Sunday, February 8, 2009

The 42 Cent Good Deed


Not all good deeds are about fighting poverty, curing cancer, saving war torn nations or other globe-changing causes. While those are all fabulous it takes a level of dedication that not everyone can afford at this time in their lives.

That's part of the idea of this site is to promote ways of changing the world and making it better one tiny little act at a time. Over the days, weeks, months, these add up and eventually change spreads in small and nearly immeasurable ways, but ways that make a lasting impact -- in the memory of a child, in the paying forward of kindness, in the satisfaction of changing one life.

You can't get much cheaper than a good deed for 42 cents. Michelle Herrmann and many other teachers like her are doing letter writing projects with their classrooms. They write to veterans or people in nursing homes or to soldiers. The letters brighten the day for the recipient and, in turn, the children enjoy doing these small good deeds by mail.

In the news story about Mrs. Herrmann's class, it is mentioned that she funded her program with $150 donated from a local philanthropic organization. That's about 18 books of stamps. Do you have 17 friends that you can join up with and collect 18 books of stamps to donate to a local teacher who has a letter writing program?

To put it into perspective... 18 books of stamps allows someone to write 360 letters which is 720 lives (sender and receiver) with the potential for change. That's a pretty big potential impact for the investment.

Why not take it up as your office or neighborhood challenge? Just 18 books of stamps. You can do it. I know you can!

3 comments:

Tantra Flower said...

What a great idea!!! I'm a big fan of handwritten letters. They are much more personal than email and can be saved and read anywhere, anytime. I treasure my box of letters received and I'm sure these veterans (et al) do as well. This is a terrific way to help spread change!!!

Sarah Jensen said...

I love this idea! Thanks for sharing it!

kristelle del rosario said...

I admire this too! In this way, you helped a lot. Why don't you share your good deeds to this site A Global Tribe