On Saturday, December 9, Awesome Buffalo trustees will be down at Canalside handing out envelopes, each filled with $10. The event ties into #BeAwesomeDay, an international event that is intent on making the world a more awesome place, in general. Altogether, the trustees will be handing out 100 envelopes, totaling $1000 in giveaways.
Now, before you get ahead of yourself, the premise behind the hand-out is to pay it forward. Recipients of the envelopes are asked to conduct a benevolent action with the funds. For example:
- Buy some dog treats and go make new friends at the dog park.
- Hide it in your favorite book at the library.
- Give it to the next grumpy-looking person you see.
- Pick up stamps and send some joy-filled handwritten letters.
- Buy a bouquet of flowers and randomly give them away.
You get the idea. The point is not to take the money and run. The point is to make the world a better place. Obviously honesty is the key to the experiment. After all, someone’s got to be pretty Scrooge-like to spend the money on him or herself, instead of doing a good deed.
According to Awesome Buffalo, “The group will start at Canalside at noon (meeting at Shark Girl), before spreading out and canvasing the area. Chapters of the Awesome Foundation worldwide are taking part in similar give-aways, tracked on the social media tag #BeAwesomeDay.”
Typically, Awesome Buffalo is in the practice of handing out $1000 competitive grants to community-minded projects. To date, the following three ideas/pitches have been funded: Add rainbows to Allen Street’s crosswalks, make over a Fillmore corridor storefront, and bring highly touch-able art to area libraries.
This new social experiment should be very interesting to follow in days to come.