We all know someone who is absolutely enthusiastic about a hobby or activity. She keeps inviting you, finding ways to make it easy and fun to join her. You finally can’t resist anymore and jump in.

Michele Thom, our 16^th winner of a $1,000 micro-grant, is literally inviting you to jump. Out of a perfectly fine airplane while it is flying. Really.

Michelle seriously caught the skydiving bug a few years ago and wants to bring other people along for the ride. We fell hard for her enthusiasm (yes, you can groan at the pun) and didn’t want to leave her hopes grounded (groan).

Michelle has launched 60 Seconds of Pure Freedom to enable those who might otherwise not have a chance to experience the thrill of skydiving to take one tandem jump this summer.

She describes skydiving as the “epitome of freedom” because “the second you step out of the airplane door, you forget about any of life’s problems or distresses, and live entirely free and in the moment, until you land back onto the ground with an enormous smile on your face!”   Michelle and her co-organizer, Leon Boczkowski, will couple our award with a discount they negotiated with Skydive PA in Grove City for this project.  They will also solicit additional donations in order to provide the tandem jump opportunity to as many people as possible.

Awesome Pittsburgh Trustee Carolina Pais-Barreto Beyers noted, “What caught my attention was Michelle’s desire to enable others to share an experience that she finds so remarkable.

The 60 Seconds of Pure Freedom committee is taking nominations by the last day of each month, March through July 2013, and will select at least two deserving nominees by the 7^th of each following month. You can find the nomination form at the project’s Facebook page or by emailing the committee at pure.freedom@rocketmail.com. Michelle and Leon hope the winning nominees will agree to tandem jump soon after being selected and plan to join the winners the day they jump.