Oprah's Angel Network
I have read and heard about Oprah's Angel Network for some time now, but never really knew where or how it originated. She has so many projects and organizations attached to her name, like the Oprah magazine, the Oprah book club and, of coarse, Oprah's school that it is hard to keep track of them all.
Apparently back in 1994, a little girl named Nora was on the Oprah Winfrey Show and came to talk about a project she started with her friends called the Penny Harvest. They collected pennies to donate to charitable organizations. After all the penny collecting was done, Nora and her friends had raised $1,000.
Seems Oprah found inspiration in what one little girl was able to do and was quoted saying.... "I started thinking, if you could do that, I wonder what I could do."
Some time later on an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, she first asked viewers to send in their spare change to help others and donate to her new organization. Naturally the response was overwhelming. $3.5 million was raised and contributed to 150 students to receive $25,000 college scholarships.
This was the start of Oprah's Angel Network and it has grown and gone on to aid the needy around the world.