Thank you!

We made it, guys!

Because of you (and, kinda because of me too) we have raised $24,070 in one month, which is going to make an enormous difference in the lives of homeless, runaway and at-risk youth.

I don't want to write much today, but I do want to thank everybody who has helped me through January. Whether through your cash donations, your words of support, your telling me to get a grip, helping me find Franzia on the cheap, or helping me to think through the implications of health insurance choices, know that I really appreciated your support. Even if your contribution felt small to you, it often came at exactly the right time.

In alphabetical order, here's a (probably embarrassingly incomplete) list of people that I want to thank:

Joseph Adams, Heather Allen, JC Al-Uqdah, Helen Appleyard, Khaoula Begdouri, BlackRock, Bijan Boldajipour, Wendy Botwe, Jennifer Brann, Keven Brough, Silvio Brugada, Conrad Camit, The Camit Family, Chad Carter, Dino Carter, Michelle Cheng, William Cobern, Michael Cooper, Joe Crowley, Jack Davies, Jill Davis, Brandon Ee, Dominique De Guzman, Vincent De Martel, Michael Dillon, Kurt Dyer, Matthew Frazier, Robert Ferguson, Isabel Frechel, Heather and Julian Gaton, Brian Gabriel, Nicole Garroutte, Rita Gemelou, Jim Graham, Philip Green, Nick Handel, Chris Hartley, Gary Hodges, James Hodges, Kalpna Hodges, Marion Hodges, Rob Holmes, Sarah Laver, Becky Jaimes, Denise Jeong,  Kenneth from Walgreens, Jeff Kern, Riki Kim, Kevin Kneafsey, Andrew Duboff, Leslie Mansford, Deno Marcum, Manuel Merjil, Peter Monti, Ugo Montrucchio, Moody’s, Joshua Morgan, Adam Morris, Sam Mulyono, Alan Ninsf, Kasey Ng, Bryan Parsons, Chris Poe, Darren Powell, Brian Raimondo, Tamryn Reynolds, Ilona Roberts, Sumeet Sahni, Nick Sanchez, Gary Saperstein, Ehau Saung, Sara Shores, Ricky Shum, Althea Solomon, Claire Sullivan, Clem Sutters, Charles Suwannaporn, Paul Tan, Kelley Tarzian, Michael Tempesta, Dominique Vance, Sandy Vog’l and Nathan, Calvin Wong, Holly Wilkins, Darina Voloshina, Kenshi Westover, Cathy Yang.

Now let me admit something slightly obnoxious. Back in December, when I listed the things that bring pleasure and meaning to my life, I missed one: There is little sweeter than the joy that comes from being vindicated - from being proved right. And one of the factors that motivated me to do this was people telling that I couldn't, or wouldn't. 

Well, I did it. I didn't give up half way through, and I raised a ton of money. That feels good. But I didn't do it on my own. It takes a village, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. Feel the love!

I hope I have helped in a small way to raise awareness of the difficulties of living on such a low wage, and that it was reasonably entertaining to read.

But I also hope that I've demonstrated the power of getting up and just doing something, as well as the benefits of persistence, strategic shirtlessness, potentially-career-limiting honesty and disclosure, and the value of numbered lists. (Sorry pinto bean lobby, I don't think I successfully made the case for the benefits of your product.)

So thank you for joining me on this ride. I'm glad I did this, even though I have no plans to ever do it again. I've had a blast and I hope you enjoyed it too!

Thank you all. (You can still donate!)