On our facebook page we’ve been having some ‘pay it forward’ give aways. Some have asked, “what does this mean?” so I thought I’d explain a little better here.
To read all about the history of ‘paying it forward’, you can read more online, and at this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_it_forward
This has been a long standing demonstration of generosity. Personally for me, it simply means realizing one’s blessings in life and doing for others in whatever way you can. We are all blessed, no matter what our situation in life, there is always some small blessing in each and every day. It doesn’t always FEEL that way, but it is true. I feel when we go out of our way to bless others, it in turn blesses us because we are realizing the needs of others and not just our own. Our society today has become much to ‘me me me’ and this is our small way of trying to take the emphasis off ‘me’ and putting it on ‘you’.
We make cloth products, so to pay it forward, we share those products when possible. If we have some extra’s and feel we can afford to spend a little extra on the cost of shipping, we like to share and offer some up as a ‘pay it forward’. It’s our way of sharing with others as an appreciation of all our customers sharing with us. This business isn’t a ‘hobby’ and it’s not ‘just for fun’. It’s a very large part of our family income and very much a necessity. We appreciate our customers, and we want you all to know this! So we pay it forward.
As we play these games on our facebook page, I want you all to stop and consider how you can ‘pay it forward’ to others. You don’t need to have money to ‘pay it forward’, often times we can bless others without any funds at all! We can go out of our way and do something nice for someone. We can smile and say something nice that’s totally unexpected and could make someone’s day. We can put aside our own wants for a moment and give our child an extra few moments of our attention by doing what THEY want to do for a while. We can bake something and share it with someone we know will enjoy it. We can help a friend, or a stranger, in need. There are SO many ways to ‘pay it forward’.
To participate in our very own ‘pay it forward’ games on facebook, you need not pay it forward in any particular way. All you do is simply comment on our ‘pay it forward’ posts and by doing so, you’re simply promising to try your best to figure out a way to ‘pay it forward’ to someone else! It can be however you want, and to whomever you’d like to bless! There’s no rules about how, or when, etc.. It’s really just about opening our eyes to those around us and not just our own situations. This can be pretty tough at times, but greatly rewarding!
If you’ve got a ‘pay it forward’ idea or story to share, please feel free to leave a comment!
Our small community of Milton-Freewater,Oregon has been paying it forward helping one of our own families.This family lost everything they own and their 6 year old daughter in a housefire this past Tuesday.My girls found some books and clothes to give the 5 year old.The school they attend was giving all the proceeds of the Friday treats(the kids get a treat like candy or fruit on Friday’s for only 25 cents) to the family.Our school board is doing a benefit auction and I am donating some of the custom cards I make to the auction.Finding little ways to bless this family is so fulfilling.If I can make their lives a little comfortable and easier right now in the midst of such sadness and pain well then I have made their day.
What a wonderful story Missy! Thank you for sharing!
Our very first Christmas after we were married we had the opportunity to bless a family due to a house fire as well. They lost everything too but what a tragedy for this family in your town to loose a child as well. 🙁 So heart breaking.
I have a really nice story to share, about the generosity of strangers that just blew me away. I had something really awesome happen diaper wise recently. As you know, my youngest son is currently an out-patient from the Toronto Hospital of Sick Children and is being investigated for vacterl syndrome and will be undergoing heart surgery as well as pollicization surgery in the next few months. We spend a lot of our time at Sick Kids, and I have come to know some of the moms in the various clinics and the staff, partially from Harry’s issues but also from when I was a palliative volunteer there. I always bring Harry in his cloth and try to use cloth whenever we have to stay over night, so I’m pretty well known for my love of cloth and desire to increase my stash. I was mentioning that I had answered an ad from kijiji that offered bathces of PF’s, covers, fitteds, AI1 and flats. I chose the PF and covers and was talking about how I was going to pick them up the next day. One of the grandmotherly type women who was in the waiting area was asking lots of questions as to where I found the ad, how I liked using cloth, did I find it difficult with all the visits to the hospital, etc. She said that her daughter had tried to use the cloth stuff with her kids but found it too hard and so was selling off her stuff. I didn’t think anything of it and had our test, went home and went to go pick up the stuff this morning…
when i met the lady for the dipes, instead of the smallish bag I was expecting for the money I was paying, she handed me this massive box just stuffed full of all types of diapers. I was a little confused until she explained that it was her mother I was talking to in the hospital yesterday and that they thought I could really use the diapers so she decided to give me her ENTIRE stash of dipes. I was shocked, totally didn’t know what to say! She said that she felt that I would use them well and asked only that if I wasn’t going to use them if I could pass them on to someone who needed them.
I am so grateful to this wonderful family and her generosity – just blown away. How did I pay it forward? I was also able to find a couple of other local mamas who wanted to try cloth and so I am giving them PF’s, covers and one of my snappis. I hope they make the switch and have asked them to spread the word to see if any other mama wants to try some out. I give out small samples of my detergent too, but i don’t have a lot of that left at the moment but will get some more.
Enjoy your Satuday! Hope its a nice and sunny as it is here 🙂