Today is New Year’s Eve. Not my favorite holiday. I don’t know why, but somehow I think it is overrated. There is so much build-up to something that to me always turns out to be rather anticlimactic. By the way, before I forget, I have started to manually update the statistics page. Although it is [...]
Archive for December, 2009
Day 17 – Christopher
Posted in Donation, tagged $10, FAIR Fund, Mad Black Critic, Mexico, new year's eve, PWC, Querétaro on December 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Day 16 – Nadine
Posted in Education, tagged $10, Cameroon, Columbia, Home Health Aid, LPN, MD, Portuguese on December 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I got up early and went down to the Unemployment Service Center in NE Washington. As you might recall, I have been struggling to get them to pay my benefits. So far I have not received a dime. I went on Monday, but apparently I got there too late. So this morning, I made sure to get there early. I [...]
Day 15 – Sam
Posted in Something for others, tagged $10, Bob and Edith's Diner, fashion designer on December 29, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Yesterday was the birthday of my friend Scott. I had theatre rehearsal until about 10pm and then I headed down to Arlington, VA to meet up with Scott and some others. We ended up getting a bite to eat at Bob and Edith’s Diner. I noticed that it was after midnight and I thought I could [...]
Day 14 – Davitia
Posted in Transportation, tagged $10, DC, DC Unemployment Office, Giant, Metro, SmarTrip, washington on December 28, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Today was a mixed bag. Several positive things happened, but also some frustrating setbacks. I have been battling with unemployment. For some reason they have not paid me a dime since I filed back in September. I have sent letters, emails, called them, all to no avail. So, finally I decided to trek over to [...]
Day 13 – Jenny
Posted in Transportation, tagged $10, Kramerbooks, public health, USAID, waitressing on December 28, 2009 | 7 Comments »
I ended up putting off my giving today until late tonight. I traveled back from Pennsylvania, went to my theatre rehearsal, and then made it downtown to my place and unloaded my car with my bags and Christmas gifts. I dumped everything just inside the door and then grabbed my little notebook and $10 and [...]
Day 12 – “Phil” at the Post Office
Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged $10, Jack Potter, post office on December 26, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The day after Christmas. It’s always a bit bitter-sweet. I am always a tad disappointed when I wake up on December 26th and am not greeted with gifts neatly wrapped in colorful paper waiting to be claimed. It’s kind of like the last day of a wonderful vacation. Sure the vacation was great, but it’s [...]
Day 11 – Mike
Posted in Something for themself, tagged $10, Avatar, christmas day, Clint Eastwood, Invictus, Mechanicsburg, movie theater, Sherlock Holmes on December 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Merry Christmas everyone. Today was wonderful. We got up early to exchange gifts since my brother and his fiancée Mandy had to get on the road to visit her family in New Jersey. After exchanging gifts and hugs we had some breakfast and even managed to squeeze in a game or two of bridge before Ryan [...]
Day 10 – Matt
Posted in Cigarettes, Refusals, tagged Buddhist, central pennsylvania, Christmas, Cigarettes, MacArthur Fellowship, Marlboro, Mechanicsburg, quit smoking, rateitall.com on December 25, 2009 | 6 Comments »
It’s Christmas Eve. (Actually, its 1:30am on Christmas Day now, so Merry Christmas.) I am in Mechanicsburg, PA. It is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I am at my father’s house with my brother and his fiancée. We spent the day talking, playing cards, watching Star Wars (it’s been on all day), doing last minute [...]
Day 9 – Jack
Posted in Lottery / Gambling, Refusals, tagged $10, Maryland Lottery, Thurmont on December 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today was a hectic day. I had to run a bunch of errands. On top of that I had a job interview, theatre rehearsal, and then I had to drive to my dad’s place in Pennsylvania. I ended up waiting to give away my $10 until I got on the road. I cut it close [...]
Day 8 – Kevin and Betsy
Posted in Food & Beverage, Gave the money back, Refusals, tagged $10, coffee, frozen pizza, Metro, New York Post on December 23, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Well….yesterday something happened that I hadn’t prepared myself for. I tried unsuccessfully to give the $10 to a woman with a small child leaving the Takoma Park Metro. Later, I boarded the Metro round 10pm and decided to approach a man sitting by himself to see if he would accept my $10. Kevin, a 50-year-old African-American [...]
Day 7 – Jameela S.
Posted in Something for others, tagged $10, ipod, LPN, Metro, nano, RN, Walter Reed Army Medical Center on December 22, 2009 | 8 Comments »
First of all, I want to thank everyone for their comments and interest in the Year of Giving. Monday was the 6th day the blog has been live and I have had almost 300 visitors to the blog and over 550 hits. Thanks to all who have left comments or sent me personal notes of encouragement. [...]
Day 6 – Anthony
Posted in Alcohol, Transportation, tagged Alcohol, Christmas cards, St. Lukes Shelter on December 21, 2009 | 6 Comments »
I couldn’t stop thinking about my chance encounter with David yesterday. It was a real pleasure to meet him. So, yesterday set the bar pretty high. With the snow storm here, some of my holiday shopping plans got canceled yesterday and I needed to head out to do some shopping. Daniela also needed to still get some [...]
Day 5 – Davie M.
Posted in Refusals, Transportation, tagged Albuquerque, Catholics, Celtic, Christopher McCandless, French Foreign Legion, Glasgow, hooligan, Into the Wild, Légion Etrangère, Montana, New Mexico, Protestants, Rangers, sectarianism, Sicherheitsdienst, Starbucks, Street Sense, US Air Force on December 19, 2009 | 20 Comments »
Today’s recipient embodies the very spirit of the mission that I set out to serve. I hope that you enjoy this one as much as I enjoyed meeting with Davie. I had mixed emotions about heading out today to find a recipient due to the eight inches (and counting) of snow that has fallen. Daniela [...]
Day 4 – Julie
Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged mapquest on December 18, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Another cold day. Were supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow over the next 24 hours or so. Should be fun. I found today’s $10 recipient on my way home from the gym. Julie is a 30 something professional. She stood, feet firmly planted on the curb with her eyes fixated on the busy street [...]
Day 3 – JR
Posted in Alcohol, Food & Beverage, tagged MTV's The Real World Washington on December 17, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Today was cold. I thought I would look for someone who was living on the streets. It didn’t take me long before I walked by JR. I have actually seen JR before…probably even given him some money too. As I walked by, he charismatically asked me for some help. I asked if I could sit [...]
Day 2 – Paulina
Posted in Church, Refusals, tagged U Street on December 16, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Today I spent most of the day trying to get Year Of Giving up and running. This blogging software is pretty user-friendly, however, like many things some tasks have somehow taken longer than expected. So today I went searching along the U Street corridor of DC. I first approached a woman who was waiting for the [...]
Day 1 – Where to begin?
Posted in Alcohol, Refusals, tagged altruism, Dupont Circle on December 16, 2009 | 10 Comments »
So yesterday I started the Year of Giving. My first day of a year-long journey into exploring the act of giving and the meaning of altruism. I chose December 15th as the starting date. It marked three years since my mother died from heart disease. She was one of the most generous people that I have ever known; rarely ever [...]
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