Drop Dead Generous Experiment: What Can $25 Start?

 

What if $25 could do more than buy a tank of gas, a cup of coffee or a bag of groceries? What if it could start something?

During Missouri Good Neighbor Week, Sept. 28–Oct. 4, I’m putting that question to the test right here in Republic.

Thanks to an approved $500 grant from Drop Dead Generous, and a matching donor creating a $1,000 community-wide experiment in kindness. That money will purchase forty $25 gift cards from local businesses.

Then the fun begins.

Throughout Good Neighbor Week, those gift cards will appear in unexpected places around town—on gas pumps, library tables, at local coffee shops and cafés, and in other everyday places where Republic residents go about their daily lives.

Each gift card will be sealed in an envelope with a simple message: “This is for you, neighbor.”

Inside will be a note explaining the experiment and inviting recipients to share their stories. Where did you find the gift? What did $25 mean to you that day? How did receiving an unexpected act of kindness make you feel?

But there’s one question I’m especially interested in: Did it inspire you to do something kind for someone else?

That question is what makes this more than a gift-card giveaway.

I want to see whether kindness can become contagious.

Throughout the week, I’ll share the experiment on Republic community social media pages. I won’t reveal where the gift cards are hidden, but I will challenge everyone to participate by creating their own moments of kindness.

And those acts don’t have to cost $25, or anything at all.

Buy someone’s coffee. Mow a neighbor’s yard. Leave flowers on a porch. Take cookies to someone who lives alone. Pay for the car behind you. Or simply learn a neighbor’s name.

Missouri Good Neighbor Week is built around the idea that small acts can strengthen the relationships that make communities work. This year’s theme is “A Year of Neighboring Activity and a Week to Celebrate It.”

Here in Republic, we’re going to see what happens when that idea gets a little boost.

At the end of the week, I won’t measure success by saying we handed out $1,000 in gift cards.

I’ll measure it by the stories that come afterward.

My hope is that forty envelopes don’t create forty acts of kindness.

My hope is they create hundreds.

Because the most interesting question isn’t, “What can $25 buy?”

It’s: “What can $25 start?”

WRITTEN BY

David L. Burton

For more information, visit the Engaged Neighbor website. Take our pledge and become part of a movement! Or subscribe to our newsletter. Access some of the research documents written by David Burton, the author of this blog. Or better yet, purchase one of his books off Amazon. Contact David L. Burton via email at dburton541@yahoo.