Hello Do Gooders of the world! Well it has been a while since we’ve had any posts up, and we figured what better time to connect with you than this beautiful time of year.

First off, Happy Holidays! Whether you are celebrating this time with your family, friends, do gooders or whoever, we would like to wish you a Super Fantastic holiday!

This time of year is usually when a lot of us reflect on the previous year. Well, this was an amazing exercise for us because as you know a ton of great things happened here at Daily Challenge and we have you amazing people to thank for all the awesomeness of the past year.

To quickly review - the 11 highlights of 2009:

1. On November 4th 2008 we launched our blog and started to share our story with you (yes I know this was not in 2009, but I think its important to remember the beginnings
2. We had Verne Ho do his thing (click here) isn’t he awesome?
3. Deepak Chopra was a guest challenger and he challenged us to join him in his movement (click here)
4. We joined #TwestivalTO and partied hard with you to raise $ for Charity Water (click here)
5. We proved that Toronto has still got Do Gooders - and trust me it was freezing (click here)
6. In March we launched Daily Challenge’s new design - lots of sleepless nights for @dariusBashar @verneho and Luciano
7. We joined Improv Toronto in the random subway dance party (click here)
8. We had our First Pay It Backward Day and broke a world record (click here)
9. We added Robin Sharma  to our list of celebrity Do Gooders (click here)
10. We partied again (much harder) at Twestival. This time for the Meal Exchange (click here)
11. We launched our 2nd Pay It Backward Day #pibDay, had over 20,000 people participate across Ontario and raised $15,000 for SickKids Foundation (click here)

Like I said earlier, none of this would have happened without you all. So thank you for all of your support and encouragement.

In 2010 we hope to do the following:

1. Take Pay It Backward Day across Canada - So mark September 30th, 2010 in your calendars! And boy oh boy do we have some surprises up our sleeves.
2. Bring you other events and initiatives that with your collaboration will change our world for the better.
3. Develop DailyChallene.org and establish it as a tool that helps and empowers you to launch your own good initiative. (DC 3.0)

We always love to hear from you. So please send your comments, tweets, emails and let us know what you’re thinking.
Wishing you a super duper new year!

The Daily Challenge Team

Clearly, the Do Gooders of Pay It Backward Day love to do nice things - but who says they don’t like to win nice things too? Hence, the Pay It Backward Day Contest was born! As a way to say THANK YOU to all of our lovely Do Gooders out there, Daily Challenge offered any person who ‘took action’ on the Pay It Backward Day website the chance to enter to win 1 of 5  free iPod nanos. Yippeeeee, doing good rocks!

After all of the hooplah and excitement of Pay It Backward Day settled down, we randomly drew the winning names from our marvelous list of Do Gooders - and we are now prepared to reward a few of you (5 to be exact!) for being so awesome. So, without further adeiu, I’d like to announce our five lucky, lovely, glorious, amazing, totally cool winners of their very own brand new iPod Nanos! (Oh and by the way, they come in really pretty colors, too). Drum roll por favor?

And the winners aaaaare: Ms. Joann Lim, Mr. David Feldt, Mr. Jamie Franks, Ms. Carolyn Johnstone, aaaanddd….Mr. Eric Floresca!

Wahooooooo, congratulations guys! And thank you again for doing your part to help make Pay It Backward Day such an amazing event! Please consider this as a small token of appreciation, courtesy of the Daily Challenge team Go PIB Go!

Well well well, the numbers are finally in and it’s safe to say that Pay It Backward Day Happened again – in a very BIG way!

As most of you know, this past September 30th, Daily Challenge embarked on one of its most exciting adventures yet. Because our last Pay It Backward Day - all the way back in April (wow, time flies) - was so successful, we paired up with The Second Cup Ltd, Silk Soy Beverage Canada and our Donation Partner Ivanhoe Cambridge to put on a second (and extremely awesome) Pay It Backward Day event!  The difference? WELL this time around, we took it across the entire province. Do Gooders were invited to visit any one of the Ontario’s 170+ participating Second Cup cafes and buy the order for the person behind them in line.  The even cooler added bonus? Every time somebody Paid It Backward on September 30th, our sponsors agreed to donate $5* to SickKids Foundation!

As you can see, we were amped up to make this event a tremendous success! We had a goal of inspiring 3,000 acts of “coffee kindness” on this glorious day – and frankly, you guys blew it out of the water. The official count of generous Do Gooders who came out to Pay It Backward for SickKids totaled at a whopping 22,287! And what’s better – those 22,287 small acts of kindness benefited SickKids in a BIG way – raising $15,000 for SickKids Foundation in a single day!

A SUPER HUGE thank you goes to our amazing event sponsors, media partners, and donation sponsors for all of their generosity in helping bring Pay It Backward Day to life! And of course, a big shout out to our dedicated Pay It Backward Day committee members and incredible team of helpers on the big day. Finally, thanks to all who came out to make the Head Quraters location the massive celebration that it was, specifically: Team FLOW from FLOW 93.5, Julie Crochetiere, Leo Stakos from FishTV, Talia Russo, Freestyle Soccer, and Canadian Beat Boxer Champion Scott Jackson. Without any of you guys, this event would not have been what it was!

If you weren’t able to stop on by yourself, do not fret! Our fantabulous videographers Kenway and Jon Lim were at the event ALL day capturing the magic. Check out the excitement of Pay It Backward Day below:

GO PIB GO!

* Pay It Backward Day is brought to you by Daily Challenge. Second Cup and Silk Soy Beverage Canada are proud sponsors of Pay It Backward Day. These sponsors as well as our donation partner Ivanhoe Cambridge will be contributing a total of $5 every time a customer buys the person behind them their order for a maximum of $5000.00 Canadian per organization. All dollar contributions go to SickKids Foundation. This offer is available on September 30th, 2009 in participating Second Cup locations in Ontario. © 2009 WhiteWave Foods.

As most of you know, our Pay It Backward Day event to benefit SickKids Foundation went down last Wednesday (September 30th) at over 170 Second Cup cafes across Ontario. And yes, there was TONS of hype and it turned out to be an AMAZING experience!

So…We realize you may be saying to yourselves ‘Well. What’s the hold up Daily Challenge?? We want to know how Pay It Backward Day went!”

The truth is - we have experienced a slight delay in announcing the results, as the numbers have come in a bit higher than we expected! So, trust we are doing our best to get the grand totals secured and stay tuned for the final numbers, official press release, and wrap-up video - all of which we will be pumping out very soon!

GO #PIBday GO!

A few Daily Challenge members have expressed enthusiasm for Pay It Backward Day; being dedicated and forward-thinking Do-Gooders, they also voiced their concern about the possible environmental impact of the event. So let’s hear everyone’s ideas in how we can make PIB Day a GREEN event!

Here are some of the more obvious options:
1. Bring a reusable cup.
2. If you don’t have a washable takeout mug, recycle.
3. Carpool with friends.
4. Take transit.

The way we see it, it is all the small steps that add up and allow us to get together and create change!  Please share how you plan to reduce your carbon footprint for the PIB Day event!  Thank you!

Thanks to supplychainer.com for the photo!

Amongst several other local celebrities - including, one-time VJ and head of the YummyMummyClub Erica Ehm, TSN’s Michael Landsberg, local actress Talia Russo, the lovely singer and model Anaya Hayes, and Team FLOW on-air personalities Jus Red, J-Wyze, Jeni, and Taboo - the extremely talented singer/songwriter/musician Julie Crochetiere will be making an appearance at the Pay It Backward Day HQ (Queen St. & John St in Toronto) tomorrow to join in the excitement!

Julie, who was featured in our Why do YOU Pay It Backward? video, is an incredibly warm-hearted and gifted jazz singer who is eager to give back to the community in all sorts of ways. Recently, Julie  created and launched her very own intiative, Play It Forward, which combines live entertainment with community building and fundraising for children’s music programs. We are so very excited to have her on board, helping make the Pay It Backward Day heaquarters location even more hoppin’!

Below, have a listen to one of Julie C’s most recent singles, “Precious Love” - nominated for Best Mainstream AC Song at 2009 Can Radio Music Awards and Best New Song at Smooth Jazz Awards:

Gotta love Pay It Backward Day! See ya out there tomorrow ladies and gents!

Wahooo! It looks like Eli Freeze and his Freestyle Soccer peeps, who attended the April 4th #pibTO are back again! They will be  joining us at the Pay It Backward Day heaquarters (Second Cup cafe @ Queen St. & John St. in Toronto) from 1-3pm TOMORROW - working their footy magic on and around the red carpet of Do-Gooders! Check out the video below, for a brief preview of what creative, amazing footskills these guys can rock:

…can YOU do that? Yeeeeeeeah. Can’t wait to see these guys in action, LIVE tomorrow!

*Check back in soon for more updates on what other exciting stuff will be going on at the Pay It Backward Day HQ location tomorrow! Hint: Expect BIG things.

“Whoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

I’ve often thought about how this applies to me.

I remember growing up as a child; it wasn’t easy. I had it pretty rough from the get-go; an abusive step-father, very few friends and even fewer people who were aware of what was going on. I had few allies who were able to stick up for me. It was difficult to tell people what was going on inside my home, without causing trouble for both myself and my mother.

I grew up thinking that I had done something wrong, that I had behaved in such a way that I deserved to be treated the way I was, or that it was simply my presence that set off the uncontrollable bouts of rage. No matter what it was, the spectre of abuse was always present. The psychological damage caused by the years of torment has not yet been fully undone, and it has affected many aspects of my personal and professional life. I sometimes lack the confidence to do the simplest things that most people take for granted. I cannot trust people as much as I should, and I am very critical of myself. I’ve not yet come to terms with the events of my childhood, but I know that no-one should be treated in this manner.

I’m not writing this because I feel I deserve your sympathy or your pity. I’m writing this because there are many other people out there who have lived through the horror that I lived through. There are many more that still do. They probably live on your street, they probably work in the same office as you, they may be a relative or a friend. They may also be a stranger on the subway, or someone you pass in the street. You may know about it, or you may be completely oblivious.

Regardless of who they are or where they live or work, they deserve to be treated with a modicum of respect. Everyone, regardless of social stature, where they live or what they do, deserves this in the very least.

Tomorrow, there may be a person in line behind you who’s had a rough go at life, someone who has not had the opportunities that others have had, someone who may not be as fortunate or wealthy or popular. I’d like you to think about them and do something great. Do something for them to show them you care, and give them a chance to believe that the world can be a better place. You just may be saving a life.

As you may know, the Second Cup cafe located at Queen St. and John St. in downtown Toronto has been deemed the Pay It Backward Day headquarters on September 30th. As the place that all of the #PIBday action went down last time (April 4th), it only seemed right that we blow the second #PIBday out of the water at this location! Now - of course - you can visit ANY participating Second Cup cafe across Ontario to Pay It Backward. But if you get a chance to stop by the HQ location, I highly suggest it…because it’s going to be a darn good time!

The line-up, you ask? Well…

Alongside a host of celebrity servers, live street entertainers, media gurus, a special surprise in the evening, and much more - we have just confirmed that FLOW 93.5 will be DJing LIVE at the HQ location from 2:30-5:30 pm. Team Flow made it out to the last #PIBday and generated tons of buzz with their music and onsite live-to-air stream - so we are pumped to have them joining us again! Additionally, several of their on-air personalities, including Jus Red, J-wyze, Jeni, and Taboo, will be behind the counter as celebrity servers throughout the afternoon!

I don’t know about you, but I’m pumped! Stay ‘tuned’ (ha ha) for more updates about day-of entertainment and other fun #PIBday tidbits! Oh, and a humongo THANKS again to The Second Cup Ltd and Silk Soy Beverage for sponsoring this soon-to-be awesome event!

One…More…Day!

I recently read a quote from the Dalai Lama that said, “I think technology may have some benefits for a smart brain, but no capacity to produce compassion.” Oh yeah, Dalai Lama? Well, I beg to differ!

I really love this community. The Toronto Internet nerdly nerdstrom community, to clarify. I’ve only been living in this city for about two and a half years, but I feel at home here more than I’ve felt at home anywhere else. I applied for (and got) my job because keeping in touch with people I’ve met in the community; I met the man of my dreams through this community; and I have more friends now than I can remember ever having any other time in my life because of this community — REAL friends who I trust and choose to spend my life with.

Every time I tweet something about feeling down or being sick, handfuls of you make me feel like a million dollars with your sympathy and well wishes. When I celebrated my 24th birthday at a genYTO party, I walked in and received my first ever standing ovation. When I doubted my ability to run with the bulls (not literally — I’m totally sure I could do that), Sarah Prevette and Saul Colt reminded me why I’m good at what I do and how I got to where I am.

Hopefully you see where I’m going with this. This community is unbelievably supportive and kind and COMPASSIONATE.

And you know what? We’re not just about high fives and hugging each other. We do good. Check it out:

* We raised over $25,000 at the first HoHoTO in December, 2008 for the Daily Bread Food Bank and another $10,500 this August at HoHOTo.
* Also last December, joining forces all around the world, Twestival Toronto donated over $10,000 to charity: water to help build wells to provide safe drinking water to people in developing nations. And just a few weeks ago over $6,000 was given to Meal Exchange because of our community’s continuing efforts with Twestival.
* The local chapter of the World Partnership Walk got together a league of super heroes to fight global poverty and donated $2,500 to Aga Khan Foundation Canada this past May.
* The Transforming for Sick Kids team raised over $2,600 to benefit the Therapeutic Clown Program at the Hospital for SickKids in June of this year.

There are a million other efforts that should be included on this list — and I hope you yell at me for forgetting them — but the moral of the story is there’s power in numbers, baby!

And speaking of SickKids, this shouldn’t be news to you, but I can’t stress enough how important it is for everyone to go to any Second Cup location in Ontario and Pay It Backward tomorrow, September 30. Buy a coffee for the person behind you in line and with each simple act of “coffee kindness”, Second Cup, Silk Soy Beverage and Ivanhoe Cambridge will donate $5 to SickKids Foundation.

Let’s all help raise Daily Challenge’s goal of inspiring 3,000 acts of kindness on in order to raise $15,000 for SickKids Foundation in a single day!

So, before I go, just want to let you all know I promise to never forget the kindness you constantly show me, what you do for everyone else in the community and your charitable efforts that are changing the world. How’s that for compassion through technology?

Thanks to alicepopkorn for the use of this photo.