Year of Giving

Archive for 2010

Day 154 – Joan S.

Posted in Donation, Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, banks, DC, government, lobbyists, money, oil, politics, protests, washington on May 22, 2010| 3 Comments »

Remember Mike from Day 146? You may recall that he works as a Physical Therapist at a Rockville, MD PT clinic. He shared my story with his boss Bill. They graciously offered for me to come in to their clinic at no cost for some PT sessions on my neck and back to see if I can improve the pain that I have. Isnt’that incredibly nice of them! It means a lot to me. Thank you guys! I look forward to the day when I no longer have pain and numbness in my neck, arm, and hand.

After my first session, I was feeling good. I went out that day with a little more pep in my step and my posture a little better.

Photo: Reed

Some days I find myself walking around the city…seeing potential recipients but never thinking that they are the right person for that day. I passed all kinds of people who I debated giving my $10 to, but for some reason I kept on walking. I walked all over the city, 67 blocks in total. The light rain was just enough to keep my umbrella up the entire time, but I didn’t mind. I started to get hungry though and decided to make my way over to John’s burrito stand. On my way over my cousin Cheryl called and we talked until I came face to face with a large protest that had taken over the intersection of 15^th and K Street. The mix of angry cries for justice and police bullhorns trying to control the situation was making it difficult to talk on the phone, so we hung up and I went to find out what was going on. This is when I ran into Joan.

Joan, a retired small business owner living in DC, was holding one end of a banner that read, “WE WANT OUR $$$ BACK!” Although I hadn’t taken her money, in fact, I didn’t even know Joan, I hoped that my offer to give her $10 back might help her and her colleagues out. Thankfully Joan wasn’t mad at me. She was fed up with big businesses and lobbyists owning our government. She feels that they have taken all the power away from the people.

Photo: Reed

As a CODEPINK activist , Joan actively participates in protests that the grassroots peace and social justice organization puts on. The organization emerged out of a desperate desire by a group of American women to stop the Bush administration from invading Iraq. On November 17, 2002 CODEPINK was launched when a group of women set up for a 4-month all-day vigil in front of the White House during the cold of winter. I wonder if they went over and spoke with Connie and Thomas at the Peace Vigil. Anyway, they inspired people (mostly women) from all walks of life, and from all over the country, to stand for peace. Now the organization has grown international.

Photo: Reed

On this specific day she was a little disappointed because CODEPINK received information about the protest very late which limits their ability to mobilize and produce a large turnout. She cites messaging and timing as areas that need improvement in these types of protests. Despite falling short of her expectations, the protest still managed to attract an estimated 1,000-1,500 people. Plus it shut down a major corridor of transportation. Their location at 15^th and K was no coincidence given that K Street has long been home to a sea of lobbyist offices.

As Joan and I started to talk, the mass of people began to march South on 15^th Street. I tagged along and pulled my video camera out and started to record.

Photo: CBS News

The march came to a halt near the White House and I parted ways. Later they went on to Capitol Hill to voice their disapproval of BP at the Homeland Security Committee Senate hearing where BP America President Lamar McKay testified. CBS News later reported that “only three Senators – Joseph Lieberman, Susan Collins, and Mark Pryor – of the 17-member Homeland Security Committee showed up to ask any questions at all.” In fact, Lieberman and Collins reportedly praised McKay for his cooperation and dismissed him in less than 45 minutes.

Read Full Post »

Day 153 – Alfonso C.

Posted in Savings, tagged $10, Arlington, Dallas, fathers, ice-cream, jobs, kids, TX, VA on May 21, 2010| 3 Comments »

I had to run over to Home Depot to get some things and as I was driving home I saw Alfonso pushing his ice-cream cart up the slight incline of Patrick Henry Drive to where it intersects with Arlington Blvd.

Alfonso and his ice-cream cart (Photo: Reed)

I past him and then double backed, parked the car, and waited for him to reach my car. The sound of the tires rolling over loose gravel was mostly muffled by the cheerful bells that rang with every movement of the cart.

Alfonso has a kind face and smiles naturally, although his mustache covers up most of it. He said that the company he works offered people the opportunity to come to Arlington, VA for the summer months to sell Mexican style ice-cream. So Alfonso came here from Dallas, TX. He didn’t know a soul in the area. Now he interacts with hundreds of people every day.

Photo: Reed

He pushes his cart filled with a large block of ice and about 200 hundred ice-creams up Patrick Henry Drive from Route 7 to past Arlington Blvd into the neighborhoods behind the shopping center where the Target is. Back and forth he travels under the burning sun. He usually sells about 100-150 ice creams. On a good day he might sell 200; coconut is the best seller. I asked if I could take a peak inside the cooler.

Having lived most of his life in Palm Springs, CA, six years ago Alfonso moved to Dallas searching for his 28-year-old son that he didn’t know. He knew he was living somewhere in the state, but that doesn’t help much when you are searching in the second largest state in the country that boasts more than 268,000 square miles. Luckily for Alfonso, his son was also trying to find him. He found him in Austin, TX.

“We are friends now. I will never be his father to him.” He is hopeful that they can have a relationship, but it is hard after so many years and so much pain. “You see, I was living in California and was lost on drugs and alcohol. Then 15 years ago I received Jesus Christ as my savior.”

Photo: Reed

He is also not in touch with his ex-wife any more. The last he knew she lived in Monterrey, Mexico. Maybe I could try to find her like I am trying to find Victor’s mother from Day 139.

He seems happy to be here. “Arlington is nicer than Dallas,” he says. “There is less crime here.”

Despite a nice relaxing conversation, I could feel that he needed to get on his way. He needed to earn his daily wages and the ice-cream would not stay cold forever. I asked him what he would do with the $10 and he softly replied that he would save it.

We exchanged telephone numbers and I got back in my car. Alfonso returned to his position behind the cart and started to push it the remaining 30 yards to the intersection. The bells began to sing again.

Read Full Post »

Day 152 – Trish W.

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, Arlington, climbing, giving, nursing, VA, worldwide day of giving on May 20, 2010| 1 Comment »

Before telling you about the amazing woman I met last Saturday, I wanted to remind you to tell your friends and family about the Worldwide Day of Giving on June 15th! If they are on Facebook, they can sign up for the event here, you can also use this link: http://tiny.cc/WWDoG.

We have about 500 people officially signed up on Facebook right now, but I am still hopeful that together we can reach 10,000 people worldwide! Details about how to participate can also be found on the Facebook Page.

There has been some confusion about the event. This is a virtual event that you can do anywhere in the world! In addition, I am planning an in-person event here in DC. It would be fun to meet in person, share your stories and meet some of the previous recipients of the Year of Giving $10 who will be there! I would like to get an idea of how many people would attend an event in the Dupont Circle area at around 7pm on the 15th. You can sign up for the in-person event on Facebook or here.

For those of you in other parts of the world who want to organize an event in your region, I encourage you to do so. If you need help or ideas on how to organize this, send me an email.

Photo: Reed

Last Saturday I was at the Goodwill on Glebe Road off of Route 50. I found Trish, a 37-year-old registered nurse. After 12 years in the profession, she decided to go back to school to pursue a career in nurse anesthesia. It sounds like life is not so easy right now juggling the demands of school while trying to make ends meet and pay her tuition at Georgetown University.

“I used to do a lot of stuff outdoors like biking, skiing, snowboarding, but lately I haven’t done much. I am pretty much studying all the time.” She went on to say, “I would even play golf at this point, I’m pretty desperate.”
Trish said that she really liked the Year of Giving concept. “I think I might have heard about this,” she told me. “Even though money is tight right now, I think I might give the $10 to my sister. She just lost her job.” Trish said she would update us all when she decides for sure what she is going to do with the money.

Photo: Reed

Trish told me that there was nothing very interesting about her and then she remembered a small “boring” detail, “I climbed to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro a few years ago and watched the sun rise over Tanzania.” I was like, oh my God! Wow. That is amazing! Trish had a friend who got let go from their job (I know the feeling) and was given six months severance (I don’t know that feeling…I only got one month!) and decided to travel the world. She had some time off and decided to meet up with her friend some place along his journey. They agreed to meet in Tanzania and climb the world’s fourth tallest peak. Crazy!
Fast forward and Trish is in Tanzania with two friends and 19 Sherpas scaling the tallest mountain in Africa. They made it up the stratovolcano in three days. “We could have never done it without the local guys who helped carry so much of our equipment and had meals ready when we arrived at camp.” We laughed over a story she shared about losing one of her jackets at base camp only to see it again a few days later on their way down the mountain being worn by a guy twice her size. “I just let him keep it…the sleeves came to his elbows!”

Trish hopes to graduate in December and would like to move to Colorado and find work as a CRNA. If anyone has some contacts, please let me know and I will pass them along to Trish!

Read Full Post »

Day 151 – Cecilia and Emilia

Posted in Donation, tagged $10, chile, culture, DC, Dupont Circle, espanol, kids, Spanish, washington on May 19, 2010| 18 Comments »

Last week I found out that Woman’s World Magazine is doing a story on the Year of Giving. The article will be in the July 19^th issue which hits newsstands the week of July 8^th. I will post something here when we get closer to the date. The reason I mention this is because last Friday they sent a photographer to take some photos of me giving away my $10.

It was a pretty day and I suggested to Pete, the photographer, that we walk up to Dupont Circle. After arriving, I took some time surveying the potential recipients and found a woman sitting on the grass playing with her daughter. Perfect!

I walked over to Cecilia and explained what I was doing and asked if she would participate. She agreed but mentioned that she might have some difficulties answering some of the questions because as Spanish was her first language. I offered to do the interview in Spanish and she said that that would be more comfortable. Her daughter Emilia was full of energy and a bit awestruck by the attention, especially the camera!

Pete deftly maneuvered around us as we spoke, capturing the scene unfold on his Nikon D300.

Cecilia and Emilia (Photo: Reed)

Cecilia and her family moved here for her husband’s job18 months ago. A teacher back in her native Chile, Cecilia has had to adjust to a lot of new things here in the US. As she is not working while they are here, she has had the opportunity to dedicate the majority of her time to five-year-old Emilia and her nine-year-old brother Santiago. Additionally she has been taking English classes and learning to cook.

Cecilia spoke to me on camera about some of the challenges that living abroad has presented. Besides learning a new language, culture, and city, Cecilia shared that being far away from their family has not been easy. Family serves as our support network in multiple ways. Luckily technology helps minimize that void. I noticed how technology impacted communication from the time I lived in Mexico as an exchange student in 1990 to when I lived in Brazil four years ago. In 1990 I would only call and speak to my family once or twice per month because of how expensive it was. Going back just a few years though, it was not unusual for me to talk to my family several times a week while living in Sao Paulo. Tools like email, Skype, more economically priced long distance service, etc. helped reduce the miles between us.

This video clip of some of my conversation with Cecilia is in Spanish…hopefully this will be an interesting new element to the blog for Spanish-speakers who are following the Year of Giving. And for those who don’t speak Spanish, you might enjoy watching it just to see how playful and happy little Emilia is.

As for the $10, Cecilia shares on the video that “the $10 will travel with me to Chile.” She plans to go next month and will donate the money to the relief efforts for the recent earthquakes there. Thankfully her family and friends are all ok and only suffered minor inconveniences.

On a different note, I want to take this opportunity to share with you some exciting news about me and the Year of Giving. As you know I have been searching for work. I have some good news on this front. No, I didn’t find a job…but I did secure a small consulting project in Manizales, Colombia. Next week I will travel there and spend ten days in the heart of Colombia’s coffee-belt working with a nonprofit foundation with their role in helping the region meet the Ministry of Education’s goal of being a truly bilingual country by 2019!

This is a very exciting opportunity for me and I feel that it will enrich the Year of Giving in many ways as well as change the landscape some and see first-hand how people from another part of the world react to my commitment. I will of course continue my daily giving and blogging. More news on this in the coming days!

Read Full Post »

Day 150 – Kylie S.

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, DC, Dupont Circle, giving, helping others, love, school, tattoos, washington, writing on May 18, 2010| 5 Comments »

Have you ever wondered how your life would have turned out if you had dropped out of school your freshman year of high school? Well today’s recipient Kylie knows the answer to that question first-hand. She did it.

Kylie in front of the fountain at Dupont Circle (Photo: Reed)

Kylie, who turned 21 on Friday, decided half way through her freshman year of high school that she didn’t want to go any more. Probably we have all thought about dropping out, but she actually did it. Then she visited three or four other schools to see if she liked them any more, but didn’t find what she was looking for. She tried home schooling for a while, but that didn’t work out either. So what did she do? She says she ended up hanging out with some friends that were freshmen at a Delaware college. They too were not going to class much either. She “experimented with lots of things” she said and wound up finding herself. She discovered that she really liked to write.

Today, she is taking classes at American University and hopes to open creative writing centers in youth correctional facilities. She has already started the process but has a way to go to launch her first center.

I asked Kylie to describe herself and she said, “I am empathetic to a fault. I’m maybe a little lost…but definitely passionate.” I felt her passion when we spoke about our mothers. “I love her more than anything,” she said about her mother. She asked about my mother and I shared with her what a wonderful person my mother was. She started to cry. “I don’t know what I would do if I lost my mom” she said fighting away a tear.

Photo: Reed

I was interested in Kylie’s tattoos. She has seven “professional” tattoos and one “prison” tattoo. I call it a “prison” tattoo because it was one that a friend did with a BIC pen. Ouch! That one didn’t look so good either. On her right arm she has a large tattoo that says “Love Killer.” It hurts me just to look at it as I imagine the tattoo needle hammering into the veins that ran along her forearm. She got this tattoo because of an ex-boyfriend she had. She shared with me the details of a couple of past relationships. “Who was the Love Killer,” I asked. “Maybe I was” she answered.

Something she said about two former boyfriends stayed with me. “The one guy I loved, but I never told him that I loved him. The other one I never loved, but I told him that I did.” Ironic isn’t it. “I sometimes regret not telling him that I loved him.” I asked her if she thought that things would have ended up different if she had told him that she loved him and she shook her head to tell me “no.” “In that case” I said, “it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

Kylie told me that she was going to give the $10 to somebody else. As for ways that you can help Kylie, she said she would give that some thought and see if she came up with something.

Photo: Reed

We were heading in the same direction, so we walked through Dupont Circle and headed toward the Metro entrance. On the way over we passed a woman sitting on a crate panhandling. Kylie pulled the $10 out of her pocket and dropped it in the woman’s bucket and kept on walking. “I had to get rid of it! I didn’t want to be tempted to spend it.” I sneaked a peak back at the woman…her face was pleasantly shocked.

Happy 21st birthday Kylie!

By the way, check out what Start from Day 126 did with the $10 I gave him…he posted his experience today on his website!

Read Full Post »

Day 149 – Jeffery W.

Posted in Food & Beverage on May 17, 2010| 2 Comments »

A man gives Jeffery some change (Photo: Reed)

If you have ever went into the CVS at Dupont Circle, there is a good chance that Jeffery held the door open for you. I have gone to this CVS several times and most times there was someone holding the door. I am not sure if it has always been Jeffery, because I sadly have not paid enough attention.

Jeffery is 47 and was born and raised here in our nation’s capital. He was wearing an oversized sweatshirt, jeans, and a dark ball cap. A latex glove covered his right hand which holds an ice tea canister that holds the money that he receives from those who stop and help him out.

Jeffery’s soft polite voice greets the customers:

“Good evening”

“Hello ma’am, how are you today?”

“Have a nice evening.”

You might assume that he is homeless, but he is not. He brings in about $100 a day panhandling. He also has another job that he does during the summer months where he works with high-profile clientele in the DC area. He preferred that I not share the name of his other place of employment.

Jeffery is charismatic. He talks about how panhandling has taught him how to interact with others and how to deal with diversity. “You gotta be able to deal with people out here.” He explains that many people don’t carry much cash and prefer to use debit and credit cards, but that doesn’t deter him. “I know that it is just a matter of time before they help me out. I just try to be nice to everyone.”

CVS however has asked him not to stand right by the entrance. They would prefer that he stand a few yards away. “But the people don’t give as much when I stand over there,” he says pointing to a spot closer to the street curb. Being next to the door recently turned out to benefit the store. Jeffery told me that a person ran out with some stolen goods and he was able to run after the person and recover the stolen merchandise.

Jeffery (Photo: Reed)

While I was taking some photos of Jeffery, a woman yelled at me and told him to have more respect for himself and not allow me to take photographs of him. He told me that he didn’t mind.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with the money. That’s OK. I know where to find him. I told him I would be back this week to see what he had decided. As I walked home I couldn’t help but wonder why a smart, charismatic man like him was panhandling.

Read Full Post »

Day 148 – David B.

Posted in Food & Beverage on May 16, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Dupont Circle (Photo: Reed)

This past week we had some late “April showers.” I actually like to walk the city when it is raining. There are less people out and you can focus on the city. You see things that you normally don’t see due to having fewer distractions from those around you. I walked over to Dupont Circle. This is one of my favorite places to go to people watch and interestingly enough it is also a great place to go when it is raining and nobody is out. You really get to take in the greenery, the sound of the water cascading over the fountain, and the overall peacefulness of this urban respite.

Dupont Circle Fountain

In the center stands a fountain. Built in 1921, it replaced the statue of Samuel Francis Du Pont which was moved to Rockford Park in Wilmington, DE. The fountain was designed by the same folks who designed the Lincoln Memorial. They created three figures that represent the sea, the stars and the wind.

It makes a nice backdrop for photos.

As I made my way around the circle I found David sitting on top of the backrest of the benches that corral the fountain. To his right rested a bicycle still beaded with the previous hour’s raindrops.

David in an empty Dupont Circle (Photo: Reed)

David had just finished his job waiting tables at a local Italian restaurant. He is also an English student at the University of the District of Colombia who expects to graduate in December of 2011. I’m pleasantly surprised to discover that David belongs to an elite subset of my recipients who live in the DC area and were also born here. It’s a very transient city so this is not as common as one might think.

At 27 David has decided to go back to school to get his college degree after years of working odd jobs: bike messenger, construction, life guarding, etc. He also enjoys painting and drawing in his spare time.

I really enjoyed meeting David. He mentioned that the Year of Giving

(Photo: Reed)

reminded him of Time Banks. This concept was vaguely familiar to me, but I went online and checked them out and absolutely love the concept. Basically you give of your time to others. For every hour of time you give, you earn an hour of credit that you can “cash” in to receive someone else’s time. Brilliant idea. There are a couple of DC Time Bank groups that I will explore. If anyone has experience working with Time Banks I would love to hear from you.

He also shared with me a quote from Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech given at Riverside Church in New York City on April 4, 1967.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a “thing-oriented” society to a “person-oriented” society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. – Martin Luther King

I love this quote. David and I share King’s belief in a people oriented society. All too often today our brains get cluttered with unnecessary garbage that clouds our vision. We lose sight of the basic principles that once guided my grandparents’ daily lives. But I realize that this only happens if we allow it. I am more committed than ever before to focus firmly on what really matters: our brothers and sisters in our community and the world.

As I left, I circled back to my leading question. David said that his impulse was to give the $10 away to a homeless person. I hope he shares with us the details of his experience.

Read Full Post »

Day 147 – Cynthia W.

Posted in Refusals, Something for others, tagged $10, DC, drinks, Dupont Circle, Eastern Europe, food, friends, travel, washington on May 15, 2010| 1 Comment »

Last Monday I spent the morning doing some phone calls and interviews. I got outside a little to walk Ruben, the dog that I have been taking care of, but other than that I was pretty much inside.

That evening I had plans to have dinner with some former colleagues of mine from my last job. We decided to meet up at my friend Patricia’s house in Arlington. I took Ruben out for another walk before leaving, stopped by a wine shop and a new gelato shop to get some wine and gelato for the evening. By the way, I got the gelato from Dolcezza in Dupont. I sampled a bunch of the flavors, but settled on dulce de leche granizado and lime cilantro. The lime cilantro was such a unique flavor, I had to get it. The citrus flavors combined with zest of the cilantro created a deliciously refreshing dessert!

The evening was great. I got to spend time with some old colleagues. Laura and her husband brought their four-month-old boy Griffin too! He is amazing!

Bar at the Afterwords Cafe (Photo: Reed)

Anyway, the night winded down and I dropped Kate off at her hotel in Chinatown. It was 11:45 and I still had to give away my $10. As I drove I kept my eyes open for somebody on the streets. I passed a couple of large groups of people, but didn’t think that stopping them and explaining what I was doing would go very well at midnight, so I pulled over at Kramerbooks near my house. Inside I found a young couple sitting at a table and offered the guy my $10. He politely declined and I looked toward his friend. She somewhat reluctantly agreed.

It turns out that she is the bartender there at Kramerbooks. I didn’t realize that though because she was sitting at a table at the otherwise empty bar. Get this, I realized I didn’t have a ten dollar bill. For that matter, I didn’t even have $10! I think I had $8. Then I remembered that I had a bag of quarters in my backpack and grabbed them and counted out the rest of the money for her. It was a little embarrassing, but Cynthia rolled with it and didn’t make me feel awkward at all.

Cynthia said she likes to travel. Two of her favorite destinations are Dubrovnik, Croatia and Budapest, Hungary. Camping and snowboarding are also high on her list of things to do.

About this time several people made their way into the bar and I let Cynthia go wait on them. She returned shortly with a glass of water for me and asked if I had any other questions. I could see that she was busy and I didn’t want to take up more of her time…so while she was preparing things I asked her what her favorite drink and food items were on the menu at Kramerbooks’ Afterwords Café. Her favorite drink was a tie between the Brewmaster Reserve by Brooklyn Brewery and the Old Brown Dog by Smuttynose Brewery. Her favorite dish is the Bison Burger. Honestly, you almost can go wrong there, everything is good.

I wrapped things up and let Cynthia get back to work.

Her $10 is going toward the purchase of a new dictionary for a homeless man who she knows. Someone stole his bag which contained his dictionary. I asked if there was anything that I could include in the Lend a Hand project and she mentioned that her car needs some work so she would love to get some help with that. Heck, maybe a show like Overhaulin would come and help her out!

Read Full Post »

Day 146 – Mike E.

Posted in Donation, tagged $10, back pain, donations, helping others, India, MD, nonprofits, physical therapy, Rockville, sex trade on May 14, 2010| 3 Comments »

Last Sunday I went to a party for my friend Dan who was celebrating surviving three years of law school. There was some really good food there too. Somebody made some shawarma that was fantastic.

I met a guy there named Mike and decided to give him my $10 for the day.

Mike E. (Photo: Reed)

Mike is married and lives in Burtonsville, MD with his family. He got a degree in Engineering but decided that a career in engineering wasn’t what he wanted and went back to school at the University of Maryland at College Park to study kinesiology.

Kinesiology, from the Greek words kinesis (movement) and kinein (to move) and ology (branch of study), is the branch of physiology that studies the mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement.

Mike has been working at a physical therapy clinic in Rockville, MD for three years. “I love the gym and I love sports,” he said. “This was just a natural fit for me.” Mike’s work is truly rewarding. He shared with me a story about a woman who slipped and fell and pulled her hamstring as a result. She didn’t take care of it and the problem got worse. It got so bad that she couldn’t sit for a year. Mike then got the opportunity to work with her and she started to improve and was finally able to sit again. Mike added, “When you are able to help someone feel better, you feel good too!” It’s not so different than my experience of daily giving.

You know how when you meet a lawyer, you feel compelled to ask some legal questions. If you meet an accountant, you’re certain to think of some obscure tax question that you have wanted to get resolved…well, I am no different I guess. So I have been suffering from neck and back pain which results in numbness down my right arm and in my hand. I shared this with Mike and he asked me some questions about the pain.

This is where my back pain seems to stem from. And no, this is not me!

Before I knew it, I was lying down on the floor and Mike was working on my neck. He got it a lot looser and improved my range of motion. I still had pain and numbness, but there seemed to be some improvements just after 20 or 30 minutes. Mike gave me some exercises to do at home to try to reduce my pain. It was so incredibly nice of Mike to take time to try to help me feel better. Thanks Mike!

I also have an appointment with a physician later this month, but I am looking into trying to do some physical therapy as well. Anyone who has ever had similar pain knows how much it starts to affect your life. I can’t wait until I am pain-free.

Mike decided to donate his $10 to Freeset, a fair trade business that offers meaningful employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade. According to the group, there are more than 10,000 sex workers in Kolkata, formally called Calcutta. These women were forced into prostitution by trafficking or poverty. Freeset offers them a real choice. When they choose to work at Freeset, they can start new lives, regain dignity in their communities, and begin a journey towards healing and wholeness.

Read Full Post »

Day 145 – Peter A.

Posted in Alcohol, Food & Beverage, tagged $10, acting, DC, Dupont Circle, giving, media, NYC, theatre, washington on May 13, 2010| 2 Comments »

For those of you who have not seen the CNN report, check it out. Reporter David Banks put together a really nice piece.

Last Saturday I met up with a journalism student from the University of Maryland who was doing a story on the Year of Giving. Ruben and I met her near the Dupont Circle Metro stop and walked over to the circle. It was pretty busy and Ruben was excited to see all the people and fellow dogs out enjoying the day. I ran into Danny Harris from Day 64 in the center of the circle.

Shortly thereafter I spotted Peter under a shaded tree reading a biography of the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock. Peter is an Actor living in the East Village of NYC. Originally from Louisville, KY, he studied at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and then moved to The Big Apple.

Originally drawn to the stage by Shakespearean plays, now Peter is focusing most of his energy on some short films. He shared with me a the link to a rough cut of one that he recently finished…he’s very good in it, check it out!

So you may be wondering why the heck Peter is 250 miles away from his home sitting under a tree reading about Hitchcock. As it turns out his sister lives in DC and was performing one of the lead roles in The Marriage of Figaro at the Kennedy Center this week and he came down to watch her. She was working during the day, so he was just relaxing seeing a bit of the city.

Peter contemplated the $10. He said that it would probably get spent on some bourbon, beers, or maybe some food. Later he told me, “Maybe I’ll do something else with it…all these other people have done something amazing with it, so who knows.”

He had more time to kill and I probably didn’t help the chances of my money being passed forward as I showed him where the Brickskeller Pub was. We said our goodbyes and thanked one another.

Here is some footage of him being interviewed by the University of Maryland journalist as well as a few of my own questions. The wind is really bad…sorry. It actually blew over my Flip camera at one point!

Read Full Post »

Day 144 – Meghan & Chief

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, DC, dogs, Dupont Circle, jobs, Philadelphia, public health, students, washington on May 12, 2010| 4 Comments »

Meghan with Chief (Photo: Reed)

Last Friday I went for a walk around DC with Ruben, the dog that I have been taking care of while my friends Chris and Karrin are traveling. I thought I would let Ruben help me pick the recipient of the day. We walked around for a while and made our way over to Dupont Circle. He spotted another dog and started to lunge forward toward Chief, his new canine buddy.

Chief’s owner Meghan accepted the $10 on their behalf. Meghan is from Philadelphia and splits her time between the City of Brotherly Love and the Nation’s Capital where she is working toward her masters’ degree at Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS) where she is focusing on International Public Health. Coincidentally through the Year of Giving I have met four or five people who are studying or recent graduates in this field.

Meghan was taking a much needed break from writing her remaining three papers and studying for her last exam. Despite being in the eye of the storm, she seemed rather relaxed. Perhaps that is because she is graduating in two weeks and will be done with all of her studies. As we get close to those momentous occasions our brains seem to somehow remind ourselves that we only have to suffer a little bit more before things improve.

With no job lined up after graduation, Meghan’s life after school is up in the air right now. She has decided what area she wants to work in though. Meghan is passionate about maternal health, particularly the areas of child survival and vaccinations.

As the 27-year-old finishes her school and internship at UNICEF, she would love to find a job in Philadelphia or possibly Baltimore. If you know of any positions in Public Health in or around Philadelphia, please leave a comment here or send me a note and I will forward that to Meghan.

So where did this $10 go? Well, Meghan said the actual bill would probably get spent on lunch that day, but she would most likely think of some way to “pay it forward or donate it” and let us know where it ends up. I heard from Meghan today and she said:

I ended up giving the $10 to someone who is usually asking for money near my house and always hangs out with and pets Chief when we walk by. I hope this helps. Thanks again for making my day of studying a little more enjoyable and social!

Watch this video to meet Meghan, Chief, and Ruben for yourself. Let’s just say that trying to conduct and film an interview with two dogs was a new experience.

Read Full Post »

Day 143 – Will J.

Posted in Food & Beverage, Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, activities, art, boredom, DC, washington, youth on May 11, 2010| 6 Comments »

Thanks to all of those who have become Facebook Fans and especially those who have signed up to give on June 15^th, the Worldwide Day of Giving. So far there are only a little over 300 people who have committed to giving in their own community on June 15^th…so pass the word along. My goal is to get 10,000 people around the world to do this and then have them share their experiences, pictures, etc. here with the rest of the world. It should be amazing, but I need your help to make it happen!

Will and Matthew (Photo: Reed)

Last Thursday I found Will with his skateboard at the north end of Dupont Circle. Will is an 18-year-old who lives in the Fort Totten area. He was reluctant to accept my $10 because he felt there were others who were more deserving of the money, but then he decided to accept it and pass the money on.

He describes himself as a “furry artist, tattoo apprentice, capoeira student, skateboarder, traceur (person who performs parkour), film editor, and musician.” I have to say that I felt like a huge under-achiever after learning all about his interests. I had never even heard of parkour for example. It is a non-competitive, physical discipline of French origin in which participants run along a route, attempting to negotiate obstacles in the most efficient way possible.

Will said that he was going to give $5 to his mom who “could really use the money right now.” He is going to break the other $5 into singles and give out a $1 to 5 random people. I asked him if there was anything that people reading the blog could do to help him. He shook his head “no” and said, “I feel that I can give more than I can receive.” I definitely understand his thinking.

About this time, Will’s friend Matthew came along. Matthew and Will met at the same capoeira training center. They both share a lot of the same interests. Matthew also trains in Japanese sword play and Japanese staff fighting.

Here is a small portion of our conversation.

If you would like to check out some of Will’s artwork, click here.

Read Full Post »

Day 142 – Angie M.

Posted in Food & Beverage, Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, DC, family, genocide, georgetown, grocery stores, helping others, moms, mothers, Rwanda, washington on May 10, 2010| 6 Comments »

This blog entry was supposed to be posted yesterday. It was Mother’s Day and I was just not motivated to do much. Sorry. Happy belated Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

I have been dog-sitting for a few days, so I got up yesterday around 7am and took my new best friend Ruben for a walk. Meandering around Washington early in the morning was so peaceful. There was very little traffic and I had some time to reflect on my Mom. I wish that I could put into words how much I miss her. I know that she would have loved the Year of Giving.

After a long walk, I grabbed a copy of El Tiempo Latino newspaper and made our way over to Dupont Circle. I played with Ruben in the shaded grass for a while and then we found a sunny bench to relax on. I read through the paper and Ruben slipped in and out of a slumber.

Photo: Reed

Last Wednesday I had an opportunity to participate in the Gala Celebration of the re-opening of the Safeway grocery store located at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue. My friend Patricia works for Dufour and Company, one of the nation’s most respected event management firms that was hired to make the Gala a spectacular experience. She invited me to help with the reopening. It was incredible. I have never seen a grocery store turn into such an elegant locale. Props to the Dufour team!

Photo: Reed

This Safeway is amazing too! The produce section was flawless, every pepper and bean was in it’s place. I could go into detail about how phenomenal this grocery store is, but check out Bonnie Benwick’s write-up in the Washington Post.

While I was there, I met Angie who was also there helping out with the event. She is a 26-year-old District of Columbia resident who, like me, is currently unemployed. She has a background in nonprofits and marketing. I really liked Angie’s answer when I asked her what she wanted to do professionaly. “I recently did my 10 year plan. During the next 10 years I want to start my own marketing firm that focuses on the needs of nonprofits, schools, and small businesses.”

Angie (Photo: Reed)

I asked Angie to tell me a little about herself and she said, “I love traveling, laughing, and great ideas. And I love cheese…Gouda and other soft cheeses!” We talked about some of her favorite places she has visited. “I really like San Juan, Puerto Rico. The people are so welcoming.” She went on to say, “I love that you can get a delicious meal, a drink, and dessert for $12 there!”

She came to Washington five years ago and enjoys every minute of living here. “There is so much to do in DC. There isn’t a monotonous culture here like some places.”

In response to my question about what she would do about with the $10, Angie said, “Well, I’m a pedestrian. There are a lot of times that I haven’t had enough money to go from point A to point B. So, I am going to keep the money until I find someone who needs help getting someplace.”

Angie allowed me to take speak with her on camera for a few minutes. She talks about the most influential person in her life; her mother. As I said earlier, this was supposed to be posted yesterday. It would have been a perfect tribute to Mother’s Day. Angie also talks about Rwanda, where she was born, and how the genocide there has affected her life.

Read Full Post »

Day 141 – Robert S.

Posted in Food & Beverage, Transportation, tagged $10, art, DC, prison, street vendor, washington on May 8, 2010| 4 Comments »

I got another package for Anthony (Day 67) last week. This time it was from Jamie in Alabama! Take a look!

Later that day I came across Robert.

Robert shared with me that he had a serious drug and alcohol addiction in the past; PCP, crack, heroin, you name it. But after getting high one time and breaking into a school in PG County, he was arrested and served 12 months of an 18 month sentence. That he said cleaned him up. “I did my time and I appreciate what it did for me, but I don’t ever want to do it again” he told me.

Now Robert lives with his mother and makes a living selling personalized greeting cards at the corner of 17^th and H in DC. Although never married, he has five sons.

You can see some of Robert’s work here.

Robert is going to put the $10 toward his Metro card so that he can get to and from the corner where he sells his cards. He says he is there Monday through Friday from 7am to 7pm.

If anyone knows of jobs related to drawing, Robert welcomes your help.

Read Full Post »

Day 140 – Pieter A.

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, actors, art, celebrities, coffee, computers, DC, Dupont Circle, painting, sailing, washington on May 7, 2010| 5 Comments »

On Monday morning I was enjoying a chat with my friend David on the sun-drenched patio of Kramerbooks. David was in town from New York City, where people are apparently accustomed to seeing famous people all the time.

We hadn’t been seated for more than a few minutes and David said, “The guy who plays McNulty on The Wire just walked in.” I don’t watch The Wire, so I wouldn’t have recognized actor Dominic West even if I had seen him. About two weeks ago I walked out of the Asian restaurant RICE here in DC and didn’t notice actor Kal Penn holding the door for me. I am simply lousy at recognizing actors – I once got frustrated with Sir Anthony Hopkins and elbowed him. I had no idea it was the famed English actor. I guess I just don’t watch enough television and movies, or perhaps I just don’t pay enough attention. Who knows?

Anyway, I suggested to David that I give my $10 to the hit HBO series actor. David got up and did a quick sweep of the store and said that he had already left out another door.

We went back to talking.

About 30 minutes later David says to me, “You are not going to believe this, but Peter Ustinov is sitting behind you.” Ok, what is the chance of David seeing two famous actors in the span of about 30 minutes…4 blocks from my home in Washington, DC no less! I found myself repeating his name in an effort to draw a connection to who Peter Ustinov was. Spartacus is the only thing that came to mind…but I couldn’t recall the details of his appearance. Both of us showing our geek side quickly Googled the actor’s name on our phones and sure enough, the man behind me looked a lot like him. The man sitting behind me looked a little younger than the image on my phone, but was pretty similar.

I decided to offer him my $10 and see if we were right. David reminded me, “If he has a British accent, then it’s definitely him.”

I approached the man and explained my giving project. In an English accent, he politely replied, “I would love to but actually I have to be leaving to take a flight.”

I asked for his name just to track in my records which is my common practice.

He replied, “Peter.”

This is him! Wow, this is kind of exciting. I had to ask him if he was the famed English actor of Spartacus, many Agatha Christie movies, Lorenzo’s Oil, etc. “No,” he said shaking his head side to side. “I get that a lot, but I am much younger and not nearly as fat as him!” he said with a grin.

My first thought was that he was politely denying being the real Peter Ustinov…I mean what are the chances that they look similar, have British accents, and are both named Peter!

Peter Ustinov

Pieter Ariaans (Photo: Reed)

As it turns out, I was speaking with Pieter Adriaans, an accomplished Dutch professor, scientist, and painter. He was sitting by himself reading Programming the Universe by MIT professor Seth Lloyd. “It’s interesting, however, I disagree with some fundamental points that he makes in the book.”

Pieter probably can make a good case for his arguments too! He studied philosophy and mathematics in Leiden, The Netherlands and has been active in research in the areas of artificial intelligence and relational database systems since the mid 1980s. He later cofounded a company called Syllogic that he sold to little company out of Plano, TX called Perot Systems. Since then, he has focused mostly his research, sailing, and painting.

Pieter was part of a very interesting sailing project to make a state-of-the-art sailing vessel that had superior auto-piloting. You can find out more here at the Robosail Sailing Lab’s website.

I don’t know when he has time to do his painting, but apparently he does. He has hundreds of impressive works. You can browse through his paintings on his website which has paintings that date back to the 1960s.

Pieter was such an interesting person that every answer triggered a new question, but I was ever mindful of his time, so I thanked him for sharing a few minutes with me and said goodbye.

David says he will leave the $10 as an extra tip for someone working in the service industry while he is here in the US.

As we were leaving, David said he saw Harrison Ford walking into the bookstore. Ok, I just made that up!

Read Full Post »

Day 139 – Victor R.

Posted in Something for themself, tagged $10, entrepreneurship, family, fishing, genealogy, parents, parks on May 6, 2010| 5 Comments »

On Sunday I visited my good friends Tom and Tressa and their almost five-month-old daughter Tegan. We went to Fountainhead Regional Park and did some hiking around the Occoquan River Reservoir, which serves as a border between Fairfax and Prince William counties.

We stumbled across a group of people fishing. A young guy who had ventured out on a log a few feet captured my attention. He was wearing a dark shirt, extra long shorts, socks, and sandals. He deftly balanced his weight has he almost effortlessly cast his line in and out. As I approached him I thought he was reeling in a fish, but it turned out to be some branches that his hook got caught up in.

Victor reels in what turns out to be some branches (Photo: Reed)

Victor is a 20-year-old landscaping entrepreneur. For the last three years he has been growing VMR Landscaping in the Northern Virginia region; mostly in Falls Church, Manassas, and Manassas Park. I asked him how business was doing and he quickly replied that the business was doing very well. “Especially power-washing. Right now that is a big part of my business.”

Victor loves to fish. He had caught about four fish that day, but only one was a keeper, a fish with some black coloring on its underside measuring in a little over a foot. His record was a catfish which measured up to his thigh. On Sunday he was mostly catching Crappies, a fish I had never even heard of, but the name alone makes me think that they are a disappointing fish.

All of a sudden he got a bite and started reeling in a fish, but it got away. Took his bait too. I asked him what kind of bait he used and he said that he usually used night crawlers, shrimp, liver or sardines. He is going to use my $10 to rent a boat the next time he comes out to fish…they run about $11 for the day.

Victor shared with me that he does not know his biological mother. Born in El Salvador, he moved here with his father when he was just a few years old. He says that he would like to know her. Her name is Maria Maldalena Arana, although I found very few cases of Maldalena. More common are Magdalena and Madalena…so perhaps I wrote down the incorrect spelling. The last he knew of her was that she was living in Arlington, VA around 1996. Victor thinks that he has a younger sister too. As much as I can understand his desire to meet his mother, I imagine that he must have mixed feelings about it. He must have so many questions. So many emotions.

If anyone has information about Victor’s mother, please comment here or send me an email and I will pass it along to Victor. I would also like to ask that if you live in the Falls Church/Manassas/Manassas Park area and are looking for landscaping services that you consider giving Victor a try. Drop me a note and I can connect you.

Victor caught a small fish that he threw back (Photo: Reed)

As I said goodbye Victor got another bite…this time he reeled the fish in. Unfortunately it was just a little guy. I grabbed a photo of him and the fish before he tossed it back.

Read Full Post »

Day 138 – Georgia Mae L.

Posted in Something for others, tagged $10, actress, film, movies, Springfield, teenagers, VA on May 5, 2010| 3 Comments »

Last Friday night we wrapped up our planning session for the DC 48 Hour Film Project pretty late and I got back to my home in DC around midnight. While I searched my house for clothes and props that I would need the next day, one of our team members, Matt, spent all night writing the screenplay.

Once I got all my stuff ready, I dissolved into my bed and fell asleep, only to wake up at 5:30am to be ready to start filming in Springfield, VA at 7:00am.

We spent all day filming. My character was Marco Gabbowitz, a washed out ballroom dance champion who now works as a dog walker. Marco, and his former partner Kiki Patron, decide to make a run for the championship one last time. Well, if you want to see the film before we win Oscars and become famous, check it out this Thursday night at 7pm at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring, MD. Tickets are $10 for about a dozen short films starting at 7pm.

Georgia Mae (Photo: Reed)

So Saturday I was filming all day. One of the people that was going to be in the movie with us was 13-year-old Georgia Mae. As it turns out, she is quite the movie star having already been in a major motion picture, Familiar Strangers. In addition to being a movie star in her own right, she is also the youngest person to receive my $10!

Georgia Mae is in middle school where she loves to play the standup double bass and piano. She recently taught herself how to play the electric bass. I learned that when she first started playing the standup bass that often times teachers and others would have to help her carry it because it was so much bigger than her. Now she even plays in the jazz band at school. She used to play the violin and cello. “I didn’t really like the sound I made with either of them,” she told me. Sounds awfully similar to my saxophone days.

Georgia Mae is a very sweet girl. When I asked her what she would like to do with the $10, she replied, “I am going to buy ice cream for my two little brothers.” That is in fact just what she did. She even treated her parents too! Her mother later wrote me and said that Georgia Mae bought the ice cream and they ate it “on some homemade strawberry rhubarb crisp.” Sounds good!

Photo: Reed

If you come see the film, I know that you will enjoy one of the scenes that Georgia Mae and I are in together. In the scene I am out walking Sarah’s dog Laredo and come across Georgia Mae. I say hello to her but she is so embarrassed to be seen with me that she shoots me a look and then crosses the street to avoid being seen with me. The expression on her face was priceless!

Read Full Post »

Day 137 – Sarah H.

Posted in Something for themself, tagged $10, arts, cinema, creativity, film, movies, reality tv, Springfield, VA on May 4, 2010| 3 Comments »

A few weeks ago I got an email from my friend Betsy saying that some friends of hers were entering in the DC 48 Hour Film Project. She recommended that I go and be a part of a team called SwimFast, LiveSlow. The 48 Hour Film Project describes itself as “a wild and sleepless weekend in which you and a team make a movie—write, shoot, edit and score it—in just 48 hours.”

On Friday evening each team receives a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre that all must be included in a 4-7 minute film. Then you work feverishly throughout the weekend to make the film and turn it in 48 hours later on Sunday evening. The elements that we had to incorporate into our film were:

Genre: Buddy Film

Character: Marco or Muffin Gabbowitz, a person who works with animals

Prop: a horn

Line of Dialogue: “Do you think you can do that again?”

So last Friday evening I drove over to Springfield, VA to meet with the team. I only knew Betsy and another friend Jeff from a play we did together last year. It was there that I met Sarah.

Sarah is 32 and lives in Northern Virginia with her husband Van and their 14-month-old boy Will.

When Sarah is not watching little Will or participating in zany weekend film challenges, she is teaching 4^th grade students at a nearby elementary school. She says she likes 4^th graders because, “they are old enough to understand occasional sarcasm but young enough to not be too cool.” Her school is very different to the one that she attended when she was a young girl growing up in Lynchburg, VA.

I went to an all-white public school, the school where I teach is very diverse. English is a second language to many of the students. You can clearly see students who are living in poverty – some have to wear the same clothes almost every day to school. – Sarah H.

Sarah and her dog Laredo, both starred in our film (Photo: Reed)

When I explained the Lend a Hand program to Sarah, she said that she would love to find someone who is talented in needlework and sewing to volunteer about once a week for 3-4 hours until the end of the school year. The school is located in the Falls Church, VA area. If you, or someone you know, are interested in this opportunity, leave a comment here and I will contact you.

I learned a little trivia about Sarah too! She has submitted a video application to be a contestant on the Survivor not once, but twice! I asked her to share some of the video here, but I haven’t received anything yet…keep your fingers crossed. And if anyone out there reading this knows how to get Sarah on the show – maybe there is still a chance for her!

Sarah’s $10 will go toward the cost of getting a baby-sitter for this coming weekend.

As for the film, we got it done and submitted it on time. They are showing our film on Thursday night at 7pm at the AFI Silver Theater, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910. I am going to go see it. I have not seen any of it yet, so I have no idea how I did or how the film turned out after being chopped up, edited, and put back together. I am a little scared to watch myself bomb on the big screen.

Tickets are $10 for about a dozen short films starting at 7pm.

Read Full Post »

Day 136 – Warren S.

Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged $10, DC, Dupont Circle, employment, jobs, washington on May 4, 2010| 2 Comments »

Last Thursday I was still pretty sick from the stomach virus I came down with on Wednesday. I finally got myself out of bed around 8pm and walked up to Dupont Circle and found Warren, a two-year veteran of the Street Sense sales force, resting on a chained fence hawking newspapers.

Warren holding the new issue of Street Sense (Photo: Reed)

I have never met Warren before, but I have heard his untiring refrain, “Street Sense, Street Sense, Street Sense, Street Sense.”

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Warren has spent most of his time in the nation’s capital, however, he did spend about 5 years in Japan as a youth. He now spends his afternoons most days selling the Street Sense, usually in and around Dupont Circle. It helps support him, but he confides that he would love to have a job that paid a little more. He used to work in the office printing business as well as drive a delivery van and hopes to be able to return to similar more stable work. When the weather is bad now, he barely scrapes by due to low paper sales. If you know of any potential jobs for Warren, please let me know.

Warren was kind enough to let me videotape him briefly. Take a look.

Warren said he was going to use my $10 to help buy him some groceries.

If you have not already signed up for the Worldwide Day of Giving on Facebook, please do so now! June 15th is less than 45 days away!

Read Full Post »

Day 135 – Duke Ellington School of the Arts 9th Graders

Posted in Something for themself, tagged $10, DC, georgetown, giving, school, teenagers, washington, youth on May 3, 2010| 5 Comments »

Last Wednesday I met up with Danny Harris, the creative mind behind The People’s District blog who I met on Day 64. If you haven’t checked out Danny’s website, please do. I love it.

Duke Ellington School of the Arts (Photo: Reed)

Anyway, we just met up to have a coffee and share some conversation. At some point, Danny looked at me and asked, “What are you doing this afternoon?” In the spirit of unemployment, I responded that I was pretty busy but that I might be able to squeeze something in. I asked him what he had in mind and he shared that he was teaching a Media and Communications course at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the afternoons and asked if I would be a special guest in one of the classes. I happily accepted the invitation.

Danny picked me up on his scooter around 1:30. Yep, I was strapped on the back of his scooter heading through Upper Georgetown. Thank goodness nobody caught a picture of me looking ridiculous trying to figure out where to put my hands and feet.

The school is very different than the school that I attended. Students seemed to be treated much more like adults. The far wall was covered in books. The chairs were set up in the shape of a circle. The room itself was rather different. Picture a room that has an opening to another room on one side and along the other side a wall that didn’t go all the way to the ceiling allowing discussion in the adjacent room to be heard.

(Photo: Reed)

The ninth graders started trickling in and several came in and politely introduced themselves to me.

Danny started his class and later introduced me. I took a ten dollar bill out of my Moleskine notebook and showed it to the class and asked, “What would you do if I gave you $10.” Ideas started spewing forth, but most of the ideas were focused on what they would buy for themselves. Then I asked, “What about doing something for someone else?” Most students then started brainstorming ideas that involved others, many of the ideas focused on how to help a teacher at the school who recently suffered a miscarriage. It was amazing to see these young minds at work. Sure there were the occasional moments of pure chaos, but mostly it was controlled chaos.

Danny and I posed several questions like:

“Does it matter what the person does with the money?”

“Does the giver’s intentions matter?”

“How would you feel if you gave money to someone who said they needed it and you later found out they had lied about their situation and didn’t really need the money as much as they said they did?”

“When you give, do you make any conditions on your kindness or do you do it unconditionally?”

The debate was fantastic.

9th Grade Media & Communications Class (Photo: Reed)

The time seemed to fly by and we were getting very close to the end of the class and the sound of the bell signaling the change of class. I told the students that I was going to give my $10 to them as a group and they had to agree on what to do with it. There was no shortage of ideas. Many of them involved helping the aforementioned teacher, others involved raising money for various causes. They settled on the idea of using my $10 as the foundation of a fund that they would themselves contribute to in order to host an open mic night to raise money for their class.

This was an amazing opportunity to interact with the students. I hope that they consider doing something on June 15^th as part of the Worldwide Day of Giving and share their experiences here with all of us.

I walked home, it’s about a mile or two. On the way home I started getting really sick. It was the beginning of a 36 hour stomach flu that wiped me out last week. I have since fully recovered!

Tonight I am doing an interview with a Korean radio station…should be interesting! I will let you know how it goes.

Read Full Post »

Day 134 – Katelyn F.

Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged $10, careers, college, dance, DC, georgetown, helping others, homeless, media, Studying, volunteering, washington on May 2, 2010| 6 Comments »

Last Tuesday was an exciting and busy day for the Year of Giving project. As I went out on my journey looking for someone to give my $10 to, I was accompanied by a local TV news crew that is doing a story on the project. I will let everyone know when the segment will air.

Another exciting element of Tuesday was that I was able to deliver some much needed clothes and shoes to Anthony from Day 67. Maureen and Josh from PA sent him some shoes and socks. Darnell from MD had sent me some items for Gregory from Day 71, but Gregory has disappeared. I have not seen him for over a month and the local businesses near where he used to panhandle everyday say that they have not seen him either. One of the items that Darnell sent was a brand new Tommy Hilfiger waterproof jacket. I thought that it might fit Anthony and it did! A big thank-you to Maureen, Josh, and Darnell! Check out this short clip of Anthony receiving the items.

Then it was off to find the recipient of the day. I headed over to the neighborhood of Georgetown and found Mariana. She said she didn’t have time to participate and that she really needed more like $1,000 not $10, so I kept on looking.

Davenport, IA

Just a few seconds later I spotted a young woman waiting to cross Wisconsin Avenue. Her name was Katelyn. The 21-year-old from Davenport, IA, is a junior at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL, just 50 minutes south of Chicago’s Loop. She has been in DC this semester as part of the university’s Study Abroad Program. While here in DC, she has also had the opportunity to intern with Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Katelyn’s home state.

I asked Katelyn where she was headed and she answered that she was walking over to a boutique to pick up her dress for the Naval Academy’s Ring Dance, where her boyfriend attends school. Let me stop and tell you that Katelyn has a beautiful smile. When she started talking about her boyfriend and attending the Ring Dance, she was beaming.

Katelyn (Photo: Reed)

I tried to take copious notes, but I may have gotten this wrong. The Ring Dance is a special ceremony where the second class midshipmen, third year students, receive their class rings. Their date wears the ring around their neck and then during the ceremony they dip the ring into water from all seven seas. This is a pretty big deal for the midshipmen. There is even a website that has a countdown clock letting you know exactly how long until the Ring Dance 2010 as well as the 2011 event! If you were wondering, at the time of this post, it was 20 days, 6 hours, and 40 minutes.

Although Katelyn said she felt like she should do something greater with the $10, she said the money would most likely be used for lunch. Her decision could have been influenced by the fact that it was 2:00 and she hadn’t had lunch and said that she was really hungry.

I asked her what her thoughts on giving were. She flashed her beautiful smile again and said, “I think it’s very important.” In fact, she was on her way back from volunteering that morning at Martha’s Table. She also has volunteered her time at the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center, and other organizations.

After spending this term in Washington, DC, Katelyn said, “I have learned a lot about myself. I used to think I wanted to go to law school, now I think I might want to teach English.”

As far as those who want to help Katelyn, she thought of two things that people could help her with. The first one is that she hopes to go to Japan sometime soon as her boyfriend’s sister is currently living there. Katelyn would like some tips on how to get good deals for traveling to Japan. Also, with her recent thoughts on her career, she would love to find an English professor who would serve as a mentor to her so that she can better plan her future in order to realize her goal of becoming an English professor herself. Please leave a comment here or drop me a note if you have any advice for Katelyn or know of a potential mentor for her.

As I left, I spotted John from Day 40. He said he was not doing well and had just been diagnosed with Cancer. Every time I have met John, either someone in his family has died or he has been diagnosed with a new life-threatening issue. You want to believe people, but this sounds like too much. For his sake, I hope the stories aren’t true.

Read Full Post »

Day 133 – Doug

Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged $10, DC, homeless, Penn Quarter, washington on April 30, 2010| 1 Comment »

Last Monday I was on my way to meet up with a friend for dinner when I came across Doug near the corner of 7^th and E in Penn Quarter. He was sitting on top of a hard suitcase, the small kind that you see flight crews carry all the time. Next to him was a larger suitcase with a bag on top. Tied to the handle of the large suitcase was a cardboard sign which read, “Travel funds needed. Extreme Duress. Borderline Crippled Due to illegal Activity on ME.”

Photo: Reed

I first walked by him and then stopped to check my watch. I was supposed to meet up for dinner at 7:30, it was now 7:20. What the heck, I went back and introduced myself and gave him my $10.

I can’t say that I know too much more about Doug after chatting with him for 15 minutes. Although he talked a lot, he told me very little. Most of my questions went unanswered and often he just spiraled into long-winded rants about injustices that he has suffered, the details of which he didn’t care to share.

“I am a semi-long term resident of greater Seattle,” he told me.

According to Doug, he came out here a little over a year ago with the intention on staying for just one month so that he could “get done what I came here to do.” He kept referring to doing everything in his power to legally make things right. I probed again about what he was trying to do and he shifted into a rant on how some people take advantage of others.

“I bet some people would intentionally trip the blind just to hurt them, you know?” “If a blind person were to walk by here I bet some people would try to trip’em just to hurt’em, you know what I mean?” Getting nowhere, I tried to go back and focus on more basic questions like his age.

“Well, how old do I look?”

I tried to dodge that question myself. I finally answered that I thought he was in his 50s. He said, “Well that’s not too bad, not after what I have been through.”

I told him that I was interested in knowing more about that and he replied, “I don’t want to get into details.”

He did tell me that he planned to use the money to buy some food that night and some coffee and breakfast in the morning. Who knows though, he clearly has some issues and I am not sure I got a single straight answer out of him.

I knew that he wasn’t going to allow me to photograph or videotape him, but I figured I had nothing to lose right? He said he didn’t want to be in any photos, but agreed to me taking a picture of his sign.

He continued to rant about things that made very little sense.

I waited until he paused for a second and then told him I needed to head on my way and extended my hand toward him. He said he couldn’t shake my hand as his was full of fractured bones. We left it at that.

Maybe Ivory from Day 49 knows his story. Ivory sells the Street Sense just a block or two away and he seems to know everyone around there. I will stop by and check with Ivory one of these days.

Read Full Post »

Day 132 – Mark E.

Posted in Food & Beverage, Savings, tagged $10, coffee, cycling, DC, international, South America, travel, washington on April 30, 2010| 13 Comments »

Filter, 1726 20th St., NW, DC

On Sunday I checked out a new coffee house in Dupont called Filter. It’s well located, tucked behind Connecticut Avenue on the more laid back 20^th Street. I descended a few stairs and walked into the cozy, hip coffee joint an ordered an espresso. The prices seemed slightly higher than Starbucks and Cosi, both of which are right around the corner. Overall I liked the place, despite a guy who was working there complaining that a nearby restaurant manager sent about 10 or 15 of her staff over to get espresso so that they understood what a good espresso tasted like. He didn’t like that they got it to go and one person reached for a cup before it was ready, etc. Anyway, when you work in an open atmosphere you need to be cognizant that others can hear your conversation. As a new location, I would have been thrilled to have 15 customers.

While I was there I met Mark, a graduating senior studying economics at the George Washington University here in DC. He graduates on May 17^th and is frantically wrapping up his final papers and studying for his last exams. I remember my last week of college. It was a great feeling to be “finished.” Little did I know that I was only finished with another segment of life and that new challenges and tests were just over the horizon.

Mark is from the DC area. He grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Magruder High School.

He and I have something in common related to the $10. Well, in a round about way. So Mark has a plan to go to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and embark on a bicycling journey all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina. I asked him how far this was and he said, “I don’t know exactly…several thousand miles.” Well, I did a little checking and I calculated that it will be at least 11,000 miles! That is like going across the continental US from ocean to ocean 3.5 times! Along the way he plans to give people $10 and a self-addressed stamped envelope. He will ask that they send him photos, stories, poems, etc. to him as well as a note explaining how they used the money. He sees it as a way to get to know the individuals as well as study the marginal propensity to save (or to consume) in different cultures.

Anyway, watch the video and you will learn a little more about Mark’s interest in cycling, his cycling trip around Spain and France as well as his plans for his upcoming trip from Alaska to Argentina. I also included a small piece where he talks about volunteering to help an adult read better.

As you might expect, Mark put the $10 toward his savings needed to make the trip.

I asked Mark if we could help him with anything on the Lend a Hand page. He said he needs funds to help him make his journey to Argentina. He applied for a grant from the University but was denied. I think there is a way to make this happen with corporate and individual donations. Furthermore, he needs to find a house/apartment in DC for the summer. He is looking for a place in DC that he will share with three other friends with a monthly rent of less than $3,000/month. Mark is also looking for a summer job, possibly in economic development but he is also open to other ideas. He seems like a great guy and would be a good addition to any business.

Reed and Mark

Before we said goodbye, Mark asked if I would consider being on the finish line in Argentina when he gets there. I would love that! We agreed to meet in a couple of weeks and do a bike ride after I get my bike out and get into shape a little. I was so inspired after our conversation, that I went home, got my bike in working order and took it for a short ride that evening. Thanks Mark!

Read Full Post »

Day 131 – Manni P.

Posted in Donation, tagged $10, DC, Dupont Circle, fitness, fundraising, h, military, sacrifice, washington on April 28, 2010| 11 Comments »

Ok, I am back. I was out of commission for about 36 hours with a stomach flu. I am not 100% yet, but feel much better. I look forward to getting the blog up to date!

What would you sacrifice for others? What would you put your body through physically to help someone else out…to help people that you don’t even know?

On Saturday my friend Surjeet and I were walking through Dupont Circle and saw some guys doing what looked to be push-ups. I remember saying something like, “They aren’t even doing the push-ups right…they are doing them like girls.” What I saw were four people doing some type of modified push-up…then rising to their feet and doing something like a jumping-jack.

Manni enjoys a light moment (photo: Reed)

Manni gives his arms and legs a break (photo: Reed)

We went over to investigate. As it turns out they were doing a challenge to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit charged with honoring and empowering severely injured service men and women. The four men had taken a challenge to do 3,000 “burpees.”

They were at around 2,000 when I arrived. Manni was in the lead. He took time out of his painful commitment to speak with me. The last part of the video I recorded about an hour after the first segment. Manni’s condition in the latter segment has visibly deteriorated. He was nonresponsive to questions from me and others at that point…just focused on finishing.

Manni finished all 3,000 burpees in 8hrs 5min. He later said to me in an email, “It was absolutely the hardest money I ever worked for, and I didn’t get to keep any of it!”

Thanks to all those who participated in the Wounded Warrior Project challenge and to those who generously donated. Manni is the real deal…he is a guy that you want on your team. Thanks Manni for your sacrifice on Saturday and for your service to our country.

Read Full Post »

Day 130 – Jona P.

Posted in Gave the money back, Refusals, tagged $10, Albania, DC, Dupont Circle, giving, homeless, Jose Maria Figueres, Richard Branson, technology, washington on April 27, 2010| 9 Comments »

Technology is just not being my friend these days. First last week the display on my point and shoot Canon camera died. Then that little ball that you use like a mouse on the Blackberry decided it didn’t want to roll to the left. The WiFi switch on my laptop is starting to fail. It constantly says that it has been switched to off…causing me to lose my connection. This is really annoying when you have a daily blog! What’s next? Maybe I need to go back to low tech. I could write up my daily adventures by hand, make drawings of the people I meet, get a mimeograph (now that is old school!) and make copies of everything and then mail them out to you via the post office!

Anyway, last Friday I tried to give my $10 away near Dupont Cirlce to a Hispanic woman who was carrying some bags. She just looked like she could use ten bucks, but she didn’t want to talk to me at all. She just kept saying, “Sorry, sorry, sorry.” I tried in Spanish, but she just kept on going.

Later I found Jona (pronounced Yona) pushing a scooter over to a place to lock it up by the Metro entrance.

The 27-year-old hails from Tirana, the capital and largest city in Albania, but has been living in the US since 2000. She is a Finance Manager so she probably has some interesting opinions on my Year of Giving.

She says that she likes living in the US, but makes a point to visit Albania every year. In fact she plans to return to live there some day.

We chatted for a while. I asked her if there was anything we could help her with. She said that she herself didn’t need anything but would like for everyone to start doing their part to help conserve our environment. I asked her what specifically and she said, “Just the little things. I mean just do it. People know what the right thing to do is.” She herself was participating in a very interesting conference that day called, Creating Climate Wealth.

The two-day conference convened respected entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and corporate leaders to provide their insights and expertise on the policies, market frameworks, and programs that will clear the barriers to deliver emission reductions and promote job creation.

She said that Virgin’s Richard Branson was there launching his new venture the Carbon War Room. I found a statement from Branson on Tonic that said, “Almost 50 percent of emissions can be eliminated without adding any burdens to consumers through improved market structures and enhanced policies. Climate change solutions represent the largest wealth creating opportunity for our generation. It is also the biggest win for governments with respect to economic development, job creation, increased property values, etc.”

Jona said former Costa Rican President José Maria Figueres was on the panel with Branson and had a great comment. He was talking about how in business and our personal lives we make a plan b in case things don’t go the way we hope. “There is no planet B!” he said. Figueres was able to pass a carbon tax in Costa Rica in the 1990s! He credits this to Costa Rica having a single term presidency and not being sidetracked by re-election efforts. Commenting on the importance of carbon taxing, he went on to say, “As long as the price of a tree standing is less than the price of a tree cut for timber, we won’t save the forests.”

I wish I had known about this summit. I would have loved to have participated.

Jona didn't want her picture taken, but said I could take a picture of her scooter! (Photo: Reed)

At the end of our conversation, Jona gave me the money back. She said, “I am going to give $10 of my own money to the guy who sits in front of the Johnny Rockets on Connecticut Avenue.” She asked me to use that $10 to help someone else out. I did not give it away that night.

On Sunday I saw the man she was talking about. His name is Travis. I used that extra $10 that I had to buy him dinner: Cheese Steak sandwich platter with everything on it and french fries. I let him know that Jona would be by to see him one day too.

Read Full Post »

Day 129 – Jimmy U.

Posted in Refusals, Transportation, tagged $10, baseball, DC, vendors, washington on April 26, 2010| 3 Comments »

Last Thursday my friend Rick got some cheap tickets to see the Nationals play the Colorado Rockies so I went to the game. I figured it would be fun to give my $10 to whoever was sitting next to me at the game. We had tickets in section 309, row C, seats 1-3. So, I figured whoever had seat 4 is getting $10!

It turns out nobody was sitting in seat 4…but there was a woman who had 5. So I offered her my $10 but she refused. I gave it my all to try to convince her but I was unsuccessful…she wouldn’t even tell me her first name. Oh well. I then found Jimmy.

Jimmy, Nationals Ballpark (Photo: Reed)

Jimmy is a vendor who climbs the steps of the stands all game long hawking snacks and beverages. This is not an easy job…you are constantly carrying around a backbreaking container of goods navigating your way up and down stadium steps. And get this, there is no salary. That’s right, Jimmy said he only gets commission and tips.

He works for a company that places him in a variety of different stadiums. Hailing from Baltimore, he said he is not that much of a Nationals fan. Actually he says he likes football more than baseball, especially the Baltimore Ravens.

I couldn’t keep Jimmy too long. After all, he was working and his wages are a direct correlation to how much he sells, so I didn’t want him to lose potential income. The 28-year-old says a good day he brings in a couple of hundred dollars. My $10 was going toward gas he said.

Check out this short video of Jimmy in action!

The Nats ended up losing the game 2-0. On an upside though, it was Earth Day and the ballpark had a special offer that if you brought recyclable items to the stadium you could buy a future ticket for half price. I did just that and will be going to see my favorite team, the New York Mets, play when they come to town in May!

Don’t forget to tip your servers and vendors for good service!

Read Full Post »

Day 128 – Ethan B.

Posted in Food & Beverage, Unknown, tagged $10, concert, DC, energy, music, U Street, washington on April 26, 2010| 6 Comments »

I had two sightings of previous recipients this weekend. Yesterday I saw Carlos from Day 118 about a block from my house and he let me know that he would donate the $10, along with additional funds, at the end of the year because then his employer will double the contribution.

Today I saw Ron from Day 24. He was sitting in the same spot where I originally met him in January. I was going to get some lunch at Chipotle and asked if he wanted anything. He took me up on the offer and I got him a garden burrito.

Last Wednesday night I went to the Velvet Lounge to check out Machines on Vacation, a local DC band that mixes a string quartet, guitar, and vocals with electronic beats and sounds. It’s hard to describe their genre…it’s unique and totally worth checking out.

The opening band was Deb Felz with a percussionist whose name I believe was Dan. Dan plays the cajón, an Afro-Peruvian box drum that you sit on and slap to produce a wide range of rhythmic beats. Deb plays guitar and sings. They were quite good together…you can check their music out here.

Ethan and Machines on Vacation at the Velvet Lounge (Photo: Reed)

The main event, Machines on Vacation, took the stage around 10pm. My friend Melanie plays violin for the group. The other members are Ethan (vocals, guitar, and electronics), Amanda (cello), Kellie (viola), and Theresa (violin/viola). I love that they have such a unique sound. It’s really refreshing to hear somebody out there exploring new territory in music. I particularly like Paralyzed Paradise, Oh No, and Light on My Doorstep. You can find some of their music on their Facebook page.

While watching the group I decided to give my $10 to one of the band members that I didn’t know. I approached Ethan after the show and introduced myself and asked if he would accept my $10. He didn’t hesitate.

I asked Ethan how he would describe Machines on Vacation’s distinctive sound. “I have no idea,” he said, getting a laugh from me. Seriously he said that its hard to describe but he offered a couple suggestions: “A melody-focused band that thrives on either embracing or rejecting the tenets of minimalism, sometimes in the same moment of a song”, “The music of the 22nd century – which is oddly just a mix of music from the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st”, and “Pop music for nerds but not geeks.” Check out this video for some of Ethan’s comments on musical influences and his obsession with asymptotes.

Leading a group seems to come natural to Ethan. When he is not being the front-man for Machines on Vacation, he is the CFO/COO for Elysian Energy, a DC/Baltimore energy efficiency firm that helps homeowners and businesses lower their energy bills and carbon footprint. The company sounds like it provides a valuable service today as individuals and businesses grapple with energy efficiency strategies, sustainability, renewable technologies, and carbon impact reduction.

Ethan is a fellow Washington Capitals fan (Let’s go Caps!) – they play Montreal Monday night in what is hopefully the final game of that series. He had already checked his phone I think Wednesday right after he finished playing to see if they had won, which they did that night.

I asked him what he thought he would do with the $10. “I feel like I should do something ‘good’ with it, instead of just using it to buy lunch tomorrow.” He and his wife have actually been discussing starting to give in a more organized manner. He said he would think about it and get back to me, but that it would most likely get used to help a person or organization.

Here is some video that I shot of the band playing Oh No at the Velvet Lounge.

Read Full Post »

Day 127 – “Emanuele”

Posted in Food & Beverage, tagged $10, DC, espionage, Farragut Square, paranoia, washington on April 24, 2010| 5 Comments »

On Tuesday I met with my group of unemployed colleagues that meet weekly to help each other in their career search. This was the day the AOL news report hit…my blackberry went berserk with a barrage emails and comments coming in just as I entered the meeting. After the session, I was anxious to get back to my apartment to start responding to the comments, but I needed to find a recipient for the day.

"Emanuele" in front of a statue of David G. Farragut, a Union admiral in the American Civil War famous for rallying his fleet with the cry, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" (Photo: Reed)

I walked over to Farragut Square to see who was in the park. It was there that I spotted an African-American man with short white hair sitting on his knees, barefoot, hunched over a park bench. I sat down a short distance away and took a few pictures of him. After watching him for a few minutes, I decided to approach him.

As I got close to the man I noticed that he had what looked like a scrap book or a book that you sign in on at a wedding reception. He was entering some notes into the book. Next to him was a small composition book, a bible, two bags, and a pair of old flip flops.

I introduced myself and he accepted my $10. I asked if I could ask him some questions and he became nervous and asked me to walk a few steps away from the bench to talk with him. He spoke with an accent that made me believe that he had moved here from Africa in the last 10 or 15 years.

We walked about 10 feet away and he explained that he couldn’t talk there because there were too many people watching and listening. He mentioned that the park was full of CIA and others. He suggested that I come back on another day and if he was on the west side of 17^th Street, then he would be free to talk. If he was in the park, then it would be too risky.

We walked back over to the bench. I asked him his name and he gave me a look like, “Hey I just told you I can’t talk here” but told me that I could call him “Emanuele.” He let me look at his book. There were three paragraphs on the left side of the page. I couldn’t really understand what he had written, however, I saw a social security number and he said that that person had now been arrested based on intelligence that he had passed along.

"Emanuele" (Photo: Reed)

We only spoke for about 10 minutes and then I left. I didn’t get to ask him any of my normal questions that I ask, but he did offer some information. He showed me a construction area on the northwest corner of K Street and Connecticut Avenue where he explained that three buildings used to exist. They have been torn down and construction is started on a new building complex there. He spoke about several conflicts that the previous owners have with the city about how this was handled, however I only understood about half of what he said.

I agreed to come back and see him when he was not being monitored in the park.

As for the $10, he said he was going to go to McDonald’s and get him a couple of cheeseburgers.

I headed back to my apartment to find almost 1,000 emails/comments from you guys!

Read Full Post »

Day 126 – Start L.

Posted in Gave the money to someone else, tagged $10, DC, demonstrations, energy, love, peace, vigil, vigils, washington, white house on April 23, 2010| 18 Comments »

I am kind of bummed today. I have been using a large SLR camera to take pictures for my Website. Sometimes though it is not convenient to carry such a large item around and my back has been having some issues with carrying around all of this gear everywhere I go. How do parents do it?!

Anyway, I own a small digital camera, a Canon PowerShot SD400, however, I haven’t been using it because the battery wasn’t staying charged for more than a minute or two. So, I broke down and bought the $40 battery (a good one so it wouldn’t die in a few months). It arrived yesterday and I took it with me last evening to try it out. It worked fine. Today I took the camera out to use it and the display is all messed up. It’s as if I dropped it or got water in it, but I didn’t. It’s really weird. If anyone knows what might be wrong with it, I would love to hear from you. I shouldn’t let it get to me, I don’t really need it anyway.

I think today’s recipient would probably agree with that statement. He goes by the name Start Loving.

Those of you who have been to Washington, DC have probably visited this place right?

White House

But how many of you have visited this place?

Start Loving at the Anti-Nuclear Peace Vigil (Photo: Reed)

Well it’s right in front of the White House. The Anti Nuclear Peace Vigil was started in 1981 by Concepción and Thomas. Sadly Thomas passed away last year and now Start has taken his place. It’s hard for me to fully comprehend that when Concepción and Thomas started the vigil I was only seven!

As I approached Start he greeted me, “Hello friend!” He was seated in a low chair with a laptop literally on his lap with a WiFi card plugged in giving him Internet access. I plopped down on the sidewalk next to him and we talked for about an hour. I asked him why he was doing this and he cleverly responded, “Because I’m too greedy to do anything else.” I told Start that I did not get too involved with political issues. Start shared an analogy for why I should be more active that went something like this. “Imagine you come home to find your house engulfed in flames and your loved ones and your worldly possessions trapped inside. Wouldn’t you do everything in your power to save your loved ones and put that fire out? Well our planet is on fire!”

Check out this video of me talking to Start. I think you will be shocked to learn about the life Start left behind to follow his heart.

You might disagree with some of his views, but what is unquestionable is his conviction and passion.

Start Loving (Photo: Reed)

In case you are wondering, yes the tattoos on his face are real. Did you try to stop the video and enlarge it to read what they said? Well, I will save you the work. From left to right on his forehea are: “STOP STARVING” ‘START LOVING” “STOP KILLING.” Below that it reads “WAGE LOVE OR DIE.”

You can visit Start’s Facebook Page and the Anti-Nuclear Peace Vigil website to find out some of the specific items that he feels are in desperate need of immediate action.

Here is something that I took from his page:

MY RELIGION (same as Jesus, King, Gandhi, Teresa, Romero, Eleanor, Obamas…): Universal Love.

PEACE: is the presence of Universal Love.

WAR: HOSTILITY is the presence of Conditional Love.

MY FAMILY (same as Jesus, King, Gandhi, Teresa, Romero, Eleanor…): All people born and unborn.

QUOTE: “The greatest madness of all is to see things as they are, and not as they should be.” Cervantes, Man of La Mancha.

It was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with him. “Millions of people visit the White House every year, but only a few come over here to visit,” Start tells me. I encourage everyone to stop by and talk to Start. If you are near the White House between 6am-10:30am and most evenings from 7pm-10pm (sometimes he is not there in the evening when he delivers bread to local shelters) stop by and talk with Start. Concepción, who I didn’t meet, is usually at the vigil other times. Sometimes when neither can be there a friend will man the vigil.

Start is going to give the $10 to a hero of humanity. Maybe someone doing a hunger strike. I asked him if I could help him with anything on the Lend a Hand page. He said he couldn’t think of anything, not even a new pair of shoes to replace his sandals that are held together with tape. He later did think of something. He said that Concepción needs a working laptop to use for email and Internet browsing. If someone has a computer please reach out to me or Start.

I asked Start if he would do this for the rest of his life. “I will, unless I find something that benefits humanity more than this.” He gave me a big hug and we shook hands and I walked home.

UPDATE: May 17, 2010

Start shared his experience giving my $10 away on his blog today!

Read Full Post »

Day 125 – Gravett

Posted in Savings, tagged $10, DC, Dupont Circle, giving, history, living abroad, music, receiving, saxophone, washington on April 22, 2010| 14 Comments »

Happy Earth Day! It’s a shame that many people only think about caring for our planet once a year, but I guess that is better than nothing. I will be posting Day 126 later today about a man who has dedicated his life to saving our country and planet. His story tonight.

Many people ask how they can help me. This week I received a check from a friend of mine and four gift certificates from a follower named Tawanna. A few weeks ago a man from California sent me a donation via PayPal to sponsor ten days of giving. Although all of these efforts are greatly appreciated, I would encourage you to think about how you can help those on the Lend a Hand page or individuals and organizations in your local community. I promise to put the donations that I receive to good use, although, I can not accept money for my $10 daily commitment. I made the $3,650 commitment myself and I don’t feel that it is fair to accept donations for my own personal commitment. I am in the process of studying the possibility of creating a nonprofit that would help manage and distribute funds that I receive in a responsible manner. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way. Call me stubborn! Larry and Kelly from California told me yesterday that, “to be a great giver, you also have to be a good receiver.” What do you think?

Gravett playing the EWI4000s (Photo: Reed)

On Day 125 I was walking by Starbucks at Dupont Circle and saw a man playing a clarinet-like instrument inside the coffee shop. I had seen him playing there before, but didn’t have time to stop. I went inside and saw that the instrument is connected to a small electronic device that connects to earphones. He was deep in concentration. I nervously walked around pretending to be interested in anything but him. Finally I just bit the bullet and walked up to him and asked if I could talk to him for a minute.

AKAI EWI4000s

That minute turned into two hours. Gravett is a musician who is practicing on a EWI4000s. It’s an electronic saxophone. I used to play saxophone. My band instructor, Mr. Snyder, I am sure would agree that the saxophone was not my calling in life.

The real benefit of the EWI4000s is that it has an internal sound module that stores the sounds/tones that the instrument produces rather than relying on an external modulator. This allows Gravett to not have to carry around bulky equipment to hear the sound he is producing. Pretty cool.

I asked him how he makes a living and he said he played the saxophone and worked as a pedicab driver in DC. Pedicabs are bicycle powered cabs. Very timely that I should write about him and his pedicab on Earth Day. Gravett has returned to Washington DC last year after spending time living in Mexico City, the Czech Republic, and Jamaica. I told him that I had given $10 to another saxophone player on Day 100 (Bill). He nodded his head and said he knew him. “Bill is really talented” he said.

Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)

I asked Gravett what he thought he would use the $10 for and he said he was going to save it for his next stint overseas. “I have been thinking about going back to Mexico City. I really like it there … or maybe Guatemala.” Although Gravett said he likes Washington quite a bit, he prefers to live outside of the United States. He feels that he doesn’t necessarily know or share in the history of the city and prefers to be somewhere that this is not expected of him. In his work operating the pedicab he gets asked questions about the city quite a bit. He impressed me though when he told me the story of Benjamin Banneker. Banneker worked closely with Andrew Ellicott on finalizing the city plans for the District of Columbia. I always thought it was the Frenchman Pierre Le’Enfant who was responsible for the entire plans, but George Washington supposedly dismissed Le’Enfant and left

Ellicott and Banneker to salvage the plans.

By the way, for those of you in Maryland, Ellicott and his two brothers established Ellicott Mills, later renamed Ellicott City.

Gravett is someone who lives in the present. He believes that communication is only real when it is live and spoken. Sounds are only real when they are produced live from their original source. We spoke philosophically about these and many items. Some things we agreed upon. Others we did not. But that is ok. In the spirit of the legendary newscaster Ron Burgundy, we agreed to disagree. I enjoyed chatting with him so much that soon we were being asked to leave as the coffee shop was closing.

We gathered our things and headed to the West entrance that boarders Connecticut Avenue. We said our goodbyes as he put a helmet on and got on his scooter (his legs are probably tired from all the pedaling!) As I started to leave he said something that I have found myself telling others. “Thanks for sharing.”

Because that is what we were really doing. We were both sharing; sharing our time, our ideas, our questions, etc. Had I not been doing this project, I don’t think I would have ever stopped to talk to Gravett. I probably would have lived the rest of my life never knowing about Benjamin Banneker.

Gravett did tell me something that you could help him with. He would like information on living in Guatemala. In particular, he is interested in extremely low-cost housing information as well as general safety issues. He hopes to move there this summer. If you have information or know where he can research this better, please leave a comment.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »

Make a donation

I gave $10 every day for a year. Would you make a $10 donation (that's less than 3 cents a day!) today to help those in need that I have met through the Year of Giving. You will get updates on how your donation is used.
Quick Links
Where to begin?!?

Click here to go back to December 15, 2009 - the beginning of Reed's Year of Giving.
Facebook Page

Click here to check out the Year of Giving on Facebook
reed’s tweets
Tweets by ReedSandridge
April 2026

M T W T F S S

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

« Sep
the last 10 days
What are people reading now?
Top rated
Archives
- September 2017 (1)
- June 2015 (2)
- June 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (1)
- August 2012 (1)
- July 2012 (5)
- June 2012 (1)
- May 2012 (2)
- February 2012 (1)
- January 2012 (3)
- December 2011 (7)
- November 2011 (4)
- October 2011 (7)
- September 2011 (2)
- August 2011 (4)
- July 2011 (5)
- June 2011 (7)
- May 2011 (7)
- April 2011 (21)
- March 2011 (26)
- February 2011 (21)
- January 2011 (38)
- December 2010 (32)
- November 2010 (30)
- October 2010 (29)
- September 2010 (28)
- August 2010 (31)
- July 2010 (31)
- June 2010 (22)
- May 2010 (28)
- April 2010 (31)
- March 2010 (27)
- February 2010 (29)
- January 2010 (29)
- December 2009 (17)
where did all the money go?
- Alcohol (27)
- Bills (8)
- Church (5)
- Cigarettes (7)
- Destroyed (1)
- Donation (55)
- Education (2)
- Food & Beverage (142)
- Gave the money back (8)
- Gave the money to someone else (73)
- Investment (2)
- Kindness Investors (10)
- Laundry (2)
- Lottery / Gambling (5)
- Not recorded (9)
- Phone (3)
- Refusals (37)
- Rent (8)
- Savings (21)
- Something for others (61)
- Something for themself (41)
- Transportation (36)
- Unknown (20)
- Update (12)
- Volunteering (59)

	Reed Sandridge on Day 19 – John S.
	Reed Sandridge on Day 32 – Garland L.
	Reed Sandridge on Day 1 – Where to be…
	Shannon on Day 32 – Garland L.
	Amy Boardman on Day 1 – Where to be…

365 stories of personal giving

Archive for 2010

Make a donation

Quick Links

Where to begin?!?

the last 10 days

What are people reading now?

Top rated

Archives

where did all the money go?

Recent Comments

Email Subscription

Places I go

blog stats