Who would you give $1K to?

Oprah gave out $1,000 debit cards to all 300 members of her audience the other day, and told them to give it away to someone who needs it. You get a thousand dollars! And YOU get a thousand dollars! Everyone gets a thousand dollars!

A couple of conditions:

They can't give the money to family members.

They were loaned DVD recorders to tape their experiences, and the recorders have to be returned.

Oprah says that she gets as much happiness from giving as her recipients do from getting - wouldn't you LOVE to find out what that feels like???

This would be a no-brainer for me, even though I have a couple of favorite charities. If I had been in the audience, I would have given the money to a research foundation for ALS (click here), founded by Jamie Heywood. He started ALS TDF when his brother Stephen (who I went to school with, from 1st thru 12th grades) was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Stephen and his family are the subjects of an incredible documentary I saw this week, "So Much So Fast." It shows in acute detail what it is like to have a degenerative "orphan" disease. It was an "audience selection" at Sundance this year - for more info click here. It's the kind of movie that makes you wonder what you can do to help.

So, what would you do with the $1k if you'd been in Oprah's audience??

Cheers, Lara

Comments

I would probably donate it to the Komen Foundation. Nearly every woman on my mother's side of the family has been diagnosed with breast cancer and any strides that can be made on the treatment, detection and prevention is much appreciated. It would be kind of a selfish donation out of fear for my own future, but it could benefit so many other people too.

Since giving is the purpose, I would give it to my school's choice and divide it amongst the special ed teachers to use tpo purchase items for their special students not covered in their schools budget and lesson the burden of the teacher;s using their own money to purchase special items for these wonderful students. My chideren were special and it took dedicated and special teachers to help accomplish the goal to help them be successful in thier own way.

I would give it to a homeless person. That would make a great documentary to see the look on their face and then get them a professional outfit and haircut and go job hunting. Then maybe they could sign up for a class or use it as a down payment on an apartment.

I would give it to Autism Speaks. My son is one of many autistic children in this country and we really need to find a cause and a cure.

I would give it to an abused woman to give her a fresh start.

I would give it to a soldier in Iraq, so that he or she could buy themselves body armour, that our government has carelessly and cruelly not provided to them. I think Oprah would approve.

I would have given it to a family that wouldn't be able to provide a Christmas for their family. I think all children need a good Christmas. And I think documenting not only the giving of the money to the parents, but the look on the childrens faces on Christmas morning and food on the table would have been an excellent choice for a documentary.

I would have given it to a family that's in need for thanksgiving and christmas or maybe to a church to help needing families. God loves us all...

I WOULD DONATE IT TO THE LOCAL FOOD PANTRY IN MY HOME TOWN. THERE ARE SO MANY HUNGRY PEOPLE RIGHT HERE ALL AROUND US. $1000--IF SPENT RIGHT, COULD FEED A LOT OF FAMILIES FOR A FEW WEEKS.

the make-a-wish foundation

Definitly the make a wish foundation.

I would give it to a shelter for needed people during the holidat season.

I would donate it the Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation or Christopher reeve's foundatuon for spinal injury research

Our church helps those in need during the holidays with Angel baskets. I would love to help with this project.

I think I would look for people around our town and give a hundred or so to several people. Maybe buy someones gas at the pump. Then pay for someones medicine at the pharmacy and give my childs teacher a hundred dollars and so on. Who wouldnt like to be randomly blessed by a strangers generosity? I sure would and it would encourage me to do the same for someone else.

I would give it to the charity that lets you adopt a family in your community for Christmas. If I had that much money I would adopt many families so that I can help those who are less fortunate celebrate Christmas in the way that many do every year.

My grandma died of parkinson's disease. I would donate it to the Michael J. Fox foundation for parkinson's research.

I would give it to a drug and rehab center I learned about through a patient.And I would give some to a lady I worked with whose son has been slowy going blind since birth. He is now 12 and she was finally able to get him into a school for the blind. She has 3 other children and she is a single parent also taking care os her elderly mother with no help or assistance of any kind. On top of that we all lost our jobs 3 years ago and we had approx.20 years at the company. 1,000$ would help alot of people.

I would adopt a family for Christmas. I would preselect a marginalized family and show up at their doorstep Christmas morning with gifts for the entire family (especially the children) and all the fixings for a Christma dinner.

My mother-in-law. She's a great woman who has been through a lot since her husband died. She never asks for anything and never complains. I think she would be the most deserving.

i would give it to my son's girlfriend as her parents (divorced) have basically abandoned her due to their drug and alcohol addictions. She is going thru college on her own. She needs a car and car insurance. $1000 would definitely help her.

I would buy presents for the foster children I work with. They deserve to have a good Christmas.

Where can I get info about Family Guide, substance use prevention, drug facts, drug treatment, effects of alcohol, mentally healthy teens, child monitor, child activities. Thanks. WBR LeoP

Can some people deal with alcohol and other drugs better than others? WBR LeoP

How correctly to choose a diet? Smooth dump of weight in fact is more safe for an organism than sharp? WBR LeoP

How to provide quality pharmacy and health information to empower consumers to make better informed healthcare decisions? WBR LeoP