OPRAH'S BIG GIVE - The Travolta Factor

Few shows on TV would not benefit from the addition of John Travolta.  Things go better with Travolta, I always say.  This week the three remaining Big Give contestants get to hitch a ride from Orlando to Chicago with their own personal jet pilot - yes, John Travolta.  How did you guess?

Brandi, Cameron, and Stephen all get sent home this week - but not as losers.  They return to their home towns with ten grand and a mission to give big to their own communities.  Each of the three use the resources they have available - namely, their friends and family - and all of them are tremendously succesful.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched the show so far, because Brandi, Cameron, and Stephen are clearly the strongest contestants out of the original twenty.  I thought that Cameron and Stephen did slightly better than Brandi this week, but it would be hard to choose a clear loser. 

Fortunately, John Travolta reappears at the end of the show with another patented Big Give twist:  none of the three contestants are going to be eliminated!  I'm not 100% clear why John Travolta had to appear to drop that particular Good News Bomb, but he did.

Anyway, that's good news for our trio of Big Givers, who face the ultimate challenge next week - they have to give big with absolutely no "seed money" to start off with.  Yep, just the shirts on their backs.  I think the savvy Cameron may have the edge for this final stage of the competition, but we shall see...

-- Dave Campbell

Comments

[Carolyne Coe]

Dear Sir Or Madam;
I have a feeling that my letter will fall on death ears again but you know something I am writing to you about my mom. She is a women that has never had it easy ever in her life but shes never let it get to her or let her turn to deperession or use it as an excuss. You we I am trying to find someone to listen and maybe help my mom get what she has always wanted. We watch all these people that get helped for the littlest thing. But it seems that people that have maid honest mistakes in trusting people and getting screwed over and ovedr again never get the help they deserve.
My mom was always taught that no matter what you are to help others and turn the other cheek you look for the positives and not the negatives. And over and over again she has done that. She then gets taken advantage of over and over again. She recently even helped a family by haveing a baby for them and never got paid for there services. But becuase we live on a very fixed income waiting to see if we will beable to keep our home or even the power on from one month to the next we dont have the money to fight back.

All my mom wants to do is build a farm and or i guess you could say a ranch where kids and and there families can come year round to stay for a time and learn about animals farming growing, hunting and fishing. Things that they are not able to do now. She wants to so she can not only help children at risk but adults at risk. Teach classes on cooking and how to make what you have streatch as far as they can so they dont run out of food everymonth and in tern can give back to there community

Shes wanted to do this ever since i can remember and shes tried to find a way to do it. But no one ever gives her that chance. Then a grant company came to town that seemed to have all the answers on how to get the grants as long as mom became a memeber they would help her with all the grants that she may ever need in order to get the money to buy the land and build a Green Ranch one that does not polute the air and you know something they took the last almost four houndred and some dollars that she had. Dont tell her that us children figured it out. She is mad at us for snooping as it is. But needless to say they have her money and she has nothing yet again.

Basicly this is the Idea she has. She wanted to get land that has wooded area along with great farming land, and that we can build the house, barns, out buildings. and Bunk houses along with work areas for proccessing everything thing that is grown, and raised at the ranch not only to make the ranch self sufficient, but give back to others along with a place for a farmers market year round so that other farmers and small bussiness men and women from montana can sell there procucts to all the local merchants and give them some where to have to go that does not cost them an arm and a leg to make a living as well. She want to have a large green house that can be used year round and this way the schools from all over montana can offer there students and families field trips to go and stay and check things out and have a chance to learn how to raise there own fruits vegtables and or live stock in there area or if they are will to put time in at the ranch then they would bable to have a chance to take home food and produce that is raised and grown at the ranch. And in tern also helps there budget at home that seems to be a big problem withe cost increasein food sold today.

Well I gues I have gone on to much but I am trying to get someone to listen and help. Someone that either truely wants to see someone helped that deserves it. My mom has never hurt anyone yes she has made bad choices in a husband that ran up bills from heck on her and left her in debt or even the homeless people that she helped and they either ended up stealing from us and moving on I think there is only one of the many people shes helped that is doing alright to this day her name is lorretta. She is woking at Wallmart and when mom met her she was homeless living at a shelter. She would give her a ride too and from work and we ended up taking her in and finding her an appartment. She is a nice lady and she is the only one that did not take advantage of my moms big heart. I know you will probably never do anything because lately my mom has been changeing her mind about that what ever you give you will get back ten fold. She now does not say it anymore and she thinks that no matter what there is no one out there anymore that even gives a crap about anyone but them selves. I wish I could show her that she is wrong. And I know that I have not made it easy for her by a long shot. I have been an out of controle teen since I was nine years old. I hope one day I will beable to find a way to tell her that I am sorry for all I put her threw. Late an appoloyy as my mom says doesnt mean a thing unless your truely trying to change what you should be truely sorry about in the first place. She does not think we hear her crying at night but we do. Well God bless and I hope that this letter finds you well even if it will only end up in someones trash bin yet again.
But I have a feeling that no one is listening and there will be no answers before my mom is gone. Sincerely;
Carolyne Marie Dean Coe