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CNN Live Today

Interview with Keith Taylor, ModestNeeds.org

Aired April 23, 2002 - 11:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Doing good deeds for people and encouraging them to do the same. That was the basis for the Hollywood movie "Pay It Forward," with Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. It is also an idea that has caught on in the film. It is also being done in real life. There are dozens of organizations that help those in need, and we have a story now of just an average guy with a really big heart. He started a web site called modestneeds.org. Keith Taylor is the founder of Modest Needs, and he joins us this morning from New York.

KEITH TAYLOR, MODEST NEEDS: Good morning, it's great to be here.

KAGAN: Come on, tell the truth. You are this high rolling, really rich guy who is spreading his money around, right?

TAYLOR: Not hardly. Hardly.

KAGAN: But the point is, you are a guy who does not make a ton of money, but didn't want to wait until you became some millionaire or won the lottery to start doing good deeds.

TAYLOR: No, that is right. I just realized that it wasn't necessary to spend a million dollars to help a couple of people. I just choose 10 percent of my own income, and fix somebody's car battery, pay some insurance. Something like that. It is really not so bad.

KAGAN: Because most of America out there are folks who are living paycheck to paycheck, and one nasty bill can just pop up and really set you off.

TAYLOR: Right. It wipes them out. And if there is no -- if they don't have anywhere else to go, you know, they are just stuck.

KAGAN: All right. Let's look at the web site, and you tell me exactly how it works.

TAYLOR: OK, sure. Well, this is the request for assistance. This is the ledger page, and what we do here is log all the requests that the web site gets every month. So far this month, there have been $26,000 worth of requests. You just file down, you can see what people have asked for, and what has been funded so far.

KAGAN: And what kind of stuff do people ask for? TAYLOR: It really spans the gamut. Everything from, Can you help me fix the timing belt on my car, to can you help me get tickets so that I can to my senior prom, I wouldn't be able to go otherwise.

KAGAN: And the name of your website kind of is directing people to what kind of request they should put in there, but do people -- do people ask for outrageous things, or are people really asking for some modest needs?

TAYLOR: No. The biggest request that I've gotten so far has been about $500. Not very much. People tend to ask 50, $100 at a time, and the site is equipped to handle needs like that.

KAGAN: And then for folks who are impressed with what you are doing and want to contribute, is there also a place for that?

TAYLOR: Yes. There is an option for that on the website. Initially, we hadn't set up to do that, but so many people wanted to participate, that we -- I finally had to figure out some way for them to do that. So all of the links necessary are on the website.

KAGAN: So tell me, have you been more blown away by the things that people have asked for, or the kind of help that people are offering?

TAYLOR: The kind of help. I can't believe it. On the day that this broke, 80 percent of the e-mails that came in offered to help the site in some way. And it is just absolutely unbelievable.

KAGAN: And what has been your most heartwarming request you have been able to fulfill so far?

TAYLOR: There have been so many, but probably my favorite one is from a woman who was a grandmother, she lived just outside of Atlanta, wanted $40 to buy her grand daughter a birthday gift, and I told a friend of mine at a pub about this, and he took $40 out of his wallet, handed it to me, and said, send it to that woman.

KAGAN: Really?

TAYLOR: Just unbelievable. Absolutely true.

KAGAN: Now, what about the cynics out there, Keith, people either who say that these are people who are just taking advantage of you, or people who say, you know what, they should just -- people should just be helping themselves.

TAYLOR: Well, if that's the way they feel, I completely understand. This site probably isn't everybody's cup of tea, but it is what I think is a good idea. Fraud is probably a reality with this site, but I'm not going to let the fact that there are three or four people, who -- I don't know, are willing to take advantage of a site like this keep me from doing something that I think is really important, and that apparently a lot of other people think is pretty important. KAGAN: And real quickly, just tell us the website again for people who are interested maybe in asking for help, or for actually offering some as well.

TAYLOR: It is www.modestneeds.org.

KAGAN: Very good. Well, we wish you well. With that, congratulations for not standing by and waiting for someone else to do something, for taking action and showing us all that there are ways that we can help.

TAYLOR: Thank you so much for letting me talk about this. With pleasure.

KAGAN: Appreciate it. Keith Taylor, modestneeds.org.

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