Meet Jake, a Literacy Minnesota Supporter
This November, Literacy Minnesota made its reality television debut!
Meet Jake, a gameshow enthusiast from Minneapolis. This past summer Jake competed in season seven of "Live to Give MN." "Live to Give" is a local reality television program that broadcasts on YouTube and models itself after the long-running show "Survivor."
Contestants start by raising charitable donations before the season even starts filming. During the show, contestants live off the land, compete in challenges and vote each other off, one by one, until three remain. The eliminated contestants then select a winner from the final three. The charitable donation pool is then distributed proportionally based on each contestant's longevity in the game.
Where does Literacy Minnesota come in? Jake selected Literacy Minnesota as the destination for his charitable donation!
Jake, who had just moved back to his native Minnesota after several years residing in Florida, wanted to choose a local organization as his charity of choice. "I recently went through some major difficulties with my driver's license and moving from Florida. I'm pretty competent and I'm still really struggling. What if English wasn't my first language?"
Following his experience grappling with administrative challenges, Jake knew he wanted to support communities who navigate the same challenges but without comprehensive literacy skills. His thought process: if you thought applying for a driver's license was hard, imagine doing it in a language you can't read or write!
This led Jake to ultimately choose Literacy Minnesota for its focus on adult literacy education and free literacy resources.
It's not surprising that Jake ended up on "Live to Give"; he grew up a superfan of the show "Survivor" and has made a career out of gameshows and entertainment programming. According to him, "'Live to Give' is as close to the 'Survivor' experience as you can get in a short period." He said the biggest challenge was living outside with the Minnesotan mosquitoes.
Episodes from this season of "Live to Give" have already started airing and the finale will release on January 14. We will be rooting for Jake and are thankful for his support of Literacy Minnesota's programming. Want to keep up with Jake's journey? Click the button below!