Well, it finally happened. Yesterday was the last day to submit a story in the Share Or Die Storytelling Contest. Now there’s a week for you to vote for your favorite stories, which will be followed by a decision from our panel of judges. In the meantime, here are the final eight stories that we received:

• Heather Box, discovered that everyone in Vietnam knows how to say, “I love you” in English. As she writes “for me it was boot camp in practicing what I preached…to stand by what I know is deeply true to me: that we all actually love each other, even as strangers on the street.” Read Sharing 'I Love Yous” in the Streets of Vietnam.
• Kaganga John, a farmer who runs an environmental organization in rural Uganda, had a precious opportunity to attend the Rio+20 conference in Brazil. By sharing his story of what is needed to help small-scale farmers and sustainable development, he was able to gain knowledge and connections that are helping his community.
• In Live Aloha in Your Neighborhood (or making friends with mangos), Annie Koh discovered that it’s easier for a shy person to reach out to her neighbors when she has some sun-ripened sweetness to share. Pomelo anyone?
• As Ry Soutar, a single mother, poignantly explains in Every Little Bit Helps, “The life I lead and am able to provide for my daughter would not exist without sharing.”
• Steph Wetherell was bothered by all of the items that get recycled instead of reused. In "A tale of some jam jars" she decided to match up unwanted jam jars with those who could use them, and thus far thousands have been kept out of the landfill and recycling.
• Mutavi Jusi Senior wanted to help the Mukuru slum near Nairobi. In "How I became a volunteer community health worker", he explains how he first had to become a DVD salesman in order to win the community’s trust.
• After seeing how poorly some travelling farmworkers were treated, Tatiana Maya V. was motivated to dismantle the false belief that humans can become machines. She came up with a Sacred Productivity system that she uses to prioritize the many ideas she has of how to make world better in her story, "And Sacred Productivity was born!"
• In "More than just a ticket" Valery Traumerin muses about her experience as an au pair in Germany.

Take a moment to read the last batch of entries we received, and leave a comment and vote for the stories that inspire or delight you.