*** 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.
Whitney says
IKEA ME Please!!
We just moved into a foreclosure. It needs a lot of love, plus it has a huge loft that needs to be filled.
Bonus:
I would stay right here and volunteer at the many shelters in Phoenix. There are som many people who need our help in our own neighborhoods.
Hannah says
IKEA ME!
I would stay right here. I work with around 30 girls a week, and all have issues that range from bullying to parents divorcing. With IKEA’s help, I would actually take them on that retreat I’ve been wanting to do since May and use that money to stop more girls from becoming statistics. I know it’s not an ambitious hike to the Sudan, but it is definitely where my heart lies.
Tony says
“IKEA Me!” So many cool things to choose from, it would be fun trying to pick.
Alison says
Ikea Me! I would work towards building programs to reward kids and families financially for school performance and attendance. It has been shown to help.
Julie says
My husband is a licensed RN. We have talked before about going to somewhere like Africa (while we don’t have kids) and helping train small villages in medicine. If we had the money we could spent thousands of dollars on supplies for those poor, rural areas.
Natalie says
IKEA ME!
I volunteer with my local Sexual Assault Crisis Centre. If I could take a year off I would spend it volunteering there! :)
Shana C. says
“IKEA Me!”
I know some time in my life I will do something to help others…I just have not found my calling yet! “Others” may involve animals!!
Drew says
IKEA Me!
My wife and I would have to go the animal rescue route, although she’d want to keep all the chihuahuas.
Jennifer C. says
IKEA ME!
I would really like to work with teen moms. After having my first and knowing how challenging it can be with a full support system, I want to help those who might not be so blessed.
Candace D says
I would love to work at place where they need people to give kids without parents some love and attention.
IKEA rocks, already have something picked out, LOL!
Melissa Siplin says
IKEA ME!
If I could spend a year helping others I would start an after school program focusing on character development, building self esteem, and mentoring for middle and high school girls.
Megan B. says
IKEA Me!
I think I’d like to spend a year working with high school students in my community. Tutoring, teaching actual skills for living on your own (college or not), that sort of thing.
laura says
Ikea me!
My dream one day is to be a professional volunteer. There are so many organizations I want to work with, but not enough hours. I’d like to volunteer with habitat building homes, or working at an orphanage in Afria abroad.
Lisa says
IKEA me!
I would love to spend a year volunteering at a couple of organizations – working with children and mothers and also those that need a little help to get on their feet.
Callie says
IKEA ME!!!
I would start a program for teenagers. Most after school programs are geared towards elementary children so the jr. high and high school children are left to fend for themselves. I think there is a huge need for programs geared towards this age group to keep them occupied and less likely to get in trouble. I would start (and hopefully expand) a program of this nature if I had the resources.
Candace says
IKEA ME!
I think I’d do either restoring vacant property (for low income housing/halfway houses/community centers etc) OR do an animal rescue (dog-rescue…)
Scott says
IKEA ME!
I would travel abroad using my medical skills.
Tori says
IKEA ME!
would love to continue working for hte Pediatric Cancer Foundation I volunteer for.
amanda says
ikea me!!!
we just bought our first house and we could really use some cool knick knacks from ikea for storage and such.
if i could spend a year helping others it would be helping children with special needs.
Adam says
“IKEA Me!”
I would volunteer with local elementary school children and stress the importance of reading and education for a lifetime!
Kiley says
IKEA ME!
I would like to volunteer to help neglected and abused animals.
Thanks for the giveaway.
Chrissi says
IKEA ME! I need some new bookcases for my new house!
I would volunteer for the Red Cross if I could take a year off…
Lauren S says
I would spend my time opening a no-kill animal rescue. I hope to have the resources to do that one day.
Kathryn says
IKEA ME!
I would love to spend some time in Africa volunteering with a small business that supports women artisans.
Denise says
IKEA Me!
AS an RN I would most likely hook up with an organization to help uninsured people with healthcare needs!
Bri B says
IKEA ME!! I would spend a year helping underprivileged children in my area.
Debby says
IKEA ME!
I would love to have a rescue sanctuary for cats and kittens of all kinds.
Noelle says
IKEA ME! I am starting to decorate my first real apartment since moving away from my parents and goodness knows I could use an IKEA helping hand :)
Since I already spend much of my time teaching underprivileged kids – YAY urban education!!- I would love to spend a year using my skills in other parts of the world. Jamaica is suffering in many ways and I know that they could use new schools, fresh teachers and lots of help. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my time then giving back to those who really, really need it!
xo from Albany :)
Katie:) says
Ikea Me!
recently got married. in desperate need of new couch!
I would love to go to Africa to help to build schools and medical centers for the improvished communities.
Lucas says
IKEA ME!
Would volunteer with Habitat for Humanity!
Sarah says
IKEA ME!
I would volunteer with a camp I went to for years that provides basic home improvements (wheelchair ramps, fresh coats of paint, etc.) to families who can not do those things themselves for financial or physical reasons.
Agent Scully says
“IKEA Me!”
I’d absolutely help animals. I might get involved in the spay/neuter effort. Or I might attack puppy mills. Or anything and everything. But it would most definitely be animals causes.
NicholeP says
Ikea me! I would spend a year volunteering at my alma mater. They have done amazing work with the community–starting a high school, developing green space, encouraging recycling programs, working to combat domestic violence– & I would like to learn how they’ve done it so I could spread the work to the city I live in now,Baltimore. Baltimore is an awesome city with great potential & a lot of wonderful people, but as a city, it needs some work!
Jenn L. says
IKEA ME!
If I could take a year off, I would spend my time with a literacy project, helping children and adults learn to read.
Kim G. says
IKEA Me! :)
It’s a toss up between helping kids and helping animals, so maybe I could devise a way to do both. Get the kids to help the animals, which would in turn help them help themselves. Clearly my idea needs some work. :)
Kaitlin H. says
IKEA ME!!!
I would LOVE to spend a year helping animals. I have always volunteered and my husband is so scared I am going to bring home animals everyday.
Emily W says
IKEA ME!
If I could spend a year off helping others, it would be doing something to help the shelters for homeless pets. This is something my daughter and I are very passionate about and volunteer for regularly. Both of our pups are rescue doggies.
Rebecca says
Ikea me! I would help schools with their arts progrms
Victoria says
IKEA ME!!!
I actually would like to put the money into the countries school systems. Children’s education is the building blocks of this society and I think that many people have forgotten that.
Amy says
IKEA Me!
If I had a year and 100k, I’d become a teacher and teach for free. I’d love to teach programming and technical skills to help people have new opportunities.
Julie says
IKEA ME! I’d be starting urban farms in food deserts.
Ashley says
IKEA ME!
If I could be paid to volunteer, I would offer free day care to as many needy parents as I could.
Kristen says
IKEA Me!
I would spend a year giving parents time for a break. I want to open up a childcare site for minimal or no cost to parents to drop off their kiddos in times of a much needed break to reduce stress on the whole family. I want to frame it as a “camp” for kids with a lot of fun activities and learning about healthy family life and discovery of the world.
Elly says
IKEA ME!
As a grad student, it would be nice to have an apartment that isn’t a stereotypical college apt.
I would definitely volunteer/put money towards expanding and updating a clinic in Zambia where my parents originated. While the country has made some progress in reducing infections rates through education and wider availability of ARV treatments, I have first hand experience of the shortcomings of the system particularly with the clinics that are to crowded and understaffed.
Travis says
IKEA ME!
I would love to volunteer with BSA, Boy Scouts of America.
Donald says
Ikea Me!
I’d start a non-profit whose purpose was to expose inner-city/underprivileged children to art through artist-in-residence programs in public schools in Baltimore.
Katie says
IKEA ME!!!
I would work on neighborhood improvement projects like planting trees and local vegetable gardens.
nic says
“IKEA me!”
I’d volunteer in a women’s shelter
Amanda Joy says
IKEA ME!
I love volunteer at an inner city outreach that focuses specifically on one neighborhood, building relationships with people/schools/leaders. It’s so great, http://www.missionstl.org
Staci C. says
IKEA ME!!
While I love the idea of traveling the world and helping others for a year, I know that realistically there’s a lot of need right here in our own communities. I would spend a year working with local schools in education and higher education prep work.