Join the 29-Day Giving Challenge: Change Lives One Gift at a Time

Visit 29-Day Giving Challenge


On March 19th, 2008, after spending 8 days in the hospital related to her multiple sclerosis, Cami Walker decided to give away one thing each day for 29 days:

"I decided to do the 29-Day Giving Challenge as an experiment. I was in a very dark period in my life dealing with a chronic illness (multiple sclerosis) as well as a major move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. One of my spiritual teachers, Mbali Creazzo, suggested that I try to give away 29 things in 29 days.

This was the perfect suggestion for me because I had been stuck in a very self-absorbed space for some time."

She started out writing about what she gave away on her blog, Manifesto, but after a week or so, decided to set up a 29-Day Giving Challenge social network so that other people could share the Challenge with her. As of this writing, 128 people have joined. Her goal is to inspire at least 2,000 people to commit to the 29-Day Giving Challenge by September 29, 2008.

Your 29 gifts can be anything, "material objects, money, your time, smiles or kind thoughts." To complete the challenge, Walker asks that you submit a story on your 30th day about the impact the Challenge has made on your life. Stories can be posted in the 29-Day Giving Challenge social network's forum, or emailed to story@29gifts.org. It sounds like she might want to create a book out of it.

I signed up for the Challenge today and decided to celebrate Day 1 by donating to the BlogHers Act' "Donate Now to Save Women's Lives" campaign on Global Giving. I donated to a Relief International health clinic in the Zam Zam refugee camp in Darfur that trains indigenous doctors, midwives, and community health workers.

Jen Lee of Life Unfolds has donated to an AIDS ride, picked up a friend at the airport, and given another friend a handmade wish box.

KreativeK16 of Life Journeying got two emails over two days about the Challenge, but put it on her to-do list as something to do "later," until an incident on a bus changed her mind:

"While I was on the bus a young girl and her mom sat across from me. The mom was scolding the girl for not washing her face that morning. She continued reprimanding the child and criticizing her for blocks. I saw the sad eyes and blank stare on the girl's face. I continued watching them and when the girl looked up at me, I gave her a smile too. My heart beamed as I watched a big smile break out across her face. She kept on looking back at me, smiling, until it we reached my stop and it was time for me to get off.

And so I have begun the challenge."

During Maria Niles' terrific interview with Eve Ensler for BlogHer, Ensler said,

"I think we all think that we have to do these massively huge things, and that's how the world changes. In fact that isn't how the world changes. The world changes person-to-person, community-to-community."

Projects like the 29-Day Giving Challenge remind us of the power we have every day to make positive changes. Let me know if you join!

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