Awesome: The Sequel
It’s not a good time to ask for money.I’m-a do it anyway.
It costs a hundred bucks to buy enough gas to drive to the store for milk, which also costs a hundred bucks; to buy a plain slice in the city, you practically have to wait for a credit check, which thanks to Wall Street nobody is passing anymore anyway.A bunch of you already threw your weight behind Bitch Magazine a couple weeks back, and maybe you want to give money to your presidential candidate of choice, and the bailout crisis…well, the average taxpayer is going to get punished, without having even done anything wrong.
So is the average public-school student.The government is going to help these investment firms eventually; in a few days Congress is going to ram something through and bail out the big boys.Little boys?Ain’t getting squat.Your senator isn’t debating who gets what science books or overhead projectors right now, or how much money to earmark for waterlogged Galveston schools.No, it looks like that’s on us.
Which is disappointing, deeply unfair, evidence of screwed-up election-year priorities, and a host of other rage-making things…but it’s also kind of awesome, because when it comes to raising money, nobody gets it done like you guys.I mean, the fact that it needs doing sucks.But it’s y’all doing it, so it’s pretty clearly going to get done.
And it’s not actually that hard.We don’t have to rumble with Colbert; we don’t have to learn any dance moves (…we can, though, if we want; when in doubt, tango).Each of us just has to pry loose five or ten bucks.Five bucks!That’s it!Or ten.Or twenty, maybe.You can give more, but if everybody in the group can spare ten bucks, we can knock off a hundred grand before Yom Kippur and go back to our lives.
So, please: try to find ten bucks somewhere.Check the pockets of pants you haven’t worn in a while.Take change to the bank.Brown-bag your lunch for a couple of days.Sell a DVD on eBay, buy Boone’s Farm or generic corn flakes, skip Starbucks for a few afternoons.Who knows, maybe it’s so easy that you’ll have saved up for a new pair of boots by Halloween, or a plane ticket or something, which you should totally treat yourself to as a reward for your awesomeness.
I’ve got enough boots, I don’t like flying…I only ask for ten bucks.If ten thousand of you each give ten bucks, we hit our overall goal, I wear a tomato costume to the White House, the Tomato Nation is a superpower, done, goodbye.
Only got three bucks?Fine.Perfect.Every bit helps; we all have to pitch in together, it’s the only way this works year after year.Whatever you can spare.Your contest entry still counts; you are still awesome.
It’s sucky, queasy times like this — times when we feel the most unnerved and powerless to control our worlds — when it’s the most important to get everybody pushing in the same direction, if only to remind ourselves that we can make a difference and that goodness exists.It all began four years ago, with all of us trying to feel like not everything sucked.Now it’s time to do it again, and I hope we get a different result on the election side, but I also hope you guys do exactly what you did in ’04, to wit: kick ass.
Stay awesome, Ponyboys.The 2008 Blogger Challenge is now open. Let’s go.
originally published 10/1
Tags: contests
Have you thought of teaming up with Alice? A little tomato/benetar duet
re: the thermometer — I am told it is no more. I miss it too, but fortunately, the percentages of 50 and 100K are easy to calculate.
Feel free to send DC an email asking to bring back Thermy, though.
Holy *crap*, guys. I just logged into my email account to find that the proposal I had posted (#180906, or My Most Requested Books) is now fully funded. You rock beyond the telling of it. Thanks so much.
And seriously–if the tomato act is seriously coming to DC, PLEASE tell me it will be on a day we’re not in school…
Another October, another round of awesome TN folks doing awesome things, another round of me trying not to weep at work when I read this site.
I, too, am facing some icky financial times ahead but knowing that I can spend $20 on schools and kids who need it badly (instead of spending it on eating out at lunch every day this week) is a nice feeling. It’s amazing what a group of people donating “small” amounts of their money can do.
Per usual, thanks Buntig (hee)!
My husband and I started a month without spending today but I think I need to persuade him that $10 for kids who want to read is a neccessity and should be spent.
RE: Matching gifts
@Kristina (and anyone else) – it’s not really a *benefits* issue, but I would contact your HR rep first for direction. If your employer has an intranet site for employees, I’d search it for “matching gifts” or “matching funds.” You may be able to submit your request online, or at worst you’ll have to complete a form, send it to DonorsChoose, and they verify your donation before sending off to your employers Giving Fund or Foundation or whatever.
I’m off to fund something w/ the Matching Gifts GivingCard (tm DC.org) I’ve been sitting on for 2 weeks waiting for The Awesome!
I did email to say bring back the thermometer! Maybe next year.
So, is it weird that when I got my first credit card this summer, my first thought was, “Sweet, I can donate to the TN Contest and Dewey this year!”
When I get home tonight, I’ll be sending my donation. I wasn’t able to last year because I wasn’t around the internet at this time, so I’ll try to make up for it this time! And I’ll send out the contest details to my friends, 3 of whom are teachers themselves.
I am sooo in…..am a DC resident and would love to see ya there!
So did we/Bunting raise $15,000 in 24 hours? AWESOME!!!!
@ Maria: Thanks for the reminder.
The form is printed and on it’s way to DonorsChoose to be filled out. We have the long process of going to the charity and then back to the office for processing, to it won’t make it on time to be added to the Tomato Total.
Next year, I’m putting the matching form in the mail early!
Because of Tomato Nation, I have been giving $100/month to DC (or another charity). Over the next year, I’m going to work on pushing that up to 10% of my gross salary, and any other money (bonuses, government “stimulus” checks, birthday presents, etc.) that I receive. I gave half-heartedly to United Way at work before, but the TN challenge really made it clear that I am lucky to have what I do, and I should share it with kids (and animals and boy scout camps) who need it. So thank you Sars, for helping me become philanthropic.
@Marie: Thanks for the reminder about American Express. I had no idea it was going on and there’s only 11 days left to vote. I have to wait for next paycheck to do TN/DC awesomeness but was able to vote for $1.5M of donorschoose awesomeness today for free. Yippee.
Whoohoo! “Frog and Toad” is funded!!
Hey hey, 16K.
Donated:
$16,090
Donors:
244
Students Reached:
1,552
27 projects fully funded
TN readers with tears in thier eyes: oh so many.
Scraped together a tiny donation and sent it in — thanks, Sars, for reminding us how powerful we can be when we work together.
(here that, GW Bush?!?!?!?)
Make that 28 projects fully funded. (I just knocked one outta the park! WOOHOO!!!)
My sister teaches inner city kids with severe learning disabilities & emotional problems and I know she spends at least 10% of her salary on her kids’ supplies & field trips & lunches when they don’t have one that day.
And wouldn’t you know she’s donating to Donors Choose too?
She says to say “THANKS!!!” to all of you!
I know that this runs all month so I shouldn’t get upset that I can’t donate until I get paid tomorrow but I feel like I’m missing out on all the fun! I’ll just have to keep myself entertained by checking on the total every 15 minutes! Also, I just realized that I get paid 3 times this month, that’s at least 3 donations right there! Woo-Hoo!!
I thought I’d repost Zach’s comment from October 2 last year, in case anyone else was having trouble entering a non-US address at the DC site. Zach said:
“For all you generous non-US-address-having people:
When registering you should include your town/city in the ‘Address Line 2’ field and your postcode & country in the ‘city’ field. Select New York as your state. Enter 5 zeroes as your ‘zipcode.’ For example:
Name: Sarah Bunting
Address: 123 Featherstone Street
Address 2: London
City: EC1Y 8SY, GREAT BRITAIN
State: NY
Zip: 00000
(FYI – That is Sars’s real mailing address.)”
Maybe that’ll save Zach some e-mailing.
So glad to hear that I am not the only one who gets all weepy about this stuff. I went in thinking that I’d donate $20.00 but when I saw that Words, Words, Words only needed $90 to finish up, I couldn’t stop myself from donating it. Thanks for letting all of us know about this, Sars. I don’t get to feel like a hero much in my life but today I do.
$18,000 by lunch? NICE!
I just did 2 donations, and it felt great. I’m from Canada and the contact info area doesn’t winclude Canada. Am I doing something worng in that respect. I can’t wait to see A tomato invade Washington.
Oops, if only I had waited. But it’s the 2nd day and I am already teary. So awesome!
18K! That’s almost 20K. 20K is of course half of 40K…and 40K is when we get another 5K from Dollar Sign and the Mysterians!
GIT IT!
I just threw down my twenty! And I’ll be sending a link to my friends and family. My birthday is coming up and I had wanted a new camera, but I think Sars in a tomato costume at the White House is a MUCH better present. =D
“Donated:
$16,090
Donors:
244
Students Reached:
1,552
27 projects fully funded
TN readers with tears in thier eyes: oh so many.”
It’s practically a Mastercard ad!
Hmm, having trouble with the site. I’m a returning member, so I have an account all set up, and I can enter in all my payment details, but if I hit “proceed” nothing happens. Waiting to hear back from Zach…
You know what is super-fun, particularly if you just donated and are awaiting the next payday? Go to the end pages and read through all of the projects that are already funded. By the Tomato Nation.
Talk about getting teary-eyed….
I was justifying how I could sit it out this year – all basically coming down to “meh, I’ve got like ten bucks in my paypal account, is it even worth it?”
Damn you, Sars. *shakes head* Obama’s got nothing on you when it comes to inspirational speeches.
Okay, Zach fixed the payment problem – it was due to my Canadian postal code. It’s all working now.
Love that I got to support the Odyssey *and* Bill Nye the Science Guy.
Over 19k now! Getting closer!
We are our own Thermy.
OMG you guys! I was just heading back to donate more to a particular project and you guys beat me to it! I’ll have to find another one! (Who was the person who put the Persepolis project over the edge? You’re awesome!)
Woo hoo! We’ve now reached $20K in donations. Think we can break $50K by the end of the week?
$20k! In less than two days! Whoo hoo!
Over $20k! Holy Crap! We ARE awesome!
20K before the end of the day?
You guys are amazing. Ms. Bunting, you are even more so. What an awesome leader and cheerleader you are!
$20k!! Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Oooh! Go check out the “Graphic Novel Approach to Teaching Reading Fluency”. That school is in my local district and they’ve been hit hard by budget cuts. Let’s get them so much needed help!
Hey, I just noticed the Digital Photography Fund project has only two days left. Maybe we could throw some money at it?
@Anna: Follow the advice Zach gives for non-US-address-having donors (see my comment at 11:55.) That’s what I did, and it seems to be working fine.
Y’all?
Donated:
$20,554
Donors:
302
Students Reached:
2,757
Seriously. I’m all teared up here…
i live in DC and actually work for DC public schools, so i know how important this challenge is. also, seeing the tomato dance in real life will make my year no matter who takes over the white house.
oh, and last year, even tho contest time was over, I donated to some kids in Camden (being the good Jersey girl I am) in lieu of christmas gifts for my family. they sent me hand written letters from the kids as a thank you! talk about tear jerking…
Thanks so much for promoting my project, “Time for Claire to Go to Orff Heaven!” If the music instrument we’re trying to get is funded, my students will be so very excited. This is my very first experience trying out donorschoose.org, and I’m so touched by the generosity of people! Thank you for all you are doing!
Ok – the Digital Photography Fund does, indeed, end in 2 days – and needs about $900. It’s on page 14 or so.
Let’s git ’em!
OMG, I am so excited!!!!!! Thank you so much for including my proposal, Help Cinderella and the Fairy Tale Ball! I am just speechless; I am so proud that I was part of such an awesome blogger challenge! Hats off to some wonderful work on everybody’s part-especially the wonderful Sarah Bunting! My class in Cherryville, NC really appreciates your hard work! You can check out my class at http://www.tinyurl.com/emcj2
Oooh! Go check out the “Graphic Novel Approach to Teaching Reading Fluency”
Yay! I saw that one earlier today and HAD to pony up some cash. Comic books in school; what could be better?
You’ve funded my proposal! YOU ARE AMAZING! Thank you for getting the Jane Austen novels to my inner-city AP English Lit students. They’re so glad to know that we’ll have books to read this spring.
On behalf of teachers everywhere, thank you so much for everything you’re doing. I’m more than a little misty right now. Keep it up! Thanks for helping my students realize that people they’ve never met are inspired by their strength and determination. :)