If you were walking through the pouring rain and someone offered you an umbrella, would you accept it or assume it was some sort of weird scam? If you said you would take it and you live in a big city, then you’re probably in the minority. That’s what David Ibnale discovered when he tried to provide San Franciscans with free umbrellas in the middle of a downpour:
“People thought there was something fishy about it,” Ibnale said. “There wasn’t. It was just free umbrellas.”
David received funds for his umbrella giveaway from the Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy, a new Bay Area charity dedicated to getting people to do nice things for other people. The charity gives out $100 awards every year to people who propose to help strangers in a unique manner.
Other recipients of the cash awards this year tried to give money to others as long as they promised to give it to someone else, bought drinks for an entire bar, and sent candy to students studying in South America. The mother of the charity’s founder broke her $100 into quarters and scattered the change around the playground of an elementary school.
What would you do if you could have $100 to brighten the world?
[Image courtesy of Flickr user anna_t.]
Comments (36)
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I would broker a deal with a local sporting goods store (Dick’s, Champs, etc.) and buy new sports equipment (at cost) and give it to the Special Olympians at my local chapter.
posted by Scott on 3-17-2010 at 3:11 pm
Heck, this is going to sound self-serving, but here goes:I’d order 3 subscriptions to Mental Floss for the two Adult Basic Ed/ GED classrooms here in our town. The students like to read about interesting and fun topics. The last subscription would be used in my college prep reading class. I am always looking for articles about interesting, out-of-the norm things and ya’ll have it. This would help others improve their reading skills, their comprehension and move them closer to their academic goals.
posted by helenann on 3-17-2010 at 3:46 pm
What a fun idea!
I would go to a restaurant and secretly pay for a few people’s meals. It may not last very long, but what a nice suprise that would be!
posted by Katie Rose on 3-17-2010 at 3:49 pm
I’d break it into lots and lots of little things:
- Re-upping expired parking meters (with cars parked at them)
- Dropping quarters into pinball\arcade games
- Free coffee coupons from McD’s/BK/7-11
- Buying popcorn for little kids at craft fairs
- notebooks\steno pads for school kids
so many things that a few bucks can do…
posted by ChrisO on 3-17-2010 at 4:17 pm
I would pay for the people behind me in lines: toll booth, Middle School BBall games, gas station. . . .
posted by Tana Raiyne on 3-17-2010 at 4:19 pm
Given that it’s March and this winter seems to have been particularly long and harsh, I would hand out free kites at a park. Let people enjoy Spring!
posted by Tiffany on 3-17-2010 at 4:19 pm
Oh my — I have no idea, but I’m going to pick something and do it. I’m not in San Francisco so I’ll just use my own money, and I challenge everyone else here to do the same thing. If you can’t afford $100…how about $50?
posted by Karen on 3-17-2010 at 4:28 pm
Broadening a concept I am a fan of, I would pay the bridge toll for everyone behind me until the $100 is used.
If I have the extra cash in my pocket, I like to pay the toll of the stranger in the car behind me.
Another idea would be to change the hundred into quarters and spend the day plugging them into parking meters downtown, so people could park for free. I know many cities actually have laws against putting money in expired meters that aren’t for your own car (which is ridiculous, IMHO), but randomly filling meters whether a car is there or not…I think I see a loophole.
posted by 8rustystaples on 3-17-2010 at 4:30 pm
I would also break the $100 into quarters, but instead of parking meters or playgrounds, I would leave just the right amount of quarters right next to coin operated laundry machines. I would do this every couple hours until the $100 is gone.
It wouldn’t be much and it wouldn’t last long, but I know I would appreciate one free load of laundry.
posted by David on 3-17-2010 at 4:41 pm
I would hand out $10 to 10 people with the instruction to “pay it forward” however they see fit. I have found that philanthropy doesn’t cross a lot of people’s minds until it’s put right in front of them; this has the potential to put it in the minds of more than just one person. And there are a lot of little ways that you can change someone’s day or week or life. Every time I help someone out and they say they could never repay me, I tell them repay me by helping someone out the next time they’re in a position to do so. Putting the power of that act in their hands can be quite amazing!
posted by ReignbowGirl on 3-17-2010 at 4:49 pm
I did something similar to the umbrella thing in New Orleans mainly because my wife and I had 2 umbrellas and the woman next to me was getting drenched and she had missed a foundation garment when she had dressed that morning. She was struggling to hold her blouse away from herself and was still reluctant to take the umbrella. It took 45 seconds in a down pour to get her to take it.
Humans are wierd.
posted by Ralph on 3-17-2010 at 5:18 pm
How fun would this be! I agree with Ralph though – people are highly suspicious of random acts of kindness (it is rather sad that we can’t appreciate geniune kindness any more). If I was given $100 I think I would pass out cold bottled water at the beach on a really hot day. Or maybe go to McDonald’s and buy 100 breakfast items off of their $1 menu and pass them out to the homeless on a cold morning.
I really like that kite idea and the umbrellas! You could also buy ride tickets at a carnival and pass them out to everyone. There is an endless array of ideas.
posted by ashley.paige on 3-17-2010 at 6:38 pm
I always would like to give out money to those people who use their turn signals and drive like civil human beings. For all the morons out there, I would be great to either pull them over or track down their info from a license plate and send them the money with a letter explaining their good deed.
posted by Marty on 3-17-2010 at 6:44 pm
Oprah did the tool booth thing on one of her “Random Acts Of Kindness” shows.
posted by gus on 3-17-2010 at 7:45 pm
One of the student groups I’m in did something like the umbrella thing, but with less than positive results. We collected old bikes, fixed them up, spray painted them green (so people could identify them), and then placed them around campus. The idea was that if you were running late to class, you could use one of the bikes to get where you were going quickly and then you’d leave it at your destination for then next person to use. Unfortunately, all of the bikes were gone within a month. Some ended up in trees and ponds on campus. (Drunk college students do weird things.) I still really like the idea of it though.
posted by Denay on 3-17-2010 at 8:10 pm
It is a shame that people are suspicous of not only random acts of kindness, but also of just plain common courtesy. The day after Bill Clinton was elected to his first term I was in a Washington DC hallway and heard the sound of a lady in heels behind me. When I got to a door, I stop and held it open for her. She was so shocked, she stopped. I motioned her through and she said as she walked by “We don’t get that kind of courtesy here very often.” I replied “Well, I work for the Department of Defense and after last night’s election results I have to practice every job skill I have.” We both had a good laugh at that. So for the $100, I’d break it up into $1 bills and hand them to everyone I saw performing a simple act of courtesy. Hopefully it wouldn’t take more than a day.
posted by Old Mannered on 3-17-2010 at 8:21 pm
If i had $100 id buy every homeless person i pass something to eat.
posted by ufluffed on 3-17-2010 at 10:22 pm
When I was in the Navy in California, my family shipped me a trunk of my uniforms. Somehow the trunk became wet during shipping and I had to subsequently get the clothing dry-cleaned. Par for the course, the estimate the cleaner gave me was much less than the finished total. I was standing there trying to gather enough money (I didn’t have enough) and suddenly this very nicely dressed older woman stepped up and said- “I’ll pay for it”. When I said that I couldn’t accept it, she said- “Don’t worry about it… I still remember what it was like to not have a lot of money”… I thanked her sincerely and never forgot the experience.
Years later I was in a supermarket and there was a white-haired old lady checking out in front of me. When the checkout person gave her the total, she began frantically searching her purse. Evidently someone had taken the cash from her wallet. She began quietly crying because she didn’t have enough cash to pay. I looked at her worn clothing and knew that she really needed some help. I wasn’t wealthy, but I stepped up to the cashier and said that I would pay for her groceries. The lady blinked and kept thanking me over and over as I left the store. It felt good that I had been able to help someone else when they really needed it.
$100 doesn’t go far these days in a grocery store, but I would aim for using the money to continue acts like that-
posted by John R on 3-17-2010 at 11:10 pm
When I was a teenager, I once went around a NYC neighborhood dropping quarters into expiring parking meters. Reading this article and remembering that makes me want to do this sort of thing again. Might start a NYC chapter of this society…
posted by TinternAbbot on 3-17-2010 at 11:15 pm
I would totally take the umbrella.
One of my nicest city memories is of a guy offering to share his for several blocks as we walked the same direction in the rain. We had a nice chat.
posted by plousia on 3-17-2010 at 11:23 pm
I’d find a high school nearby with the worst reputation, and give the staff $100 worth of paint for the kids to go nuts on a wall.
posted by Matt on 3-18-2010 at 2:15 am
I’d go to the airport and wait by the USO for our returning troops, then I’d randomly select one and tell them to have a night out on the town, on behalf of a grateful nation.
posted by Pete on 3-18-2010 at 8:29 am
I wasn’t going to comment, but I read the last one, about going to the airport and thanking the returing soldiers, then looked at the recaptcha: MARINES NOW
Maybe instead of going to the airport, go to the base, and find the wives or husband left at home. Pay for a babysitter so mom (or dad) can have a day off or a trip to the spa.
posted by Annette on 3-18-2010 at 8:37 am
I would pay for someone’s groceries.
That happened to me a couple of years ago when I was at a supermarket with my fiance. I was standing in the checkout line behind this one fellow and as he was checking out I heard him say that he would pay for our groceries. We told him he didn’t have to, that we could afford it. All he said was that he wanted to. We asked him his name and he would not give it to us because he said he didn’t want recognition. It was probably one of the nicest things that has ever happened to me.
posted by Chelsea G. on 3-18-2010 at 10:33 am
thanks all. I was having a lousy day, but hearing all these nice ideas makes me feel better.
I would hire a couple of musicians to stroll around a busy park on a nice day, playing music for all to hear.
posted by the creature on 3-18-2010 at 12:19 pm
Ditto to the creature, I almost started to cry reading some of these :-)
I’m a college student and I see a lot of people sitting alone eating at the student union. You can usually tell who is eating a 5 minute lunch and will be heading to class as opposed to the people who never have anyone to eat with.
I think I’d use the money to by a smoothie every day at the dining hall and give it to one of those lonely people. I’d also make it a point to sit and chat with them until they finished the smoothie.
I <3 this idea, just thinking about these good deeds is making me want to be a nicer person today.
posted by daytripper43 on 3-18-2010 at 12:42 pm
I just had an odd recaptcha on this, too. I was so inspired by everyone and got a wonderful smile from the stories and then I scrolled down and saw “scamming sympathizers” as my recaptcha! Alliterative rudeness!
That being said, I’d use the $100 to buy art supplies for the kids at the Shriner’s hospital here. They have a massive burn ward and many children come to this hospital for grafts significant burn recovery. Anything good you do can help make something like that more bearable.
posted by nikki on 3-18-2010 at 12:47 pm
let me dry my eyes here… this is why i heart this site. the readers are intelligent, kind people and it is so very refreshing refreshing to encounter that.
posted by m on 3-18-2010 at 6:17 pm
I can still remember when I was very young and the person ahead of us in line offered to pay for my stuff (milk and a newspaper, as I recall). In those days it only cost about $2 but it’s stuck with me all this time. That being said, I would do many small acts such as this in order to help as many people as possible. Oftentimes I feel that it isn’t the size of the gift that’s important, it’s the fact that you made an effort to help someone and brighten their day just a little.
posted by dr239 on 3-19-2010 at 1:03 am
I would buy gas for people at the gas station, or pay bus fare for some folks waiting on the bus. I tried to buy gas for a lady before, but she wouldn’t let me (I had noticed she only put a little gas in her car, and thought I’d fill up the tank for her). I do think people are – unfortunately – too suspicious of people doing good deeds.
posted by steph on 3-19-2010 at 9:55 am
This isn’t answering the question, but I just wanted to say that I don’t like umbrellas. I don’t like rain, either, mind you, I’m not crazy or anything, but assuming it’s not cold, on the whole, I find it less annoying to simply get wet than to use an umbrella.
posted by Jacquilynne on 3-19-2010 at 9:21 pm
Buy pizza for college students studying at the library.
posted by Katie on 3-20-2010 at 5:15 pm
A friend witnessed a unique event – this car drove up to a crossing guard, talked to her for a bit, and then gave her a cup of coffee. I think if I had the $100 I might do something similar – go around each morning and give hot coffee to crossing guards. They deserve it!
posted by Alec Hosterman on 3-20-2010 at 7:33 pm
I will handout vitamins for the street kids or anonymously pay hospital bills
posted by Claire on 3-20-2010 at 8:18 pm
I would buy supplies for a fleece blanket-making party and donate the blankets to CHOC children’s hospital.
posted by Dani on 3-24-2010 at 9:29 pm
I bought a piggy bank earlier today, and when I got home, I realized that someone had anonymously dropped a few coins into it while it was sitting on the shelf at the store. I would continue this, dropping quarters into piggy banks and vending machines maybe.
posted by Charlotte on 4-1-2010 at 4:33 pm