From the monthly archives: September 2010
Tomorrow starts my Month of Hundreds, and my first day of 31 to give $100 to a stranger I meet during the course of the day. I’m feeling a little weary tonight, and a bit apprehensive. I worry that my intentions will be misunderstood by some as “showing off”, or that this whole thing is […]
Continue Reading →I wonder what James would do with $100. We first met when he started coming around before garbage pick-up to gather cans and bottles. We would chat occasionally and I knew he was living on the street and struggling with health problems. Eventually we started saving our recyclables for him and he’d ring the door once […]
Continue Reading →Should we give till it hurts? No, I don’t think so. We want less hurting in the world, not more – that’s the whole idea. But part of me wants to ask: if it doesn’t hurt, how do I know I am doing it right? An article in this week’s Chronicle of Philanthropy profiles a […]
Continue Reading →Friday will be the start of my Month of Hundreds, during which I will give $100 away each day to a stranger. I’m thinking a lot about what may unfold, and expecting the unexpected. I was truly surprised, however, by what a friend of mine did today. She heard about the project, has been following […]
Continue Reading →Philanthropy: the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. Every day in October I am going to give away $100 cash to someone I encounter during the course of my day. Starting October 1 I will tell the story of each day’s “giveaway”. In the meantime I am hoping these random thoughts will continue to spark discussion […]
Continue Reading →Every day of October I will give $100 to someone I encounter during the course of my routine. I got the idea after receiving a check as beneficiary of my mother’s retirement fund. A number of people have asked me to explain more why I am doing this and, particularly, how it honors my mother. […]
Continue Reading →Starting October 1, I will give $100 to a stranger every day for the month. I have some ideas about how I will go about this, but it is still taking shape in my mind and I hope I’ll be open to shifting as I go. I recognize we can never anticipate (and certainly not […]
Continue Reading →Maimonides, often called by his acronym RaMBaM (Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon), was a 12th century Jewish scholar and physician. He wrote a code of Jewish law, the Mishnah Torah, based on the Rabbinic oral tradition. I have always considered Rambam’s timeless Ladder of Tzedakah the last word on charitable giving. He organized eight levels of tzedakah […]
Continue Reading →I looked at a lot of people today, wondering about that $100. Would I give it to the sweet kid who pumped my gas? He was really busy and I was just another gray-haired lady but he indulged me with a genuine moment of connection. What about the young woman eating her (rosemary peanut brittle) […]
Continue Reading →Can $100 change a life? For the recipient? The giver?  That is some of what I am setting out to discover. Every day for the month of October, I’m going to give $100 to a stranger I encounter during the course of my routine. I was recently pleasantly surprised to find that my mother had named […]
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