4 C’s of DIMOND Giveaway: C-Charity, C-Commitment, C-Confidence, & C-Champions

Time for an update on the Dimond giveaway, which has a new name thanks to Josh G., who happens to be an Iowa native, just like Dimond. Josh was the lucky recipient of some small swag as a thanks for coming up with the best name for the contest. It doesn’t quite roll of the tongue the way “Shiv-away” did, but I thought it was the best combination of a play on the word diamond that also included some reference to the ideals of this effort. There were a ton of great submissions for names, but when I read this one, I knew this was it. It was not the most “clever,” but it was the most true. At least to me. This is about charity, in the truest sense of the word. And it’s about the commitment that all of you showed in sharing your story and in the details of those stories. It’s about the confidence to say that you deserve this bike (or that someone you know does). And all of that makes every one who was brave enough to share their story with me a champion in my book. 

121 people shared stories that, yet again, both inspire me and break my heart. I know when I do this that it’s not going to be easy, but there’s nothing quite like reading these submissions and being hit with the reality that there are way more deserving people than there are bikes than I can give away. But, at the same time, the number of people who used up a fraction of their 250 words to express gratitude and to celebrate what Dimond has enabled me to do was equally inspiring. Most people were excited that someone would win this bike, even if it wasn’t them. Many people also shared their own stories of charity. Simply put, you all are amazing. I wish I could do more.

Thanks as well to everyone for obeying the word count. The master list of submissions is still 76 single-spaced pages (with some line breaks). So I’m thankful to you all for being concise. And my co-readers are probably even more grateful. I figure it will probably be another month before I announce the winner. But it is my goal to get this done by the end of March so that whomever gets the bike can use it for as much of this season as possible.

Thanks to everyone for your trust and your submissions. Now it’s time to get to work putting those four Cs into practice!

Lastly, though, a special shout out to L.Y., who said if she won, she’d name the bike, “Beyonce.”