bone of contention, but perhaps shouldn’t be.

“Let’s straighten the ship,” says Green, four days after the school’s president, Richard Roberts (a former Kansas University student), stepped down after numerous accusations he misspent funds to support a lavish lifestyle. “Let’s get integrity. Let’s get trust built back and the rest will go away.”

It is of great interest that Green never attended the university and has no ties to the Oral Roberts family. He says he has been following the university’s story in the media and decided he wanted to help. ORU, in many opinions, is well worth saving.

A lot of details have to be attended to there, but after some questionable actions by founder Oral Roberts and his family, it is wonderful to see someone like Green step up and try to put things in order.

It’s often hard to predict the occurrence of unsolicited financial miracles. Some years ago, a Kansas University alumnus who had received a mere $50 in help from KU at a critical time in his educational process left some $1.2 million to the KU Endowment Association to express his gratitude.

Athletic programs, for all their flaws, can do wonders to attract people to offer support. The late Roy Roberts, the Kansas City Star legend who began his journalism career at the Journal-World, said he never had thought of giving any money to KU, his alma mater, until one year when he got interested in the KU-Missouri football rivalry. He met people on the campus he admired and decided his money could be put to good use through KU.

It remains to be seen if the $70 million promised by Mart Green will get things back in proper order at Oral Roberts. But the fact someone with resources saw a need and wanted to meet it says a lot about human nature and the way many Americans do so much so often without getting high-powered sales pitches.

It behooves officials at schools such as KU and Kansas State to keep that in mind as they deal with society and make decisions that can draw people like Roy Roberts and Mart Green into the fold.