[at-l] What would you do with $10 million?

[KarenS62@aol.com (KarenS62@aol.com)]

<<I would buy lotsa property in Montana, Maine and Florida.  Probably set up a hiker hostel and spend my days entertianing thru-hikers.>>

Given the amount of time I have had in the last 24 hours waiting for files to download, I've actually given this some thought. I've also considered this in the past - its one of my favorite hiking mind games. 

Besides the typical "pay off the bills for me and my family", make sure college funds are set up, travel, etc, I have always wanted to do something in particular. I thought it would be interesting to set up a grant type system for hikers. You send me an application of why I should give you money to hike and then I give you money. Maybe even set up an emergency grant system (by application) for those people who run out of cash in NH.  Knowing what a creative community we are part of, I assume just the application process would be fun. Of course, you can always pay back the money if you want to help more hikers but the beauty of a grant is that it's not a loan. I would probably request periodic updates (maybe 2-3 for the trip) based on what is put in the application. i.e. a photographer could send photos, a family could send journal excerpts, etc.  

It just seems like an interesting way to make a positive impact in someone's life with a modest investment.  $2000-3000 could actually change someone's life. 

POG