Worldwide Day of Giving

While many of you know that I tend to be chronically over-employed, I do have a number of friends that are, unfortunately, unemployed. That may seem inevitable given that we are still in a recession, but of course knowing people that are out of work makes the whole situation a lot more personal.

Of course, since I have creative, talented friends, all of those that are unemployed are doing their best to not only find a job, but make the most of this time that they have "between opportunities." One friend launched a project about six months ago called the Year of Giving. Inspired by the belief that life's most difficult moments are when it is most important to give, my friend Reed set out to give away $10 a day for 365 days to a random person he meets and record their stories on a blog. Those of you in the DC area have probably seen him on TV or in The Washington Post; his project has also been featured on CNN, AOL, NPR and more. This past week, to mark the half-year point, Reed deemed Tuesday, June 15 the "Worldwide Day of Giving" and challenged his friends and blog followers to give away $10 to a random stranger.

So, on Tuesday morning I got up to go to the gym--because on a regular day at the office, I don't tend to come across many new people. I was pretty nervous about this whole thing. Sure, I run into people I know in all kinds of places, and I'm stopped for directions wherever I go, but the idea of introducing myself to a stranger and trying to give them money was a little intimidating.

Working away on an elliptical machine, I became hyperaware of the people around me. Guy watching the World Cup match two machines over would likely not want to be bothered. Same with the woman on the recumbent bike ensconced in a book. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the group exercise class going on and inspiration struck–the instructor of this class would probably be just the right person. Unfortunately, the class let out before my workout finished–but thankfully the instructor was behind the front desk as I was leaving.

I nearly lost my nerve and kept right on walking, scrolling through various other scenarios in my head, including a cop out of paying tolls for cars behind me on the toll road. I decided to go with my original instinct and walked right up to this woman and introduced myself.

Lynne is an instructor at Gold’s Gym in South Arlington; she teaches two classes on Tuesday mornings starting at 6am–yikes! I told Lynne that I admired her work and that of her colleagues; fitness instructors are people who spend a good bit of their time literally improving the lives of others. And almost without fail, they are always in a good mood, positive and supportive. That is no easy task when you are at the front of a room of people who frequently stare blankly at you as you put them through their paces.

I went on to attempt to explain the Year of Giving and when I asked Lynne if she would accept the $10, she replied, “But he has no money! I can’t take his money!”

“No, no, it’s my money,” I replied.

At this point her face lit up with understanding. “OK, great! I will take it and you know what I’m going to do?” Lynne is cycling 63 miles in Virginia this weekend for the Tour de Cure to benefit the American Diabetes Association, and promised to commit the money directly to that.

What a rush! I nearly forgot to give her the web address but I did, and she made me promise to come back next week and take one of her classes. So, I think I'll be hitting the gym again Tuesday morning...