Current of Tampa Bay

A non-profit volunteer organization based in Tampa and operated almost entirely by college students, Current of Tampa Bay says its main mission is “to educate young adults on current social initiatives and mobilize them to bring about change.” The group gathers at the USF Tampa campus once a week for meetings, as well as hosting documentary screenings and events. Founder and president Jason Sowell (pictured) is a former youth pastor, but he says Current is non-denominational; if anything, it’s a reaction against organized Christianity, which has gotten “really good at talking,” says Sowell, “and really bad at acting.” Geared toward meeting “specific needs people can’t meet themselves,” Current’s projects include Hope for Homes, which assists low-income families whose houses are in need of repair. Current puts up the family in a hotel over the weekend and entertains them at local attractions like Busch Gardens, meanwhile working on their home around the clock. On Sunday, the group surprises the family with the big “reveal” of their newly renovated home. Current’s Laundry Love Project turns laundromats into ad hoc community centers, putting coins in the slot for those unable to pay for clean clothes themselves and providing activities for families while they wait. EngageTheCurrent.org.

Do you want to LEARN how to be a BILLIONAIRE. Then check this out.

7 Spending Tips From Frugal Billionaires:

Carlos Slim Helu (Carlos Slim), a telecom tycoon and billionaire with well-known frugal tendencies, has a net worth of $60.6 billion, according to Forbes. Assuming no changes in his net worth, he could spend $1,150 a minute for the next 100 years before he ran out of money. To put this in perspective, he could spend in 13 minutes what a minimum-wage earner brings home after an entire year of the daily grind.

Granted, the world’s billionaires (all 1,011 of them) are in the debatably enviable position of having, quite literally, more money than they can possibly spend, yet some are still living well below their means, and save money in surprising places. Even non-billionaires (currently 6,864,605,142 of us) can partake in these seven spending tips from frugal billionaires:

1. Keep Your Home Simple
Billionaires can afford to live in the most exclusive mansions imaginable — and many do, including Bill Gates’ sprawling 66,000 square foot, $147.5 million dollar mansion in Medina, Wash. — yet frugal billionaires like Warren Buffett choose to keep it simple. Buffett still lives in the five-bedroom house in Omaha that he purchased in 1957 for $31,500. Likewise, Carlos Slim has lived in the same house for more than 40 years.

2. Use Self-Powered or Public Transportation
Thrifty billionaires including John Caudwell, David Cheriton and Chuck Feeney prefer to walk, bike or use public transportation when getting around town. Certainly these wealthy individuals could afford to take a helicopter to their lunch meetings, or ride in chauffeur-driven Bentleys, but they choose to get a little exercise and take advantage of public transportation instead. Good for the bank account and great for the environment.

3. Buy Your Clothes off the Rack
While some people, regardless of their net value, place a huge emphasis on wearing designer clothes and shoes, some frugal billionaires decide it’s simply not worth the effort, or expense. You can find David Cheriton, the Stanford professor who matched Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page to the venture capitalists at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (resulting in a large reward of Google stock), wearing jeans and a t-shirt.