Last year, Timothy Mackintosh found a dollar bill in aisle five of Hannaford. With that dollar bill, he bought candy bars to sell to others. He sold and traded until that dollar became $100.

With that $100 he bought 40 raffle tickets and won a $1,500 guitar.

Mackintosh was the winner of the electric guitar Alternative Spring Break raffled off to fund their trip to Jamaica. His initial thought was to ignore the 11 p.m. call coming from a mysterious number, but then he changed his mind.

“I didn’t know the number. I was going to give them a piece of my mind,” he said smiling. “But then they told me I won and I was surprised.”

He jumped out of bed to tell his family his good fortune. The plan was to give the instrument to his younger, guitar loving brother. Turns out, he wasn’t as interested as Mackintosh thought he would be. He decided to use the guitar as a business investment the same way he did the dollar bill.

The guitar is now for sale.

Mackintosh reminds many of Kyle MacDonald, the man who traded a single red paper clip until he was the owner of a new house. Mackintosh doesn’t want homes or cars though.

“My goal is to have $10,000. Then I want to write a book called Ten Thousand and One,” he says, a homage to his advancements and the dollar bill it all started with.

The guitar is just another stepping stone on his way to larger aspirations. Mackintosh plans to use the money he earns from the guitar to further his ultimate goal.

“I’m going to use that money for another cause. I’m growing money for a non-profit that I can donate to, so it will end up helping two causes in the end,” he said happily.

And he has a pretty good idea what that other cause will be.

Mackintosh’s older brother was in the hospital at the time fighting for his life while a disease attacked his immune system. His brother has O+ blood, while Mackintosh has O- blood. Mackintosh had just finished a low carb, high protein diet and survived 30 days on juice only, which caused his blood count to be higher than it should be, making him an optimal candidate to give his brother his blood. He says the American Red Cross was helpful every step of the way.  

Pints of blood continually influence Mackintosh.

“We were at a blood drive donating blood and he came up and asked me how many tickets he could buy for $100. After doing the math, it was 30-something, but he asked for 40 so we gave it to him because it was such a large amount of money,” said senior Jess Lawrenson, who sold him the tickets.

 Mackintosh knew little about Alternative Spring Break, which gives college students the opportunity to travel to underdeveloped countries and build schools and educate children.

“When I put money in, I knew there was a cause,” he said.

But as he researched more, he realized just how large of an impact ASB can have.

“I’m so glad I did that. I still would have been happy if I didn’t win,” he said contently. “Who knows what those educated kids will be doing someday.”

Mackintosh is proof that in the end, all you need is determination, a dollar, and a drop of blood.