And the Results

The results are in, our judges have spoken, and TBG is ready to wrap up. The winner is...

Megan!

In the words of guest judge Peter DeWolf, "Absolutely epic. So impressive. Megan's knowledge and passion and caring... I just want to give her a hug now. Great idea. A Big Give that will keep on giving."


You can see the whole project (start reading at the bottom) complete with vlogs and photos. But I do suggest you end up reading The Big Give That Keeps On Giving. Meg will share with you her passions and inspiration. In the end, that's what this is all about.


She started blogging as part of this contest initiative, so please do check it out!

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We also have a gorgeous runner-up. Jami sent a package to a friend serving in Afghanistan and you can see her dance moves (the association is a little blurry, but wonderful none-the-less). Jami's Trashcan is the blog, and excellent on so many other levels, Highly recommended!

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I would like to especially thank all our readers. You've made the contest worthwhile, and I hope we've inspired us. Please feel free to e-mail us at goaheadmaketheirday@gmail.com with any stories. We hope to occasionally have more quality content on the blog, so I hope you continue to follow.


And to our contributors, you've been amazing. Inspiring myself and everyone else. Not to mention the team that helped promote, build the site, and spread the word. You are all incredibly awesome. Thank-you.

My Own Big Give: Kris, Part 3

So, here's the part where it all plays out.  And, know what?  It was fun!

Step one: Shopping.
This part was kinda boring.  You know I already that I had flour.  So my budget looked (roughly) like this.
Gallon milk : $4.50
Yeast:            $5.00
Margarine:  $4.50
Now, I realize this doesn't equate quite my $20 budget, but it eases the guilt I was feeling for using all sorts of ingredients that I had on hand.  I also bought a bunch of bags, but they didn't end up fitting a full loaf, so I had to scrimp some up.

Step two: Baking.
Here I managed to be efficient and skilled.  Every batch I made met with success.  Hopefully there wasn't a batch with ten-fold salt or something.  I'd never know about it.  Unfortunately, I had to bake in sets of two since I had only two pans.  And since bread is fairly time consuming this was a long process.  This is a picture of some of my healthy bread set out to cool.  Check Pt. 2 if you're interested in the recipe.

Step three: Delivery.
Now this was the fun part!  I've always enjoyed leaving secret surprises for people.  I seriously met some small adrenaline sneaking through people's backyards and popping loaves of bread on their porch railings.  I included brief handwritten notes with their names (for the ones I knew), so they wouldn't be creeped out, and a bit of nutritional info.  Wouldn't want somebody with a severe dairy allergy cutting into my fresh loaves...

I was discovered on occasion.  It would be hard not to be.  But just ripped the note off, stuffed in in my pocket and said, "Here.  My recipe makes two and I can't eat both!"

And, here's what I think.  It's true!  I can't eat two loaves.  But I love homemade bread.  So in the future that extra loaf will be finding it's way onto porches and door stoops around town.

TBG Coaching Session Part 5, Presentation

Welcome to part five of TBG Coaching Sessions. We're looking at the final step, and how you should bear this in mind throughout your give. Take a look at some of the points worth remembering for presentation.

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There's one point left for consideration. Maybe you've initiated world peace, made your mom cry tears of happiness, and single handedly saved baby pandas from extinction. We're impressed. Or, we should be. You still have to convince us of this.

How are you going to present your Big Give for judging? You are limited, in one sense, in that it must be presented through a medium that can be sent online. But let's consider this, you want to do a skit? Film it. You have a series of interviews? Record them. Take photos of your art... There's not much that can't be captured within writing, film, and photos. Bear these points in mind.

1.) Think about presentation throughout your project. A photo journal won't do much good if you've failed to document your give in any way. Remember to keep note from the planning stages throughout the outcomes. We want to see how your give grows.

2.) Be creative and visual. Think about this, we recieve one e-mail. It says "I raised $200 through selling my cooking and donated it to charity." In the other recieve an interactive video with colour and dialouge. It introduces us to yourself, and we get to see you selling your jam at a farmer's market. We get to see your smile, and the excitement as you present $200 to your local food bank. A clear choice, I think.

Also, remember, our judges are talented bloggers. They're passionate, artistic, young, musical, and positive. They know the power of writing. I can guarantee you they will appreciate a strong imagination and a presentation that sufficiently appeals to their senses.

3.) Show us all sides of your give. Get excited and show us your passion. If your watching somebody's kids tell us about how the kids had a great time as well as the parents. Take those kids around collecting bottles, and you can tell us about how you also helped save the environment and donated the recycling money to filling a shoebox to mail off at Christmas. Whatever it is, if you're willing to get involved you clearly clear about the cause.

There you have it. We're not asking for a Tony winning documentary, or art gallary photography. We just want a clear, concise, and contageous idea of what you're about. Communicate this to our judges and your chances improve. Give like you mean it, but nothing wrong with lusting over the prize pack just a little bit.