The other day I was offered a great opportunity to share with readers: the chance to do something wonderful on someone else’s dime.
Giving Cards, a movement designed to inspire thoughtful giving, will gift five readers each a $20 prepaid Visa card and a specific mission: “Think ‘big’ with ‘small’.”
You might think $20 isn’t much these days. That’s somewhat true. But I agree with Giving Cards founder Nate St. Pierre that $20 could have a tremendous impact if you put some thought into it.
Which brings me to the best part: The winners get to choose how they spend it.
That’s right. It’s up to you to choose a food bank, a no-kill shelter, a literacy program, a senior center or something else. Or you can opt to help an individual instead of an institution. Your card, your call.
Sound good? Read on.
The how-to
Here’s where the “put some thought into it” part comes in: Winners aren’t supposed to simply hand the prepaid Visa over to their causes. Before you enter, Giving Cards asks that you spend a little time with your idea. Think about all the ways you could deliver the biggest bang for that twenty bucks.
Not necessarily the most widespread bang, mind you. Here are a few examples of how previous Giving Card recipients have turned cards into action:
Buying fresh produce and dairy items for a take-what-you-need community fridge. Technically, the money would have gone farther if it were spent on bulk-buy, shelf-stable items. But food banks already specialize in those. What folks often don’t get are – you guessed it – dairy and fresh produce.
“Epic fun days.” A youth specialist took a client to the movies and roller-skating. How much might it have meant for an at-risk teen to be able to see “Spider-Man: No Way Home”?
Treating a group of rural elders to a meat-and-cheese platter. Again, the cardholder could have cast a wider net and bought food for a pantry. But her gift made a great impact on a group of regulars at “the local hotspot, my uncle’s car repair shop.” You can bet it brightened their day considerably, and that they’ll remember it fondly.
Stocking a church’s “Blessing Box” (another take-what-you-need food source). As the cardholder and her sons were unloading the food, they met a couple who’d been laid off due to the pandemic. “We were able to give them everything for a Christmas dinner except the meat…As a single mother I have known how hard it is to be facing a holiday with few resources. Thank you for helping make Christmas a little brighter.”
Sure, the prepaid Visa could have been used on bulk-buy beans or rice to serve multiple families. But the impact on this one household was huge.
The ground rules
To put in your request for a prepaid Visa card (see link below), you’ll be asked what you would do with it if you win. You need to put some thought into it before you enter.
Let me rephrase that…You get to put some thought into it. Here’s an example: You remember reading that some folks who get boxed mac ’n’ cheese at the food bank don’t have milk to make it with.
So you visit The Dollar Tree and buy $20 worth of one-quart cartons of shelf-stable liquid milk, then ask your local food pantry to hand it out to clients who say they don’t have the moo to go with the mac. You’ve just made a big difference to 16* households.
Note: If you’re chosen to get a prepaid Visa, you’ll be asked to document the results. Take a picture to share how you spent the money, then describe in a few words (or a bunch of words) the kind of impact it had.
I know that some of you already give to causes and donate items to food banks and shelters. Think of this as chance to stretch your giving dollars even further. Maybe you’ve always thrown your donations at the broadest targets; if so, this is your chance to think micro instead of macro.
And if you’ve always focused on a niche cause? Here’s another $20 to think outside the box. For example, suppose you regularly donate to a family shelter. Card in hand, ask if there’s an unusual or singular wish you could help fulfill, such as putting the $20 toward cap-and-gown costs for a resident who’s about to graduate high school.
As the Giving Cards site says, “It’s all about being creative and taking the time to make a small, personal, meaningful impact.”
How to snag a prepaid Visa
Giving Cards has set up an entry form at https://givingcards.org/surviving-and-thriving/. Click “grab one now” and fill out the form. Describe the creative way you’d use that double sawbuck to contribute to your community.
***Do this now, or as soon as possible. The folks at Giving Cards would love to see your ideas today or some time Friday. But if you didn’t read this post until later, I encourage you to put in your $20 Visa request anyway. That’s because your dream will stay in the Giving Cards pool for when more cards become available. (Unless you opt out, that is.)
But while you’re still here…Feel free to leave a comment about what you’d do to make a difference with that $20 prepaid Visa. Can’t wait to hear what you folks have in store. Many thanks to Giving Cards for unleashing the best in people.
*Dollar Tree items now cost $1.25.
I was one of a handful of winners who received $50 from a blogger to give away. That next week a young woman had a terrible car wreck that destroyed her vehicle, but fortunately did not seriously injure her. I saw her return to the scene where her car had impacted a creek bank and walked down there to talk to her. She was searching for her lost iPhone. I joined in the search to no avail, probably at the bottom of the moccasin infested creek. But I was able to give her the $50 gift card to help her, in a small way, recover from the financial impact of the wreck. It’s a cool experience and it’s nice to see an organization is doing something similar on a larger scale.
Wow. That’s a great story.
Done. I’m looking to buy baby formula for a food pantry my church helps to support. I figure with the shortage, the right person will walk in there and see it. If I can’t buy any formula, onto baby food to hopefully ease someone’s burden.
Thanks so much for this unique opportunity.
I’m thrilled that they chose me as one of the folks who will share this opportunity — because I know that readers of this site are both generous and creative.
I would use the card to support my church’s food pantry. Summer months are hard on kids and I would like to help feed them.
I plan to give it to the educational nonprofit up at the corner of my street, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (https://www.hillside.com/services/hw-sc/syracuse/). Hillside is doing its damndest to keep students at risk in school and on track for high school graduation. And, hey, I can’t get much more local than this.
That’s thinking local, all right. However….Remember that you’re not supposed to just hand the card over. Instead, find something they need and supply it. Youth-friendly snacks for the lobby? A bag of diapers for a teen parent? Transit tokens for someone who doesn’t have a car?
Talk to someone there and get creative!
Can’t I just let them choose? They know their own needs better than I do, even if I were to ask.
Yes, you can. But you’re supposed to take their suggestions and go get the stuff you can afford with the $20 Visa.
Thank you for letting me know about this opportunity. With $20, I’d buy supplies for 30 PB&J sandwiches, along with 96 bottles of water, for people in Philly and the surrounding areas who are living with substance-use disorders and who are often unhoused. I’d donate the supplies to Angels in Motion, whose volunteers visit the streets and makeshift camps to distribute “blessing bags” of food, clothing and hygiene items, along with info on how to find help and support when they want it. The water will be especially helpful to save off dehydration during Philly’s brutal summer heat.
They do sound like angels on Earth. Hope you get a card!
In my small hometown village, my Dad’s church hosts a weekly Senior Luncheon. It’s free to attend (donations are welcome but not required) and gives the local seniors a place to not only get a lunch but be out and about and see/make friends. My dad is 83 but SERVES at this luncheon every week. When I’m home, I go with him and help serve the 50-60 seniors that attend. I have my favorites but it’s always good to see everyone. I would put the $20 gift card toward food for the luncheon. It’s run by donations and a local chef makes the menus and cooks each week. At least 2 soups and an entree with several options for desserts are available. And takeouts are encouraged.
That sounds lovely. “Takeouts are encouraged” is particularly important, since some of these folks might be on very tight budgets.
If you receive a card, have fun shopping for the weekly party.
I just found out I was selected! I’ll be “in town” in a couple weeks and can’t wait to find a way to spoil them a little bit more than normal.
Woot! Come back and report the results if you think of it.
We had the best time at the Luncheon yesterday! I’m visiting my Dad in NY state and made 2 cakes for the Seniors: chocolate with vanilla frosting and sprinkles and a banana split cake. They were such a hit! Here’s a link to the full story with pictures over at Giving Cards if you’d like to check it out. https://givingcards.org/story/senior-luncheon/
This is great! I will likely do a follow-up post on how the winners used their funds.
And okay, now I’m hungry for cake.
Oh, I love this one, Kellie! Kudos to you and your dad.
I would like to buy baby formula and donate it to a local food bank.
Needed. Definitely needed. Hope you filled out a form on their site.
I have a friend that heads a ministry that assists formerly unhoused clients transition into housing. They need everything after living in shelters or a homeless program. Items like shower curtain liners and hooks, hangers and indoor trashcans are desperately needed and never donated. I would purchase several of these items to help make them feel welcome in their new home.
Hope you went over to enter at the site. This sounds like a great use of $20.
I went to the site but it said the giveaway had closed.
Yeah, they said they wanted to choose on Thursday or Friday. I asked them to wait until midday Friday at least. If you like, you can hit their general “request a card” page to see if any are available:
https://givingcards.org/request
Hi Donna,
Thanks so much for sharing! I submitted my request and was approved for a giving card! I curate my community’s little free library at a local park and I struggle to keep enough children’s books stocked. This is the only library in town and the closest public library is several miles away in another town. This $20 gift will allow me to purchase children’s books in bulk from eBay and will have (I hope) a lasting impact on our community.
Yay! Most of the Little Free Libraries I see are crammed with kids’ books. Interesting that some specialize in grownup tomes. The kiddos in your neighborhood will thank you.
I was notified today tht I was selected for one of the cards. I am using it to buy toilet paper for the Fairbanks food bank. Government food cards do not cover toilet paper and yet that is pretty essential, so our food bank tries to have some available but people seldom think to donate that. $20 is not a lot, but it will help make someone’s life easier! Thanks for posting about the give away.
So glad you were chosen! Because yes, government food cards don’t cover stuff like soap or shampoo — or TP.
When I lived in Seattle while getting divorced (and getting my degree), the “drugstore game” was in full swing. Nearly every week I’d get something for free or even make a little money on it. After I realized how much stuff I had stashed, I started putting it in bags to take to the food bank. They were always glad to see it.
After I graduated, I had lunch with a former fellow student who had told me via e-mail that she was doing a very low-paying job at a nonprofit and rooming with three other women. So I bought her lunch (which I’d planned to do anyway), and brought along a big shopping bag full of toiletries and household goods like aluminum foil and dish soap. (All of it had been free or nearly so.) “I hope you don’t think this is weird….” and then explained what I had. She kept every single item. So that felt good, too.