How You Can Pay-It-Forward in Small Ways

If you have never seen the movie Pay it Forward, you have definitely missed out on a good thing. Inspired by an assignment given to him at school, a boy begins to pay it forward, to give something to another person, who in turn gives something to another person, and the effect rolls on to others like hundreds of falling dominos. Since that movie first aired, hundreds if not thousands of people have caught on to the idea of paying it forward to another person.

Oprah Helps to Pay it Forward

Oprah featured the pay it forward challenge on her show with fantastic results. She gave 1,000 people $300 each and asked them to do something 'inspiring and creative' with the money. The biggest surprise that came was more in the hearts of those who ended up giving, then from those who ended up receiving. Some of the participants simply gave out money in parking lots located in shopping centers. Others knew of someone in their neighborhood or found someone who truly needed a helping hand, and either bought them gift cards or helped them out financially in some other way. The recipients were surprised and happy at the goodwill they were receiving from a stranger, but those who gave got just as much out of giving as those who had received.

You Don't Have to Be Famous

You don't have to be famous like Oprah to use the pay it forward technique, or have riches in your bank account. Small steps are all that's needed to pay it forward to someone. How about an elderly person in your neighborhood who might need assistance with grocery shopping, errands or other household chores? You could call your community shelter to see if they need volunteers on a regular basis. If you are an animal lover, pay it forward to an animal and volunteer at your local Humane Society or other animal shelter.

Think Small

Recently I saw a blog post about paying it forward, which prompted my thought to write this article. The owner of the blog was asking others to pay it forward with their change, and enlist the help of their co-workers also. He said a very simple thing to do is to take a jar and ask everyone to drop in some loose change (or more if they wish) for one month. At the end of the month, they would choose a person or group of people to give the money to. Depending on how many people work in the office or your workplace, this could add up to a decent amount of money. At the end of the month you simply give the money to the person you wish to help, or purchase a gift card at a store to give to them.
You can do the same at home with your spare change. Everyone has spare change left over from buying a coffee every day, or a paper. How about putting that money into your own jar and saving it for a month or two? Then instead of rolling those coins or taking them to a coin machine where you can cash out, give the money to someone who really needs it.

You don't have to be Oprah or think on a huge scale when paying it forward. You can be creative and think of different ways of helping other people out. In the end, your heart will be full, and so will the person that you helped out.