*** 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.
Laura says
IKEA Me! I would love to be able to volunteer full-time with a local women’s sheltert-type organization like Wings, that helps battered women get back on their feet and set up their own independent lives.
Mallory Z says
IKEA ME!
If I could take off of work I would do international Habitat for Humanity
Amanda says
IKEA ME!
I’m one of those animal people – I would love to work at an animal sanctuary for a year. I have a friend who volunteered at one out west and had an amazing experience helping the animals there. Being able to do that for a year would be right up my alley!
I’ve also always wanted to be a foster home for a local no-kill shelter or rescue organization. We have a townhouse and an animal kingdom of our own, but someday I hope to have a house with a nice yard again so I can do that.
Lauren M says
IKEA ME!
I would start a non-profit in my hometown of Lancaster, PA to help low-income/underserved students further their education after high school– whether at one of our two local universities, our tech school, art school, etc. Not only would we help them find financial aid, the organization would give them support, tutoring, and more.
Becca says
Ikea me! I’d help out in hospitals that are understaffed
Erica says
IKEA ME!
How awesome! I would use it to help abused/neglected animals or to go towards pediatric cancer.
Kumar says
IKEA Me! I would volunteer at an animal shelter.
Amy says
IKEA ME!
My Husband and I would love to take a year and go back to Asia to volunteer or help start a youth camp.
Dacia says
IKEA ME!
I would spend my year at animal rescue centers trying to promote adoption and getting your pets spayed/neutered.
Shauna says
IKEA ME!
I’d spend a year working with under-privileged pregnant women/new mothers. I am so lucky to have prenatal support in my hippy little town and I want to provide similar help to pregnant women/new moms that aren’t lucky enough to have this kind of support. My absolute ideal would be to start an independent (from the hospital) place for them to give birth…
Holly Edwards says
Ikea me! Hmmm..if I had a year to help others, I would love to mentor students…
Carolyn says
IKEA ME!
I think there is a huge need right here in the US at the moment, and I’d like to volunteer for my local food bank.
Abby says
IKEA ME! Love that place to pieces!
I would definitely use the money and time to provide clean drinking water and education to villages in Africa. The number of people, especially children, who die every year from a lack of clean water is shocking….and $5,000 provides clean water for an entire village.
Lauren says
IKEA me!!
I would take the year off to help with our local humane society and local animal rescue shelters. My community is semi-rural and until recently there was really no formal rescue efforts. I would also help start a chapter of the DRNA (Dachshund Rescue of North America, drna.org) in NE GA, because little weenie dogs have a special place in my heart :)
Madeline says
IKEA ME!!!!
I would help inner city kids- make sure they had food, clothing, school supplies, a safe environment, etc.
Maxon409 says
IKEA Me!
Two words: animal shelter:)
Missty says
IKEA ME!
I would love to start a foundation for the mentally ill. My sister is bi-polar and watching my Mom struggle to get help is very painful. I wish there was a foundation where people could get help. These people are robber of there lives, people go out and support cancer, mental illness is like cancer they don’t ask to be crazy.
Carolyn Kagan says
IKEA ME!
I would love to create a program to support low income student’s path towards higher education by providing them with the social supports that are no readily accessible.
Mary Vezzetti says
IKEA ME!!!!!!
If I could spend a year helping others I would help the elderly, trying to enrich their lives. Too often we throw our elders away…so to speak. However they have lived through a lot and we could learn a ton from them. I think it might be fun and interesting to set up programs that bring older citizens into grade and high schools so that they could share their experiences of life. Both the young and old generation could benefit from such a thing.
Tasha Haddad says
IKEA ME!!!!
I would love to spend a year working with the peace corps overseas….has always been something I’ve been interested in!
Dylan says
IKEA ME!
I work for an after school program and it would be great to be able to expand what it has to offer to other areas.
Ryan says
IKEA ME!
I would spend a year teaching.
Krithiga says
IKEA ME!
Voluteer in homeless shelter.
Ashley says
IKEA ME!
If i had a year to spend helping others i would go to Haiti and help out with an organization my friends work with called LESPWA Worldwide. They provide medical help, food, housing, for the people of haiti and manual labor to help fix up the surroundings. I would love to be a part of it.
Kait says
IKEA ME! I would work with low income students in my area (Newark) to help with math and reading skills.
Andrea says
IKEA ME!
I would volunteer in a hospital. I would love to spending time cheering up sick children, or the elderly who don’t have family to come visit them in the hospital.
Tricia says
IKEA ME! I would spend a year helping kids in our local Children’s hospital, especially kids with cancer. It breaks my heart to see little ones suffer.
lindsay says
IKEA Me!
Hmm. That’s hard to say but I think I’d like to teach underprivileged children to read and also how to use technology.
carrie w says
IKEA ME!
I would so love working with children of the incarcerated for a full year.
There’s so much we can do in our spare time as well!
Susan says
IKEA me!!!
I love celebrity-chef Art Smith’s charity Common Threads, which focuses on teaching underprivileged children how to eat healthy and cook well-balanced meals, while providing them with tools for lifetime success. I would love to team up with him to expand the program!
Nate says
IKEA ME!
I would go to Africa and help kids who have lost parents due to civil war, AIDS, etc.
Amanda Stewart says
IKEA ME!
I would love to help battered women and children get out of their abusive homes and help them find jobs and a safe place to live.
Randi says
IKEA ME!
Megan says
Ikea me!
I would spend a year in Africa working in orphanages. I did this in college, and I’ve never forgotten those kids. I wanted to bring them all home with me!
Sarah D says
IKEA ME. I would work to develop affordable housing solutions for disaster stricken areas, Haiti, New Orleans, etc.
SJ says
IKEA Me!
Lisa says
IKEA ME! I would spend a year helping people with substance abuse problems.
Mitch says
IKEA ME!
I would take a year, split the stipend with my fiancee, and travel places building housing for underprivileged children.
Holly P says
IKEA ME!!!
I how I love this store…and there are so many things on my list!
If I had an entire year of philanthropy funded, I would continue to volunteer with the orgnizations that I already give all my free time to…The Hemispherectomy Foundation (www.hemifoundation.org), About Special Kids (www.aboutspecialkids.org)and Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana (www.indianaepilepsyfoundation). I would use the money to launch some of the special projects that are needed but that the funds aren’t there for at this time. For the HemiFoundation, I would us funds to help families get the needed medical and therapeutic equipment that their children need. For About Special Kids, I would provide funding for parent liaisons to attend case conferences with families that need advocacy assistance for their child’s special education needs. For the Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana, I would use funds to start support groups, which are desperately needed, throughout the state. And I’d be smart about it, and look for ways to grow the money so that all these programs and efforts could be taken even farther. Oh, to dream…..how amazing that would be!
Thanks for this amazing blog! It brings me a slice of happiness every day.
heather s. says
IKEA ME!
Alison Bland says
IKEA ME!~~
hmm tough question. I would probably help all the animals out there. Helping lower income folks get their animals spayed and neutered and setting up a rescue operation.
Ryan says
If I could spend a year helping other it would be helping out Troy from Hike for our Heros. He is walking 7,000 miles to raise funds for struggling military famlies and to get a national day of the deployed!
Emily says
IKEA me – I would use my law degree to help veterns navigate legal channels and obtain the federal assistance they are entitled to receive.
Liz says
Ikea me! I’d spend the year with Teach America! Or volunteer in Haiti to help rebuild and provide clean water.
Rebecca says
Ikea me – and thank you!
Wow. If I could take a year off to volunteer… I would do an apprenticeship with this organization: http://housealive.org/ — something I’ve been wanting to do for years, but haven’t had the time or money. (Think Hobbit houses.)
Cob is an affordable, green, creative housing alternative for people who can’t afford to buy a home. It’s been used for centuries and has been having a renaissance in the past few years thanks to a (growing) handful of determined builders.
What a cool opportunity – thank you! And congratulations on all of your accomplishments!
Kristen says
IKEA ME!
If I could spend one year doing anything to help others, I would stay put in D.C. (versus traveling to less well off countries) and work in elementary schools to help educate children. I believe our school systems are what’s failing America and very little attention is given to the issues unless there is a campaign someone can benefit from.
Molly says
IKEA me!!!
I would volunteer for a women’s and children’s shelter.
Cathy Becker says
IKEA me! I desperately need a TV console.
My 3-year-old twin grandsons were born 7 weeks early, so spent two weeks in the NICU. While their parents and I were there every day to rock, hold, and love, there were several babies who weren’t. So I would volunteer to rock babies at a Chicago hospital.
Hedi says
IKEA ME! I would really like to help childrens hospitals, especially in the areas where children are recovering from surgeries.
Norma says
IKEA Me!
I would love to do something helping children. Our community has great programs for children for after school and during the summer while the parents are at work. I think it’s a great idea to have fun constructive things for the kids to do.