I do stand-up comedy in my spare time. Most of my Twitter friends are also stand-up comedians. I have an online friend who lost his house in a fire a few days after Christmas. I have never met this man. But what I have seen happen in the past few days has really warmed my heart.

Before I go any further, I am NOT looking for donations for my friend. My purpose in posting this story here is to show how I have watched complete strangers give to a man who lost his home. I never saw this at church. I saw some nice things at church, such as RS sisters take dinners to families in need, but it was only because they were directed to do so. I don't remember seeing spontaneous acts of charity at church.

So here's what happened. The comedy community is very small but very close-knit. A lot of comedians promote their shows throw Twitter. The story went out on a few Twitter feeds and a few well-known (well-known in the comedy biz) comedians re-Tweeted it. A lot of comedians have podcasts. The man who lost his home had a podcast. We listen to each other's podcasts, and often get to be guests on each other's podcasts. So the word kept spreading.

There is a web site raising money for people in need, with the same concept as Kickstarter (which runs on crowd-sourced funding). For example, you can give to help somebody with emergency expenses. There are a lot of these available. (Of course, I'm not here to ask for money, so I'm not posting the link.)

A few days in, the project had raised a few hundred bucks. Comedians kept posting progress.
We're now at $200
We're not at $300
$1,000
$2,000

Then an artist sold one of his sculptures on eBay and donated the proceeds. Other comedians gave a portion of ticket or t-shirt sales. The donations came in faster and faster, and within a week the amount was staggering. And it's growing. $5 at a time. $10 at a time.

The reason this warms my heart so much is that I know that a lot of comedians are barely making it. Most of them sleep on couches. Only a few people really make money in this biz. I sure don't. A lot of guys are on unemployment, and they pay their own way to get to out of town gigs. This means they can work for 2 days and make $40. But they're giving what they have to somebody else who is in need. That blows my mind. People who have little, giving what they have to help a stranger. It's beautiful.

T-Bone
PS. Yes, I did my due diligence on the web site. It's legit.