Tag Archives: Pay It Forward Day

Good People Doing Good Things – Pay It Forward Day

Posted on by under Good people doing good things, Social commentary

Yesterday, April 28th, was Pay it Forward Day.  Since it is too soon to find the many people who found ways to ‘pay it forward’ just yet, but since I did not wish to let the day pass unnoticed, I am reprising my post about the day from 2017.  For many of you it will be new, but even if it isn’t, some of the things these people have done is worthy of a second read, three years later!

“From what we get we make a living – from what we give, we make a life.” – Arthur Ashe

wed-pif-2

As usual, I am about a day late and a dollar short.  Well, actually about 5 days late, as it were.  But, better late than never, right?  Turns out that April 28th was the 10th annual Pay It Forward Day.  Yes, folks, there is actually an annual Pay It Forward Day, and it is one of the more worthy ‘national days’.  A bit about the day:

In March 2000, a little-known author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, published a book titled Pay It Forward.

“Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving novel about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better — and to put that plan into action.” – Amazon

The book was adapted into a movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment in 2000, and the concept of “paying it forward” entered the real world, spreading kindness far and wide.  In 2014, Hyde also published a version of the book for young readers.

Hyde started the Pay It Forward Foundation to foster the movement, and a supporter in Australia, Blake Beattie, started Pay It Forward Day.  From the Pay It Forward website:

“There is tremendous power and positive energy in giving – it is a shame that not enough people have experienced it to the fullest. Pay It Forward Day is about all people, from all walks of life giving to someone else and making a positive difference.

So why Pay It Forward?

To encourage all of us to embrace the incredible power of giving.

To show each other that we care and that there is love, hope and magic all around us.

To know that we may be only one person in this world, but to one person, at one time, we are the world.”

Last year, in celebration of Pay It Forward Day, the Epoch Times interviewed Ms. Hyde.    It is an interesting Q&A, complete with a video that describes how she came up with the idea for Pay It Forward as a concept.

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa

So what are some examples of the ways in which people celebrated the day last week?

  • In McCloud, California, McCloud High School students cleaned the grounds around the Siskiyou Humane Society in Mt. Shasta, as well as the New 2 You and Paws & Shop thrift stores.

Wed-McCloud

  • Pupils and teachers at the Bispham Road school completed tasks such as helping others with their work, playing with different friends on the playgrounds, and even holding doors open as part of the annual Pay It Forward Day UK.

wed-pif-5

  • In Ronkonkoma New York, a pay-it-forward may have saved a man’s life, or so he claims. Dennis Kust had recently lost his wife, Cheryl, after a 5-year battle with cancer, and suffering from deep depression, he had lost his will to live.  On April 28th, he entered Albert’s Pizza on Long Island to pick up his pizza and was brought to tears when he was told his pizza was free … part of the pay it forward initiative by the owner of Albert’s Pizza, Rich Baer. On the inside of the box was a message:  Stay Strong!

Wed-Kust

When 8-year-old Myles Eckert found $20 in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, he took it as an opportunity to pass it on to Lt. Col. Frank Dailey as a gesture of gratitude. Along with it, he also wrote a note: “Dear Soldier — my dad was a soldier. He’s in heaven now. I found this 20 dollars in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It’s your lucky day! Thank you for your service. Myles Eckert, a gold star kid.”

Wed-myles.jpg

At Mason Wartman’s pizza shop in Philadelphia, customers can pre-pay for a slice of pizza at $1 and leave a Post-It on the wall. Any homeless person can redeem the Post-It for a warm slice later. This heart-warming gesture has helped Wartman relieve the hunger of several needy people in the city.

Wed-postit

When Mark Redmond, the executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Canada, met a couple at his office, little did he know that they had formerly stayed at his shelter. He soon discovered that the two had met at the facility, fell in love, and were married for four years. The duo had returned to the shelter to donate a bag of clothes as a way of helping the needy, just like they had once been helped.

Wed-homeless.jpg

When Mike learned that his favorite waitress at a New York restaurant was served an eviction notice, he paid her a tip of $3,000 on a bill of about $40 with the message “Don’t let ‘pay it forward’ end with you.” Speaking about it, Mike told ABC News, “This woman had been serving us for almost a year now. She’s a lovely individual, and she talked about how she was served an eviction notice last month.”

Wed-tip

There are thousands and thousands of these stories this week.  I purposely chose some that were small things, like cleaning up around an animal shelter or giving away $20, in order to make the point that an act of kindness need not cost a lot of money or time, it requires only a good heart. I am particularly encouraged by the young people who are learning early in life how important small acts of kindness can be.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Ghandi

wed-pif-3In my searches yesterday morning, I came across numerous sites devoted to ideas for ‘paying it forward’, most of them worthy, but when it comes down to it, we don’t really need to find ideas in books or on the internet.  We all know people who could use a bit of a helping hand, we see people as we go about our business who could use something, whether it’s a hot meal or just a smile, a hand-up from a fall, or help carrying their groceries. I think this is what happiness is really about, this is what gives our lives purpose and meaning.  When we ‘pay it forward’, we are giving to ourselves as well as to another.  It’s a win-win, as they say.

wed-pif-4

Good People Doing Good Things — Samantha & Friends

Posted on by under Good people doing good things, Social commentary

Samantha Rodriguez found herself in a tough spot after both of her parents passed away within a couple of years, leaving her responsible to raise her five younger siblings.  As their primary caregiver, the young woman has had to make huge sacrifices to be able to continue to look after her brothers and sisters, the youngest of which is five, the oldest seventeen.  The children were in danger of being placed in the foster care system where they would almost certainly have been separated.

“I knew what I had to do. I learned so much from my mom. I was like her sidekick. I learned what it meant to raise a family. It can be tough knowing when to be like a parent and when to be their sister. Sometimes it can feel like I’m alone.”

She moved with her siblings to Orange County, Florida, because their grandmother lived there.  But resources were scarce, and Rodriquez had to grow up fast.  Samantha has been juggling her education with running things in the family home. She has relied on Uber or public transport to get all six family members to school events, doctor appointments, etc.  Quite a lot of responsibility for a 20-year-old, isn’t it?

Well, somehow this family and their situation came to the attention of the Orange Country Sheriff’s Department.  This was in December, so the Sheriff’s Department invited the family to come for a visit.  The kids were treated to a helicopter ride, and then taken into a room where there were stacks of gifts for each of them.

“We focused on clothes but also toys. We wanted to give them a good Christmas.” — Lieutenant Antorrio Wright

But the story doesn’t end there.  The sheriff’s department posted a video of the Christmas surprise online. And people began responding, asking to help.  Lieutenant Wright and his compadres put their heads together and, remembering that the family had hired an Uber car to bring them to the Christmas surprise, they collected the donations from the community, added some of their own, and …

Last week, Lieutenant Wright contacted Ms. Rodriguez and asked her to come to his office.  She was puzzled, but … when the cops call, you go!  When she arrived, he escorted her into a large room where she found all the officers from the Christmas event waiting for her.  There was a board with a covering over it, and …

The lieutenant told her that the community had gotten together and wanted to do something to help her and her family, so … he pulled the cover off the board, and …new-carThe department had bought Samantha and her siblings a new car!!!

“When they told me the car is for us, I remember thinking, ‘They just took away all these worries and stresses.’ It was such a big weight off my shoulder and will help so much.”

new-car-familyFolks … this is what it means, or at least should mean, to be a part of a community.  We look out for one another.  My hat is off to the Orange Country Sheriff’s Department, to the members of the community who stepped up to the plate to help this family, and to this young lady, Samantha Rodriguez, for taking on the responsibility for her five brothers and sisters, putting her own life on hold to keep the family together.

Note:  Pay It Forward Day is on April 28, a week from Sunday.  I’m thinking about doing a post about things people did to “pay it forward” the Wednesday after, so if you see or hear of things that you would like to contribute to that post, please send me a short email.  Thanks!

Good People Doing Good Things – Pay It Forward Day

Posted on by under Good people doing good things

“From what we get we make a living – from what we give, we make a life.” – Arthur Ashe

wed-pif-2

As usual, I am about a day late and a dollar short.  Well, actually about 5 days late, as it were.  But, better late than never, right?  Turns out that April 28th was the 10th annual Pay It Forward Day.  Yes, folks, there is actually an annual Pay It Forward Day, and it is one of the more worthy ‘national days’.  A bit about the day:

In March 2000, a little-known author, Catherine Ryan Hyde, published a book titled Pay It Forward.

“Pay It Forward is a wondrous and moving novel about Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy in a small California town who accepts the challenge that his teacher gives his class, a chance to earn extra credit by coming up with a plan to change the world for the better — and to put that plan into action.” – Amazon

The book was adapted into a movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment in 2000, and the concept of “paying it forward” entered the real world, spreading kindness far and wide.  In 2014, Hyde also published a version of the book for young readers.

Hyde started the Pay It Forward Foundation to foster the movement, and a supporter in Australia, Blake Beattie, started Pay It Forward Day.  From the Pay It Forward website:

“There is tremendous power and positive energy in giving – it is a shame that not enough people have experienced it to the fullest. Pay It Forward Day is about all people, from all walks of life giving to someone else and making a positive difference.

So why Pay It Forward?

To encourage all of us to embrace the incredible power of giving.

To show each other that we care and that there is love, hope and magic all around us.

To know that we may be only one person in this world, but to one person, at one time, we are the world.”

Last year, in celebration of Pay It Forward Day, the Epoch Times interviewed Ms. Hyde.    It is an interesting Q&A, complete with a video that describes how she came up with the idea for Pay It Forward as a concept.

“If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa

So what are some examples of the ways in which people celebrated the day last week?

  • In McCloud, California, McCloud High School students cleaned the grounds around the Siskiyou Humane Society in Mt. Shasta, as well as the New 2 You and Paws & Shop thrift stores.

Wed-McCloud

  • Pupils and teachers at the Bispham Road school completed tasks such as helping others with their work, playing with different friends on the playgrounds, and even holding doors open as part of the annual Pay It Forward Day UK.

wed-pif-5

  • In Ronkonkoma New York, a pay-it-forward may have saved a man’s life, or so he claims. Dennis Kust had recently lost his wife, Cheryl, after a 5-year battle with cancer, and suffering from deep depression, he had lost his will to live.  On April 28th, he entered Albert’s Pizza on Long Island to pick up his pizza and was brought to tears when he was told his pizza was free … part of the pay it forward initiative by the owner of Albert’s Pizza, Rich Baer. On the inside of the box was a message:  Stay Strong!

Wed-Kust

When 8-year-old Myles Eckert found $20 in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, he took it as an opportunity to pass it on to Lt. Col. Frank Dailey as a gesture of gratitude. Along with it, he also wrote a note: “Dear Soldier — my dad was a soldier. He’s in heaven now. I found this 20 dollars in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It’s your lucky day! Thank you for your service. Myles Eckert, a gold star kid.”

Wed-myles.jpg

At Mason Wartman’s pizza shop in Philadelphia, customers can pre-pay for a slice of pizza at $1 and leave a Post-It on the wall. Any homeless person can redeem the Post-It for a warm slice later. This heart-warming gesture has helped Wartman relieve the hunger of several needy people in the city.

Wed-postit

When Mark Redmond, the executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, Canada, met a couple at his office, little did he know that they had formerly stayed at his shelter. He soon discovered that the two had met at the facility, fell in love, and were married for four years. The duo had returned to the shelter to donate a bag of clothes as a way of helping the needy, just like they had once been helped.

Wed-homeless.jpg

When Mike learned that his favorite waitress at a New York restaurant was served an eviction notice, he paid her a tip of $3,000 on a bill of about $40 with the message “Don’t let ‘pay it forward’ end with you.” Speaking about it, Mike told ABC News, “This woman had been serving us for almost a year now. She’s a lovely individual, and she talked about how she was served an eviction notice last month.”

Wed-tip

There are thousands and thousands of these stories this week.  I purposely chose some that were small things, like cleaning up around an animal shelter or giving away $20, in order to make the point that an act of kindness need not cost a lot of money or time, it requires only a good heart. I am particularly encouraged by the young people who are learning early in life how important small acts of kindness can be.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Ghandi

wed-pif-3In my searches yesterday morning, I came across numerous sites devoted to ideas for ‘paying it forward’, most of them worthy, but when it comes down to it, we don’t really need to find ideas in books or on the internet.  We all know people who could use a bit of a helping hand, we see people as we go about our business who could use something, whether it’s a hot meal or just a smile, a hand-up from a fall, or help carrying their groceries. I think this is what happiness is really about, this is what gives our lives purpose and meaning.  When we ‘pay it forward’, we are giving to ourselves as well as to another.  It’s a win-win, as they say.

wed-pif-4