What is a sussy?

Today, we will digress slightly from the world of money. Coming off yesterday's lesson on satire, I felt that we should exit the financial world yet again today.

We discussed giving gifts last week. Today, I want to discuss receiving gifts. Gifts can be given for many reasons, but we rarely think about how the receiver feels about the gift. We hope they are happy, loved, surprised, or even impressed. And our gift giving is often driven be these desired results. But what if you could step back, remove all the traditional practices of gift giving, and just study the emotion? That's what a sussy is all about.

The idea of The Sussy Project started with my friend Meggie Dials. She's a young professional who has an awesome running blog on the side. She came to me with the idea for The Sussy Project. Give random strangers that are going through some sort of challenging life moment, a thoughtful gift valued at less than $20. The purpose is to see if random thoughtfulness could create enough of a smile to get momentum headed back in the right direction. I signed on it to help, and the rest is history.

For the last six months we have been receiving "nominations" from the friends of people that are dealing with some challenges. The friends contact us, we analyze the situation, and then try to think of the best way to spend $20 to make the recipient feel love. The project started out as fun, but has quickly become addictive. We talk about charity all the time on this here money forum. The Sussy Project isn't charity. It's investing in other people's smiles. Are we trying to gift happiness? Nope. You can't do that. That's too big. Happiness can't be bought. We are simply trying to provide a spark.

Monday of this past week we held Sussy Day. It was far and away the best manifestation of The Sussy Project. We filled up a Starbucks gift card, told the barista to tell the customers that someone paid for their coffee and that they should have a nice day. We then sat off in a corner and watched. It was that simple. The results started out great, but quickly transformed into amazing. I urge you to read about the day over at The Sussy Project blog.

I'm very thankful that Meggie got me involved with The Sussy Project. It helps me understand human nature a little better, and it hopefully has sparked smiles for those in need of one.