A local financial expert, radio host and social media humorist devised a plan to turn this winter storm into a creative giving campaign to benefit Wheeler Mission. They serve homeless men, women and children every day of the year, but without question has been stretched to capacity with this week’s snowfall and sub zero temperatures. It started with a tweet on Saturday afternoon –
“I’m donating $100 per inch of snow tomorrow (airport measure) to @WheelerMission. Who will join me? Any $$ per inch would be great.” (@PeteThePlanner)
That’s a cool $1000 donation, one might think. And Peter Dunn said he was just hoping to get enough pledges to match it. Saturday continued. The Colts won. The Pacer’s won. (Yea, Indy!) Our newsfeeds were filled with photos of empty grocery shelves, and the anticipation of a grown-up snow day began to set in!
On Sunday, the snow came down slowly first, or not at all (rain?), depending on your location in the city. But soon our newsfeeds turned to pictures of creative snowmen and snow creatures, snow ice cream and later status updates that friends were lighting their fireplaces or seeking electricity and heat elsewhere (maybe with you??). When the day’s snow totals were called at midnight on Sunday: 11.4″ at Indianapolis International Airport, estimated pledges for Wheeler were in the range of $3700 per inch. This had become a pretty meaningful storm in an unexpected way!
11.4″ of snow equaled more than $40k in pledges from hundreds of individuals.
“I was just told by @WheelerMission that our project will provide 18,222 meals to the homeless of our community. Speechless.” – @PeteThePlanner
The ice will eventually thaw and soon enough we’ll be trying to escape summer’s unforgiving heat. This is Indiana, after all. But after this week, we can’t help but wonder how you (us, too!) will be inspired next. Thanks for making it easy to love this city.
If you made a pledge, you can fulfill it at wheelermission.org. There’s no code or special link to put in, it’s totally on the honor system as far as we can tell.
About the idea, Peter Dunn on WXIN Fox59.
