Pay It Forward

Over the last two days I have badgered the passerby for spare change and sold dozens of bake sale goodies along with the other Riverside mentors to raise money for DREAM. We've been really successful with our fundraising and I'm so grateful to everyone who contributed.

BUT (because, as Nicole says, "everybody has a 'but'...")

What's the deal with stingy people? I think it's a legitimate question. Yesterday at the bake sale I would sometimes spend several minutes talking with admitted students and their parents, giving tips, answering questions, yadda yadda yadda... and they won't spend a dollar for our mentoring program. I guess I just don't get that. 

My Mom is the type who always stops at kids' lemonade stands, to the point where even if she drives by one accidently, she turns around and goes back to give these kids a dollar to make their day. I gotta say, I was feeling a lot like a kid at a lemonade stand when people would just blow us off. This isn't hating on the students who legitimately didn't have change on them because we live off of our CatCards- I get that. I just feel like people tune out sometimes. 

The most generous donors today where the Davis Center employees. We all know they don't get paid much, but they saw what we were doing and wanted to help out. Beautiful. When I get something for free, I try to donate something somewhere to balance it out. It's all about balance. I was so impressed with all of the generous donations we got today and yesterday, big and small.