i am angielim.

In the Spirit of Giving

Over the course of the last few weeks, I’ve been working on a small project. A project that reflects what I believe to be the essence of the holiday season we have all come to love – Giving. We give presents to our loved ones to see their smiles when they receive it; we give our time when we visit & enjoy egg nog with those we care about & we give our hearts when we open our arms & pockets to those in need this season.

It is the associated feeling with giving that makes the experience all more enjoyable. When one fully gives from the heart without intention, without expectations it is then that is truly a gesture of the soul. When we give a smile to a stranger, give a thought, give a non material item that requires more than a donation of a physical dollar, it is then that I feel we are opening our hearts to give. To me, giving is non consequential, non eventful, receives no personal gain.

Giving is not an act – it is a way of life, a mentality, a lifestyle.

The Brainstorming Behind #GiveaBuck

So as soon as Dan Demsky from The Biz Media fielded the question on Twitter: “What would you all like for the holidays from #thebizmedia?” I knew this was an opportunity to send the message about giving to the world with an awesome videography team to support the initiative (and all for free, can you believe?!)

We wanted something that would send the message. How can we inspire others to internalize the concept of giving is non material or passive? Giving with a purpose, with thought. And so with the combined minds of myself, Darius Bashar, Andrew Peek & the Biz Media Boys (Dan & Justin) we came up with #GiveaBuck (www.giveabuck.ca).

Here is short (unedited) video that features how this video concept came to life & the inspiration behind it [in the video: myself, Dan Demsky, Nate Kogan & Darius Bashar (cameraman)]

#GiveABuck Brainstorming from Angie Lim on Vimeo.

The Concept: #GiveaBuck

Changing the way we think about others. It’s easy to donate a physical dollar without thought, without concern for the recipient. But what if I told you:

This buck is a thought, the inspiration – the moment in your day that you are thinking about someone else other than yourself & following through with it. There is no charity associated, no actual money is being collected. But hey, if you do see that person you want to give a thought to & finding yourself carrying and extra dollar, why not?

In the remaining days of 2009, let’s see how many times we can spend a thought on someone else other than ourselves.

To the Streets

With inspiration from Post Secret we went to the streets to create one of our own with the people of Toronto. Initially, the experience was daunting. Almost every single person was avoiding us because of the cold, the cameras or the courage to be on film. But after going back into the Biz Media loft to get a lapel mic to replace the boom mic, our second round of efforts seem to be quite successful & we were able to get many great responses & smiles from the people of Toronto.

All the fantastic photos on the site were taken by the fabulous photographer – Nate Kogan. This man behind the camera is truly an artist.

The Result: #GiveABuck

So here it is. The final result. We hope you enjoy & visit us at (#GiveABuck) giveabuck.ca to find out how you can participate to tell us who you’re thinking about this holiday season and why.

And as an added incentive, if we get 1000 tweets (hashtag: #giveabuck) I will do a polar bear swim in the new year with (Darius Bashar & Andrew Peek) anyone else in the community who is willing to donate a polar bear swim to this initiative. How’s that for cold?

Enjoy!

#giveabuck from The Biz Media.