This is one of them:
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What is the Five Dollar Friday Campaign?
By Girl Friday at http://girlfriday4hire.blogspot.com/
Twitter @girlfriday4hire
I have a dream. That one day I will have taught the world to take only what they need and give a little when they can. I'm not silly I know I can't change the world, but if I can change just one person's way of thinking, they may change another's and so on and soon the world will know what I want them to understand.
The Five Dollar Friday Campaign was something I just started doing myself as a habit. Working full time I was one of those skirts who bought a coffee on the way to work, then again at morning tea. When you added it up over a week that was $40 a week just to drink coffee someone else made when I could make it myself. So I stopped buying that one cup in the morning most days, when it was practical I made myself coffee in a travel mug and took it with me on the train or in the car. I realised that not only was I saving money but it also left me with more to give.
I noticed that the place I bought my coffee from at morning tea each day had a money tin for donations to a charity that helped kids in hospital and their families. I thought for a moment, about when my son had an operation and the number of families we met in the childrens hospital who lost their jobs or slept in their cars because they had no money left while caring for a sick child and how lucky I was to not be in that position, but if I were how grateful I would have been for that help. So I took $5 out of my purse and put it in that tin. It was a Friday. I was spending almost that amount on coffee in one day anyway.
It became a habit. Each Friday I would put $5 in that tin while I waited for my coffee. On day the barista said to me, "You do the same thing every week, put a $5 note in that tin. It's very generous. Some people don't put anything in at all."
"It's less than what I spend on coffee each week. Not everyone gets that luxury. So it's really not all that generous."
"Still, I struggle to fill it up with coins. I put it here because my brother is on the board of the charity. Our sister had leukaemia and we watched our parents struggle trying to keep their jobs and make the trip to the hospital everyday. It's why we decided when we grew up we wanted to do more to help."
"Can I give you a tip?"
The barista nodded.
"Your prices are too even. Change the prices so they end in 50 cents or 40 cents or that kind, people don't like to lug change around. They'll keep dollar coins for the parking meters, but the small change they'll put in the tin."
"You my girl, are a genius."
I'm not really, I'm just logical. I know what I do with my money. That day I made the suggestion the tin wasn't even a quarter full. The following week it was almost full. Mission accomplished.
So I have since kept my habit. If you have a look on the counter of most places you buy food or beverages from these days you will notice a donation tin for a charity. Those loose coins, they seem like nothing to you but if we all put those loose coins together it makes a whole lot. Don't look at your one frame in the picture, look at all the frames together, you see, it makes a movie. Give it a happy ending.
People are happier on Fridays. It's something sales psychologists have been aware of for years.
So I started talking to people about the donations I made on a Friday. I started calling it Five Dollar Friday. It made me feel good to give. People started to follow my lead.
So that was how the Five Dollar Friday Campaign was born.
Once a week, I put some effort into sharing my philosophy of charity with people. Think of it as an investment, because you just never know when someone you love will one day need the services of a charity you've donated to.
Give it a try, I guarantee it won't make you feel bad.
Pass it on.
~~~~~~~
The Five Dollar Friday Campaign was something I just started doing myself as a habit. Working full time I was one of those skirts who bought a coffee on the way to work, then again at morning tea. When you added it up over a week that was $40 a week just to drink coffee someone else made when I could make it myself. So I stopped buying that one cup in the morning most days, when it was practical I made myself coffee in a travel mug and took it with me on the train or in the car. I realised that not only was I saving money but it also left me with more to give.
I noticed that the place I bought my coffee from at morning tea each day had a money tin for donations to a charity that helped kids in hospital and their families. I thought for a moment, about when my son had an operation and the number of families we met in the childrens hospital who lost their jobs or slept in their cars because they had no money left while caring for a sick child and how lucky I was to not be in that position, but if I were how grateful I would have been for that help. So I took $5 out of my purse and put it in that tin. It was a Friday. I was spending almost that amount on coffee in one day anyway.
It became a habit. Each Friday I would put $5 in that tin while I waited for my coffee. On day the barista said to me, "You do the same thing every week, put a $5 note in that tin. It's very generous. Some people don't put anything in at all."
"It's less than what I spend on coffee each week. Not everyone gets that luxury. So it's really not all that generous."
"Still, I struggle to fill it up with coins. I put it here because my brother is on the board of the charity. Our sister had leukaemia and we watched our parents struggle trying to keep their jobs and make the trip to the hospital everyday. It's why we decided when we grew up we wanted to do more to help."
"Can I give you a tip?"
The barista nodded.
"Your prices are too even. Change the prices so they end in 50 cents or 40 cents or that kind, people don't like to lug change around. They'll keep dollar coins for the parking meters, but the small change they'll put in the tin."
"You my girl, are a genius."
I'm not really, I'm just logical. I know what I do with my money. That day I made the suggestion the tin wasn't even a quarter full. The following week it was almost full. Mission accomplished.
So I have since kept my habit. If you have a look on the counter of most places you buy food or beverages from these days you will notice a donation tin for a charity. Those loose coins, they seem like nothing to you but if we all put those loose coins together it makes a whole lot. Don't look at your one frame in the picture, look at all the frames together, you see, it makes a movie. Give it a happy ending.
People are happier on Fridays. It's something sales psychologists have been aware of for years.
So I started talking to people about the donations I made on a Friday. I started calling it Five Dollar Friday. It made me feel good to give. People started to follow my lead.
So that was how the Five Dollar Friday Campaign was born.
Once a week, I put some effort into sharing my philosophy of charity with people. Think of it as an investment, because you just never know when someone you love will one day need the services of a charity you've donated to.
Give it a try, I guarantee it won't make you feel bad.
Pass it on.
~~~~~~~
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