We just hit our goal of 75,000 people giving to this campaign.
That’s a huge number. Figures this big can obscure the fact that behind each number is an actual human being with a real story and a personal reason for giving.
Number 75,000 gave a five dollar donation.
I decided to call number 75,000, and as it turns out, there's quite a story behind that five dollars.
Rashed R. is a 28-year-old IT help desk specialist from Long Beach, California:
This is the first time I’ve given to any type of campaign. I studied political science in school, but its really rare when someone comes along like this—someone who’s intelligent, ethical, and persuasive all rolled up into one.His background really intrigued me too. I was in the Navy right out of high school and traveled to eight different countries when I was 18. My dad was in the military and I moved a lot as a child too. I remember feeling like an outsider. When I read Barack’s book, Dreams From My Father, I connected to it, because he moved around a lot as a kid, and he felt like an outsider for a while too.
This is the first time I’ve given to any type of campaign. I studied political science in school, but its really rare when someone comes along like this—someone who’s intelligent, ethical, and persuasive all rolled up into one.
His background really intrigued me too. I was in the Navy right out of high school and traveled to eight different countries when I was 18. My dad was in the military and I moved a lot as a child too. I remember feeling like an outsider. When I read Barack’s book, Dreams From My Father, I connected to it, because he moved around a lot as a kid, and he felt like an outsider for a while too.
Rashed supports Barack for other reasons that hit close to home, too. His wife, Sumiko, is thrilled at the prospects of seeing Obama win the presidency, in part, because she is half-West African.
Most of all, Rashed feels that Barack has given him new hope for his daughter, Yasemin:
Being an African American male, to have that positive role model in Senator Obama, it’s given me so much hope. To be able to look at my daughter one day and tell her, ‘You can be anything you want in the world’… In the past I might have said, ‘You could be anything you want to be. But president? No’… But now, he’s given me that light. Now, I can tell her, ‘You really can be anything you want in the world.’
Rashed gave five dollars to the campaign. It’s what he felt he could give at the time. Five dollars makes a difference in this campaign.
Thank you Rashed, and thank you to all of the other 75,000-plus who have given too. Your donations, big or small, really do matter. But what matters even more is your sustained hope, passion, and belief in your own ability to change this country.
If you keep believing like you are right now-- and keep acting on that belief-- we just might win this thing.
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