Blog post by Reed from Washington, DC.
When I started the second Year of Giving and invited others who were out of work or underemployed to pick up where I left off after my 365 day journey I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that a year was way too long to find someone who would continue the giving; however, I figured that I could easily find people who would commit to seven days of giving. I was wrong! I’ve had a hard time finding new Kindness Investors. Can you feel me trying to nudge those of you who are on the fence about it?
As a result I am in a situation where we have no Kindness Investor for a few days; however, I figured I would take advantage of this time to give you some updates on some of the amazing people that I met last year.
The Year of Giving began on the afternoon of December 15th 2009. On that chilly monochromatic day, I got rejected twice before finding Knox who accepted my $10 as he hawked his shoe shining services on the corner of 21st and P Streets in DC.
Fast forward 365 days and Knox made it to the year-end celebration on December 14th 2010. There is a great photo of us from that event.
And then I ran into Knox on February 12th after I was volunteering with Yachad. It was ten minutes shy of midnight when I heard the familiar voice reaching out to the alcohol coated passersby on 7th Street near Chinatown.
We chatted for a while. “Business is good,” he told me. And he said that he has been doing well. He claims to have a handle on his addictions although I am not sure what that means…especially after he produces a bottle of shaojiu, an indiscernible clear white liquor that based purely on the label probably has never made it to any FDA testing lab.
Anyway, Knox is Knox. He still thinks that I am some sort of event producer. Ever since I invited him to the year-end party he thinks that I organize regular events. He encourages me to throw another party soon and invite him to shine shoes. I let him in on the secret that I am actually not an event planner…although I guess I could be as it seems that I am collecting professions these days. He seemed disappointed but I promised him that when I throw the year-end celebration in December that he will again get an invite.
I updated his cell number in my phone, handed him the three dollars I had left in my pocket and said goodbye. It was late and I don’t think I was helping his business a bit.
To read my original blog post on Knox that I posted on December 16th, 2009, click here.
I would say you absolutely ARE an event producer! 🙂
I second that. 🙂