Individuals Paying It Forward

I am a middle school Sunday School teacher at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. Since the beginning of September, our class was trying to decide on a community service project, bet couldn't agree on what to choose. Some wanted to help the victims of New York City, some wanted to help the men and women overseas in the military, and some wanted to help the food banks, blood banks and service organizations in our community.

I prayed for the guidance to lead us in the right direction, and I woke up one night, sat up in bed, and said aloud "Pay It Forward." I had seen the movie three times, and needless to say, I was quite impressed. Then next morning, I got on the Internet and found your website. I could hardly believe it!

I shared the idea with my class, invited them to my home for a pizza party and viewing of the movie followed by a discussion of how we could integrate the idea into our project. There was a message in our church bulletin that day that the next Saturday would be our church's turn to volunteer at the St. Vincent de Paul warehouse. We decided to start there.

The first time we volunteered, we sorted, folded and hung bags and bags of clothes. We cleaned and organized dishes and moved furniture. Many of the students didn't see how we were making much of an impact. Then I took them to the waiting room and showed them over 100 families waiting to get towels, blankets, shoes, and clothes. This was the Saturday before Christmas when most people in their world were thinking about giving and receiving presents, and they saw people who were just trying to stay warm and survive.

We now volunteer once a month and they're really seeing the importance of every job we do there, no matter how minor it may seem. Some of them are working with the clients, especially the Spanish speaking clients, because many of our teens can speak Spanish better than the older volunteers. Others are going on runs to deliver and pick up furniture. The staff at St. Vincent de Paul can see the willingness of our group to help, and they're giving them more responsibilities.

Our hope is that through our volunteer work, we'll be able to make at least three connections to "Pay It Forward" in a way that's hard and big as Trevor puts it in the movie. We would like to be part of your movement and would appreciate it if you could send us the buttons and stickers. There are 15 students and myself in the class, but we would like more so we could pass them on to others who join the movement.

Please feel free to share our story, and I'll keep you updated on our progress.

Sincerely yours,

Christine Strattman