In my younger years, I always wanted to do stand up.  Not for a living, but just one quick gig. I was smart enough back then to know that I would eventually run out of funny, so it was one gig and done.  I even thought of ideas that I could put in my act. 

I thought it would be funny to talk about how my girlfriend at the time would pay for things.  If something was $14.76, she wouldn’t just pay with a $10 bill and a $5 bill–or even easier–a simple $20.  She would give the cashier a ten, four singles and sit there and count out 76 cents.  Digging through her purse, she would count as she put the change on the counter, “50, 60, 70, 71, 72, 73…Justin, do you have 3 pennies?” 

“No. I don’t.  I have a $20, use that.”

“I want to get rid of my change.  Oh, here we go!  74, 75 and 76 cents!”  She would say as she pulled out a second change purse.

Sometimes she would take it a step further and give the cashier a $10 bill, a $5 bill and a penny so she could get an even quarter back. It was an endless fight on how to correctly pay. I always wondered how she ever got all that change if she always paid the exact amount.  Nowadays, I just use a debit card and that’s the end of it. And nowadays, she is married and I’m not, so who was the real winner in that argument?

My story has two points.  The first is that I was a comic genius when I was a younger lad.  The second is that this story is a great lead in to talk about the Cleveland Indians “Round Up For Charity” program.

The idea is simple, you go to an Indians Team Shop and buy something.  Whatever the total amount of your purchase is, you are asked if you want to round up for charity.  Of course, being the good people you are, you agree.  The total purchase is then rounded up to the nearest dollar and that extra money goes to charity.  Example:  If your bill was the same as my old girlfriend’s bill of $14.76 and you agree to round up–your bill becomes $15.00 and the 24 cents you rounded up on goes to charity.  Fantastic, but what charity?

The four charities that will split the end of the year donation will be Cleveland Indians Charities, Flashes of Hope, The Gathering Place and Stewart’s Caring Place.  So the next time you go buy a Carlos Santana jersey, or a good old foam finger; try your best to make it an uneven bill so that you can “Round Up For Charity.”