Do you want a slice of immortality? Lend your name to a toothbrush or a roll of toilet paper. O.K., so these items aren’t as flashy as, say, a giant football stadium, but they can make a huge difference for the homeless.
You can buy the naming rights to these everyday objects through the the Names for Change campaign, run by the Urban Ministries of Durham. The money you spend supports the Ministries’ work to get the homeless in North Carolina back on their feet. There are hundreds of items you can choose from — among them, a backpack, a piece of pie, a baby bottle, light bulb, plunger or tampon — and naming rights go for anywhere from $2 to $25,000. Instead of a plaque commemorating your donation, you’ll get a digital poster that you can share via social media, a tactic that is smartly designed to inspire more donations. The campaign’s simple, yet brilliant effect: it makes you see how extraordinary these ordinary objects are to people who don’t have them.
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