Once in a while... every now and then... once a week, depending on who you are, you venture into something... impossible. 

If it isn't impossible, you find yourself questioning whether it will ever really come to fruition or if anyone else will see your goal and join up with you.

Along the way, you put a couple of things in place and you hope that someone else sees the merit of your actions and joins in.  Sometimes that wait is a long one. 

If, or when, that first person joins in it is a 'jump up and down moment". 

The Hand to Hand for Haiti event has had a fantastic response from people who see the value of something so big and monumental.  They see the image of 4,000 people, mostly strangers, holding hands around a lake in the middle of the winter and say "I want to be a part of that." 

They say "I want to be part of that" because it is big.  It is much bigger than any one of us, and it will have a big impact on a lot of people's lives.  

I am truly excited about Hand to Hand for Haiti, and I look forward to the event not because of the fund raising goal, but because I love the image of all those people, from all different walks of life, joining together for no other reason than to show support for people who are in need. 

Hand to Hand for Haiti has provided many "jump up and down moments" for me and the members of my club in the short time that it has existed, but, all that said, this entry is not about Hand to Hand for Haiti.  It is about www.happydollars.org.  It is a simple idea really.  Just send us an email or comment on the site about why you are happy?  The goal is, to show that sometimes the little things make a big difference.  www.happydollars.org will be here for a long time after Feb 27th and we hope that people will come back and find a reason to help support our efforts, but mostly... we just want to know why you are happy?

Today we received our first email from someone outside The Ellicott City Rotary Club about why they were happy.  They got it.  This is a "jump up and down moment" for me.

Ken, from the Gaithersburg Rotary Club wrote:  "I am thankful that the Ellicott City Rotary Club has such a creative and ambitious fund raising idea."

Thank you Ken.

Now, to be fair, this person was a Rotarian and he was complimenting our club, but he just took a small step outside of his world and told the rest of the world something that made him happy. 

I invite the rest of the world to join in.  Come on in the water is fine... and we all want to hear how you are doing.

BTW - Happiness is contagious.