Robert Kennedy Jr

Just thought that you might be interested to hear that I gave Robert Kennedy Jr. a Pay It Forward bracelet. He was in Windsor on Sunday to speak at our Rotary International Peace Summit, and my husband and I were lucky enough to have been asked to be his aides while he was in town. So we got to spend some time with Bobbie during the event and then we had to drive him to the airport. I didn't get a chance to explain Pay It Forward or tell him much about the bracelet, but I gave him one in his gift bag.

Take care,

Shelly

Subway Hero

I had a play to go to with my five year old daughter Thursday night and after we got off at our subway stop, I didn't know where the theatre was. We kept walking in all directions hoping to find the entrance and I could tell my daughter was starting to pick up on my anxiety.This kind man came over to us and asked if I needed help and pointed us in the right direction. He even walked with us half way just to make certain we knew where to go. So I gave him the bracelet. He was flabberghasted. It was almost as if time stood still for him. His smile suddenly became so wide and he thanked me. I explained the concept and he said the bracelet would keep moving.

What a great feeling to see people doing kind things for one another....it made me have more faith in humanity.

Nik

Bracelets Around the School

Just wanted to say thank you for the bracelets! Got them in the mail today and passed them all around the school to everyone who made a donation to our cause that helps out homeless and battered women and children!

Thanks again! You are really changing the world!

Ashley Barney

PIF Bracelets in Action

I can't even tell you how stoked my students are about their PAY IT FORWARD bracelets!!  They are really using them in all areas of their life.... at school, at home, at work., at church.....One of my students gives them out after his band performs...And he just played @ Universal Studios in Orlando, FL...I am so blessed to be a part of the Pay it Forward movement.  I will be sending a few hundred over to the troops in Iraq!!  Hopefully, many will see the pay-it-forward bands on the troops when they view the nightly news..  And I also donated a few hundred to an organization called Project Graduation'08.  I am hoping the newly graduated High School students will pick up the pay it forward 'spark' and move it forward in  2009!!!

Thanks for the encouragement!!!

Diane Donney

Pilgrimage

It's Annie from CT.  We will have an article for you as soon as I get the pictures to go along with our pilgrimage to see Pope Benedict XVI last Saturday.  I will send you a little something now.  The shirts turned out great.  You can see a number of bracelets on each person in our group.  We had to wear them in so as not to have security think we were bringing anything in to sell.  

Everyone wanted a bracelet!  We told each person the story and what to do with the bracelet they were given. The only person to say "no" was a nun from the Mother Teresa's (now Blessed Teresa of Calcutta) order Missionaries of Charity who take a vow of poverty.  Our kids had so much enthusiasm!!  I will also attach an article written for the local papers.  Our story to you will be much different!

Thanks for making that day that much more special for us!

Annie

Team David

We have a group of high school students who are in the beginning stages of organizing a group called "Team David" which has the ultimate goal of caring to make another persons life better -   the distance they can travel is infinite.  They meet every Thursday after school and have just completed 3 projects to date. 

Their initial desire is to repair broken bikes and tricycles of children who live in subsidized housing whose parents either do not know how to fix their bikes, do not have the needed money or time, or who basically just do not care if their child's bicycle is in working condition for the summer.  Our young adults are partnering with one neighborhood (400 + apartments) to continually repair their bikes as needed. We are providing flyers for their resident's association to tape to each door to announce the free service. We will pick up, repair, and return - at no charge. We do not have bicycles yet, so up to now, we have found other projects to complete.   

PIF at Breakfast

Hey I love the idea of this program.  I payed for someone's breakfast this morning and just let them know instead of thanking me to just pay it forward.  I would like to get some bracelets.  If you could let me know how I could get some bracelets I would appreciate it.  Thanks for the idea of starting this.

Jamie Speakman

Hey I love the idea of this program. I payed for someone's breakfast this morning and just let them know instead of thanking me to just pay it forward.  I would like to get some bracelets.  If you could let me know how I could get some bracelets I would appreciate it.  Thanks for the idea of starting this.

Jamie Speakman

The Drive Thru

It all began today when I was at Chick Fil-A with my son for milkshakes.  When we got to the window to pay for our milkshakes, the lady at the window said, the woman in the car in front of you paid for your milkshakes and said to have a nice day.  The woman also left her business card.  It was a very strange sensation to have a total stranger buy my son and I a milkshake.  I wrote her a nice email saying “thanks” and “what’s the catch”. She said simply, no catch just a nice gesture. I told her I would pay it forward.

Then I decided to do just that.  I am a teacher trying to teach middle schoolers to be more tolerant and accepting or just plain nice.  I thought of this project, looked it up and got you.

Thanks,

Nadine Hughes
Lexington Park, MD

Relay for Life

Thanks for the bracelets!!! 

We are going to use some at Relay For Life, and send some to Iraq, and I recently gave 100 to a young man named John Garrish!

He may be asking for some PIF bands as he is the QB for the BOCA HIGH SCHOOL football team, (not my school which is west boca high)...and he wants his group at school, The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) to support the PIF concept!!!!!

He just signed to play football for the Air Force Academy....nice guy! Thanks for everything...:-)

Class Project

My class has decided on a class project. They decided that they are going to make tie fleece quilts for the kids at The Christmas Box House. If you don't know what that is, it is a place in Salt Lake for children who have been taken from their homes and they do not have an option for foster care. Today we discussed how we would get the money for the materials. The students decided that first they want to try to get donations from fabric stores throughout the valley. They decided that they would write letters. I gave them some requirements for the letters: They had to explain what it means to pay it forward, they had to tell about what our class project is, and they had to ask if they would be willing to donate any fleece fabric, even it is just a little. You should see some of the letters, they are so cute! I am so excited for this to get up and going. It is is nice to see that these kids really do have a desire to help people less fortunate than them. The best part is that they came up with it all on their own!

Bayley

You've Got to Read This

We kicked PAY IT FORWARD off back in June of 2007 giving away thousands of bracelets at tradeshows. What ended up happening is people would drop by our booth, find out what PAY IT FORWARD was all about and fly back home. After being back home they would spread the word or pass on their bracelet and these new recipients of PAY IT FORWARD were very curious of how to get more. E-mail after e-mail started coming in from all over the US & Canada with requests for more bracelets, one particular E-mail is what this story is all about

One of the people who came across Pay it forward was a lady by the name of Shelly Duben, someone who has nothing to do with the industry nor knew how to get a hold of me. She saw someone at the Chicago Airport with one on and wondered how to get more. With our website not having any contact info nor knowing the contact info from the person she saw at the Chicago airport she started her search. Over a month later she ended up sending me an E-mail, telling me how long and hard she searched for the source. I ended up sending 3,000 bracelets to her for her schools, her trips to Africa and her Rotary club.

She is the President of her local Rotary club up in Windsor Ontario, a group of people who take a trip down to Kenya every year. When she brought up the PAY IT FORWARD idea to her Rotary club members she ended up finding out one of the guys was a Promotional products distributor. He told her this bracelet most likely came from a supplier in his industry, he took one look at the E-mail she had of mine and he knew then it was a SnugZ USA product. He mentioned he would be in Vegas for the PPAI show in a few weeks and that he knew SnugZ was going to be there. Talk about a coincidence.

This guy dropped by the booth on Wednesday and waited for me to finish up with a customer. He had a purple folder in his hand and when he finally spoke he asked if I knew a lady by the name of Shelly Duben. I got chills right when he said her name, I thought I was in a movie and something was wrong. This random guy I have no idea who he is comes up and asks me about another person I have never met except for a few e-mails back and forth, it was a weird feeling. He then proceeded to hand over the purple folder and explain to me that he & Shelly are part of the same Rotary club and she wanted to pass along some pictures of her Africa trip. How cool is that, talk about a small world! Check out one of the pictures I scanned and attached below.

This also happens to be the lady who coincidentally was headed to see Catherine Ryan Hyde (author of Pay it forward) speak two days after we first E-mailed each other. She was the person who was able to get myself and Catherine in touch with each other.

I will leave you with this, if you think something is impossible then it most likely is but if you can switch up your mindset and think NOTHING is impossible then most likely it isn’t. Something very big will happen with PAY IT FORWARD in 2008, mark my words.

Perfect Timing

Your timing was perfect! I was going to email you today to tell you a couple of stories. First of all, I'll send you our updated Pay It Forward journal next week once I've had a chance to add the latest stories. Secondly, one of our Rotarians, Ann, was out shopping when the cashier noticed her bracelet. The cashier told her how much she loves the PIF concept and wanted to know where we got the bracelets. She wanted to get 35 of them for her son's class (different school board that mine). Ann explained that we had not paid for them and that she would talk to me about getting some bracelets. I have given her 35 bracelets and she is excited about starting PIF with her son and his friends. She thinks that more of the classes at the school will want to take part. She wanted to give us a donation for the bracelets but of course we just gave them to her.

The last story is even better. One of my colleagues, Lisa, was very excited about the PIF concept and my plans to kick off a big initiative with our Grade 7's in January/February, so I gave her a bracelet. She recently traveled to Ethiopia to get her new son whom she adopted from Ethiopia. At the hotel where she stayed, she often talked to the "doorman" and found out that he had 3 children. After speaking to him several times, she asked him if he could buy anything for his children, what would he get them. Without hesitation, he said that he'd buy them shoes. His salary amounts to about $35/month, but shoes cost about $25. So Lisa got the sizes from him but she said that she didn't think it ever occurred to him that she would help. Lisa bought all of the children play shoes, running shoes and dress shoes. When she gave them to him, she got a translator to help her explain the Pay It Forward concept to him. He was overwhelmed and promised that he would raise his children to live their lives paying it forward and that he would do the same. He got pictures of her to show his children. Lisa came into our office today for the first time since she returned from Ethiopia, and the first thing she did was to tell me her Pay It Forward story.

I'm in Dallas for the next few days so I'm hoping to give away a bracelet or two. We're also heading to Kenya in a few weeks. You had offered to give us some bracelets to take with us. If that offer is still open, perhaps I could take you up on it. Let me know. You've already been so generous, that I don't expect any more.

Anyway, I just thought you'd enjoy the updates. Talk to you soon, 

Shelly

Appreciate Your Support

I spoke with Destiny this afternoon. I am in need of 40 pay it forward bracelets. These are for a client that includes a community service component to their holiday gift for their gift recipients.

Destiny has told me there is silicone version that you would be willing to provide us for this project and you are willing to ship us 100 units. When I asked Destiny about the cost she has told me these would come at no charge.

That is most gracious of you.

We will put ALL of these to good use. We do have other clients that coordinate their gifting to community service. We have promoted and our clients have supported 9/11, Katrina, our troops and other local community support.

I look forward to getting to know Snugz. I appreciate your support.

Hillary
Hillary R. Feder, CAS
Hillary's Personalized Gifts

Great Idea

What a great idea… I have never heard of the bracelets before.

I am on board with PAY IT FORWARD and I do every chance I get.

One day at Christmas time I was at a department store and asked the clerk where I could find the Fernwood Chocolates. A gentleman who was in line behind me told me where they were located. When I got back to the clerk to pay form the chocolates, she bagged them for me and told me the gentleman who directed me to them paid for them and wished me a Merry Christmas. Within a week I ended up in a gas station the an elderly lady ahead of me didn't have enough money to pay for the gas she had just put into her car. I could see she was really stressed. I stepped up and told the, angry, clerk to add it to my purchase. She was such a sweet lady and wanted my address to send me the money. I told her it wasn't necessary, she could just pass it on when she encountered someone in need.

Could I please have some bracelets? Can I send you a check for cost and shipping?

Thank you,
Susan Christenson

Random Acts of Kindness

I just got off the phone with Lu and she asked me to send you an e-mail regarding the Pay It Forward Bracelets.

I am the coordinator for the Random Acts of Kindness Program at William Rall Elementary School in Lindenhurst, NY. I try to come up with new ideas for the children to do monthly and while searching the Internet I came upon the Pay it Forward Foundation web site. It was there that I saw the information about the bracelets that you donated to them. I knew after seeing them that they would be perfect for the children. It would teach them about how when someone does a kind act for them, they in turn should pay it forward and do a kind act for someone else.

This is how I came upon calling your company. Lu said that you do not sell these bracelets, that you donate them. That is so generous of you!!!!! I had tears in my eyes when she told me this because it is not often that you find someone who will do something out of the goodness of their heart without expecting something in return.

If you could supply bracelets for the children and the staff at the school that would be wonderful. I think it is important to teach acts of kindness to the teachers and faculty as well as the children. The total amount would be 650. I know it is a high amount to ask for, so if you would like me to pay something towards it I don't mind. I have a small school budget, but I can work something out.

I really can't thank you enough for what you are doing to help make a difference in the world!!!

Sincerely,
Illyse Tynan
1012 North Broome Ave.
Lindenhurst, New York, 11757

Good Day

This morning I sat listening to a co-worker speak about a family in need. To start, my co-worker's husband is a special needs teacher at an elementary school in Detroit (Mexican Town). At times, I would sit quiet as I'd listen to her talk about her husband's experiences as an educator in Detroit. This particular time was a little different. I listened attentively, watching my co-worker's eyes fill with tears. She told us about a mother that attended a meeting with my co-worker's husband Angelo regarding her son's Individualized Education Program assessment and to discuss his progress. Angelo began by telling her how good her son was improving and that he was the student of the month.

The mother began to cry. Using a translator/social worker to communicate with Angelo, the women talked to him about the situation she was faced with. She began to explain that her husband was recently deported and placed in a deportation centre. She has not been in contact with him and doesn't know where he is. She is unable to work and is finding it very hard to cope. She depended on her husband as the provider of the family and is now faced with having take care of her children on her own.

After their meeting, Angelo asked the social worker what he could do to help. He was told that he could purchase non perishables and other necessities for them.

Shelly,

The amazing thing about people is that we are moved by our hearts when others around us are in need of a helping hand. After listening to my co-worker, I explained to her about Rotary and Pay It Forward. I asked that she allow me to give her some money to her to give to this family and explained that it was my Pay it Forward. I am not sure how to explain to you how I feel but I am so greatfull that I am in a position to help, even if it is a small amount.

The email below went out this morning and my co-workers have come together to assist this family. We have started a collection and a little food drive amongst ourselves for them. The awesome thing about today is that immediately after the email was forwarded to staff, some came from the other departmenst into our work area asking what else they could do to help. This was a very touching moment today and I think we all share a tear or two.

My heart truly goes out to this family and I responded with my heart to help. I am going to get them a card and put $50.00us inside along with the Pay It Forward bracellet. I guess to me, the greatest thing about Pay It Forward is responding when you are nudged to do so and acting with your heart.

Best regards,

Terri-Ann Hurst
Strategic Services Analyst

Windsor-St. Clair Rotary Club

I’m very excited that so many of you have already read the “Pay It Forward” book and have embraced the concept. As you know, over the course of this Rotary year, I’m going to ask each Club member to do at least one specific “Pay It Forward” act. As part of the regular weekly program, I’m going to give one member of the Club $25 (from the weekly fines) to go out and do something nice for someone. Here is a brief summary of the acts of kindness that were “paid forward” by our Club members over the past few months.

July 19th – Shelly Duben

I drive by the Salvation Army every day on my way to work and there are always several people outside. One day, I went to Tim Horton’s, bought 3 dozen donuts, and delivered them to the folks outside the Salvation Army. They were very surprised, but when I drove away, I could see them walking around and serving one another. Seeing the effect of this simple gesture on the people at Salvation Army is what sparked my idea to ask all Club members to “Pay It Forward”.

July 26th - Diane McKinley

Through her work at the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Diane knew of a little girl who had been born with her heart outside her body, and thus needed surgeries to correct this. Diane went to visit the family and used her “Pay It Forward” money to help the little girl with travel expenses. A very touching follow up to this is that the next week, Diane received a call from the post office saying that they had been asked to “Pay It Forward”. The post office had been collecting money for the little girl and when they asked her family where to deliver it, the little girl requested that the post office “Pay It Forward” and donate the funds to the Heart and Stroke Foundation!

August 2nd - Michele Moro

Michele called United Way to ask for ideas for groups/individuals who might need a little help. She was directed to a program called Pathways for disadvantaged children in the west end. Michele went to visit them, and since most of them could not afford to buy anything at the concession stand, she bought them all ice cream treats. Michele spent some time with the group leaders and the children. The children really liked the “Pay It Forward” concept and they now want to do something to help the Humane Society.

August 9th – Brodie Osome

Brodie bought a R.E.L.A.Y. calendar for himself when they first went on sale. He and his wife showed the calendar and told the R.E.L.A.Y. story to friends and colleagues. One colleague from Kenya was very interested, so Brodie used $20 of his Pay It Forward money to buy a calendar for this colleague. The colleague was so impressed that he asked that for his birthday, that people donate to the project rather than buying him gifts. He later presented Brodie with a few hundred dollars as a result.

August 16th – Phyllis Charbonneau

Phyllis met a lady named Linda who volunteers at Windsor Western Hospital doing nails for and spending time with seniors. Phyllis asked Linda to use the $25 to buy some nail supplies and tell the seniors that money came from the Rotary Club of Windsor St. Clair to buy new shades of nail polish. Phyllis received the following email from Linda as a result: “Hi! Just wanted to send a big "Thank you" to your Club. I received $25.00 from Phyllis Charbonneau through your "Pay It Forward" program and I am so thrilled! I'm sure Phyllis will fill you in on the details, but with it, I was able to buy a number of pale colours of nail polish and some nail files. I read Phyllis' letter to my patients and they were thrilled to be recipients of this gesture. Thank you so much! What a wonderful idea! Linda Labute “

August 23rd – Kathy Buis

Kathy started by doing some shopping in the States. She saw t-shirts for sale and decided to buy 42 t-shirts to send with our R.E.L.A.Y. teams to Ghana and Kenya in December. She felt that this was too easy though, just to go shopping, so she called the Teen Health Centre to see how she might be able to help. They told her about their Early Years program which is a support program for teen mothers. Kathy donated her $25 to this program to purchase baby formula to help the young mothers.

August 30th – Caro Lepain

At Caro and Ken’s church, they are trying to raise $3500 to pay for shipping charges to send a large shipment of used textbooks to a needy area in the Philippines. Each week, donations are made to this cause. Caro used her $25 to help with her church’s project, and “paid it forward” to the school children in the Philippines who will benefit from these books.

Windsor-St. Clair Rotary Club

September 6th – Al Santing

Down the street from Al’s house there is a group home for mentally challenged adults. Al stopped in and talked to the staff at the home and met some of the residences. Al “paid it forward” by donating his $25 to the staff of the group home to take the residents out for pizza or ice cream. The staff said that although the residents may not understand the “Pay It Forward” concept, the staff would “pay forward” Al’s gesture.

September 13th – Jennifer Gryn

Through a friend, Jennifer became aware of a man who was on a fixed income, who really wanted a vacuum but could not afford one. When Jennifer was out on the weekend, she found a vacuum cleaner at a yard sale and purchased it for the man.

September 20th – Dennis Arrand

Dennis, being a retired educator, has always had an interest in kids and their education. Dennis went over to Riverside Secondary School and asked the head secretary if there were any students in the school who were unable to pay their student fees. He was told the sad story of two boys at the school whose house had blown up and they had lost everything. The family was struggling financially. Dennis used his $25 from the “Pay It Forward” program and matched with his own funds to pay the student fees for one of the brothers. He hopes that someone else in the Club can follow his lead and help the other boy.

September 27th – Karen Cichon

Karen spent some time with a friend who won some money. This friend decided to donate the money to the Humane Society. Karen decided to put her $25 with her friend’s to help the Humane Society.

October 4th – Linda Seaton

Linda contacted Community Living to see if they had any particular clients who needed some extra help. They told her about a woman who had had a bad accident and would be hospitalized for several weeks, and was having some financial difficulties as a result. Linda matched the $25 with her own funds and donated $50to this woman. Also, when I tried to give Linda her $25, she asked me to donate it to the R.E.L.A.Y. Project.

October 11th – Lea-Ann Suzor

Lea-Ann knows a woman named Maria Douglas who makes bracelets and sells them. For each one sold, Maria donates money to a school breakfast program. Lea-Ann chose to donate her Pay It Forward money to Maria. Maria was able to buy several boxes of cereal and other supplies for the breakfast program.

October 18th – Ann Marie Athavale

Ann Marie sent out an email to her colleagues at work, looking for ideas for “Pay It Forward”. She received a flurry of emails with lots of ideas. The staff at Empire Communications decided to all pitch in and they bought a Thanksgiving dinner for a family who could not otherwise afford it. Two members of Ann Marie’s staff delivered the food along with some pumpkins to the family and spent some time with them.

October 25th – Carlo Abati

Carlo’s secretary has a family member who helped start an orphanage and agricultural training centre in Zambia, called Kasisi Children’s Home. Carlo matched his $25 for Pay It Forward and his secretary matched it as well, and they sent $75 to Kasisi Children’s Home.

November 1st – Alan Drouillard

Alan was previously made aware of the needs of St. John’s elementary school in the west end of Windsor. Alan knew about their breakfast program and knew that they were always looking for help to purchase enough food to keep the program running for their students. As a result, Alan used his $25 to purchase cereal for the breakfast program and delivered it to the principal of the school.

November 8th – Bob Morand

Bob read about the concept of Micro-Credit in a recent edition of the Rotarian magazine. This concept is being used by the Hearts for Haiti organization, although it was started by another organization. Bob is going to do some further research into Micro-Credit and use his $25 to contribute to a Micro-Credit project.

November 15th – Mike Browne

Mike got a call from a client asking if Rotary might be able to help a family who was struggling financially and could not afford to buy Thanksgiving dinner. Mike used his own funds to take the family shopping, where they bought a turkey and all of the trimmings. The family wanted to “pay it forward”, so they invited another family over to share the Thanksgiving dinner with them.

November 22nd – Roger Brothers

Roger contacted the Crohn’s and Colitis Society to see if they were aware of someone suffering from Crohns or Colitis who needed some extra help. Roger was told of an individual with Crohn’s disease who was currently unemployed. Roger used his Pay It Forward money to purchase several supplies for this individual at the Shoppers Home Health Care store.

November 29th – Danielle Stuebing

Danielle contacted a teacher she knew at Davis public school, a local compensatory school, and asked if there was a student there who needed a winter coat or other warm clothes. The teacher told Danielle about a boy in Grade 5 whose family had recently lost everything in a fire. Danielle matched the Pay It Forward funds and purchased a coat and hat for the student.

December 13th – Jim Grundy

First of all, Jim decided to Pay It Forward and spread the good work of our Rotary Club by purchasing several R.E.L.A.Y. calendars to send to clients. Jim also helped to organize and “Adopt a Family” project within his office to help a family who was struggling financially this Christmas. Jim and his colleagues raised $750 for the family.

December 20th – Bill Proulx

Bill read an article in the paper about the struggle of homeless people in the community to stay warm in the cold weather. He read how a group was trying to get blankets donated to distribute to homeless people. Bill called one of his supplier companies and asked them to donate 100 roll-up blankets to this program. The blankets were donated and given to the organizers of the program to distribute. Because Bill did not have to spend his $25 to get the blankets, he gave it to the RELAY Kenya team to buy treats for the children at the school in Kenya.

January 3rd – Laura Gray

Laura decided that she would try to make hospital stays for children more enjoyable, so she used her “Pay It Forward” money to purchase six different DVD’s for the Windsor Regional Hospital Children’s Department. To be used by the children during their stay there.

January 10th – Paul Charbonneau

Paul took a different approach to the Pay It Forward program. He decided that he could make a contribution to the project by spreading the Pay It Forward message beyond the Rotary Club, by creating a blog site called Pay It Forward Wins. Paul included some of our Rotary members’ stories on it already and he hopes to inspire others who read the blog to get involved in Paying It Forward and to share their stories on the website.

January 17th – Debra Harshaw

As Debra thought about what she could do to Pay It Forward, she began to think about the importance of raising children. She decided to try to find a single or teen mom to help. She contacted a friend who is a nurse and asked if she knew of someone that Debra could help. The nurse said that she found the perfect person to help. Although this mom was not a teen, nor was she a single mom, she needed help. The woman was from Congo, and she and her husband spoke only French, and they had to flee the country because they spoke out against the government. The woman was in the hospital with premature twins, and the couple already had a 5 year old girl. Debra used her Pay It Forward money to purchase warm clothes for the young girl, as she had not coat or warm clothing.

It Just Happened

A friend of mine in the building and his Assistant helped carry my groceries as I had sooooooo many bags to carry....to my door at the 18th floor. My husband had just unloaded the car to find a parking spot and left the groceries in the main lobby. Anyway....his Assistant is about 25 and he is in his 70's. I gave them both bracelets and they were delighted. The younger one had to tell the older one all about the meaning behind the bracelet....and I heard her still talking about in the hallway minutes later.....it's infectious!

Whoa! My husband just came in the door and said his car battery had died last night and some stranger jumped his car for him. He then gave him the bracelet. The stranger was so pleased and said he'd PIF, too.

Nikki

West Boca High

My name is Rebekah and i go to West Boca High. Recently, my English teacher Mrs. Donney showed us the movie, "Pay it Forward". It really affected me, and the ending was very emotional but true. It seems the only way for something to change for "good", is if something tragic happens to someone, and in the movie it was Trevor.

I volunteer and two local hospitals and i see young kids with cancer and other terminal illnesses; it's very emotional. I visit with many children at the hospital to help cheer them up, but I i have 13 kids that I always make sure I visit while I'm there. Over the past four months I have become close with two girls, Elizabeth and Amanda both 9 years old. Amanda just recently passed away a week ago and her parents would bring her stuffed animals or toys to play with, but if she saw another kid who she thought needed to be cheered up she gave it to them. I was really touched by what she would do to help others, and watching Pay it Forward in school had the same concept and I really like the idea of returning the favor to someone else if someone had helped you out and you couldn't pay them back if you would never see them again.

Now, as for Elizabeth, she loves reading books. So every time I visit her I try to stop at borders on the way to visiting her so she has a new book to read. After watching Pay it Forward, i decided to buy the book and bring it to the hospital and read it to Elizabeth. Before starting the book, I told her a little bit about it first. I started reading the book to her and figured that I would read a little at a time, so I read just the first 15 pages. As I was about to leave, her friend came in to drop off her work she had missed in school that day. I set the book down on the small table beside her bed so she could read it later. As I was walking out of her room, I heard her telling the story to her friend; before I closed the door I heard her say, "Thanks". That's when I truly realized how big of a difference one person could make in the world. If you can't return the favor to someone who has helped you, return the favor to someone else and put a smile on their face.

-Rebekah

PS- Charley, sorry for this long letter, but I was wondering if I could order some of the bracelets that say "PAY IT FORWARD" on it. I would love to hand them out to the kids I visit at the hospital, and get some for them to hand out to their friends and family so they can pass the message on to everyone. I was thinking of maybe out 40 bracelets; so I can give one to all 13 kids I visit and have some for them to give way to people they feel has some something. Please reply back. 
Thanks. =]

Positive Ripples

The Pay It Forward wristbands have been a big hit with our students! The students have been asked to write about traditions their family has (or they wish they had) that keep the family connected. They have been talking about fun things that families can do together - besides the obvious holidays, reading together before they go to sleep, taking a walk on Sunday, watching a TV show together. Some of our children get themselves up and to school each morning without parental interaction. Encouraging some family together time and some extra kindness toward each other have been among the goals. The students have been eager to do something nice and present the wristband to the recipient. Your gift is creating positive ripples in our community.

THANK YOU!

Judy

Lake Gibson Middle School

A quick note to thank you for the great wrist bands that my 7th and 8th grade students here at Lake Gibson Middle School have come to love! Our efforts to spread the word are paying off as my students are making publicity posters to get the word out and have given away most of our wrist bands already. We love to have more, if possible.

I have had several teachers approach me about what we are doing and what it all means… they have seen a difference in the attitudes of many of my students that have bought-into the program. Thanks for making this wonderful tool available to us for our students.

Sincerely,
Tina P Brennan
Critical Thinking Teacher
Lake Gibson Middle School
Lakeland, Fl.

La Bonita Ole, Inc.

I am a Human Resources Manager for a company called La Bonita Ole, Inc. We are a tortilla manufacturer in Tampa, Florida consisting of about 55 employees to date and growing daily! We have been experiencing some issues in our workplace that I feel may be related to negative thoughts and various other things taking place and I have had it on my mind to do something to bring us together as a whole. I recently watched "the secret" and learned about how to bring things into your life by bringing good energy and thoughts into your life. This is such an easy concept when you think about it but I think that we all get lost in the moment at times. This brings me to your site and why I am writing you. I would like to order some wrist bands to use as a tool for my company and I think that I would also like to do this in my church. This is a great way to promote PIF and the wonderful things that this brings to your life and the feeling that you get when you pay things forward. I personally LOVE the concept and already have a plan to use it in the morning for someone in need. How do I go about placing a large order. I am definatley willing to pay for them since I will need quite a few to get going.

I am so excited...I can't wait!

Melanie Bodiford
La Bonita Ole, Inc.

Band Students

Well, you'd be happy to know that one of my students is in a band and he performs locally and at school talent shows....and he plans to throw out some pay it forward bracelets into the audience....he performs 3 or 4 times a week and has used up your bracelets....so can you send out some more? Also, in a little while we will send some over to Iraq.......you send however many you think is best.

Mrs.Donne

Kids in Action

I just wanted to tell you something kind of cool.....
I have been student teaching 6th grade now since the first part of January. This past week I brought in those Pay it Forward bracelets and did a lesson. We watched a clip from the movie and I had my students come up with a plan to "Pay It Forward." They decided they wanted to see how many days it would take for the bracelets to get to the kindergarteners in the school. They planned to do something nice for someone in a grade below them and explain that they needed to do something nice for someone a grade below them until it hopefully will get to the kindergarten. We'll see what happens. They are pretty excited about it though.

Bayley

Classroom Visit

Hey! Pictures 1-3 are of TOM, my student, who is a Marine and has been to Iraq once. These pictures are of his visit to my classroom when he returned home last April! As you can see he is a very genuine person. He will be going over the end of March. Last pic is TOM's friend, MATT, who is already over for a second time and due home the middle of April.

Just something to share with you...today, my students really requested some more bracelets as their friends are asking for them....One kid even put a pen mark on his because when he takes it off for P.E. he doesn't want his to get mixed up with other people's!!!! That means they are OUT THERE!!!! WHOO-HOO!! I may be asking for more at a later date, Charley....so be prepared....THANKS....Mrs.Donney

Bracelets and Books

Sorry it took so long to finally e-mail you to let you know that I did receive the second box of bracelets that you sent me.

We collected about 150 books for the children's hospital and each book has a bracelet attached to it. The hospital thought it was a great idea. We will be delivering the books around the end of the month. I will let you know how it goes.

At the school we are working on our Pay it Forward idea. One of the things that we have come up with is to give all of the children bracelets and tell them that they need to come up with an idea of doing an act of kindness, follow through with it and to pass the bracelet on to that person (this is to be done outside of the school). Each child will be responsible for writing a brief story describing how they used their bracelet. We would then pick a person to read the stories and pick one child from each grade to win an award for their idea. However, all of the children who submit stories will receive a certificate.

I was wondering if you would be interested in being the person who reads the stories and picks the child from each grade who has the most creative idea. I understand that you have a job that I am sure keeps you quite busy, but I just felt that maybe you would be a great candidate for this. You have no connection to anyone in the school so I don't have to worry about people saying it was fixed and you are the person who created the bracelet.

I really do understand if your schedule doesn't leave you with the time for this so please feel free to decline.

We have 600 children in our school. I will not send you 600 stories, instead I will probably read through them and send you about 300.

Again, thank you for your generosity
Illyse Tynan

Elementary Schools

A box of 1,000 bracelets came on Thursday and by next Wednesday will be reduced to 300....Three fifth grade classes at one of my elementary schools really ran with it and are doing school community projects. THANKS

Take Care, 
Lindann

Cheering Some People Up

I love those quotes, keep them coming! Mrs. Donney has been teaching us a lot about Helen Keller since you sent the one quote out by her. Thanks so much for those bracelets. I recieved them on Saturday, but my internet has been down for the past 2 weeks and it got fixed this morning. I just wanted to say thanks for the bracelets, the kids loved them. They were all passing them out to everyone at the hospital, even some of the nurses received some. Elizabeth was handing them out to random people to walked by her room, hoping to cheer some of them up. I think it worked, and she had fun doing it I have a few left... hoping to give them to Amanda's family, the one who recently passed away from a brain tumor. Thanks for the bracelets again!

-Rebekah

HERE IS MY FAVORITE HELEN KELLER QUOTE:
Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.

-Helen Keller

Making the World a Better Place

Robert Held, from Held Properties in Los Angeles, is kicking off a "Pay It Forward" Initiative with his staff. It would be great if you could e-mail him with your bracelet story and also send him some bracelets as well. The bracelets were well received by our staff and our community. I have cc Robert on this e-mail so you will have his e-mail address and you can contact him for address information, etc.

Thank you for making the world a better place!

Julie K. Peterson, SPHR Human Resources Manager

Life Lesson

I sent my son to Florida on Christmas break. He invited a friend who has never been out of the state of Ohio, and has never had two nickels to rub together. The kid's parents were struggling to figure out how they could afford the plane ticket even tough we have a condo which made everything pretty much free once they got there.

The kid came to my house one night still not sure if his parents could pull it off. I handed him a plane ticket along with the one pay it forward bracelet I brought back from Presidents Forum. I just said " here you go now pay it forward." That was the best $350 I have ever spent. It impacted my son, and his underprivileged friend as much as a life experience could. And, they paid pay it forward at random all during their trip.

Thanks for the great concept and life lesson. I think I got more out of it than both of them, and I want to keep it going!

Regards,
Dale Limes MAS

Church Group

I just got off the phone with my pastor and told him all about it. I presented this idea last night in our small group study at church and my group went crazy with it and said that yes, we had to do this. We will be presenting the bracelets at all Masses on Palm Sunday, and giving them out in our school on Monday of Holy Week. What is so exciting is that our Spring Break starts that Good Friday, and I foresee these bracelets going all over the country as people and their families leave to travel. In particular, I am going to be taking ours to Grand Cayman to see how I can get it started down there. I am also sending some to my daughter at Notre Dame and she will be giving them out up there. When I first heard about your Pay It Forward bracelets, I thought it was one of the most incredible ideas I had ever heard. Again, thank you for your generosity. We will make a difference and I will be sending you stories! I love reading the stories on your website! I say, we need you on Oprah!

Have a great day, Charley!

Mary-Beth Owen

Spreading Like Wildfire

I received the bracelets yesterday and want to not only thank you for the donation but to comment on how impressed we are about the quality! They have been spreading like wildfire from the office. I would say that we will have given them all out by mid week next week.

Thanks for helping us to make a difference!

Yours,
Dr. Warren Corson III NCC, LPC, ACS
Clinical / Executive Director
Supervision Services
Community Counseling of Central Connecticut Inc.
We treat people not privilege...

Birthday Gift

Because you gave my Mother the bracelets as a Birthday gift.....she gave them to her yoga instructor to give out to her class. This past weekend was their Teacher Training Session and each participant was given your Pay It Forward bracelet. They wore them the whole weekend. When you contribute the sum of $500.00 (as they did as a group) that qualifies the monies to go to a community-based program in the world. Suzanne, the main teacher, is friends with the author of the book/movie and also the (co?)founder of the P.I.F. Foundation. As a result of their past donations and interest and personal relationship with Katherine....my Mom's bracelet started their interest in the foundation. Now.....my Mother's yoga instructor was just invited to serve on the Board of the foundation.....and ACCEPTED the proposal!!!!!My Mom wanted you to hear of this wonderful occurancee....plus she received a Thank You card from each trainee!!!! They were all so grateful!!!!

Don't you just love this story?! They will now practice their yoga lifestyle....off the mat!

Nik

Survivor

I attended high school with Diane Lamperti Donney. She recommended that I contact you. I am a cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of breast cancer 3 ½ years ago. I have undergone 4 surgeries, 16 months of chemo, 35 rounds of radiation and will be on medication the rest of my life. It has been tough, but I am tougher. My children are participating in the "Relay for life" walk in a couple of weeks at their high school. I was wondering if you would be able to donate a couple of bracelets. It would be so awesome.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Debbie De Salvo

Students Paying it Forward

The students are going through the bracelets - here are some of the many PIF’s:

• Brittany saw a man whose anchor line was dragging from his boat – she realized the potential for danger and alerted him
  She also helped an elderly man pump gas in his car
• Jeff helped someone get food – the man had no money
• Jerry volunteered his time stocking at work w/out being compensated
• Aaron helped someone stay encouraged for upcoming testing (required to Graduate)
• Joel bought lunch for someone that could not afford lunch
• Daniel fixed someone front brakes for free
• Jessie was present for a friend who was having a difficult time
• Leonard helped someone with a Medical Emergency
• Ricky helped organize activities for the neighborhood children

MORE TO FOLLOW – THANKS 4 the Quotes!

LK

Gateway High School

Leslie Knowles asked me to forward to you this note that I sent her. She and I are colleagues at Gateway High School; I teach Reading and Social Studies, and I have had the good fortune of working together with her on the School Improvement Plan and the School Advisory Committee, as well as some lesson planning activities.

We both hope you enjoy reading what follows, in which I describe one result of the "Pay It Forward" concept and your generosity in providing us with bracelets.

Sincerely,
Beth Hennessey (Great story below)

Technology Conference

Thank you so much for sharing with me the Pay It Forward promotion you organized. I'm writing to tell you of its immediate impact.

As you know, I went to the Technology Conference on Friday to assist Peggy from Skills Tutor with her presentation. When Peggy asked if I wanted a gift certificate to a restaurant or to a book store as a thank you gift, I gave her my Pay It Forward bracelet and explained the concept to her.

Later in the day she and I were passing the time in conversation. I mentioned the work I'll be doing at Turtle Nest and asked what the cost of the Skills Tutor might be for their program. Peggy said she would arrange for them to have the program for free (and I received a confirmation of that today)! In her note, she said that this 'grant' to Turtle's Nest is her way of 'Paying It Forward." I know this will make you smile!

I'm so excited to be able to share the software with the students there; the programs include reading, language arts, math, and science.

As always, you are truly an inspiration in my life.

Thanks again. 

B

Perfect Impression

I will! It is interesting how this all came about! We have an acquaintance who has 2 children and she was going into Kidney failure. (from her first kidney transplant.) Well the kidney she had that was dying was from her brother 6 years earlier. I'm married and have 2 children of my own. When my husband & I heard about the decline in her health my husband asked me if he were a match could he donate his kidney to her. Well we thought about it and realized that if he didn't she would die. (Her family lives out in California and we're in New Jersey.) So he started all the paper work and tests that go into checking to see if he was a match. He was a match but in the mean time she slipped further & further into rejection. Her life partner was tested too and she too was a match. But the test to see if she was healthy enough to donate came back with more troubling news for the family, she wasn't well. So we took care of both of them for about 6 months. Cooking dinner and bringing it to them, dropping off and picking up the kids for school, cleaning, we did everything. We really didn't even know them (they were friends of our neighbor) but we saw the need for this family and their children and decided someone had to help. So we did, but her transplant doctor in CA told her to come back to CA with her family and they would retest her partner. So they did and it turned out that her partner was able to donate her kidney to her out in California. When they did return to NJ they gave us the movie "Pay It Forward" (which we had never seen or heard of) and she told us that she will pay our kindness forward too.

The whole reason I told you this is because people do random acts of kindness. My daughter had open heart surgery when she was 5 years old.(It will be 5 years ago this May). People we didn't even know kept us in their prayers and helped support our family financially and mentally when we were going through the worst time in our lives. So a few years later when we heard about this family we thought why not help strangers because we were helped so much. But we never even realized we were "Paying it forward!" So when I saw you had these bracelets I ordered some for my husband who is co-director of our daughters youth group in our church. And we've been giving them out, and then when we told my sister-in-law about it she thought of her companys event and THAT'S HOW WE KEEP TRYING TO "PAY IT FORWARD!!! Thanks for your time and for getting these bracelets out there we'll do our part too.

Lisa DiBonaventura
The Perfect Impression

Food Drive

I wanted to thank you again for the wristbands that you sent us. They have been distributed among the Bank of America DCT Associates and I wanted to share with you the results of our first quarter project – a food drive. Our Associates are located in several cities throughout the United States. Here are the results

1. Concord - Raised $3000 (+ match) for Contra Costa/Solano Food Banks
2. Texas – There are teams in Addison and Dallas
3. North Texas Food Bank – $505 with matching gift for a total of $1,010.
• Food Bank of Greater Tarrant County – $25 with matching gift for a total of $50.
• This is a total of $530 (with matching gift – $1,060) for “Feed the Hungry” campaign.
4.  Charlotte – The team collected $205 in monetary donations and made candy bags for the children at the Center of Hope for Valentines Day. When they dropped off the donations they had the opportunity to stay and help another organization set up the dinning room for the Valentine’s Day Dinner that was given that evening.
5. Seattle - $400 in cash donations and 50 sacks plus 2 boxes of groceries benefiting Food Lifeline
6. Delaware – The NE team volunteered at the Delaware Food Bank in March. In 3 hours, they packed 222 emergency kits for the food bank (completing a weeks worth of work) and dug into their own pockets to purchase a pallet of cereal to help replenish supplies. This represented 300 pounds of Cheerios! The picture below is of our Delaware team.

We have had great fun involving all our Associates and are looking forward to our second quarter effort. Thanks again for your support.

Sharon

Technology is Easy

The bracelets have been distributed throughout school. We are wearing our own for a few weeks as a reminder to do something kind for others. At the end of the year we will send our bracelet out into the world. We would love to set up a web site or blog for recipients to report where our bracelets go. The technology is easy. The stumbling block is figuring how to get a web address to adhere to the bracelets. Has anyone tried something like this that you know of? Suggestions for "writing" on the bracelet?

Everyone wants to know what the symbol means on the bracelet. I don't know the answer!

Thanks, 
Margo Tesch

Always Paying it Forward

Shelly Duben asked if I had ever dropped you a line. I was privileged to meet her at a recent One Book-One Community event in Northern MI (she drove four hours to meet me and tape two little messages for the folks at home). She tells me that you have given her 4,000 of the Pay It Forward bracelets!

That's pretty generous. Almost fits the Pay It Forward concept itself (kidding, of course, it perfectly fits it).

I also know you were very generous in sending a good supply to our Pay It Forward Foundation, and that Vance and Charlotte were very excited about that. I probably should have dropped you a line at the time, but frankly it never occurred to me that you would want to hear directly from me. Until Shelly suggested that you might. I guess I spend so much time with me, I fail to see the big deal. But I do want you to know that I'm out here noticing what you do.

It's really cool to have a Pay It Forward bracelet. One of those things that makes me feel that the concept has really "arrived."

Thanks for being so nice about spreading them around with your compliments.

My best to you,
Catherine (Ryan Hyde)

www.cryanhyde.com
www.payitforwardfoundation.org
www.payitforwardmovement.org