Pay It Forward Stories 2020

I gave the Ravalli county junior rodeo club the 500 dollar pay it forward... the money was used to buy year end prizes for kids of all ages. This helps with keeping kids active in the rodeo lifestyle... Long live cowboys/cowgirls!!

Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for the Pay it Forward Employee Charitable Giving Program.  Chris Houck, with Envirocon, chose to pass the donation along to the Missoula County Public School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program, where his nieces attended Jefferson preschool with 7 kids who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have immediate family who are deaf or hard of hearing.  The class is a wonderful learning environment where both American sign language (ASL) and English are used.  The educational support team includes teachers of the deaf, interpreters, speech/language pathologists, and paraeducators who work hard to meet the various needs of the students.  This team does an amazing job of teaching the kids in a fun and exciting way - they've played musical instruments including the drums, guitar, harmonica, and harp; they've worked on pre-literacy activities; they've read so many books; they've sung and signed a lot of songs; they've played outside in the snow, rain, and sunshine; they've worked hard in ASL lessons and activities; they've made a lot of art with paint, crayons, scissors, and glue; and they've learned so much about the seasons, animals, vehicles, plants, camping and on and on!  The MCPS Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program was able to use the donation to purchase a surround Bluetooth speaker, which will allow connection to a variety of technology and have great sound amplification quality in the classroom.  The donation was also used for math manipulatives, a sight word game, some classroom teaching materials, and fine motor skill building tools.  Thank you for your kind and generous donation!  

The card was given to a young family of 6 (Mom, Dad and 4 children). The mom and dad are in their mid 30's and the kids are under the age of 8. The mother has been recently diagnosed with Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. During this time of COVID 19 the mother was in and out of the hospital with chemotherapy treatments and additional surgeries. She even spent 5 days in the ICU. All of this time in the hospital has been spent by herself, as her husband and family members are not allowed into the hospital. Aside from the cancer diagnosis, there were complications in her lungs. Not having family support has been challenging to say the least. Also, because of COVID 19 the father had fewer hours and work and had to take additional time off to help with the kids. Money has become tight. The gift card was mostly used to buy a certain type of air filter for their home, to help with her difficulties in breathing. It was also used for miscellaneous household expenses.

This year was a challenge in finding a recipient for the Pay It Forward program because of the Shelter In Place, so the extended giving period was greatly appreciated. The family that we chose to receive the money was a family of three that had been devastated by COVID-19 financially. The mother had lost her job and the father was self-employed and was unable to work in his line because of the pandemic. The family has a 2-year-old boy and was very appreciative of the funds. They will help use the funding to regain financial stability.

I donated my card to the Park County Rod and Gun Club youth shooting sports program. I'm on the board of directors at our small local club and myself and another member started a new shooter/ family night last year where we shoot trap once a week and grill out food so families can come out and learn to shoot trap and not have to worry about dinner plans when they get home. The money went towards a large order of various shooting supplies to keep the program going. This year has been even more busy with a large presence of MRL families, friends, and even people from surrounding towns. Your generous donation is extremely appreciated by the club and the families who participate in the program.
Thank You, Phil Tuccillo

I decided to use the pay it forward donation by donating it to our community church. They do so many events for our small town and bless so many lives. We were informed that this pay it forward card would go to a youth vacation bible school that will be held in July, for children ages 4 going into 6th grade. The donation supplies everything they will need aside from their registration fee of $5

A gentleman in our church works at an Alternative school in North Carolina. Due to the COVID virus and other circumstances within several families of the school's students he wanted to be able to help multiple families. This individual works three different jobs to provide for his own family and tries to help some of the most needy people at the school where he is teaching. He took the gift card to Walmart and was able to get five $100 cards and distribute them to five different families. The various families included a pregnant teenager, a family who has a son with a terminal disease, a family whose father recently lost his job, a student who is homeless, and a family who recently lost their son to suicide.

In all of these situations the funds were used by the families for basic necessities during all of these very difficult situations. They were blessed and very thankful for the much needed help the gift cards provided. In each case, the financial help was received at a critical time and allowed them to meet their individual needs. The names of the individuals have been omitted due to their privacy.

This year I gave this card to my Dad, he’s 93 years old and was very appreciate of it. He said it helped him a lot on His Monthly prescriptions.
Hearing from him a few weeks ago, he was very happy to use this as he’s on a fixed income.
Many thanks to the Washington Foundation for doing this.

We split ours up this year!
First we gave our nephews kindergarten teacher Mrs Payton from Boulder Elementary in Billings $200 for new school supplies!
Second we gave $300 to our grand daughters other grandma Stacy Abbot who on New Years Day had a brain aneurysm and was life flighted to Denver for numerous surgeries! Luckily she survived and she is still with us recovering great! This was to go towards any bills she had!
We appreciate and thank you for continually letting us be part of this giving program!
Again Thank You
Tom and LeAnne Maurer

Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation,

The Foundation that I chose as my charitable donation was the Poverello Center that provides food, shelter, clothing and other essential services (especially, “Hope”) to our community homeless population in and around Missoula Montana.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic one of the critical problems for the homeless and the community has been the shortage of personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves to keep everyone safe. This donation certainly came at a critical time for the community and was certainly appreciated and helpful.

The Poverello Center delegated the money toward providing basic needs to the people in the area and to help the employee’s and occupants of the facility purchase their necessary protective equipment to keep them safe.

Thank you, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, for this Pay It Forward Charitable Giving Program! What a wonderful way to help the community and the employees of the Washington Companies.

Thank you for wonderful opportunity to help others. With the amount of local families struggling during this uncertain time due to COVID-19, I chose to give my card to a family of 5 children. The father has been out of work but still volunteers his time coaching his daughter's travel softball team. This gift will help them ease a little of the burden and help allow their kids to still participate in this baseball/softball season.

I donated my card to Watson's Children's Center in Missoula. They are a shelter for children from infants through age 14 that have been removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other family crisis. These kids stay at Watson's on an average of anywhere from a few days up to 60 days. Normally we do a "Ride for Shelter" bike ride fundraiser, but due to COVID it was canceled but made into a "virtual" ride. There are many excellent charitable organizations out there but this one always comes to mind first for me because it helps the children.

I donated to St Vincent de Paul a non profit organization with a goal to prevent people from becoming homeless and destitute through rent and utility assistance. They also feed the people who are homeless, providing breakfast and lunch to all those in need as well as providing clothing and laundry facilities. They also help those people with addictions try to overcome them and lead sober productive lives. With the Covid 19 pandemic the needs are even greater than before. Thank you Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for allowing me to be able to Pay it Forward.

My name is Stacie Abbott and my daughter in law is Abigail Maurer, daughter to Tom Maurer. On January 1, 2020 I had a brain aneurysm rupture at my home. Luckily my youngest son Cole was home and called 911, I was care flighted to Swedish Medical Center in Denver, Colorado for emergency surgery and my middle son Hunter, Abigail's husband was able to fly with me to make medical decisions. I spent one month in the Neuro ICU at Swedish and another week on the Neurology floor before being transferred to Craig inpatient rehab facility for three weeks and then I was released to outpatient therapy and able to travel back to Billings, MT and be home with my family. I have truly been blessed and will keep working on my recovery over the rest of the year. The donation from Tom Maurer and family went to help pay for medical expenses. Thank you Tom and the Dennis & Phyllis Washington foundation for making this possible. You will never know how much of a blessing this has all been.

Thank You ~ Stacie Abbott

I donated the card to my childrens school, Poly Drive Elementary. With the donation being right in the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic, myself and the school principal had very few words exchanged. She told me the funds would mostly be used for the beginning of the 2020 school year, ordering new books for the library. The school was also going to try to donate some food supplies for all of the sack lunches being provided to children at the time.

See below:

Childcare
Every Egg
Tim Noah Thumbnail Theater
Moving expenses
Walmart grocery card

I will be submitting my Pay It Forward donation to the Missoula Food Bank. I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Missoula Food Bank a few years ago and was inspired by their mission to end hunger in our community.

It is difficult to express the gratitude I feel for the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation. Their contributions to the people of Montana and communities around the region, have made a real difference in many lives. The Pay It Forward program is just another wonderful example of the generosity of the Foundation and the Washington family.
In 2011, my family and I lived in a small community in eastern Montana. Our three children were attending high school and our lives were full of excitement and energy with all the school activities and sports. Our son was big into football and entered his freshman year as the starting quarterback. During the second game of his sophomore year, he took a direct hit to his lower abdomen and was knocked out of the game for a few series. We initially thought it was the wind getting knocked out of him. After almost 24 hours of excruciating pain and multiple trips to the emergency room, he was diagnosed with a ruptured pancreas. He was immediately life-flighted to Seattle, where he then spent the next two weeks recovering.
While we were gone, we had to phone some friends to take care of the two children we left behind as well as the many chores stacking up. When he was finally released from the hospital, we made it back in time for the school’s homecoming parade. The town honored him not just at the parade, but also during the half-time activities. We were honored that the town had come out in support of our family.
What we didn’t find out until later, was that while we were away in Seattle, the community had organized a fundraising auction to help with our son’s medical bills. The WHOLE COMMUNITY turned out to help with meals, donations and time. It was an amazing and very emotional time for our family. It is something that will live on in our hearts forever.
Fast forward to 2020. A former classmate of our children was diagnosed with a condition that required surgery out of state and follow up treatments. When it was announced that I had received the Pay It Forward gift, I could not think of a better person to give it to. I tried to connect with her in person but was unable to. I sent her a letter that in part read:
“When we heard about your situation, we could not think of a better person to give the card to for a couple of reasons; you are a hard-working, dedicated person and having an extra $500.00 could go a long way! Secondly, we will never forget how the community of XXXX came together for us when XXXX was injured during a football game. The outpouring of support was overwhelming and I’m sure you and your family were part of it. You are the perfect person to “pay it forward” to!
We wish you the best in your recovery from your successful surgery and know you are in our thoughts and prayers! Take care and God bless!”
Being able to share with those who are going through a difficult time is a true blessing. Again, words cannot express the gratitude we have for Dennis and Phyllis Foundation and the Washington family. Thank you for the opportunity to give back to our community and fellow Montanans.
-Mark

I gave my card to the Marine Corps League Detachment (MCL) 1132 in North Augusta, SC. The main goal of the MCL is to provide assistant to military (veterans and active duty) members and families. Some of the programs they are involved with are the Toys For Tots, Volunteer work at Augusta, GA VA Hospital, school scholarship program and provide financial support to multiple units at the VA Hospital. The detachment also helps in the local area by supporting meals on wheel. The money to support this organization comes from donations.

Dear Bill:

Thank you for your very generous, "Pay it Forward", donation of $500.00 to the Livingston Food Resource Center.

Since the middle of March, the LFRC has experienced and increase of 250% in the number of households to which we are providing emergency food support. In May alone, we helped feed more than 1,200 households. And, we have seen changes in the demographics of the households served: we are seeing younger and larger families, nearly 60% of which have children.

Your donation was used to buy food, mostly milk from Town & Country grocery store, for distribution to these families we are helping.

Thank you again for your support.

Sincerely,
Michael McCormick
Executive Director LFRC

We used this card to purchase food for a local food bank in Redmond, Oregon. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, many people have been strained financially, and many food banks have struggled to remain stocked with food for the community. This card has but a great deal of food on the shelves to be distributed among the community. Thank you!

I chose to donate my Pay It Forward card to the Butte Emergency Food Bank. Growing up in Butte, I was fortunate enough to participate in community food drives and see the positive impact the food bank has on families in need throughout the community. I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to help the food bank out at a time when so many community members are relying on them for their next meal. Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for giving employees such a wonderful opportunity to have a positive impact on the communities we live and work in.

The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation has done a wonderful job giving back to individuals and organizations of many communities. I want to say thank you for involving your employees in The Pay It Forward program.

For the second year in a row, I decided to pay it forward to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Last year (2019) I was able to auction off merchandise purchased with the $500 giving card at the Cystic Fibrosis March Madness Calcutta and raised $550, with all the proceeds going towards research for cystic fibrosis.

Due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak this local fundraiser was not held in 2020. I contacted Rick Anderson and Kotie Dunmire who are the event coordinators for this fundraiser. They helped get the pay it forward card donation directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Cystic fibrosis is a rare and fatal genetic disease. The disease causes persistent and debilitating lung infections and stops the absorption of food, which often leads to premature death. Due to minimal federal and pharmaceutical funding, cystic fibrosis research is largely dependent on private donations such as the pay it forward program. Many strides have been made to improve the life expectancy of cystic fibrosis patients as the average age of survival has doubled in the past 30 years. However, a cure is out of reach without continued donations.

I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity to give back to this cause.

Thank you!

Each year I am little torn as to where I would like to donate on a personal level. I often wish that I was able to give more so that I could spread my donations across more than one charity. This year I was able to do that thanks to the Pay It Forward program. I chose to give to multiple non-profits in the Missoula, MT area through Missoula Gives, an annual giving event organized and hosted by Missoula Community Foundation. This event allows givers access to over a hundred Missoula and Bitterroot Valley non-profits. Missoula Gives 2020 was a 26-hour online fundraiser that raised over $800,000 for the area's non-profits. I feel very lucky to be a part of a company that provides me the opportunity to give back to my community, especially during a time that has been very hard on individuals who may rely on non-profits and community resources. Because of the Pay It Forward program, I was able to give to 4 local organizations this year!

I gave my giving card to LINKS for Learning so they could purchase t-shirts and needed supplies for the summer program. LINKS is the after-school and summer program here in Livingston. Over 55% of the children in their program qualify for Free or Reduced priced meals and almost all of them come from working families. LINKS provides academic support, enrichment programming, career exploration and community service learning.
This summer it is particularly important because they are the first program to go back onto campus and one of the only programs offering youth services. Their costs are higher this summer because of the safety protocols required to keep both the children and staff safe during COVID-19. Sanitation supplies, basic supplies for each child, PPE supplies and extra staffing have all created a higher budget.
LINKS plays an important role in Livingston's and Park County's economy as well as teaches and supports our children in a safe and fun way.