*** This giveaway is no longer accepting entries – scroll down to see who won!***
Perhaps you’ve heard of a little store called Ikea? And perhaps you’ll be interested in a $350 gift card from them for this week’s giveaway? Yeah we couldn’t believe it either when they emailed us. Hooray is right, Ikea catalog. Well said.
And not only are they generously offering up this week’s sweet prize, Ikea’s also presenting “The Life Improvement Project” where they’ll award one philanthropic individual $100,000 to take a one year sabbatical to help others (start a non-profit, volunteer for a year, etc). Plus they’re hosting free seminars in their stores about improving your life through your living space.
But back to how you can get your mitts on that $350 gift card:
- PRIZE: A $350 gift card to Ikea!
- TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “IKEA Me!” and…
- BONUS QUESTION: … tell us what you’d do if you could spend one year helping others. Would you open an after school program? Volunteer at a homeless shelter? Rescue animals?
- GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, October 27th at 8pm EST
- NUMBER OF WINNERS: One
- PRIZE SHIPS: The United States
- USUAL STUFF: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here Thursday morning for the announcement of our winner. Good luck…
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You guys are quite impressive with your nearly 11,000 entries. So impressive in fact that Ikea decided to change their plans and give away not just one, not just two, but THREE $350 gift cards. That’s over $1000 in gift cards! Thanks Ikea!
So let’s see who the lucky three winners are according to random.org:
- Alyssa Allen (who’s Life Improvement Project would include moving her fam somewhere in the world to help the poverty crisis)
- NEPD (who’d give her wedding florist services away free of charge)
- Jill (who’d give a year working with the Wildlife Conservation Society)
Note: We weren’t paid or perk’d for hosting this giveaway, we just take them on to reward our lovely readers! See our Giveaway FAQs page for more info. Pics from Ikea.
Shannon Marye says
IKEA ME! I would volunteer my time teaching children how to garden and knit and all the tasks that are lost in the school system.
jill says
IKEA Me! If I could take a year off, I’d work with young mothers to teach them how to economically cook and feed their young families nutritious meals for a healthy start in life.
Bess says
Ikea me!
I’d work with Habitat for Humanity!
Roxy says
IKEA ME! I would probably help Habitat for Humanity.
liz m c says
IKEA ME!!!!
I’d love to open up our house as a foster home for animals.
kim says
IKEA ME! I would help Habitat for Humanity.
Katie Booth says
“IKEA me!” I would help at our local center for women and children who are leaving unhealthy family situations.
celeste says
IKEA Me!
I would volunteer at our neighborhood preschool.
Natalie Call says
IKEA Me!
Sarah says
Ikea Me!
This would come in very handy as we renovate my toddler’s room and laundry room (expedit and closet organizers here we come!).
I’d have to think about the sabbatical – that is a wonderful opportunity and I wouldn’t want to blow it!
wendy says
IKEA me!!!!!!!!!! Please!!!
I’d love to go back to Africa and work in the orphanage that I visited 5 years ago :)
Kristen says
IKEA Me!
If I could spend one year helping others I would help my sister start her dream of a non-profit company aimed at helping refugees trying to resettle in our country.
Donna P. says
“IKEA Me!”
I would love to start some type of program to help the students in the Decatur Public Schools. So many of them don’t graduate and they need mentors and money to make it happen.
Kristin says
Ikea Me!! I would want to help out in an orphanage. Taking care of sweet little babies and kids that are less fortunate than us.
Lori M. says
IKEA ME PLEASE!! If I had a year to give and the funds to back it I would do something philanthropic with photography. Not sure exactly but something to do with people portraits for the less fortunate. It saddens me when someone passes away and the family says they didn’t even have a good picture of him/her. I know that sounds kinda crazy and probably wouldn’t change the world but maybe it could heal some broken hearts of those left behind.
Betty says
IKEA Me! I would love to work with children in a women’s shelter showering them with love and attention!
Carrie says
IKEA Me!
I’d tutor children in the inner city.
Janda says
IKEA Me!
I would open up a soup kitchen to feed children. I work in an inner city school as a kindergarten teacher and it frightens me to think about my babies not eating dinner or nothing at all during summer, holidays, etc.!
Christina says
IKEA Me!!!!
I would love to start some kind of program that would bring dogs to retirement homes. Nothing makes me smile more than a dog with a wagging tail :)
Ginna says
IKEA ME!
I’d love to take my family and help in a place that is in recovery from a natural disaster – like Haiti.
Natalie Call says
If I could spend a year helping people I’d set up an after school reading program.
Paola S. says
IKEA me!
I spent a year in AmeriCorps working in a low income community and operated an afterschool program for the kids in the neighborhood. It was definitely one of the more rewarding things I’ve ever done. That said, I’d easily do it again, or alternatively I’d do work rescuing animals or in some capacity related to that.
Emily Rae says
IKEA ME!
I would take a year to give my time to cleaning up my church and the nearby community centers, especially those that serve the at-risk youth populations.
Lanay says
IKEA Me!
I would love to spend a year working with children who have been orphaned and help find loving families for them.
Vickie B says
Ikea Me!
I actually work with elderly for a living. If I had a year to take off…
I would either work to assist in the transition of the scores of adult and elderly individuals being hastily relocated after the local state hospital closes at the end of the year. Many of these individuals were heartbroken to leave the home that they have known for 20+ years. Or I would volunteer to work with autistic children. These individuals are such a special gift and such a broad spectrum of personalities, deficits and gifts. Or I would volunteer to teach other to prepare gluten free food for minimal cost and no loss of flavor. Definitely not all of the above though, I sure would be busy!
Rachel says
IKEA me!!
I would spend it making sure all (or at least more) kids are safe in the car, and parents understand how important this is!
beth says
IKEA ME! We are redecorating!
If I had a year…I would take my girls back to their birth countries and volunteer at children related charities.
Ann says
IKEA me!
I would spend the year and $100k in Africa, working with nonprofits. I did a little work there last summer with a few different NGOs and was blown away by what some organizations are able to do with very limited resources.
Stacia says
IKEA ME!! I’d spend a year teaching at-risk kids how to art journal.
Lilly says
IKEA ME!
I am currently a case manager for adults with developmental disabilities. If I had the opportunity to take a year off and help someone I would adopt children in foster services with developmental disabilities. There are so many children in need of loving homes and I would like to someday open my home to few of them.
Thanks for the opportunity!
Diione says
Ikea Me
I would love to start an organization that helped rehab homes in my community employing people who were under or unemployed and giving them on the job training.
Jillian says
IKEA ME!
I would definitely work with rescue animals. I got my own dog from a shelter and it’s so hard not to want to adopt all those poor dogs who live at shelters. I can’t stand the idea of them suffering in that terrible environment!
susanne bloom says
Ikea Me! I would love to spend a year helping children become empowered no matter their circumstances….
Chris says
IKEA me!
I think I would start an after school program for young children in which I could get them involved in sports.
Maureen says
Ikea Me!
I would spend a year working for Habitat for Humanity–a great organization and I love getting my hands dirty!
Emily H says
IKEA Me!
I would volunteer at the local domestic violence shelter, and would investigate other ways I can help at need members of my community.
Jeff says
IKEA Me! If I could spend one year helping others I would create a volunteer group that provides interior design services to individuals and communities that don’t have the resources to create interior spaces. By doing this I would hope to make a positive effect on the community.
Jillian says
IKEA me!
I am 24 and was just diagnosed with malignant melanoma last month. I’ve always been good about staying out of the sun and wasn’t one of those teenagers that hit the tanning bed. If I had one year off, I would find a way to talk to teens and explain to them that all of the statistics they hear about staying out of the sun are true. No one imagines having cancer at 24 but it can happen to anyone. Outside of that, I would volunteer a large amount of time at an animal shelter and would also like to help kids who are raised in homes with parents who are depressed/suicidal (another person passion of mine). I would have given anything to know that I wasn’t alone when I was raised in a depressed home.
Ali says
Ikea me. This is a very hard question. I am very concerned with women’s rights, but I have no idea how I’d go about doing things to help. =/
Heather says
IKEA ME!! I would probably open a christian elementary/preschool.
Liz M says
IKEA Me!
I would love to spend a year teaching basic financial skills to disadvantaged youths and families.
Audrey says
IKEA ME!
I’d do environmental work in Asia (where they need help the most).
danae says
IKEA me!
i have a passion for working with youth, & so i would volunteer my time within my community – schools, the drug-free coalition, mentoring programs, etc.
Jenny P. says
IKEA ME!
I’d devote my year of service to multiple organizations in my community – the Women’s Bureau, SCAN: Stop Child Abuse & Neglect, both of my local animal shelters, and the Salvation Army soup kitchen.
Nadia says
IKEA Me!
I’d help with environmental causes for a year
Ashley says
IKEA ME!!!
Not sure what I’d do, but it would be somewhere amazing!
Alondra says
IKEA ME! Anything that involves helping animals, I’m all for.
One day I’d love to own a farm and welcome every stray and forgotten animal I can get my hands on!
Christina says
I would start some kind of program that would take dogs from the shelter and have them trained so that they couldgo to retirement homes. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing my dog!
april says
IKEA ME!
I would continue to dedicate my time to the inner city youth program I am currently developing.
pat says
IKEA Me! I’d like to spend a year being a handy-man (small projects) for elderly and handicapped homeowners.