Daily Herald's 'Believe Project' linked philanthropist, readers
Smart suburban gardeners know that newspapers make a perfect mulch for fall gardens. And when those plants poke through the soil just as cold weather arrives, a covering of old newspapers can keep the sprouts from freezing.
A daily newspaper also can help an idea blossom.
Lake Zurich business owner and philanthropist Carolyn Gable had the germ of a plan to make the world a better place. She wanted to give away $100 every day in December to people who promised to use that money to help others.
Founder of a successful transportation company - New Age Transportation in Lake Zurich - Gable just needed a place to plant that seed where it could take root.
"I had this great idea, but how can I get a broader reach in our local community?" Gable remembers thinking, before realizing the answer literally was under her nose.
"I read the Daily Herald every day."
Gable says she knew the paper would get her message to the local audience she craved, but she still wasn't sure how readers would react to it.
"I think it really surprised all of us how well it took off," she said.
Her simple idea to spread a little joy for 30 days became something that blossomed well into the spring. Stories about people suggesting worthy recipients and causes in need of a little money appeared in our pages daily. What originally was a competition for $3,000 in prize money (prize money to be given to someone else) became a vehicle where readers themselves ended up contributing more than three times that amount to the project.
Instead of choosing 30 recipients to split a total of $3,000, the Believe Project doled out $14,400 to 136 winners in more than 60 suburbs.
"I'm definitely a fan of the written word, and of holding a book or a newspaper," said Believe Project winner Wendy Vieth of Libertyville. She submitted a Project Believe entry to the Daily Herald seeking money to help the Peter and Rita Quinn family of Schaumburg after Peter was hit by a car and lost the use of his legs. Not only did her entry win one of the daily prizes, the story she told in the paper spread across the suburbs.
"The Daily Herald does a great job of that," said Vieth. One reader who didn't know Vieth or the Quinns was so moved by the story that she donated $500.
"I was stunned and again overwhelmed by the generosity of a total stranger," said Vieth, who ended up harvesting more than 10 times the initial prize for the Quinns.
"For me and my friends, it snowballed into something I could never imagine. The Believe Project showed we can support each other."
A group of seventh- and eighth-graders at Rotolo Middle School in Batavia used the contest as a learning experience. They researched several charities before passing along a donation to the St. Charles chapter of the American Red Cross.
A Buffalo Grove couple who volunteer at a food pantry each became daily winners. They passed along the money to a family with five young children and to a woman caring for two elderly uncles.
Gable said readers might have looked at the contest as a chance to counteract the sometimes overwhelming news of tragedies, scandals and political squabbles.
"It just felt good for people to think, 'I can be part of something good. It doesn't have to be bad news coming out of the newspaper,'" Gable said. "It was great for a newspaper to be part of it. It brought out the good side of all people, including those people who think of newspapers as doom and gloom."
This is Burt Constable's original column on the Believe Project, which appeared on Dec. 4, 2014:
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are history, but this sweet deal remains available for the rest of the year. A suburban entrepreneur is willing to give you a crisp $100 bill, and the Daily Herald will help make that happen.
But there is a catch.
You must give that $100 to somebody who needs it more than you.
Sponsored by the Daily Herald and funded by our anonymous benefactor, "The Believe Project" will award a $100 bill to a worthy reader every day through the end of December.
The benefactor will read the entries and dub the contest winners "Stewards of Love." Anyone chosen as a steward will be given an envelope stuffed with small cards featuring motivational messages, and a crisp $100 bill.
The benefactor, who asked to remain anonymous, says the idea grew out of a couple of awkward personal moments where fear trumped the desire to help strangers who couldn't afford to buy things for children.
"I wanted to help, but I didn't have the courage," the donor remembers. "What is it about human nature that we have this trepidation about giving?"
A longtime philanthropist who has won awards for other charitable endeavors, this person says "The Believe Project" gives people the tools as well as the inspiration to step forward and help those who need it.
A sign proclaiming "It's a Wonderful Life" hangs above the benefactor's office door. A placard inside reminds the person to "Pray Big." The walls throughout the business owner's office building feature hand-painted murals offering a diverse collection of inspirational quotations. A passage from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech shares space with a comment about effort and winning from NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. A biblical passage from the book of Mark isn't too far from a quotation from Mark Twain. Wisdom from Gandhi and Buddha, and Oprah and Tony Robbins all make the wall.
Having run "The Believe Project" privately for the last couple of years with friends, employees and relatives, the benefactor says the effort hasn't taken off as envisioned. One person who took an envelope still had it in his wallet a year later, the donor says, adding that the hope is that the Daily Herald's involvement might push the giving envelope.
"It's totally all fallen into place. It's divine intervention," the donor says. "I'm so excited."
The benefactor will choose worthy recipients but says the goal is to inspire others to do good things on his or her own.
"The whole idea is to do it bigger than yourself," the person says. "I don't have any expectations. I just know I'm going to be blown away by it."
That enthusiasm is reflected in another inspirational message displayed in the donor's office building's walls: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."
National Newspaper Week 2015
This is the 75th anniversary of National Newspaper Week. The theme of the Oct. 4-10 week is underscoring the impact of newspapers to communities large and small.
This article is a part of that series. For more stories on the Daily Herald, see <a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/topics/Daily-Herald-Media-Group/">http://www.dailyherald.com/topics/Daily-Herald-Media-Group/</a>
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