DonorsChoose.org And The Chance To Give A Kid Lunch With Jerry Yang
Sometimes I find it very difficult to write a post. I find myself struggling trying to express myself in the best possible manner. Alot of times this is the cause for not posting anything at all.
Blogging is a great metaphor for life. Think about it - how many times you don't do anything to NOT do something less then 100% right. It's silly - but very human. It's not the evil that people do that causes alot of problems, it's the good that people fail to do that does.
Now overcoming hesitation is almost always causing something good in life. Here my little story:
A while ago I read an post by Fred Wilson about DonorsChoose.org and their Blogger Challenge. I was inspired and excited about this great project and the impact it has for kids in classrooms. I was thinking to myself: "Hmm...could I do more than "just" donate some money for this?"
But then all these thoughts came into my mind about how much energy and time I need to build Supercool School and that I'm working very hard to help improve learning and education world-wide in my own way. That was convincing enough for me (at least for a while) to stop thinking about it and getting back to work.
But in the back of my mind there had been (I'm sure this is not grammatically correct) a picture formed that I couldn't ignore. I had this idea.
Fred Wilson was motivating his readers to donate and help him win the Blogger Challenge by offering to give away his seat at lunch with Jerry Yang, the CEO of Yahoo!
He was asking his readers to send him an email after donating some money to a good cause at DonorsChoose.org and tell him why he/she deserves to get the seat.
First I thought wow - I could really use this seat. I mean I'm building a learning platform to improve education world-wide! But then I thought about the gesture of GIVING and had a different idea.
I wrote Fred Wilson an email saying:
"The reason I want to get the seat at lunch is to give it to someone else. If you choose me, I will find the right kid in an underprivileged school who would really benefit from an inspiring and life-changing experience like meeting with Jerry Yang.
I think that's the best use of this seat - and I would be more then honored to serve that cause.
Now I'm not fully unselfish:
I was a kid like that and I can only imagine what would have happened if I had a chance like this as a kid"
Fred Wilson's responded:
"What an amazing gesture. How will you decide who to give it to?"
I was wowed! It looked like this could really happen!!! But then his question was a great way to say: Did you really think this through? Will you really make this happen if I choose you?
And I hadn't thought it through. So I decided that the best thing would be to give a seminar at a local school about technology and entrepreneurship and ask the kids to write a one-page essay about how their life would change if they would get a chance to have lunch with Jerry Yang.
Right after sending Fred the second email I had to make a decision: will I wait to see if he wins the challenge and chooses me to take some action or do I go ahead and do it anyway?
Well, in this case the answer was easy but not the execution. I decided to hesitate a bit and put "Contacting Schools For Workshop" on my To-Do list.
I didn't contact any school for two weeks.
And then...one nite...I was sitting in an entrepreneur meetup in San Francisco thinking about my To-Do list and that I should get my shit together and start contacting some schools when a guy introduced himself as a Program Director for PathwaysForKids.org
You see - sometimes things fall into place.
I had a great conversation with him and we decided to work together and give a seminar to kids about technology and entrepreneurship since his organization is already working with schools to bring entrepreneurs and kids together.
Life is a great adventure. Sometimes I still feel like I underestimate the power of taking action now. That is the reason why I don't post more often. But fortunately, taking action is a habit. And every time you do so, you are programing yourself to bigger and better things in life. Now this post might not be as perfect as I would like it to be - but it's damn sure better than not posting it at all.
ATTENTION: the DonorsChoose.org Blogger Challenge is still on - there are 5 more days to help!!!
You can choose one of the teacher requests and help classrooms become better places by getting the right resources. But not only that: in this special case you can help Fred Wilson win the challenge, and if he chooses so, we will get the opportunity to find a kid and give him a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Jerry Yang.
This is a win-win-win-win situation. C'mon! What are you waiting for? This is a 4-win ratio for kids!!! It can't get better then that ;) Take some action now and help!
NOTE: I can't guarantee that Fred Wilson will win the challenge, neither do I know if he would choose this idea. The only thing I can say is that in the worst case you helped kids by donating money for a good cause and in the best case you also helped giving a kid a seat next to Jerry Yang. There are only winners here.
