The holidays are very often a time when people celebrate a season on the outside but suffer a sadness on the inside.  We've all heard the statistic that "acts of desperation" are highest this time of year and I have no doubt this will be even more so this year when so many are struggling economically.

Which is why, more than ever, I think the following story must be told.

Today I am so proud to be a part of the internet marketing community, particularly a part of one company, CarbonCopyPro.  Thanks to the amazing generosity of this community, a 19 year old girl will be able to continue her college studies and a heartbroken mother's prayers were answered.

Here's the story...

Jessica Phillibert is a 19 year old college student at a leading U.S. college.  Originally from Jamaica, Jessica had been attending university for 3 semesters on a full merit-based scholarship.

But due to the economy the school was having to revoke the scholarship, despite Jessica's having made the Dean's List in the past semester and generally being an excellent student.

The family was at a loss for how to come up with the $18,384 needed to pay tuition for the upcoming semester and with the deadline rapidly approaching it seemed that Jessica's academic dreams were fast coming to an end (as a non-U.S. Citizen student loans were not an option).

On a whim, Jessica's mother Melanie sent an email to Jay Kubassek, the CEO and founder of CarbonCopyPro (the internet marketing education company that taught me how to market online).

The first Christmas miracle in the story is that Jay even read the email!  He is a well know internet entrepreneur who gets literally thousands of donation requests and surely can't read most of them.

But as chance would have it 2 days before Christmas Jay did get the email and was touched by the sincerity and boldness of the request.

So he did what successful entrepreneurs so often do... he took action and launched an impromptu fundraising campaign.

Within hours he had emails out to all of the top producers in the company, asking them to chip in and help support Jessica's cause.

Next Jay stepped out on the CarbonCopyPro community's morning "Wake Up" Call and asked the community to visit his blog and read Melanie’s story in more detail and make a donation if they were so inclined.

Jay and his wife, Jamie, kicked it off with a $3000 donation of their own.

Sure enough... the community responded.  And gifts from $10 to $1000 began pouring in from top earners and "newbies" alike.

Within 24 hours all the money was raised and Jessica's tuition was wired to her university.  78 people had contributed an average of $235 a piece.

And that is why today, of all days, we should be proud to live in a world where individual entrepreneurs are going against the grain and thriving.  While many large companies teeter on the brink of collapse and governments are printing money they don't have in order to support bloated, ineffectual spending bills (and devaluing all existing money in the process) there is a group of people in this world who are in ascendancy.

Internet entrepreneurs... who are creating real prosperity and real profitability and are able to engage in real (meaning non-taxpayer subsidized) charity because their lean business models thrive in times like these.

It's how capitalism is meant to work.  And it does work.  And I'm proud to be a part of it.

Our VP of Leadership Development, John Jackson, has a saying he always ends his calls with:  "Do something good for someone today in the knowing there is no way they can ever repay you."

And today as a community we did it.  What a great feeling it is to grant a wish!

Merry Christmas.

* Note - I have to disclaim that I heard about all this after the fact and was not one of the individual donors, lest anyone accuse me of trying to "piggy-back" on others' good deeds.  Still I take pride in our company's spirit of giving and the effort as a whole.  Way to go guys and gals!