Pay It Forward Movement

Pay It Forward, Milwaukee, WI

Hello,

I was moved by the movie Pay it Forward about 4 years ago. I decided to start a group in Milwaukee, Wisconsin of like minded souls based upon the premise of that movie. This group meets once a quarter, at which time we bring a story of a person who has been trying, but through no fault of their own have run into misfortune and need a little or in some cases a lot of help. We each pay annual dues of $500 and there are ten members in this group. Sometimes members move on and then they are replaced. The stories of the folks who have received the gifts (usually $1,000 or $500) have been sometimes heart wrenching, but in the end our Pay it Forward gift has truly been a gift to ourselves as well as the recipient. When the group decides to give a gift we send two members (a man and woman) to present it. We do it anonymously, meaning those delivering the gift share their first names, but we don’t divulge who told us of their story, or who the members of the group are. Watching the faces of those who have received our gift has been a life changer for those in the group as well as the recipient. We tell them that “it has been brought to our attention that you are someone who has been doing your best in this world and could use some help. We don’t expect anything in return, nor do we follow up to see what they do with our gift.” We are met with skepticism often as they are a bit unsure of our intentions. But our visits have never been turned down.

Pay It Forward, Milwaukee Club Rules

Instructions to Gift Reciepient

Karl's Discription of Actual Visit

We have been blessed to give over $20,000 in the past 4 years. Many families have been touched. When we give our gift, we hand them a Pay it Forward movie (to help them understand the basic concept of our group more fully), and instructions on how to form their own Pay it Forward Group if they are so moved. We also give them three packets of instructions so they can in turn pay it forward to three more recipients more easily. There’s no obligation for them to do so, but knowing the kind of people we’re gifting they most often are so inclined. I’ve attached the rules for our group and the instructions we hand to recipients. I want to share this not for any notoriety (as I wish my name and members of our group to remain anonymous) but in the hope that others will form their own groups across the world. Maybe at some point our groups could meet someday to discuss what we are doing and how we are helping to change the world one person at a time.

Our group has decided to share this story with your foundation in the hopes as I stated that others may want to use this model, or variations of this model to Pay it Forward to others in their cities and towns. We feel that this group may open doors to other ideas and concepts to help change the world for the better. Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. Thank you for starting your foundation and especially the inspiration “Pay it Forward” book and movie!

Here is a story a member just brought to our group. We have decided to give a gift of $1,000 which will be presented this week by two members of our group. With this gift we fully understand that we will not in any significant way be affecting their financial circumstances. Our intent is more to give them a little money to spend on the holidays, with the greater gift being the knowledge that people who don’t know them well care enough to share our blessings and our love with them. There in lies the real power of our gesture.

-Bruce
bruce@brucesteam.com

Our Story:

I'd like to tell you about a family I met just a couple of months ago, that is now in need of help. The family is a wonderful family who are facing tragic circumstances with grace, humility and even a sense of humor at times. The parents have four young children Paul (5), Mary (5) Sam (3) and Julia (3). I believe Julia is adopted from China, and about three months ago, Paul and Sam were adopted from Ethiopia. Just a few weeks after bringing Paul and Sam home from Ethiopia, Sam was injured and nearly killed in a tractor accident. It seems Sam's obsession with Spiderman is the cause of the accident. While someone was on the tractor mower, Sam hid in the tall prairie grass and jumped out in front of the tractor and tried to stop it with his invisible spider webs.

Sam sustained terrible and life threatening injuries from the tractor. He was transported from his home to a hospital by flight for life. As a result of the accident, little Sam has both legs amputated below the knee. His left arm is missing a lot of bone and is currently and maybe permanently useless. His hip/pelvis is fractured. His back and buttocks were skinned down to the spinal cord. He lost bowel function and currently has a colostomy bag. He has had many, many surgeries to address all aspects of his injuries, including pins in his arms, multiple skin grafts, the shortening of one of his legs, etc. In fact he is in surgery as I write this. He has also had difficulty eating and keeping food down. He is tube fed, but still often throws up.

Fortunately, Sam is making a wonderful recovery. Physically, he will never be the same, but he is slowly becoming a typical 3 year old, complete with love, spunk and even the occasional tantrum.

As you can imagine, with 9 weeks in the hospital, countless surgeries and the need for medical attention from multiple departments in the hospital, the medical bills are just beginning to pile up and will keep coming for a long time. This doesn't include the expenses associated with making a home wheel chair accessible and having to purchase a vehicle that can accommodate wheel chairs. Needless to say, this family's way of life has and will continue to change drastically.

Mom has been staying at the hospital full time in Milwaukee while Dad continues to work and act as a single parent for the remaining three children. As frequently as possible, the family tries to spend time together in the hospital. I'm sure the many trips are creating a quite a gas bill.

Mom keeps an online journal detailing Sam's progress. Her entries are so uplifting. With all this family has had to deal with, she still manages to count her blessings and see the humor in what many would consider to be humorless situations. She is so thankful she gets to parent this little boy. I would encourage you to visit the online journal to read the entries and see pictures of Sam.

As I mentioned, I met this family before the accident, and then I had the privilege of visiting Sam and his mother in the hospital one afternoon for a few hours. During my hospital visit I was amazed at how brave Sam was, and how despite all the tubes and bandages, he is really just a little kid. While I was there, a nurse came in to unwrap the bandages on his arm where several pins are protruding. He insisted on helping her unwind the bandages. He also took a Q Tip and rubbed cream around the pins - he was quite the helper, and he was really proud of himself.

I brought him a little toy gun that shoots nerf discs; it was one of the few toys I could think of that only required one arm and could be used in a hospital bed. His hand was too weak to pull the trigger himself so together we would count to three and then aim at his Spiderman balloon. He loved this game, and would delight in actually hitting the balloon. It felt great to give this little boy a few moments of normalcy.

Through my brief encounters with this family and the journal entries, it is clear to me that they understand and would happily embrace the concept of paying it forward. It seems they are already living by this philosophy. I can't imagine more deserving recipients of a Pay It Forward gift.