Pay it Forward: Free Olympic Tickets
johndbritton — Wed, 07/30/2008 - 1:53am
UPDATE: This giveaway has ended, see the results.
I have a surplus of tickets to the Olympics; rather than scalp them for crazy prices I've decided to give them away free of charge. There are three pairs of tickets available (six tickets total).
The tickets are for Equestrian Events in Hong Kong (A Class) to take place on August 9, 2008. The events will be held at the Sha Tin Racecourse (accessible via KCR).
You don't have to pay me back, but there is a slight catch. I expect you to "pay it forward" by doing a good deed, any good deed.
The tickets are available to anyone, really, anyone... that means you! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post describing the good deed you will do. Be creative, have fun and make sure the good deed is not directed toward me (that would defeat the idea of this pseudo-contest).
I will select three winners and three runners-up on August 6, 2008 and notify them via email. In the event that any of the winners is unable to attend or is unreachable by August 7, 2008 the tickets will be passed down to the runners-up.
Also, please be sure to give a valid email address (it won't be published) so I can contact you if you win.
If you're short on ideas for good deeds here are a few suggestions:
- Make a micro-loan on Kiva
- Host a foreign traveler from CouchSurfing
- Help an old lady cross the street
- Give some free hugs
- Subscribe to Good Magazine, or better yet buy a friend a subscription
- Practice other random acts of kindness
- Each entrant can win at most one pair of tickets
- Winners have 24 hours to claim tickets
- Runners-up have 24 additional hours to claim tickets
- All decisions are final
Rules:
I like the idea of Paying forward. :)
Imran (not verified) — Wed, 07/30/2008 - 5:41pmI like the idea of Paying forward. :)
~~~
1) i'll be having CS gathering at my place and host CS guest for free
2) Volunteer teaching for free.
3) And also sponsor in kiva.org
4) And last but not least i would pray for all the humanity to be blessed, PEACE on mother earth, and end up in heaven.
Regards,
Imran
what a great way to spread love!
Anonymous (not verified) — Thu, 07/31/2008 - 9:16pm1) give an art history and drawing lesson to one of my family members or friends AND
2) give up my next five seats on the train to someone else AND
3) make it my mission to make 10 people smile in one day through my good actions AND
4) ask the universe that love and happiness be attainable for everyone
That's very nice of u! I am
cloneofsnake (not verified) — Fri, 08/01/2008 - 10:00amThat's very nice of u! I am constantly thinking of doing something good & meaningful for our environment and people. Right now, my biggest project is this:
1) Developing a web site that will allow users to find restaurants that get their food supply from healthy and sustainable sources. (And avoid those that serve "bad" food items, ie. fish that is known to be suffering from over-fishing, or from cruel fishing practices - like shark fins.)
2) Besides the main thing above, I'm also very active with Flickr meet-ups. I've organized meet-ups for tourists, I help them w/ their questions about this city.
3) I have an upper-immediate level of Japanese language skills, and I've trying to help local Japanese with learning English. A little bit of language exchange.
4) 2 other things I really want to do in the future is to change the typical Hong Kong Chinese thinking on education and on wild animals. Education is flawed because it currently teaches kids to become robots. Wild animals are still being misunderstood due to the ignorance and irresponsibility of the local media.
North Korean Donat and Forward the tickets itself to Chinese
Hana Hanako (not verified) — Fri, 08/01/2008 - 11:57amI will hold a very small event at the end of August with my Japanese and German friends in August, here in Korea (www.jakeun.co.kr). And I decided also not to take my trip to North Korea in September, because I don't want to give money to the NK Government, like Hyundai Asan do for example by continously doing business in Kaesong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong) and the Kumgangsan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumgangsan).
I rather raise money during our performance and give the money to http://www.jts.or.kr/ . I meet people working with them and they seam to be serious about it. So more little money is better than spending 1600 dollars for Kim Jong Il directly.
Also, since I reject the idea of the Olympics itself, I would at least try to give the overpriced tickets (that's what they are in China, where a decent lunch with beer and dessert for 4 people will cost you 3 dollars), to ordinary people on the street through friends in China. I hope this will be possible in this very short time. (almost guess not, since you have them in America)
I participate your call anyway, for I believe it is a good idea, even though I don't want your tickets.
Haha, by, Hana
Great idea~
Hector (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 12:18amThere's an idea I have in mind since the Earth quake in China in May.
I've been to Sichuan just February of this year, I was lucky to have the last sight of the spectacular scenery.
I will sponsor one school kid in Sichuan. A few hundred HKD could really make a difference to them. This sponsorship should be a long-term, with commitment one. I won't switch the sponsorship (else it will make it worse), sponsor the kid until he/she finish at least, secondary school.
A further plan in mind is to set up a school ourselves ( I've already have a group of friends in University supporting this), but we'll have to wait until we graduate and have more accessible capital.
Thanks organizing this~ This itself is creative~ See you.
paying it forward
Julie (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 1:58amHi, John-
I learned about your Pay it Forward contest on Christine Gilbert's
website. I love the idea and your generosity and am interested in
participating!
I'm actually in the middle of a pay it forward project right now... I
arrived in Mompox, Colombia three weeks ago with my husband with the
intention of house sitting a hostel while its owner was away. Instead,
we met the most fascinating and great group of ninth graders on the
planet, saw that they had tremendous talent, and began a project with
them called Voces de Mompox (Voices of Mompox), teaching them to use
digital and video cameras, the internet, and other multimedia
platforms to produce projects about themselves and their community in
their own words. We've published their articles and photos on our
website (www.collazoprojects.com) and have had an overwhelmingly
positive response: more than 2,500 people have viewed the articles,
sent comments, and sent donations... all with the intention of
establishing an after-school program here in Mompox to continue the
work we started with the kids. The long-term goal is to provide
employment to some parents in this economically depressed community by
hiring them to tend the center, to provide training and diversion for
the kids, who have few opportunities for recreation, and to improve
the kids' possibilities for securing future education and employment.
As word began to circulate around this small town that we were helping
the kids, some of their parents began to show up, sharing their ideas
about how they could improve their families' lives and the community
by starting their own businesses. Yet they lack the capital. So we
agreed to document the business plan-- a fish farm, stocked with local
fish, which will involve restoring a natural pool--with video and
photos and deliver these to my contact at Kiva, as I wrote an article
about Kiva a few months back (which was published on www.matador.org).
Here's why I would especially love the Olympic tickets. In 1997, I
traveled to China and lived in the Fuzhou region, working at a women's
college for six weeks. It was one of my most incredible travel
experiences, and I have been aching to return to China to see how it
has changed. This would be a fantastic opportunity. But the gift of
these tickets would itself be paying forward multiple times... my
husband, who is Cuban (but who has lived in the US for 20+ years), has
not been able to travel until recently and I'm eager to show him as much of the world as possible, paying forward what I've been able to see thanks to the generosity of travel scholarships (including the one that sent me to China).
I apologize for my long-windedness, but I wanted to explain my pay it
forward idea fully. Thanks for your consideration... and to whomever
wins, I thank you in advance for your generosity.
contest
ben (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 10:23ami would help some older people with there technology like seting up email or voice mail on a cellphone or tell them how to get a problem fixed with there service if they cant get any one from customer service to help them. fix a computer if its not working right and just things like that in general
My Py-It-Forward deed
Saurabh Garg (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 1:17pmOne line answer. Spread happiness.
Paying it Forward
A. Yellis (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 10:47pmWhat a great idea! I hope some truly great things come about because of this contest.
How do I plan to pay forward your kindness? I am in the process of receiving a degree in International Business and another in Chinese. My goal is to work for an organization which runs orphanages in China. I've interned with them and my father serves on their board, and I feel that I can truly make a difference in the world by helping these orphans in China who have so much less than I have been blessed with. Therefore, it is really my life's goal to spread kindness, and I hope to do it in whatever way possible. Currently I sponsor three orphans, do graphic design and other simple tasks for free for the organization, and spread the word about it as much as I can.
My entire life has one purpose, and it is the same as the motto of the organization - to provide a future and a hope to Chinese orphans. And I can think of no other way to spread kindness further or more effectively.
addendum
A. Yellis (not verified) — Mon, 08/04/2008 - 10:50pmAnd as a quick add-on - If I was able to travel to Hong Kong I would be able to go to the orphanages they run in China, which would be a fantastic opportunity! I've visited the orphanages four times already, and was planning to live in one this past year. Due to a sudden illness in my immediate family I was unable to travel and visit them, and haven't seen any of those precious kids in more than a year. Being able to see them and let them know I care would be so, so wonderful. Words can't even begin to describe.
Your gracious offer and my charitable proposal...
Anonymous (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 12:50pmOK John...here it is.
As one might never expect to recieve FREE tickets to such a high profile event...it's only fair that the deed be reciprocated by another unforseen undertaking.
Now, here is where you are going to need a little background information. My boyfriend and I have been dating for over 5 years... in the past two, the frequency of intimate acts has dwindled and the lad has been forced to gratify his innate desires...soley by the ferocity of his left hand. Despite being disposed to this dire,anguished and most desperate state, he has not once cheated nor sought the services of a fille de joie or what we might call a working girl.
I want to reward him for this feat and my enthusiasm can be deeply encited by winning your liitle contest.
So, I propose that if YOU bestow upon me the chance to see the horse event... I will have no choice but to surrender to every ounce of desire my boyfriend has stored up and day upon day devote myself to satisfying his needs...and he will never know why.
That will be our little secret.
Pay it forward
Anonymous (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 2:52pmIn short, I pay it forward each day trying to spread happiness but in the case of the tickets I commit to:
Host 36 Couch Surfers in the next year (one for each week I’m in HK) they tend to stay a long time at my place or I’d happily host more.
Give up one night a week plus Saturday afternoon/evening to volunteer in with kids sports for the next year.
Donate 10% of my business income to worthy causes.
Live each day with the goal of making someone smile.
HK tickets are great way to make me the vessel for change - PIF!
Jobo (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 5:13pmDear John,
I happen to be in HK for work this week and would love to stay through the weekend to attend some Olympics (I flew from across the Atlantic). I will do the following good deeds (whether I win the tickets or not but would really really really like to go!!!!):
1. Make a micro-loan on Kiva worth10x the face value of the ticket
2. Donate 10-50x the face value of the ticket to EFF, the San Francisco Bike Coalition, SF MOMA and Change Congress
3. Renew my subscription to Good Magazine (I met Max Schorr at a Creative Commons salon back in 2006 but let my subscription expire)
4. Spend more time with my family
5. Ride my bike more
6. Become vegetarian again
Thanks and PLEASE pick me!!!!
All the best.
-Joseph
Pay it forward
Suhai (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 5:26pmGreat contest. In return for the tickets, I will host some foreign traveler in my apartment in Beijing for the Olympics, treat my friends the next time we go out to dinner, take MRT more often instead of cabs and stop eating shark fin soup.
John, Nice idea. I can't
TKC (not verified) — Wed, 08/06/2008 - 5:36pmJohn,
Nice idea. I can't think of what I would do right now which would be any more remarkable or poignant than the others who have posted above but everytime my conscience rears its head, I would remember what you have done and do the right thing.
Cheers
T
Dee Rivers
Shannon Riggs (not verified) — Thu, 11/13/2008 - 4:58am357cmlexeyti9wlr
Pay it forward, just like in
Andy Sedgwick (not verified) — Wed, 11/19/2008 - 7:34amPay it forward, just like in the said film, truly helps and is effective in making the world a better place. If a lot persons do this, we would have a better society to live in.
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