Warren Buffett agrees to match Northbrook teen's donation

January 31, 2012 (NORTHBROOK, Ill.)

Katie Murphy, 16, of Northbrook, wrote a letter to Buffett about wanting to contribute some of her savings to the national debt, and she asked him if he would match her donation.

Murphy received Buffett's response Monday night in the mail saying that he will match her $300 contribution.

"That was 15 percent of my own personal wealth, and I really just wanted to make a statement for my own generation who will be dealing with the unemployment and college debt, that if people don't act now that's going to be our problem for years to come," she told ABC7.

Murphy says she was inspired by a challenge Buffet made to Republican lawmakers to donate some of their money to the national debt. In that challenge, Buffett also offered to double their donations.

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