In my keynote speeches for The Ring in the Rubble and Dr. Spencer Johnson’s Peaks and Valleys, there is a common thread in the value of giving. In Spencer’s work, he writes about “getting outside your self.” It’s a principle that creates a cycle of good works, help for those in need and fulfillment for the giver. You can sometimes get out of your valley by helping someone else get out of their valley.

You don’t have to be Bill and Melinda Gates to do it. Random acts of kindness are very affordable: a small task, a job lead, or modest financial support…in tens and twenties.

ModestNeeds.org receives millions of dollars in relatively small contributions from average folks who can select specific requests posted on the non-profit organization’s Web site. A person in need might post a request for a house-saving mortgage payment or, in the case of cancer and diabetes patient Gary Ribble, a pair of glasses.

ModestNeeds.org is a peak-climbing, ring-finding resource that is the result of a give-back from its grateful founder. Dr. Keith Taylor tells CNN.com that when his former employer paid his rent for a month during a rough patch, it left such an impression that he vowed to do the same when he was a financial success.

What’s really wonderful about the ModestNeeds.org story is that it started so humbly. But when people learned they could change-or save-a life for whatever they could afford to give (the organization’s maximum gift is capped at $1,000), the Internet-based charity was swamped with gifts of less than $100 and is now widely covered in the national media.

ModestNeeds.org also reports that an overwhelming number of its gift recipients, themselves, later become donors.

“The greatest joys in life don’t come in finding Rings…they come from helping other find theirs.”-The Ring in the Rubble