My New Hero

I was doing some random reading on the internet, and found my new random hero. The story is about a year old, and at one point was on CNN so it has spread rather broadly, but I hadn't heard of it until today.

It is the story of a red paper clip, a man, and an internet site.

One man decided he needed a house, but he couldn't afford one. He made it his goal to trade a red paper clip up for a house, and after 14 trades in succession, he has achieved his goal. It was the most interesting thing I read today.

This guy created a blog to track his progress, and now to tell his story.

You can find it here.

I'm trying to think of how I might be able to do a similar style project on a much smaller scale to raise a thousand dollars for my church that is behind budget this year. I don't know if the story is compelling enough to drive a bunch of congregation members to do the same thing (say have 100 people each try to turn a paper clip into a hundred dollars). The ideas have just begun in my head. It may lead nowhere, it may lead to money for a church, it may even lead to a new house.