Ripple Effect

Cora Lakey, a student in Jon Pfeiffer's Fall 2016 Media Law class at Pepperdine University, wrote the following essay in response to the prompt: We frequently hear about people winning a lifetime supply of pizza, or a lifetime supply of shampoo. How do you think having one thing delivered to you, repeatedly, for free might change your life?

I've often heard of people giving back to those less fortunate and felt incredibly touched by their gestures. Those with abundance who choose to give back to society are truly admirable. For example, for her birthday model Gigi Hadid asked her boyfriend for gift cards to fast food restaurants to hand out to the homeless in her community. She did this so those on the street could have a hot meal, and in gift card form she knew exactly where the money was going. When this news became public, her request created a ripple effect, and soon McDonalds, KFC, and other restaurant chains gave Gigi hundreds of gift cards to handout across New York City. Often we hear of people winning lifetime supplies of various things like doughnuts, shampoo or gift-cards. I have always wondered what a person could possibly do with the same thing being repeatedly delivered to them. Do they really use it all? Do they really need it all? I also wonder how that would change their life. A person certainly doesn't need something like pizza delivered to them weekly, but the effect that the delivery can create could potentially be amazing. If the person decided to simply indulge themselves in pizza and only pizza that would be their prerogative (and their digestive systems), but imagine if that person decided to make weekly pizza deliveries to their local homeless shelter. Instantly, because of a silly gimmick several people who would not normally eat dinner got to bed full. Something like shampoo being delivered weekly to a woman's shelter would create a huge impact, and could publicize the need for personal care items at shelters everywhere. A person who has the ability to pay it forward and chooses to do so can make a lasting impact and inspire many people. Gigi's request for gift cards certainly impacted her younger fans and perhaps changed the way they viewed the homeless, and I would think that someone given a "lifetime supply of insert product here", would do the same. I can only imagine the ripple effect that a person in this position cold create, should they choose to use their earnings for good.