The Ultimate Gift
Wonderful movie line of the day: "You've got a bet with a dead guy? Cool!"
That's a line that made me laugh out loud, delivered by Little Miss Sunshine's Abigail Breslin in her new movie, The Ultimate Gift.
I'm not much of a moviegoer, but I'm planning to see this one. Have any of you heard about it? It's based upon a book by Jim Stovall.
I like movies with a positive message. I like movies where I walk out feeling better than when I walked in. That to me is the ultimate escape, since it's easy enough to pick up a newspaper or read news feeds for the bad news. This project isn't just a movie, it's a movement. This is the official site of the movie "The Ultimate Gift" and the grass-roots movement it's starting to help charities and give to others.
Here's the premise behind the project: The movie opens the weekend of March 9th. By registering your charity and buying tickets to see the movie next weekend (dubbed "Weekend of Giving), $1.00 of every ticket will be donated to the charitable group of your choice. You can visit the Weekend of Giving page for the details.
There are lots of different charities out there. One that's near and dear to my heart is our very own high school music department. The school where Sticks goes is comprised of 70% low-income minority students who don't have opportunities for private lessons or instruments. Their introduction to music-making opportunities come solely through the schools, yet our budget for an entire school year is $700. We raise money for our in a lot of different ways, and many of those are now going on to 4-year universities, are honor students, and have stepping-stones to leaving the low-income life behind and helping their families in the process.
So I registered our Music Department charity at the Fox Film Fund site and sent an email out to the school, the band, and the parents asking them to buy tickets with our code. It's as simple as that. The goal is to purchase a new marimba to replace the one that we were borrowing and had to give back.
Our charity is limited in scope, but no less important to our community. Others of you might have charities which are broader, like the Breast Cancer Walk, or AIDS/HIV charities. Whatever they are, don't miss the chance to see an inspiring movie, be part of a movement to change all of our lives for the better, and for even a moment, live in the "what could life be like" instead of "what it is".