Danielle Day 3

Day 3 – Gave a Gift Card to a Homeless Man

Gave a gift card to a homeless man – 2.17.10

Around Christmastime my husband bought Dunkin Donuts gift cards for everyone in his office. Of course, he based the number of gift cards off of the number of desks . . . and counted himself. So he gave me the extra gift card and I figured that I’d give it to someone who could really use it. I put it in the back pocket of my purse (so I wouldn’t have to dig for it), planning on giving it the first homeless person I saw.

Event:
I was walking through Porter Square (Cambridge, MA) and saw a homeless man selling the Spare Change newspaper (it’s a local street paper to benefit the homeless – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spare_Change for more info). Now, I do buy Spare Change from time to time, but I often don’t carry cash on me, as was the case that evening. Instead, I offered him the Dunkin Donuts gift card.

Reactions:
He smiled and thanked me. “No problem,” I told him. I started to walk away and he called me back. “How much is on the card?” he asked. “Five dollars. Sorry, it isn’t much.” He thanked me again and I went on my way.

On a side note, I felt a little guilty as I was walking away because I was heading to a café in a local bookstore to buy a $5 chai soy latte, whereas he was standing out in the street trying to collect money so he can eat.

Would I do it again? Sure

Cost: Technically, the gift card was worth $5. But I didn’t pay for it.

Effort: None, really

Time: A couple of seconds