“A Reddit user named Rachel was shocked this week when she found out that the ‘Bill’ who was assigned to her in the website’s annual Secret Santa gift exchange was actually a billionaire,” Michelle Broder Van Dyke reports for BuzzFeed. “Bill Gates gifted her a stuffed cow along with a donation to the non-profit Heifer International and the travel book Journeys of a Lifetime. Plus there was a photo of him in front of a Christmas tree with the book, cow, and note.”
Rachel wrote an extremely excited Reddit post after receiving the gift, thanking Gates: ‘I am so very, very grateful for the amazing and thoughtful gift you have picked for me! Not only is the gift PERFECT from anyone, but I am sincerely very appreciative that you took the time to find something so fitting for me,'” Van Dyke reports. “It wasn’t clear how large of a donation Gates made to the charity, but Rachel speculated, ‘I can only imagine it was QUITE a bit.'”
“A spokesman for Gates told GeekWire that Gates hoped participating in the Secret Santa would bring attention to the cause,” Van Dyke reports. “Rachel ended her Reddit post with the best apology: ‘ps: Sorry for the apple ipad on my wishlist, that was really awkward.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Kudos to that ol’ thief Gates for so effectively spotlighting Heifer International.
Nearly 870 million people around the world don’t have enough food to eat. For close to 70 years, Heifer International has helped lift over 20.7 million families out of hunger and poverty.
Find out what you can do to help by giving a life-changing gift this holiday season: heifer.org/what-you-can-do/
And, yeah, Rachel, your chances of getting an iPad weren’t good. Good luck drawing Tim Cook next year!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Phil Mills” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Forbidden fruit: Bill Gates’ kids banned from owning superior Apple products – December 31, 2012
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admits to brainwashing his kids not to use Apple iPods – March 28, 2006
Why Bill Gates won’t be buying an Apple iPhone – February 5, 2007
Apple’s iPhone business alone generates more revenue than all Microsoft – January 25, 2012
Good job Bill – you can’t fault him on his humanitarian efforts since leaving M$.
Merry Xmas to all you Mac/iOS users out there !
SteveNZ.
Has he left M$??? Bah Humbug! 🙁
“you can’t fault him on his humanitarian efforts since leaving M$.”
Yes you can. He’s made a ton of money off of all of that. he hasn’t been altruistic at all.
Melinda, on the other hand?
I had never heard of this charity until my boss told me his family was participating in it this year instead of having a gift exchange for Christmas. Pretty good idea, and it beats wasting money on a bunch of probably unneeded items.
You are right on the wasting money on unneeded items because if you wish to go through the eye of the needle, you will have to give up everything including the clothes you are wearing.
That is what it takes to redeem ones soul.
Great. Come on everyone, let’s get naked!! Woo-hoo!!
It is ALWAYS a good idea to give. On my heart this year are the Syrians that are being killed and displaced – they seem to be in a ‘no win’ situation, with very little relief from the international community.
With you on the plight of Syrian refugees, more concerning than the fortunes of first world tech analysts and investors. Steve Jobs was of Syrian descent. We should all acknowledge our origins but also our universal brotherhood and sisterhood. One day, it might be us that is under the gun.
Classy take MDN.
(I criticized you a couple days ago, so fair is fair.)
I don’t know who’s the cutest in the photo – Bill or the stuffed cow. (Either way, Heifer International sounds like a great thing.)
So she got a stuffed animal? A picture or a tax form? What a shitty secret santa, he can charity on his own not make the news this way. Kudos to he if she got a gift, being used by a celebrity is just bad.
How much have you given to help others this week?
Good for Gates and for Rachel for publicizing it so widely. It’s always important to remember to give more than just presents to friends and family. An amount from each of us that can spare just a little changes the world for those that need it.
fuck Bill Gates.
How do you really feel?
Getting a MS tablet instead would have been like getting coal in your stocking.
Gates has a very iffy record with his charity (and it must be remembered the immoral way he gained his fortune in the first place). But Heifer is a good one.
By the way, charitable givers might be interested in this TED talk about rethinking how we compare charities: