Editorial: Expanded project is another reason to believe in people
A lot of people would like to be given $100.
As it turns out, a lot of people also would like to get $100 to give to another person who needs it.
We have evidence of that from the Believe Project, initiated and funded by Carolyn Gable of Kildeer. For the last five Decembers, $100 a day has gone to Daily Herald readers who tell how they will use the money to help someone else.
Now, we have great faith in the good hearts of people in the suburbs who leap to help those facing life's challenges.
Still, the response that first year in 2014 was "magical," as Managing Editor Jim Baumann wrote. We were flooded with notes from people who wanted to help others, from recipients touched by the gesture, and from more donors who wanted to contribute money to prolong the now-annual giveaway.
Now, Gable is expanding the Believe Project to every day of the year, as columnist Burt Constable writes today.
Through her not-for-profit Believe Project at believeproject.net, which launches today, Gable is giving away $100 a day to someone who will use that money to help others.
We love this project for how it leverages that daily $100.
It not only provides funds, but also affirmation and recognition of a person's struggles.
"It's a person saying, 'I see you. I see what you are going through. And here, here is the love I'm going to give to you,'" Gable said.
It allows others to experience the joy of giving - a deep satisfaction that also has concrete health benefits. The Cleveland Clinic refers to it as the "helper's high" that lowers blood pressure and reduces stress and depression.
It's also evidence of the overriding kindness of most people, a refreshing reminder in this time when political schisms bleed into our long-standing relationships and when social media and cable TV fill us with anger.
Among recipients of the $100 highlighted in our pages:
• A Hoffman Estates woman who gave the money to a longtime friend who had lost her husband and had a son with special needs.
• A Prospect Heights resident who matched the funds and bought $5 McDonald's gift cards to give to Public Action to Deliver Shelter attendees.
• A Wheaton woman who passed the funds along to a young woman beset by financial problems and the sudden death of her mother.
• A Schaumburg woman who gave the money to a restaurant owner who made free meals for federal employees during the government shutdown.
We'll once again carry Believe Project stories this December. Meanwhile, Gable and her "Believe" brigade are daily reminders that our faith in humanity is not misplaced.