If we gave you $500 to perform a random act of kindness, what would it be? Be fun. Be creative. Be inspirational. Only 1 reply per person!
You see, @37People was holding a contest for teachers while promoting http://www.AdoptAClassroom.org -- an amazing site that allows people to donate money that goes straight into public school classrooms. @37People would choose their favorite responses and award the following prizes:
1st place: $1,000 donation through Adopt A Classroom every year for the course of the winner's teaching career
2nd place: $500 every year
3rd place: $250 every year.
Um, this was a really, REALLY big deal. As a teacher, I know the difference that having resources makes, and I wanted to win.
This was my reply:
Adopt an adult cat 4 elderly person in assisted living & buy all extras: food, litter/box, toys, vet check ups, etc. 2 lives = :-)
My response was inspired by this picture:
Photo Credit: reddit.com
I mean, seriously, how adorable is this??? This picture, plus the question posed by @37People allowed me to dream about the possibility of making someone as happy as the sweet gentleman in this photo.
But can I be honest? As soon as I sent my response, I began mostly dreaming about WINNING. I thought (often) about how freaking AWESOME it would be to win $1,000 to buy things for my students and classroom EVERY SINGLE YEAR OF MY CAREER! Oh man, how many times did I spend that money in my head? Uh, a lot. Yeah, let's just leave it at that.
Finally, the time came for the winners to be announced. I watched my Twitter feed as @37People made their announcements. First up, the 3rd place winner. My good friend, Arlee won that one, which is awesome -- both because Arlee totally deserves it AND because it meant I was still in the running for 1st. Next, 2nd place -- Irma. Nice! Irma teaches in LA and I KNOW she'll put that money to good use. And finally. . . 1st place goes to. . . . Helen. Well crap. Helen is one of the sweetest people around, so I mean, I HAVE to be happy for her. *sigh*
In all seriousness, I WAS happy for the winners. They had all just received the most amazing gift. Teaching is pretty much a team sport, and I was (am) THRILLED for my teammates. I posted my congratulations and was all set to move on with my day when THIS happened:
But wait, we have 2 more surprise winners to announce! We really liked these 2 entries so we're giving each winner $500 to make them happen! -- Tweet from @37People
Have you figured it out yet? Yep, I was one of the surprise winners! OH MY GOSH!!!!! Ok, I don't know how to explain this so that you'll TRULY understand, but after reading their Tweet and realizing that I was actually going to be able to adopt a cat and give it to someone living in assisted living, the excitement I felt was a million times more energizing and REAL than any of the imagined excitement I felt when I was daydreaming about winning the $1,000.
I GET TO GIVE SOMEONE A CAT!!!!!!!!
(So uh, how does one go about actually DOING that? Stay tuned.)
