Idol Gives Back / Year of Giving

I wanted to quickly share two projects -- one taking place on a national stage, one an individual endeavour -- that I've learned about recently.

The big one is Idol Gives Back, a yearly offshoot of the TV show American Idol, in which money raised goes to charities.



This year, one of the five charities is Feeding America, the nation's leading domestic hungar-relief organization and the nonprofit my Americorps organization is a member of. Yay!

This year's other charities are: The Children's Health Fund, Malaria No More, Save the Children, and the United Nations Foundation.

Idol Gives Back, which airs tonight, actually started back in 2007, but I've never paid much attention to American Idol until this year, when I finally tuned in out of curiousity that one of the finalists was Crystal Bowersox, a girl I went to church and school with through about mid-high school.

(Photo courtesy of Fox)

I haven't talked to Crystal in years and don't profess to be her friend or know her, but her grandparents still go to the church I grew up in and where my parents still attend. I remember her singing and playing guitar at church camp in middle school (great voice and same style of music even then), and when she was diagnosed with diabetes in grade school. I guess it's just cool to see a talented, hardworking, grounded person come out of humble, rough beginnings and succeed and be appreciated for who they are. I'm definitely rooting for her.

The other project I recently heard about is called the Year of Giving.

(Photos from Year of Giving blog)

A 30-something guy in DC lost his job last year and decided to spend the year giving away $10 a day to someone he met around the city.



He spends times talking to each recipient and blogging about their stories.

Most are interesting and some are pretty inspiring, like the waiter trying to stay sober. Others are controversial, like an artist who ripped up the bill on camera and provoked tons of comments. He even keeps stats, like demographics of the recipients and how they plan to use the money.

Check it out.