Pay It Forward

Last week at church our pastor asked everyone to take a dollar from the offering plate. He spoke about how everyone has the opportunity to do something great with as little as $1. He and his wife donated the $1 bills to inspire the church body to think about how far $1 can go. I have to admit, it was very intimidating. I felt a huge weight of responsibility as I took my $1. All throughout the morning I thought about how I could make my $1 go as far as I could. Several things ran through my mind, matching the $1, so I would have $2, pooling the money with our class so we would have a bigger pot to use, or pooling the money and matching the pot. I still wasn't sure where the money would go or how we could use it, but I'e been thinking about it all week.

Several people made suggestions today in our class and we are voting on the choices next week. One idea was to buy water and hand out on the National Mall with a note about where the water came from. The idea was that the Pay it Forward idea would continue. Another idea was buying supplies for a missionary family or use it to help send kids to camp. I really like the water idea, but I don't think it has the majority vote. David and I will be back home when the money will most likely be spent. We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Vote for POPCYCLE

As some of you may know by now, my sister submitted a Business Plan to the city of Chicago and was selected as a top 10 finalist in the City Treasurer's 2008 Chicago Business Plan competition. What I am asking you to do is vote for my sister's idea. To vote click on the link below and vote for my sisters idea - POPCYCLE. She plans to open a maternity resale shop that not only sells gentle used clothes and toys, but also serves as a support group for new moms. These votes could help her win the popularity contest, but do not count in her actual scoring.

You can learn all about the competition, her competitors, AND you can VOTE for her plan (POPCYCLE). http://chicagocitytreasurer.com/news20080617.shtml

Please cast your vote for your favorite business plan (POPCYCLE) to businessplans@cityofchicago.org with a subject of "Small Business Plan- POPCYCLE". If you vote more than once you vote will be not be counted.

Thanks for your support!