Blog post by Maria D., a Kindness Investor from Washington, DC.
Give a warm welcome to Jay. He’s a 22-year old born and raised in the District who currently works at Washington Sports Club. Jay considers himself to be currently underemployed, like so many of us, and has aspirations of being a mechanic. “I’m going to go into the Coast Guard. They gave me an offer to be a mechanic, which will put me on my way to pursuing my longtime dream of having my own mechanic business.”
Jay has been the first person I met so far who knew about the Year of Giving and Reed. “Hey, wasn’t that guy in the newspaper, I think Street Sense? His story was really inspiring.”
How so, I asked. “Well here was this guy who had a great job, then lost it, and was unemployed but handing out money to people. I especially remember the story on the tall, black homeless guy with long white dreads and a staff. Yeah, that story was really inspirational to me.”
And what will Jay be doing with the $10? “You know, Metro’s getting pretty expensive, so that’s where it’s going to go.” But Jay was also concerned with how I’d be able to give him the money. I’m budgeting for it, by giving up lunches out this week. “Well now I feel bad, are you sure?” Ha, YES! Somebody take the money, please!! But a sweet sentiment, nonetheless.
A few things I took away from this encounter are 1) It’s amazing how much money I waste all the time that I could be saving for a rainy day, giving to others, etc. and being underemployed helps put things in perspective; 2) It’s exciting to meet people like Jay who have aspirations and are finding the path and taking the steps to lead them to their goals; 3) Reed is kind of a big deal… Looking forward to tomorrow!
Year of Giving 