WHERE FRIENDSHIP LIES

Sexual Harassment

(to see topic-related resources from the Office of Civil Rights, click on the banner or visit their website)

(for more info on family law, divorce, child support, father's rights, etc., click on the banner or visit their website)

(to find laws by state-to-state regarding family law, click on the banner or visit their website)

(for more info on family law regarding civilian or military divorce, etc., click on the banner or visit their website)

ALERT! NOTICE! ALERT! NOTICE!

The “PAY IT FORWARD” Project and Challenge

by Raquel Y. Eldridge

     The other day, my home girl (thanks, T.A.) sent me a short video about a news story being done on this duo of

     women  who were performing random acts of kindness all around their city.  I’d done things of that nature before and

     the smile you get is worth every cent you’ve spent!  It is in that spirit that I knew I wanted to do more and create an

     actual Pay It Forward Project for myself and challenge others to get involved!

     The trick is not to do it simply for the purpose of karma.  Be kind without expecting anything tangible in return. 

     Anonymity is key whenever possible, but, that’s not always easy to pull off.  So whether it’s anonymous, semi-

     anonymous and non-anonymous, still do what you can to help in any way you can.  When you give, do not stifle the

     person with conditions or restrictions. Also, it’s important to keep it simple!  The more thought you have to put into

     something, or the more complex a task is, the less likely you are to follow through.

     There is an economic crisis occurring in our country, and every day, hundreds of jobs are being lost.  Those of us who

     are blessed enough to still be employed must attempt to bear some modicum of the responsibility of helping our

     fellow man survive.  In years past, when the stock market was running like a well-oiled money machine, and you felt

     pretty confident you’d never lose your job, it was easy to be flippant about the nation’s needy and homeless.  But,

     now, all the Enron’s, AIGs, Mortgage Companies, and the rest of the greedy business practitioners have left a lot of ill-

     prepared, misinformed people under the same bridge as the man who was a substance abuser or someone we chose

     to view as “chronically lazy”.  We have been forced to see our own faces on the faces of those standing in food lines

     or living in their cars.

     So, please take a moment to read the list of ideas for how you can join in on my personal challenge to help pay

     kindness and love forward over the course of the rest of the year.

     WARNING: There’s a very real chance that you’ll become addicted to the smiles of strangers…and what better

     addiction is there to have in this day and age.

Anonymous

     1.     Buy a bunch of “Get Well Soon” balloons and take them to your area children’s hospital.  Stop at the nurse’s

          station and say, “Would you take these to the kids in the Burn Ward or the Cancer Ward?”  Then simply walk

          away.

     2.     Go to the Post Office at Christmastime and ask for a Santa letter.  Get the child whatever it is he/she has listed at

           the top of his/her wish list and have it shipped to them from “Santa”.  Santa doesn’t HAVE to be a myth.

     3.     Pay for someone’s cleaning at the dry cleaners.  If it’s the type of place where people pay at pick-up, tell the

          cashier to go back to the rack and pull an order for one or two shirts and pay the bill for them.  Ask them to staple

          a “Pay It Forward” card on the order.

     4.     Donate Blood.

     5.     Have a bouquet of “Just Because” flowers to the “shy,” “quiet,” or “lonely-seeming” girl at the office.  Feign shock

          and non-involvement…never taking credit and never letting anyone else in the office know you sent them.

     6.     Call one of your local utilities and ask to pay the bill of an elderly citizen.  Or, if you know of a struggling single

          parent in your neighborhood, give the utility company their home address and say you’d like to pay something

          towards their current amount due (or past due amount).

     7.     Instead of throwing away the things you no longer want, donate your old clothing and furniture to the needy.  If you

          hold a garage sale, pledge to give at least 10% of the proceeds to a local charity or the food bank.

Semi-Anonymous

     1.     Write a generic letter of “Awesomeness” to a child or teen.  Everyone knows a teacher…so give the letter to a

          teacher and have him/her give it to the kid who is trying hard but still struggling in class.  The teacher could say, “I

          told someone about how hard you were trying to get a hold of this subject and they asked me to give you this

          letter.”

     2.     Pay the Beltway Toll/Parking Fee for the car directly behind you.

     3.     Go to discount stores or resale shops and buy children’s books or activity books and take them to a women’s

          shelter for distribution to the kids.

     4.     If you ever decide to cut your long hair short, don’t forget to braid, bind, and gather it for “Locks of Love” or a

          similar hair donation agency that makes wigs for people dealing with cancer treatments and recovery.

     5.     Hold a fundraiser for the teacher’s at a local or neighborhood school.  We already know they are severely

          underpaid for one of the toughest jobs in the world.  Help them get the supplies they need but the district can often

          not afford to give area children a better education.

     6.     Stockpile sweet (but non-romantic) Valentine’s Day cards as soon as the season is over and give those cards

          away all throughout the year. Hand them to strangers who pass you by on the street or your send them to your  

          friends via snail mail.

     7.     If you’re crafty, make use of your own down time while waiting during your own mundane tasks (waiting at the

          doctor’s office, etc.) by knitting scarves, blankets, caps, mittens or baby booties for the homeless or shelter-

          dwellers during the winter.

     8.     Prepare a nutritious sack lunch for a homeless person and hand it to him/her saying "have a great day”.

     9.     Volunteer at the local homeless shelter, the soup kitchen, animal shelter or senior's home. Time is the easiest

          thing you can give to others.

    10.   Pick up garbage at your local park.  It’s great exercise for you to walk the expanse, but caring for the earth

          beautifies the scenery for others at the park to enjoy and honors the environment simultaneously.

    11.   Write letters of support and encouragement to our soldiers who are protecting our country’s freedom all over the

          world.  If possible, get together a group of people and do a large care package for a random unit of soldiers or

          several small ones for individual soldiers.

Non-Anonymous

     1.     The next time a stranger says they like something simple on you (a bracelet, a scarf, a neck tie, etc.), if it’s not

          too sentimental to you, take it off and give it to them.

     2.     Let the person standing behind you in the “ten items or fewer” line go before you…if financially possible, tell the

          cashier to put their items on your ticket.

     3.     Visit an elderly neighbor’s house and ask them if they need to have anything repaired.  If nothing, sit with them,

          anyway, and keep them company for a few hours.  Ask them to tell you what the world was like when they turned

          twenty-one (or whatever age, but be specific…even people suffering with dementia hold onto long-term, old    

          memories better than what happened in their lives the day before.)

     4.     Commit time to volunteer at a local library to read a dozen books a year to some small children.

     5.     Tell the manager of a restaurant how great your waiter/waitress was.

     6.     If you’re just that kind of person who loves keeping children, offer to babysit your friend’s children to give them a

          night of freedom to do something they haven’t done in a while.

     7.     Cook a casserole for a new mom.  Caring for newborns is tiring and draining.  Mom will appreciate the ability to

          eat something home-cooked without having to cook it herself.

     8.     Buy a book for a college student.  It doesn’t have to be new, used ones work just as well, and you’ll be removing

          some of the debt that often plagues students for years into the future.

     9.     Clip a $5, $10, or $20 bill to a “Pay It Forward Card” and as you pass by someone’s table on the way out of the

          restaurant, drop or slip it on the table or simply hand it to someone sitting there.  If they refuse to take it, give it to

          the next table.

    10.  Buy Lottery Scratch-Off tickets and put one in an envelope with a “Pay It Forward Card” inserted.  Hand it to a

         receptionist on the way out of a business appointment.  You just might change that person’s whole life.

    11.  Mow or rake your neighbor’s lawn while you are mowing or raking yours or shovel someone’s walkway or de-ice

          their car if you’re shoveling or de-icing your own.

    12.  Drive an older person in the neighborhood to the grocery store (they will love the opportunity to get out of the

         house, as well) or if they aren’t able to go themselves, take their list and go to the store for them.  If at all possible,

         pay for their things.

    13.  At your office, thank the “little people”.  Everyone’s part is essential and no one’s job is purposeless.  Thank the

         mail guy, the girl who orders supplies, or the door person.

    14.  Share your umbrella with someone who doesn't have one on a rainy day.  I personally walked a man to his car one

          day during a pretty hard downfall at my office building.  He smiled at me and said, “Wow, there really are some

          thoughtful people left in this world.”  I smiled all the way home because it wasn’t that big a deal and his car was on

          the way to mine…but potentially, I refreshed his faith in people.

    15.  Develop an inner city beautification program that gathers on the weekends to mow too high lawns, plants produce

          gardens, pick up trash, paint over graffiti, and repair fences.

    16.  Be a mentor.

Pay It Forward Cards

     I mentioned in some of the suggestions the use of a Pay It Forward Card.  Create a note card or something that

     serves as notification that your random act of kindness was part of a Pay It forward campaign and that will hopefully

     inspire the recipient of your kindness to go be kind to someone else.  I went on Google Images and found this as an

     example: http://www.bccpd.bc.ca/sitecm/i/piflogo_temp.jpg

TO JOIN MY CAUSE ON FACEBOOK, PLEASE FOLLOW THIS LINK

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266382/40375012?m=95ac708a&ref=nf