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One week ago tonight, on May 22, 2014, after a late dinner with a friend in San Francisco, I was telling him about my desire to give back to the community which I love and has given me so much, and to do it in a fun way. We rejected a few ideas I had as too complex, and decided that I would hide money in a few spots in San Francisco, and then tweet about it. We created the Twitter handle @, and did just that, hiding envelopes of cash around midnight in SF, and tweeting clues. I contacted a local blog to tell them what we did. They asked me a few questions, and wrote about it, and it exploded from there."
What was originally meant to be a pay-it-forward scavenger hunt for San Francisco, has become much bigger than San Francisco and more than a scavenger hunt. The worldwide interest that has been spawned is tremendous, and though personally surprising, in some ways it is understandable.
I think we may have struck a chord with people for a few reasons:
1. Everyone likes free cash :)
2. Many people enjoy a real world scavenger hunt.
3. Many people who don't go on the hunt themselves, enjoy following the excitement and positive stories of people participating and so often paying it forward.
4. In many ways, we have become alienated from each other, and perhaps this is a fun way for people to come together.
We would like to keep this movement going, and we thank you for your support keeping it safe and positive. (read more)
11 comments:
That's nice. Rich guys encouraging people to root around in trash. Yeah, America is totally winning.
I recall Mrs. Duvalier used to do that from her car window. Much more efficient, almost no waste, and needless to say virtually all the scroungers were in immediate need of her generosity.
Now why wouldn't he want to do that in SF?
Jump!
Jump higher!
Terry Southern has plowed this ground - in his 1959 novel The Magic Christian. His point - people will do stupid stuff for free money. Some of the pranks sound offal.
A lot of private charity looks like this from the recipients point of view.
Sixty with chick bait.
He just wants to do something nice for the little people and then watch them wag their tails. It makes him feel good. What a disgusting fuck.
And if this turns out to be a promotion - for anything - the motherfuckers behind it need to be drug out in the street and beat with a stick.
If the asswipes want to give away money, St. Jude and many, many other good charities are only a click away.
ARM - why do you differentiate private charities? The crappy ones enrich their managers and hand out nearly nothing. The good ones focus their funds on effective programs, and if anything are very stingy with handouts.
If you know a private charity that is throwing money at poor people, please let me know as soon as possible.
There's a guy that's become known for handing out one hundred dollar bills at Christmas to random people. He just walks up to people, says "Hi" and gives them money. It makes a lot of days. That's totally different than this. He interacts with people, and personally gives money away.
THIS has people scrounging through trash. In a city know for decades to have lots of people with both contagious diseases and problems with drugs that involve needles. What could possibly go wrong?
That is some powerful bait. I'm in remote Belize with no phone or cars, and I still smelled it over the internet trade winds.
I don't get this. Why tell everyone where it is? It seems to me you want to help people who need it or are doing something positive you appreciate. I don't see how following twitter and looking for cash fits that bill.
I like to sneak cash into peoples lives secretly, but only where it helps accomplish something. I'm not against this idea. I just don't get it.
I once secreted cash to a woman who worked for me and needed help. I slipped it into her car and never told her. About a year later I caught her stealing thousands of dollars from me. You need to choose your target carefully. Resources are limited.
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