First we'd like to say thank you to everyone who read, commented, tweeted, participated, and shared this journey of 37 days of giving with us. It would not have been the journey it was without all of you :-)
To be perfectly honest with you, when starting this journey I personally did not know where it was going to lead. None of the charities were preselected - they were discovered each day through research or your suggestions (and with the tragedy at Newtown, a focus thereafter was on charities that support children). As the days went by, what actually surprised me the most was not only how much many of the charities were new to me, but also how their stories and work are so inspirational, necessary, and beneficial to us all.
About a week ago I went to see the movie The Hobbit. There were some lines in the movie that really resonated with me and you may have seen me tweet some of them. Here is the full quote:
Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that
is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary
folk
that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.
- Gandalf, The Hobbit
From these lines arose an idea. Imagine if I set aside $1 a day for the entire year for charity. Now imagine if 5, 10, or even 37 people did
the same. You don't need to imagine what a difference that would make!
With this we are going to continue our journey of giving but a little differently. Get ready for #smallactsofkindness :-)
From the 37 charities we highlighted we have selected our favorite 2 (an incredibly difficult choice!): Save the Children (HEART program) and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Following the theme of small acts of kindness, we will be setting aside our collective dollars every day in 2013 for each charity (all 365 days) and donating throughout the year.
Finally we'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! May 2013 be full of small acts of kindness and love :-)
I haven't been on Twitter very much lately, so I haven't seen your 37 Days of Giving, but I am happy to be here to read your epilogue. What a wonderful idea for going into this new year!
ReplyDeleteI'm still not sure if you are 37 distinct people or 1 person with the energy and drive of 37 people, but one thing is for sure...you have the heart of 37 people and then some. Thank you for all of the generous charity work that you do and for all the time you spend planting seeds of good will and kindness wherever you venture. I count myself among the priveleged "many" who have benefited from your acts of kindness. My students and I are appreciative of all the help you have given us, not just with funding through DonorsChoose, but with good PR about our school and deeds. My wish for 2013 is that more people take a page from 37 people's "book" and give more than they take. The world needs to continue to grow in a positive way towards good light...And Gandalf is a very wise wizard...it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay!
ReplyDeleteAhh, thank you Lauren :-D
DeleteUpdate: As a result of the generosity of an additional donor, we are expanding our #smallactsofkindness to 2 additional charities. From day 10 we are adding Lighthouse International (The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School).
ReplyDeleteWe are also adding Musicians on Call - we didn't highlight Musicians on Call during our 37 days of giving, but it's a personal favorite of the newest member of 37 people ;-)
Does that mean there are 38 of you now?? Thanks for highlighting these great organizations. Some were new to me.
ReplyDeleteStill 37...we had a vacancy ;-)
DeleteAhhh.....
ReplyDelete