Unemployed Man Gives $10 Each Day to Help Others

There are millions of people in this country who are unemployed and finding it hard to pay the mortgage, rent or for any other of life's necessities. And as much as you may want to help other people who need money, you also know you need to take care of yourself, and that can overshadow the needs of others. But Reed Sandridge, who lives in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., isn't like a lot of people. That's because, according to the Washington Post, Sandridge has been giving away $10 every day to a stranger, something he decided to do soon after he was let go from a nonprofit group.

It started on Dec. 15, the third anniversary of his mom's death. She was a woman who Sandridge "remembers most for her kindness" and who "always told him that when you're going through tough times, that's when you most need to give back." He took that idea to heart and decided to start his "year of giving," not only giving the $10 each day, but documenting it on his Year of Giving blog. Each day, he goes around D.C., searching for someone who looks like they could use the help. But he does have some rules: He limits what he gives to $10 and won't accept anything in return. Amazingly, more than 30 of the people he gave money to planned to help someone else, whether by giving the money to another person, doing something for others or making a donation.

And at the Lend a Hand section of Sandridge's blog, he also lists the people he's helped who are struggling and how others might be able to help them further. For instance, he said Anthony C., a person he met on the 67th day, needed "help getting [a] low-cost apartment and also wants a pair of size 9 mens [sic] sneakers." Lo and behold, the first person who commented on the page is getting Anthony his sneakers (since Sandridge has contact information for each person listed).

As Sandridge said in the article, this year of giving isn't about the money. He's trying to spread the idea that, as he said, "Doing nice things all the time is addictive." We at Tonic couldn't agree more.

Photo by Derek & Kristi via Flickr.