Imagine a huge stadium full of kids like this. It’s a lot, and you’ve helped them all.
This post is an experiment. I’m calling it “Feel Good Friday.”
There’s enough bad news in the world, so let’s spread a little optimism…
Since May 13th, you have directly helped 21,559 high-need public school students in the US. In fact, in the last few years, we (the community on this blog + me) have directly funded classroom projects for nearly 200,000 students (!!!).
Below are some of the teacher thank-you’s, which I think you’ll enjoy.
And one more thing:
THERE ARE STILL 3 DAYS LEFT IN OUR COMPETITION!
It’s anyone’s game to win. The prize is roundtrip airfare to a leisurely dinner with me and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. We can discuss anything you want, including business. If you’re interested in winning a seat (four (4) people will win), here are the rules.
If you’d simply like to donate $1 and feel great, click on my giving page here and choose a project you love.
Have a great weekend, all. Letters below…
Teacher Thank-You Letters
(From Engineering in the Classroom)
My class and I are so grateful for your generous donations. I teach in a middle school… My STEM class is learning about technology and engineering, and how these areas are not a distant and futuristic dream, but a reality… Girls normally shy away from engineering and technology, erroneously rationalizing that it is a boy’s field; the STEM class is opening their minds and piquing their curiosity in these areas.
The balloon helicopters will open their knowledge of Newton’s Law of Motion and aeronautics. The Solar Transformers will teach them about solar energy. The rocket launcher will introduce them to rocketry, measuring height and velocity. All this made possible by caring people like you.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Granado
(From Fit for Life)
I am so excited to share the good news that my DonorsChoose project, “Fit for Life” has been fully funded. I would like to express my appreciation to each donor for your generosity and support of my students. Your contributions to this project show your support not only of my students, but of the ideals of health and fitness and the importance of lifestyle in overall health.
I look forward to the new school year and the opportunity to see my students use this equipment to raise their awareness of their levels of health, and to encourage them to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle!
Thanks again!
With gratitude,
Mrs. Smith
(From Power Tools for Engineering)
Thank you so much for contributing to our engineering program at Da Vinci Science. These tools will allow our students to create more professional, high quality projects. Furthermore, it will allow more of our students to be involved in the actual construction process because we will have more tools available to them.
…Donorschoose and your donations have made it possible to build projects that we never dreamed of. Thanks again!
With gratitude,
Mr. McGregor
(From Keep Us Moving, Keep Us Learning)
I am overwhelmed with joy and appreciation that you helped to make my project a reality. Thank you for helping make a difference in the lives of my students. The physical education equipment you have funded will allow me to plan more engaging lessons for my students during structured recess and P.E. The resources will be used for years to come with my students.
I can’t wait to start having my students use their new equipment. Once again thank you for your kindness.
With gratitude,
Mrs. Peralta
Donor Comments
· “I’ve given to this project because when I was a kid, I got a microscope for christmas and it changed my life forever. When other kids played ball, I was making slides to see the cell structure differences between plants and animals. Learning is an excellent journey and everyone should have every opportunity and encouragement to pursue their dreams!”
– James from Idaho
· “I believe physical fitness is a cornerstone of a good life — it contributes to health, productivity, and happiness.”
– Sameer Jain
· “We have a shortage of students that understand and are stimulated by engineering concepts. Engineering is critical to the infrastructure of the United States and we need to encourage its growth. Thank you.”
– Kenji from California
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Want to grab dinner with Alexis Ohanian and me? Here’s how you can.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)
I love “GOOD NEWS” this story makes even a rainy day great! Great Story Tim, If only we could get Congress to do the same,,,,,, but that is another story!
I like this one Willie , if Congress was only more participating.
Anyway, let’s not rain on a sunny day. Keep up the good work and show us (the readers) happy smiling kids!
Wow this is great, I didn’t know I was so nice. Please hold off your calls of gratitude, the kid’s smiles is enough for me. But in all seriousness, this is awesome, great job Tim!
I wasn’t able to fully participate because I’ve been busy and wasn’t aware of the fate competition till today but I did donate to multiply causes. Tim I love what you and all your followers do, it’s amazing the influence and impact you’ve had on people. Also I know a lot of charity services aren’t up to your standards but here are two services use: Good Search while doing research or making purchases. This company was founded by JJ Ramberg from “MSNBC’s Your Business” the tv show. I use it with Charity Navigator to confirm which organizations are reputable.
Keep Up The Good Work!!!
Talk Soon Buddy!
Great work, Tim. I really love it how you inspire me not just to be an entrepreneur and expand business but also in the belief of giving back. Your both books (4HWW & 4HB) and blog have a huge impact on my life.
Today when I think of starting of a small business as Meetups organizer where speakers of different field through Google Hangouts or Skype call or personal presence speak for one hour on a topic, solve the audience’s problems / queries. Speakers can be doctors, surgeons, architects, entrepreneurs, chefs, social media marketing pros, surgeons, etc & advertise their products too. Recorded videos can be purchased online and we’ll educate the students of high need schools & colleges of India for free. Its just an idea but really think India needs good education.
One day hope you’ll write a book for teenagers and drag ’em to your blog which will certainly do ’em good!!
The “Thank You” letters are without a doubt one of the tremendous benefits of this program. For those of us who can only contribute in little chunks, it’s incredible to get that direct feedback from the teachers and children … the kids send such beautiful , colorful thank-you letters, it’s so wonderful! … thanks for tuning us into this great organization. Donate away!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. I like good news. Take up as much space as you need to for that, Tim. We need it. 😉
education is so important no matter what form it takes. i was lucky enough to receive good education while i was young and it has helped me throghout my life. i continue to enjoy learning because of my positive influces in my childhood. tim, you have educated me with your books and blog for which i am eternally grateful and i am sure that the children you help will be equally thankful for your help. you are trully inspirational the way you have helped all these children.
I love feel good stories too. 😉 Feels great to help.
If you’d like to donate $1 and win an iPad Mini please go to donorschoose.org/mesa – this is part of Tim’s 4 hour chef giving campaign. Thanks and good luck!
The contest is over, but you can still donate to my giving page .. The teachers and kids would really appreciate your support – even if it’s $1!
I would love to see my giving page climb to the top on Tim’s leaderboard …long after the contest ended 🙂
Thanks for your consideration!
Oops, looks like I screwed up one of the links, so here’s my second attempt: Tim’s leaderboard
I nearly cried reading it all. That was amazing, truly.
Awesome! Way to go!
It’s great that you are doing this. Our education system is so paralyzed by self interest on all sides – taxpayers, educators, parents that it needs some outside interjection. I don’t think that any interest group is malicious towards the kids, just fixated on their own needs. By stepping in from the outside, perhaps this will create enough disruption to get the sides working together again.
Thanks Tim.
Well said, great input
I’m doing it for the kids!
A quick comment for the international (non-US) audience: you won’t be able to donate using a credit card since a US zip code is required, but using your paypal account instead will work just fine. The only problem is that you also need to uncheck the option for receiving the ‘Thank You’ note from the students Doc Kane mentioned below… I don’t know why, but it was really hard for me to uncheck that option. Ah well, the real goal here is to support the kids and it did feel great doing so. So there you go, no more excuses for all of you ; ) While I think about it now, Tim and Alexis might end up having diner with someone from Nepal.
This is all fantastic Tim.
Awesome News Tim, Education more important, Excellent work. It is so much inspiring.
It’s been hard to track the competition on Donors Choose since it doesn’t update the # of donors on the different giving pages or the amount of money raised. I tried contacting the people at Donor’s Choose, but have not heard back. Seeing that these are the last 2 days of the competition, it’d be very nice to see where everyone stands.
That’s Right for non US based, Paypal worked perfectly.
Donnerschoose has very well done website :
http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=250997
Very concrete, great job.
I really like your site and everything you post about and work on. You and Ramit think alike, but his site always seems much more self centered. (This is really not meant to bash anyone. Just expressing my thoughts on 2 seemingly similarly minded people.) You both are rich now, and you depend (at least partially) on your following for income. However, you seem so much more genuine in your posts. I do not need to worry that you are trying to make a direct sale from us. I like reading both blogs, but it feels a little safer on your site. Safe is a weird word to use there, but your own benefits are so much more subtle and interspersed with education money drives like this that I don’t care if what I do helps you monetarily. They help so many other people, too. So, thanks.
Just wanted to say I had decided to a STEM reading initiative for the kids of our employees. This idea “stemed” from (sorry) a conversation my father had with some of my kids. He told them about the STEM categories and it stuck. My sons girlfriend remembered it and I knew at that moment that kids CAN be reached! My idea was to require a certain number of hours read for a smallish prize and entry into the final drawing for an iPad mini. Also, instead of a traditional book report I am having them tweet and blog about what they learn and like. I just read your blog and it gave the push I needed to keep going and see this project through! Thanks!
I’m doing it for the kids!