Paying it Forward

Happy holidays, everyone! I'm still very much in the holiday spirit, because just yesterday (December 29th) I crossed another item off my list:

#23. Do an anonymous pay it forward - check!

This one, similar to the Thriller dance on Halloween, just felt like the right timing to do in December. Why? Everyone is in cheerful and giving moods, and families in need are scraping together savings to support gifts and even necessities for their children.

This was an item on my list that I struggled with for a while - trying to figure out exactly what to do. But over time I developed a set of criteria that ultimately led to what I chose to do yesterday.

Earlier in the year I considered paying for someone's meal in the drive-thru behind me, but didn't think that would be impactful enough. Sure, it might be a nice surprise for someone, but what if they didn't necessarily appreciate someone picking up their $5.65 value meal at McDonald's? It would still be a random act of kindness, but I wasn't convinced it was as impactful as I wanted to make crossing off this item. I needed my pay it forward to make a definite, impactful, positive difference.

I also considered paying for someone's heating bills this winter and even checked out heatupstlouis.org for more information. However, I was deterred because it seemed to be simply giving to another charity. (Not that it's an unworthy one, but I already give my share to many other worthy charities and organizations like St. Jude's, St. Louis Children's Hospital, The United Way, Zeta Tau Alpha and the MS Society.) Similar to why I eliminated a large donation in a Salvation Army bell-ringer's bucket, I decided that I also needed my pay it forward to affect a specific person or family rather than an organization.

So - what did I end up doing? I was inspired by a movement that started a few weeks ago and that I heard about during my morning routine while watching CNN Headline News. Strangers were going to Kmarts across the country and paying off other people's layaway bills. Genius! Not only did this hit on my impactful criteria, but it was also a way to ensure that my pay it forward would affect specific families. So that's exactly what I did.

Yesterday I went to my local Kmart on Manchester road. (Yes, that's a picture of it from my car before I went in. Not sure what the ambulance was there for, but assuredly not for an emergency based on the pace I saw the EMT walking.) I had called earlier to inquire the easiest way to do my pay it forward, and they directed me to simply walk to the layaway counter in the store. So, that's what I attempted to do as I casually shopped through the aisles. Unfortunately, when I got there I found the counter was closed and they were directing customers to the front of the store for layaway payments.

A few purchased miscellaneous items later, I was at the front counter informing the woman there that I would like to be a "good samaritan" and pay off someone's layaway bill. To which she replied, "Oh, how nice of you. I'm going to call the manager and he'll meet you back at the layaway counter to take care of it."

So I headed back to the layaway counter to meet the manager who was there right away. He helped me to identify specific families by looking for items that had children's toys, clothing and essentials (bedroom furniture) and phone numbers listed so that he could call them to tell them the news. With me there in spirit, (but not geographically as she was home for the holidays,) was Nancy Featherstone, who when I told her about my pay it forward mission was 100% on board with helping. And help we did - four families to be exact. It felt great! The manager shook my hand and thanked me when all was said and done, and he asked if I had a message for the families when he called them to tell them they only had $0.01 left on their layaway bill. All I could think of was, "Happy Holidays! ...and Pay it Forward" as a lame-sounding add-on, but hopefully one that's taken to heart by the families we helped. The manager reassured me by saying, "Trust me, this makes a huge difference to people", and I was glad to hear that other people had done this same thing at his store many times before.

So, that's it! Another one checked off the list. I wasn't the first to do this and I won't be the last, but it felt great sharing my story with the friends I met for dinner and drinks last night and sharing it now with my awesome blog followers. I hope it not only makes a positive impact on the four families we helped and encourages them to do something nice for someone else, but that it inspired many of you to do your own pay it forward or random act of kindness. Wouldn't the world be a better place if it did? If so, then Operation 30, Item #23: Mission Accomplished.

Timestamp (getting dangerously close to less than 100 days - yikes!):