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    5-Year-Old Philanthropist Raises Money for Haiti

    By Michael Wolraich on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 3:29pm | Social Justice, World Affairs

    Last Thursday, I received a phone call from my friend, Lily, a San Francisco native halfway through her kindergarten year. In truth, we are more than friends. We married in an unofficial ceremony during the summer of 2008, and over a few brief hours of marital bliss and several cups of imaginary tea, we were blessed with four or five children, one of whom resembled a furry red monster. But alas, the marriage could not survive the age and geographical distances. We drifted apart. Lily claims not to remember the wedding, and the kids are stuffed in a box somewhere.

    But Lily and I remain friends. When she called on Thursday, Lily got to straight to the point in her typical businesslike fashion. She was raising money for earthquake victims. Would I pledge $5? I would. Then I offered a counter-proposal. If Lily were to produce a fund-raising video, I would post it on my blog. Lily came through. Here's the video, with a special cameo by her sister Fiona.

    Please help the suffering Haitians by matching my $5 donation and forwarding this video to friends and family.

    Topics: 
    Social Justice
    World Affairs

    Comments

    You are rich blogger/auteur and all you could give was $5?


    by DavidZHawk (not verified) on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 7:17pm

    That's dagblog's annual operating budget.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 01/19/2010 - 7:40pm

    I see I guilted you into action. All hail Jewish guilt!


    by DavidZHawk (not verified) on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 12:54am

    You may think that you have one this one DavidZHawk, but I am more powerful in alleged defeat than you can ever imagine.

    In fact, I had planned to give more but didn't want to ask for more than the blog. So I figured that I would start with $5. But faced with overwhelming criticism from the public, I realized that I needed to move more quickly on my plans and thus gave an additional amount under my real name while retaing the original Genghis $5 challenge. Masterful, no?

    Ah never mind. I'm sure that the subtlety of my brilliance will be lost on lesser minds.


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 8:52am

    In any case, it seems that Lily has hit her target of $1000. In light of the new aftershock, the donations are even more important.

    Thank you to everyone who participated. (And if you didn't participate, it's not too late.)


    by Michael Wolraich on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 9:08am