Posted on 09/13/2004 10:47:00 AM PDT by Feiny
Chat show queen Oprah Winfrey celebrated the opening of her 19th season on US TV today by surprising each of her 276 audience members with a new car.
We’re calling this our wildest dream season, because this year on the Oprah show, no dream is too wild, no surprise too impossible to pull off,” Winfrey said.
Making sure the audience was kept in suspense, Winfrey opened the show by calling 11 audience members onto the stage. She gave each of them a car – a Pontiac G6.
She then had gift boxes distributed to the rest of the audience and said one of the boxes contained keys to a twelfth car. But when the audience members opened the boxes, each had a set of keys.
“Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car! Everybody gets a car!” Winfrey yelled as she jumped up and down on the stage.
The audience members screamed, cried and hugged each other – then followed Winfrey out to the car parking of her Harpo Studios in Chicago to see their Pontiacs, all decorated with giant red bows.
The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.
“A little idea grew into a big idea,” said Mary Henige of Pontiac
Winfrey said the audience members were chosen because their friends or family had written to the show about their need for a new car. One woman’s young son said she drove a car that “looks like she got into a gunfight” another couple had almost 400,000 miles on their two vehicles.
In other segments on the show, Winfrey surprised a 20-year-old girl who had spent years in foster care and homeless shelters with a four-year college scholarship, a makeover and £6,000 in clothes. And a family with eight foster children who were going to be kicked out of their house were given £72,000 to buy and repair the home.
The Oprah Winfrey Show is syndicated to 212 domestic markets and 109 countries.
The cars were donated. At first I thought how generous she was.
And I agree with you. Totally. My personal belief when it comes to giving is basically the Biblical one .....my right hand should not know what my left is doing.
The point i was trying to make however is how fellow Freepers are attacking this woman. Almost making it seems that by helping out the people she helped (and she did not just give cars) she did a bad thing. Some of the posts (not yours per se) are just plain weird. It is as if some have a personal vendetta against her.
Personally my other philosophy toward giving is basically let people give and let God sort them out. Having people criticize someone because she is giving is just too much. Oprah may have gotten the cars from Pontiac as a donation, but she spends millions of her own money directly towards charities and charitable causes. And one thing about her is when it is her own money she rarely (if ever) mentions it unless it is something that fits the profile of her show. Most of the money she has spent personally is probably only to be found in her tax reports (and no ....she is not doing it for a tax break. She doesn't need one).
However when she uses donations from companies and such there is a need to announce it. After all companies are always clamoring for an appearance of contributing to the 'public good.' That is why you see such and such co. building a park, or renovating a road, or donating heaters and diapers and what-not. Do you really expect Pontiac to give those cars and have it kept secret? The important thing is how Oprah carries out the charitable causes she does with her own cash .....and those ones ARE secret.
For example a certain freeper was asking hwo come she doesn't contribute toward education for the poor. And i said i know she pays for 'dozens' of individuals who would not be able to go to college otherwise. After some searching i discovered that it is not just in the dozens ....it is actually voer a hundred. Now, i am sure someone will say that since she is a Billionairre she can afford to pay for thousands .....but at least she does something. And who knows what else she does.
Anyways, some of the angst directed toward her in this thread was just plain weird. One could almost surmise she birthed Kerry's love child as well as the anti-Christ, or something! The vitriol was just amazing. And the funny thing is that it reminded me of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The traveller who was robbed and hurt by the wayside was passed by two holy and devout men ....who did nothing but pass him by. The third person to come along was the Samaritan .....someone who would not have been expected to help the injured traveller. But someone who did, and not only that but took the guy to an inn and paid for his board. Now, I am sure that maybe the 2 holy men had good excuses. And maybe they might have criticized the Samaritan for taking the traveller to an inn instead of a hospital, or for such petty stuff. But at the end of the day the Samaritan had done a good work.
I watched that episode (it is re-run at night). And at the end they showed this lady who adopts homeless kids and whatnot and houses them as her own. She currently had 10. And she was due for eviction on the first of October since the owner of the house was selling it. Oprah arranged for the hosue to be bought for the woman (100,000), paid for renovations (30,000), and added 2 trailer-loads of goods and tech.
What was Oprah's motivation for this? God only knows.
How does the lady feel after having what basically amounts to a miracle happen just in the nick of time? Glad and joyous.
Pontiac had the goods, Oprah the hookup and made 276 American citizens very happy.
That's goodwill that will hopefully begin a new life for many that had given up hope.
Kudos to Oprah and Pontiac.
"Now to my main point. I may be wrong, I am not Jewish but it's my understanding that a Mitzvah is supposed to be done without fanfare."
You are correct. A Mitzvah is a good deed. Oprah did a good deed. There was no media hype for the event. It was like any other show. Except that this one was based on Oprah having people write in about other people that needed things, a car being one.
Oprah set all of this up. granted the money didn't come out of her pocket, but her making this happen was a good deed.
The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.
The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.
The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac.
The cars, which retail for £15,500, were donated by Pontiac
......
Just be thankful they weren't Hummers.
No, I don't think so. Why? Do you want the dollar?
Actually, it is Pontiac's stockholders who are "paying" for this. Those who are considering purchasing a Pontiac have the freedom to buy another make of car if they disagree with Pontiac's decision. Further, Pontiac will probably sell a lot more cars at full price with the positive word-of-mouth due to this act of generosity.
And how far do you want to take your analogy? If I purchase and donate a case of canned goods to my local food bank, my wholesaler no longer has that case to supply to the local grocery store for resale. Ergo, all the customers at the local grocery store are "paying" for my generosity since they no longer have the same choice of canned goods that they did before I bought the case.
Pontiac did good, Winfrey did good. Accept it.
Yes, thank you. I noticed that a little later and posted same. But thanks again for pointing it out to me again. I believe i mentioned that I had only skimmed the article, and may have missed that vital point. I appreciate the vigilant freepers who like to pound home a point to slackers such as myself.
I have had Oprah overload for the past 13 years... she is a nice lady with lots of money. I am just sick of her self promotion. Retire! O
Yeah, for Pontiac. Oprah taking the credit is rather gauche.
I realize this, i just made a specific mention of the appalachia in WV. Which is a pretty poor area and punished by floods. Notice I never said ALL of appalachia is a poor region.
Maybe I'm wrong...and maybe you would be a better gauge, since you say you watched her show a lot.
I fully admit she could fall into that 4%...But I'd bet you a bucket of bait..that she voted for Clinton twice..and Gore once. Wanna bet?
FWIW-
If I had my way, you'd have a car. Hey, if I had my way, I'd have a brand new Minivan with a DVD player!
Yes....I knew you were joshing.
You need to set your sights higher..though. A minivan? Hehehe.....
Best FRegards,
>>You need to set your sights higher..though. A minivan? Hehehe.....<<
I'm not greedy. I'm not looking for what I want, I'm looking for what I need.
All the best FRiend
Runs the same track as "needs over wants"....
Best to you and yours.........
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