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Monday, January 6, 2014

Pam's Pay it Forward


our group:
Joanna, Allison, Ceci, and Pam 


PART 1
 
           What is Pay it Forward? Paying it forward is an action that basically spreads out like wildfire. It is started by one simply act of kindness, and after just say, pay it forward. In the movie "Pay it Forward" Trevor, decided to contribute to helping people's lives by doing a kind act for three people. These three people would pay it forward, and then next thing you know, you got thousands of people doing it too!
 
 
PART 2
 

 
            Our Pay it Forward act of kindness was:
  • Shovelling sidewalk, and some parts of our neighbour's walk (money raised goes to Typhoon Haiyan)
  • Giving out candy canes shaped as a heart with a small message such as "Have a Great Day!" or "You're awesome!", and a small sentence explaining pay it forward
  • Small Gifts for teachers to show that we care about their hard work with our education
  • Kitchenware such as mugs and cups that we designed, given to the neighbours who had given us money
  • A box of candy canes for the daycare beside the school

      We chose this activity because we thought that all these activities were very simple and we thought that we should do many simple activities rather than doing one complex idea. We chose to shovel our neighbours' walk and also the sidewalk so they would save time and see how much we wanted to help. We are younger, and we can do it, and hopefully, we also want someone to do this to us when we are older and uncapable. We chose to give out candy canes shaped as a heart with a small message to brighten up their day. A very simple yet big message. When they get home from doing anything, hopefully, they'll feel better and turn a bad day into a good day, also, they'll wonder about Pay it Forward. We designed mugs, cups, etc. to give to the neighbours who had given us money although we had rejected.  We chose to do this because we wanted them to know that we did the shovelling for not just the money, but to make a difference. We gave the box of candy canes to the daycare near our school so that the children could have a little treat, and also, so show that we support them and the hardwork put into taking care of all the children.

        We helped the community by shovelling the sidewalk, and we also helped the neighbourhood with the candy canes given out.  Another group we had encouraged were our teachers, giving a card and a little treat to show that we appreciate their hard work. We also helped the neighbours by sending a basket with mugs and cups we had designed. We also supported the daycare beside the school and the victims of Typhoon Haiyan by donating $40.

          We did our act of kindess or our Pay it Forward activity during the winter break we were given. We did this around the days of December 29-30th.


PART 3
 

         I think our act of kindess went well. I wouldn't say it was perfectly done, no mistakes, because we did have a few bumps in our road. We couldn't shovel the whole neighbourhood (two sidewalks) because it was a very cold day, also, we had planned to give the mugs and etc. to the elderly home near Cookatoos, but when we called, we still had a problem since it had to go through more security measures, and etc. Another problem was that we couldn't create enough candy canes shaped as a heart and re-writing every single thing over and over again, and we didn't have a printer available.

         With my mindset before, I thought the whole plan over and the overall process and activity was unexpected. When we shovelled the sidewalk, I thought that it would be easy, but it was very difficult with the weather and everything else. By accident, we shovelled our neighbours walk, but since we started, we can't just stop and we kept going. The snow was about or above our knees and it wasn't easy, finally, something unbelieveable happened. The neighbour opened their door and came and wanted to talk to us. They said how much time we saved for them and they wanted to thank us. This happened with two of our neighbours! We rejected, but they insist we kept the money. After thinking, we thought we should donate the money! We gave a letter to our neighbours and said how we gave the money received to charity so that they know where their money is going. With the mugs and cups, it was very difficult. We had to think of a design, draw it with a sharpie, and layer the sharpie 2-3 times so it had layers of sharpie. After that, we baked them to insure that the permanent marker would stay put. It was a very difficult process since we were just experimenting and we were scared that the mugs might shatter inside the oven which could be a very dangerous procedure to clean.

        I felt like I've changed. I felt that this project was going to be very hard and was going to take plenty of days, but it only took 2. It wasn't the most simpliest project, but it was very productive. We tried everything and we improvised for the best. I felt so appreciated when we shovelled and talked to the neighbours. They had thanked us and we can tell by their big grins that we made their day and made them happy. All the cold air went away when talking to them, until it came back again. :)  I felt different, like I'm not myself anymore, since I haven't shovelled for others. But I have to say, we had an urge to stretch at that point.

        The neighbours reacted with great smiles and amazed eyes. They were freezing but they had to talk to us even if their door was half open and it's freezing outside. We did the rest of the activities being anonymous. We felt that they might not be there, or we didn't need to name names to receive credit. The main objective is to pay it forward.

         We asked the neighbours that we shovelled sidewalks for to pay it forward, and one of them said that they loved that movie. That person had a job for inspiring people and being a difference maker. We also wrote very tiny notes to indicate to pay it forward and a brief summary of what pay it forward was for the candy canes.


PART 4 
 
         The idea of Pay it Forward is very critical for creating a kinder society. This spreads out just like a viral video. This helps brighten anyone's day, it's not very hard at all (you could do the simplest things such as open the door), and the best part, it goes on and on and on.
 
         
          Hopefully, our act of kindness has touched one heart and has spread around. Our act of kindness  has made a difference to their persepective on the world and how there are very supportive people in the world.
 
 
a video to show our activities


 

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