“80% of people are hurt by words. Research shows that only about 20% of children and adults are able to handle put downs without emotional pain and psychological damage.” California Task Force for Personal and Social Responsibility.
Isn’t that an incredible statistic? It was among several in the rolling credits of Who You Are DOES Make a Difference. This 6:30 minutes of goodness is a cross between the movie, Pay-It-Forward, and the video, Validation.
On February 16, 2006, in Rochester, New York, Greece Athena’s basketball coach thought it would be great for their team manager (and autistic teen), Jason McElway, to play in a game. Jason showed everyone how much he could shine with only 4 minutes left before the buzzer went off, Jason shot SIX 3-point shots!
How did this happen? “I was hot as a pistol,” explains Jason.
Check out this 2:45 minute CBS newscast and see how wild the crowd goes with each basket!
Daily Challenge member, Jenny Foster, wrote us and expressed her enthusiasm for Pay It Backward Day; and being a dedicated and forward-thinking Do Gooder, also voiced her concern about the possible environmental impact of the event. Thank you, Jenny!
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:
Bring a reusable cup.
If you don’t have a washable takeout mug, recycle.
Carpool with friends.
Take transit.
Please share how you plan to reduce your carbon footprint for the PIB Day event!
For all of us social media junkies out there - it’s that time - the time for everything-you-could-ever-need-to-know-about Pay It Backward Day!
We’re quite sure that all y’all will snap away with cameras and tag whatever you please, but if you’d be kind enough to include “pibTO” among those tags, we’d be ever so grateful.
For the Twitterverse - you can follow @doonegood for real time updates and subscribe to the #pibTO feed to get all the good stuff in one spot.
For the social networkers among us (I suppose in 2009, we’re all just known as “people” by now), the event attendance and updates are being conducted on Facebook right about… here.
And for the very thorough… you can find the Daily Challenge Video Archives here and the Photo Gallery here.
If you have some additional places where you like to hide things, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment and a map to get there.
An inspiring story of love and strength, this video shows how a father-son team defy the limitations of disability. Team Hoyt has run 85 marathons so far, competed in 212 grueling triathlons (a combination of 26.2 miles running, 112 miles bicycling and 2.4 miles swimming) and 4 Ironman competitions. Together, they’ve tackled mountains and traipsed 3,735 miles across America.
Oh, did we mention that Rick can’t walk or talk?
When Rick could communicate through technology, he said, “Dad, when we were running, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anymore.” That was all the motivation his father, Dick, needed to start Team Hoyt. In 1992, they qualified for the Boston marathon and finished only 35 minutes short of the world record. When someone suggested Dad racing on his own, he replied, “No way.”
Team Hoyt’s message: “Everybody should be included in everyday life.”
It’s true. Records are set so that we might aspire to do better. So that we have a threshold worth crossing. To inspire us to do a little more, be a little greater, and etch our legacy a little deeper into history.
At Daily Challenge we understand that we’re lucky. We have a network of people within earshot - all of whom have something propelling them to do such things as break a world record. So that’s just what we’re going to do!
It’s official now. On April 4th at 1 p.m.sharp, the single longest “pay it backward” coffee line will begin at Second Cup on Queen and John Streets in Toronto. If you’re wondering “what in the heck is a ‘pay it backward’ coffee line?” then you may want to check out the first daily challenge we ever released.
Partners & Sponsors
We’re also pleased to announce that the Second Cup franchise, where we’ll be hosting the event, will be donating 50% of all proceeds to the SickKids Foundation! We couldn’t be happier to have found a business willing to match the compassion of our “Do Gooder” network, and to have the beneficiary be a local charity. We’re also excited to have the Freestyle Soccer team on board and will keep you posted as more day-of entertainment rolls in (stay tuned to our events page).
Back to the record for a moment. Our team of dedicated researchers (i.e. the google) has discovered a world record of 490 “pay it backward” coffee buys. Please make sure you come out and help put Toronto in the books for good (I love puns!). You can confirm your attendance through our Facebook event and get the latest news on our event page.
To recap all the need-to-knows…
What: A record-breaking day for good deeds (more than 500 “pay it backward” coffee buys). When: April 4th @ 1 p.m. (the festivities will kickoff at noon and we will be storming the gates at 1 p.m. sharp). Where: Second Cup at the corner of Queen St. & John St. in Toronto (beside MuchMusic). View Larger Map
How: Add your name here to confirm your attendance and get the latest news on “pibTO” as it comes available. Why: Because doing some good feels pretty freakin’… well… GOOD!
Welcome to the new DailyChallenge.org! If you’re an active Do Gooder, you may have noticed that we went live with what we’re calling Beta 2.0 of Daily Challenge last Wednesday morning. We’re still rolling out a number of updates over the next few days, but I wanted to take some time to walk you through some of the biggest changes.
So, what’s new with DailyChallenge.org? In short, everything. We’ve spent the last five months examining user preferences and listening to community feedback. We even conducted a series of usability tests in late January. The results were clear: everyone jived with the concept of doing random acts of kindness but desperately needed an easier way to get it done. So, we overhauled the entire site and essentially built it again from the ground up. Only this time, we were able to apply all the lessons we had learned to help make Daily Challenge more about you.
Let’s take a short tour through some of the major changes.
As many of you know, Daily Challenge is a tech startup that is looking to change the world by making it easy to Do Good. As part of our efforts to get the word out about Daily Challenge, we have submitted a 60 second elevator pitch to TechCrunch. TechCrunch is a prominent technology blog that covers the latest in the tech industry and provides valuable information for users, industry people as well as investors.
The 60 second videos are voted on and the top video in each week/month gets featured in a TechCrunch post (which is very valuable).
Voting is simple, you do NOT need to provide an email or even sign up. You can just click the green arrow (see the image) and that’s it. If you are really inspired, then you can also leave a comment for us.
We know that many of you have already put in your vote, and we want to thank you for taking the time. For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, please take a look and help us continue to get the word out about Daily Challenge and work together to create the change we want in our world!
We are happy to announce the launch of Daily Challenge 2.0! Our new website will officially go live on Tuesday March 03, 2009 at 11 PM EST. There will be many new upgrades and features that intend to enhance user the experience and allow our Do Gooders to more easily inspire and be inspired.
Over the past 4 months we have had the privilege of making personal connections with many of our users and have developed a strong in-depth perspective of their experiences in our social network.
We know DailyChallenge.org has a long way to go before we can truly create sustainable and massive change, but we want you all to know that we are 1000% committed to achieving that goal.
Our Creative Director, Verne Ho will be sharing a more detailed walk-through of all the new features of DC 2.0 in a blog post scheduled for Wednesday. In the meantime, you can check out a sneak preview of the new interface.
Important Note:
DailyChallenge.org will be down from 5 PM - 11 PM (EST) on Tuesday March 3, 2009 during the upgrading process.
Special Thanks:
The Daily Challenge Team would like to take this opportunity to thank YOU the users for all your support and patience.
Over the past 4 months we have received over 1000+ feedback forms, most of which were thoughtful and considerate suggestions on how we could improve our website.
Without your support this project would neither exist or be worth the effort. We are humbled to be working on a project with such passionate and committed users. We hope you enjoy the new site and look forward to your feedback!
Last week Darius introduced the first installment of the Daily Challenge Good News Report and it was well received by the community. So without further adieu, here’s this week’s dose of positive and uplifting news:
The Healing Toddler: A story about how a child transformed the mood in a doctor’s office waiting room.
This is the official blog for Do Gooders. It is the vehicle for the Daily Challenge story and the tool to get you directly involved in the project so you can become part of the story, too.
Daily Challenge member, 
Welcome to the new 
Last week
