Sallie the Balloon Girl

A word from Lil' O about Sallie:

Top three things about Sallie: 1) She's wonderfully, wildly creative 2) She's always up for an adventure 3) She's a fantastic friend. Add these to a a mile long list including beautiful, kind, sarcastic, hard working, smart, and you've got yourself a "Sallie". The way she decided to dispurse her $20 is a perfect expression of what I think is fabulous about her.

Sallie's Story:

I received Kalimba's invitation and immediately started brainstorming ways to spend my twenty bucks. I decided I would buy ten silver Mylar balloons to give to various people, with a note attached asking the recipient to pass their balloon to someone else, but not before donating whatever they could to someone in need. Basically, I wanted the balloons to exponentially expand the twenty dollars and reach as many people as possible in a concentrated amount of time. And I would even create a website so people could log their experiences. It was a little overzealous, to say the least.


Back home in Santa Monica, I thought the Promenade would be a great location for my experiment; it was December, people would be out shopping, feeling the holiday spirit. So I created the website (http://www.passtheballoon.com/),bought the balloons from a local party shop, and wrangled my hesitant husband to help distribute them.


It didn't go as well as I'd imagined. First of all, there was this really annoying guy following us around, saying "You can't tie balloons to posts or rails." Assuming he was some sort of Promenade security, we politely agreed we wouldn't and offered him a balloon. He backed away from it as if he saw Satan in its Mylar reflection.


And he wasn't the only one with that reaction. People were highly suspicious of the balloons, and when they saw there was a note attached, they practically ran away before we could say it's for charity. Sometimes we said "Want a balloon?" (sounds too pedophilic), "Human charity experiment!"(sounds strange enough that people would listen for two more seconds), and"Can I give you a balloon to give to someone else?" (worked best, though for some this demanded too much of a commitment).


We eventually found ten people to take the balloons, some excited, some hesitant, some confused. One of them was Kalimba who just happened to be on the Promenade, and at that point I was so frustrated by the lukewarm reception, I forced her to take one. I believe I said, "This is all your fault."


As we walked down the street, we saw balloons floating alongside people we hadn't given them to, so presumably we thought the experiment was going well, people must have been passing them to others. Then we saw some balloons had been abandoned, tied to bike racks and tree fences. Remembering the earlier warning (don't tie balloons to posts or rails) we rescued them.


That¹s when we met the Balloon Man, an elderly gentleman who works on the Promenade selling balloon animals. He asked if we had a permit. We, of course, didn't. He said he was going to call the police. We told him we were just giving the balloons away for a charity experiment. He told us that was illegal. We said ...What?


Then the annoying Promenade security guy marches up. I actually panic for a moment -- but then realize he's not security at all. He's the Balloon Man's overgrown presumably home-schooled son, and it turns out they're both just looking out for business by keeping competing balloons off their street.


A nearby petitioner/busker steps in and says to us You're trying to do something good for people who need it. That [balloon] man's just trying to make money. And your balloons are prettier. We gave him the last balloon and went home.


Over the next few days, I watched the website, waiting for the comments to pour in. They didn't. Days passed. Nothing. Nada. Until finally there was a comment! It was from Kalimba. Of course it was.


Finally realizing the experiment was a bust, I sat down to write this entry.I checked the website one last time, just to be sure, and there it was: the second comment. This time it wasn't from Kalimba, nor was it spam, as I worried it might be. It was from a complete stranger who gave 10 dollars to another stranger all because of a balloon. Balloon number six to be exact.

Ernessa and the Bubble Monkey

A word from Lil' O about Ernessa:

Ernessa T. Carter is shy and can be quiet with new people but has one o f the bawdiest laughs known to man and is a tornado on the dance floor. I have had the GREAT pleasure of working with her creatively. The woman is a genius with comedy and will break your heart with her dramatic writing. There's nobody like her on the planet and I'm lucky enough to call her my friend. Here's what she wrote on her blog about the experience~

Ernessa's Story:

As many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of kids. In fact, I could count on my hands the number of kids I actually like, and only one of the those fingers belong to some one who's not related to me through genes or marriage.So, when my lovely friend Kalimba sent me $20 in the mail and told me to do something "good" with it, I was just as surprised as the next person to find myself picking out toys for The L.A. Derby Dolls' Toy Drive.The thing is that I didn't get a lot of toys as a kid. I've spoken about my mother's general disdain of Christmas, and in this consumerist culture, I go back and forth about whether my husband and I should indulge our future children with non-educational toys.In fact, when I walked into the store, I planned on getting something educational.But then I saw the monkey that blew bubbles.
And though, I was a rather grown-up kid, even I would have freaked out if I got this. I mean the monkey blows bubbles out of it's mouth. C'mon... how magic is that?So here's me buying the monkey and a miniature pinball machine (the 20 in my hand is the one Kalimba sent)......


and then here's me being directed to the Toy Drive box by two Derby Dolls in short skirts.


Yes, I got a beer first. What? Yes, I realize that I'm pretty much all hair in these pictures.And yes, donating toys did somehow make me feel like a kid again .Thanks, Kalimba!To see the rest of Kalimba's giving experiment, go here, and you know, think about doing somethin' nice for somebody in 2008.Much love,etc

Greg, Shree, & Gregory

A word from Lil' Oprah about Greg:

Have you ever known a person who could make anyone laugh? That's Greg. He's rough and tumble, quick, witty, smart, kind and can light up a room like few people I've known. One of his lovliest qualities is that he is an AMAZING father as evidenced by his daughter who is a divine expression of all that is good in the world.




Greg's Story:

I’ve always had a good rapport with homeless people. When I lived in New York I knew all of the transients in my neighborhood and would often stand on the corner and chat it up with them. It never really bothered me that they were there and it certainly didn’t bother me that they were homeless. I used to give change and food almost daily. When I moved to LA and no longer had student loans, scholarship, and help from my folks, I began seeing homeless people a little different. Why help someone when I my self am struggling? I began to realize that we all have choices in life to make that will in the end, keep us afloat in the game of life, or that may cause us to sink to the depths of poverty. I have been poor, or “just getting by”, for about a decade. I’ve always managed to stay afloat. It is my belief that some folks just can’t play the game. Sure, there are those that are homeless because they have some kind of addiction, and there are those that have a genuine mental disorder that keeps them from being able to contribute to society in the norm. However, I think that there are many homeless people that simply can’t play the game. They don’t fit into the rules and parameters of society today. They lack the social skills or work ethic that is needed to keep a job, mix with the fray, pay bills and hold down a home.

The recipient of the 20$, I view as that type of man.

I have seen and known this man for about 8 years now. He spends most of his time sitting on one of the 3 benches on Melrose just south of LA City College. He is a big man that has a shopping cart with his belongings. He wears a lot of clothes no matter the time of year. He has beautiful, bright, dreamy eyes and he radiates kindness. It began as just saying hello to one another as I rode by on my bike or passed him on foot. We would chat from time to time but it was always quick. He is always alert, available, nice and polite. He has never seemed drunk or on any drugs, nor does he seem the least bit crazy. I can, however, see and understand why he is sitting there on the bench and not crammed into some cubicle. He just couldn’t hang.

When Shree, my angel-faced daughter, appeared on the scene in 2005, my encounters with him became more frequent. Shree and I are often on foot or cruising about on our bike. He immediately took to her and treated her with great kindness and love, and as Shree seems to do with everyone, she loved him right back. It is important to me that Shree makes her opinions on people based on who they are and not what they are, and so far, it seems to be working. We never knew his name, we just called him, “our friend”. When we set out looking for him yesterday, and I kept saying, “where’s our friend”...she knew exactly whom I was talking about from the get-go.

I’ve been a bit down in the dumps with money of late, so, when I received this challenge of giving 20 bucks to someone in need, it felt a little silly to me and even a bit wrong. I’m paying bills with credit cards and scrambling for change to buy a cup of coffee. I’ve had to borrow money for gas and diapers. I’ve had to buy a new car and it’s been nothing but trouble. I simply couldn’t think of anyone more “in need” than my self. As for our friend on Melrose, I felt like I wasn’t too far from being just like him...on the streets with a shopping cart. In the end, I had put it off long enough, and I simply needed to fulfill the obligation that I had committed to.

It was dark by the time we walked to our friend with Shree in the stroller. As we walked near to him he was staring with kindness at Shree without realizing that we were someone that he knows. We haven’t seen him for months. We stopped to say hello and he was radiant and as kind as ever. He kept asking about if Shree had a good Christmas. He spoke directly to her. She was carrying a pink flower that she had picked and was showing it to him. He reached out to grab it and it was so beautiful that I asked to take a photo and he said I could. We hung out for a while before he got up and began rummaging through his cart for a present for Shree. He said he had a little toy phone that he wanted to give her and as he searched, he commented on “all the junk” he had. It was getting late and we had to go but I couldn’t find a way to slip the 20$. I liked how we all just felt like friends that were on the same level, and I didn’t want to put him down with a hand out. Unable to find the phone, and desperately wanting to give Pod something, he pulled out his wallet and handed me a dollar bill for Shree. Hilarious...I’m struggling to find a way to give the man some money and he instead, gives us some. So there it is...as it stood, before even giving him the cash, I realized that he had more money than us. I had wanted to go by the Ice Cream shop on the way home to get Shree a treat and I didn’t even have enough money to buy a single scoop. I took the dollar with one agreement, that we do a trade...he agreed, I took the buck, he took the 20$. He didn’t seem surprised, overly grateful or at all taken back. He just took it with the same smile he always has and said, “okay.”

We took our dollar to “Scoops” and dropped it in the employees tip jar before getting a series of sample bites. I’m not sure where our friend gets his money and I really don’t care. I know he doesn’t have a lot of it and that he truly, just gets by. I was happy to give to him as he has given to me for years. There’s little genuine kindness around these parts, and he brings it everyday. I have a nice apartment, he has his bench...I work as often as I can, he watches the world go by...I have many friends, he is alone...we got the dollar, he got the 20$. I feel a kindred connection with this man. I could be like him, and if he could have made different choices to be living more like me. Or may be he couldn’t. Either way, we aren’t very different other than that his kindness seems to flow more readily than mine.

And after all these years, I finally got his name... “Gregory”

Danielle and Diyana

A Word from Lil' O about Danielle:

Danielle was the first friend I made in Los Angeles 10 years ago - in many ways I feel as though we have grown eachother up. She's a rare combination - equal parts beauty and silliness. She's a complex woman who inspires me and pushes me to be a better person, friend, and human. Here's the letter she wrote to the organization she donated the $20 to~

Danielle's Story:

I have been donating $25 monthly to a little boy through Plan USA for the past 8 years or so and have always wanted to donate to a little girl.

What inspired me to take action was my best fried Kalimba who started a "pay-it-forward" type of experiment.
Basically she gave 6 of her closest friends $20 each and challenged us to see just how far that $20 could go in making a positive change in life of someone in need. She also recently visited Cambodia Thailand and Laos. She met some very special children in great need out there and has collected money to help these children pay for food, supplies and schooling. She inspires me greatly.

And so I have finally took action on something I have been "saying" I wanted to do for quite some time. I had heard another incredible out reach program (much like Kalimba's) helping woman and children in Africa called "Healing Bridges" which was started by a dynamic and soulful woman named Zebiba. Healing Bridges was founded to help women and children in the poverty stricken and war torn African nation of Eritrea. Their mission is to create jobs in Africa for women to support themselves and their families.
Their sponsorship program will provide individual children with a U.S. sponsor to facilitate health, education, family support and a chance to succeed.

I choose Diyana because my mother's name is Diana and I just found her demure and shy spirit in this photograph to be all together sweet and heart-breaking at the same time. I feel that my two monthly sponsored children hold the spirit of the 2 children I plan on having one day.

Warden and the Streets

A word from Lil' O about The Warden:

David A. is a character like no other. He's odd and funny, elusive and sensitive, talented, and genuine and I have come to call him "The Warden" for reasons that are not nearly as funny as the title itself. Here's what he created for the street of NYC with $20~

The Warden's story:

Well, I decided to split the money in two and create a NYC Homeless Helper Package, a package filled with intensity and support. for 10 dollars each (with a few extra dollars from me for each guy) I was able to put together a nice package: -Mainly food-water-multivitamin packs-emergenC packs-sampler size moisturizer-some dentyne ice chewing gum the first guy, who refused to give me his name, is the guy who's wrapped up in the newspaper hat and coat... I asked him what kind of food he wanted and he said he'd just take the cash, but not so fast, this is not a handout for malt liquor or smokes it's for a NYC Homeless Helper package. he finally said he'd just take a couple of helpings from the nearby hotdog vendor cause he was really hungry. i then added those vittles to the existing goodies and tried to talk to him some more but he got really belligerent and ended up telling me to back off and that next i'd wanna know his "dick size" and that i could just "suck on one of the Italian suasages" I got for him. I ended up leaving him to his own privacy.

Sadly, a lot of questions on mental health of the homeless arise here. I hope he had a good meal and uses the other stuff and feels a little better. the second guy, is the tallish gentleman, who told me his name is Garland Wright. He wasn't picky but I recomended he have something hot and hearty and something he'd either never had or something he hadn't had in a long time. So he could really get a kick out of it and feel the warm nourishment entering his system, and the goodness of a delicious meal. He was kind of indecisive. He said he used to really like fish, so I went around the corner to whole foods and got him a huge piece of roasted salmon on a bed of corn and black bean salad and some tomato eggplant bisque and some tortellini. I also stopped and got him some neosporin cause he was telling me how F'd up his feet were, swollen and infected. so i got him some ointment to put up in his game. He was a really nice guy who was originally from Chicago. He used to work in construction but an accident left him injured and down on his luck. I send him the best and hope he gets in to a better situation. i know this brightened his day...

Karen and the Opera

A word from Lil' O about Karen:

Karen has been my best friend since college. She is one of the most brilliant people I know. Her mind is fascinating, she's endlessly funny and you could wrap the whole world up in her heart it's so big. Her aunt Lanie is a beautiful opera singer and her partner Paula is a composer. Here's where her $20 went~

Karen's Story:

I donated your $20 to a workshop for Paula's new opera, The Bridge of San Luis Rey (based on the magnificent Thornton Wilder novel). Lanie reports that the workshop last weekend in Amherst, Mass. was extremely invigorating. So Paula thanks you, Lanie thanks you, and I, as always, thank you. I've also attached a picture of the lovely evening at Lanie and Paula's apartment when I first donated the money to the opera.

Stacy, Shree and the Clinic

A word from Lil' O about Stacy:

Stacy and her daughter Shree will blow your mind with their beauty both inside and out. Shiney, soulful, mischeivious. My life in LA would not be nearly as full if they were not in it. Here's their story of $20~

Stacy's Story:

when kali asked me to do the 20 $'s for good, it didn't take me long to come up with what i wanted to do. i have medi-cal insurance which is a low income healthcare with no co-pay. one saturday night shree had such thick congestion and harsh coughing that i took her into a 24 hr clinic. I was under the impression that the clinic was always covered by my insurance, but it turned out that weekend visits cost fifty dollars. This was a ton of money to me that particular month. I decided to trust and spend the money, not able to bear listening to my sweet shree's wheezing through her congestion, even if it put us further from paying the already daunting rent.This story almost immediately came to mind when kali challenged me to do good with twenty bucks. I brainstormed for a a situation where the twenty bucks could have a large impact. I came up with the clinic.

I decided to go look for a family with a sick child to share the good with. i came to the clinic on a sunday quickly found a family with 3 kids and stopped them on there way in. They were hispanic and spoke little english. i tryed to explain to them what i was doing and asked if i could share the twenty dollars with them. they were confused and turned down the money, seeming a offended by the offer. they approached the desk and i watched as the mother of the kids talked with the woman at the clinic. They spoke in spanish so i couldn't understand every word, but i could comprehend enought to understand when the mother was taken aback that her full coverage medi-cal insurance wasn't going to wave the fifty dollar fee.

After a string of questions, the mother looked defeated. Finally, she shyly looked over at me and without words, asked me for the money. I smiled and gave her the twenty. She thanked me in english. The family did not want their pictue taken, but their son was happy to pose next to his sick baby sister. He was the only one who spoke english in the family. he says he is a good older brother and helps out his mom and dad alot.the experience was a sweet one, and a sad one too. i am grateful i was a ble to play a part in helping a little girl receive the healthcare she needed.

Andy and the Peruvian

A word from Lil' O about Andy:

Andy is my dearest male friend in the world. He is sweet, tender, one of the best listeners I've ever met, a superbly talented actor, and an incredible song writer with one of the sharpest and dirtiest wits around. Here's what he did with his $20~

Andy's Story:

I gave my $20 to Luis, a Peruvian man that works at the Chevron station up the street. I get coffee there each day, and he makes me feel like I'm walking into his establishment, on Main St., in 1950's America. He gives me a rowdy "Hey, my friend, how are you doing?!?!?" then shakes my hand, every time I walk in the door. He works for minimum wage for an enormous, faceless corporation, and puts an inordinate amount of energy into making everyone he comes in contact with feel a little bit better. He always tries really hard, with his broken English, to find American bands from the 80's that we both dig. He always tosses out a new one each time I'm there.

I see him hustling around the store all the time, obsequiously performing whatever task his manager asks him to do with absolute pride. He's poor, and he works a lot of overtime to try to better his situation. I see him at the end of a 9 or 10 hour shift a lot, beat to hell. His "Hello! How are you doing?!?! is a little more mellow then, but just as heartfelt. He was so unbelievably appreciative of and surprised by the gift. I showed him a picture of you, then told him a little about you and what you wanted to accomplish by giving away money, and he was riveted. He's quite a guy. He's the type of person who, by having more resources at his disposal, the entire community is better off.