Fox’s Secret Millionaire

December 4, 2008

Last night I turned on the television, and instead of watching Miley Cyrus and David Cook at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting, I flipped to channel 5 and saw a show I not heard of before. The show was called “Secret Millionaire,” and the premise is as follows:

Each episode features 1-2 related people who just happen to be multi-millionaires. After proving to the audience that these people are legit with shots of their mansions, personal jets, and Lamborghinis, we are informed that they will be giving that all up for a week. Stripped of their luxuries and credit cards, one millionaire a week is sent to a very poor neighborhood, given the equivalent of a welfare wage, and sent to live in the most basic apartment or mobile home.

As the week goes on, the millionaires must present themselves falsely as normal people filming a documentary about the community, and meet as many people as possible. After 25 minutes of some very depressing stories of poverty, illness and violence, the millionaires pull back the curtain, reveal their true identities, and distribute at least $100,000 of their own money.

At first I was a bit creeped out, and could only think about how Fox was pulling in millions of dollars in advertising revenue by showing the poor Katrina victims in Louisiana getting $100,000. I felt like this was TV trying to turn poverty into a reality show, and allow the rich to get on TV and “have an experience” that only cost them a couple bucks.

But after watching the show, I saw that it was more than that. The millionaires seemed to experience a transformation throughout the course of the show. Gregory and Cole Ruzicka, father and son millionaires from California were very affected by the experience. Cole remarked how he never knew that people lived with the poverty he saw, that he had assumed that poor people were ignorant or negligent, and that it was the rich people who are ignorant of how millions of people live.

In the end I found it to be a very moving show, and would love to hear what you think if you get a chance to watch it. I will only plug Fox’s show because they also have a page called Fox Gives that features organizations they are donating money to in conjunction with this show.

So check it out on Wednesday nights on Fox, and let us know what you think.

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Posted by eimatai

More Socks for Chanukah?

December 3, 2008

Are you sick of lame Chanukah presents? Do you think that enough money has been spent on gifts that you just don’t need?

Try something that a lot of people are doing this holiday season: turn presents into charity. Instead of asking family members for new cell phones, sports equipment, or clothing, many people are asking for money to be donated to their charity of choice in their honor.

When families learn to give donations instead of gifts, they understand that their connection to one another isn’t based on the money they spend on each other, but the care they have for one another. Give a card with a personal message along with a card from the organization.

The important thing is to make sure you’re not being a hypocrite! Don’t ask everyone in your family for a present, and then tell them you didn’t buy them presents because you donated money in their honor. Put your money where your mouth is.

But you also don’t have to go Cold Turkey. Declare to all siblings or cousins that you don’t want presents, but allow Grandma and Grandpa to send you some gelt. (I told my grandparents to donate money to my charity of choice instead of sending me a gift, and they insisted on doing both – oh well!)

The really exciting thing is that you will get some people to support your charity who might not otherwise have gotten you a present. So pick a charity (example, example, example, example…) and inform the family!

And because you’ve been so good, here is my (free!) Chanukah gift for all of you: enjoy these 4 free tunes from The Leevees.

And now it’s your turn to give an easy present. Play FreeRice.com‘s vocab challenge, and help send food those who need it most around the world. Who knows, you might learn something while you’re at it!

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Posted by eimatai

Family Sells Home to help Ghanans

July 17, 2008

Last week I was watching the Today show when I saw the most amazing story. A  15 year old girl named Hannah Salwen convinced her family to sell their 6,500 square foot Atlanta home for another half the size. Half of the price difference between the two homes (over $800,000) would then be devoted to combating hunger in Africa. (Her brother Joseph made a video of their story which can be seen above, and they have been covered in the media as well.)

Hannah’s Lunchbox, as they call it, is an amazing new take on what normal American families are willing to do to help needy people around the world. One day while driving home, Hannah saw a man begging for money on the street while a Mercedes was idling at a red light right next to him. The epiphany she had was that if normal Americans cut back on some things which were truly luxuries, they would be able to use that money to help countless others.

This selfless act forces us to think what we can possibly cut back on in order to help others. While the Salwens donation of 3/4 million dollars is amazing, small donations really can make a difference. Drinking tap water over bottled water can save a lot of money; buying clothing from target instead of Banana Republic can save a lot of money; sharing DVDs, CDs and video games with friends instead of buying multiple copies can save a lot of money.

A number of websites can now allow you to support small projects in countries around the world, with very little money. Kiva is a Web site where you can choose from hundreds of entrepreneurs who would benefit greatly from loans as small as $200 to buy supplies for their businesses (and that’s money you get back in the end!). FINCA is an organization that doesn’t let you choose who to help, but does similar loans to small business-people. Donorschoose.org is a great site that allows people to finance small projects and supplies in low-income schools across the United States.

So think about it – what can you live without? Tell us your story.

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Posted by Aaron