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.