Pay It Forward Stories 2022

I chose a family who were struggling financially due to the covid-19 pandemic, they had lost a substantial amount of their income. We donated the card in its entirety so they could purchase food and gas. They were overwhelmed by your generosity. Thank you!

I chose to give my card to the Wounded Warrior Project. As a veteran myself, we need to support those who have gave so much:

"More than 52,000 servicemen and women physically injured in recent military conflicts. 500,000 living with invisible wounds, from depression to post-traumatic stress disorder. 320,000 experiencing debilitating brain trauma."

This year again I presented the giving card to the Ronald McDonald House of Dallas,Tx. They welcomed us with open arms when my son was hospitalized at the Dallas Childrens Medical Center back in November of 2020 thru July 2021. If not for them we would have had to pay to stay at a hotel which would have been costly. We have had to go back every six months to have check up for my son and they always have a room for us. The staff and facility are a godsend. If i receive future giving cards i will being choosing The RMHD.

I thought for quite awhile before I decided to give my card to the Ziegler family. The Ziegler family has been through some tough times the past couple of years. Justin's daughter, that has down syndrome, was diagnosed with cancer about a year and a half ago. She had to have her kidney removed and Justin says she is doing good now. The Ziegler family had a tremendous amount of travel to children's hospitals and I felt like they probably needed the financial help with bills or whatever expenses they had accrued.

Justin and his family are wonderful people and deserve this help more than anyone I can think of.

Mr. and Mrs. Washington, thank you for the gift of Pay it Forward! The card I received this year was used to help the Huntley Eagles 4-H Club purchase items to help with a fundraising raffle. The money the kids earn through this raffle will go to help with expenses and purchase supplies for the programs that the 4-H Club offers to the kids. 4-H has been a great organization to help teach kids work ethic, public speaking, and allow them to learn about and explore different areas of interest, both as hobbies and as business opportunities.

Thanks for what you do for our communities!

As a family, my kids & I decided to use the Pay If Forward card for a few small random acts of kindness around our community whenever we felt compelled to: paid for groceries for random people in Walmart; paid for a few coffee orders behind us in the drive-thru at Starbucks; sent a round of coffee to my kids' childcare providers from Java Junction; paid for medication for a lady for her diabetic cat at the vet; bought items to prepare & provide Easter baskets to a family that we knew were unable to this year. It was a lot of fun & heartwarming for not only myself but my kids to get into the spirt of giving as well!

As being a winner of the Pay It Forward gift card I decided to gift this prepaid card to a family in the valleyford community who is facing hard times. The Keatts Family, who resides on a farmstead in valleyford is faced with large medical bills as the mother has undergone major brain surgery to relieve pressure build up in the brain due to a small non-cancerous tumor. The family has 2 beautiful children under the age of 6 and several farm animals including pigs, ducks, turkey's, chickens, and many more. This gift card has allowed them to catch up on medical bills and meal prep dinner casserols ahead as the mom has healing restrictions from surgery that was preformed on 3/13/22. This gift card has also allowed the family to do basic car maintence on the family car so any follow up appointments the mom may have post surgery the car is safe and reliable to take into town. The Keatts family is so appriciative and thankful of the gift card. Thank you

I donated my card to Molly. Molly is a single mom of two teenage boys. In November 2020, Molly found out she had an aggressive form of cancer.
For the next 12 months Molly’s plan of beating cancer consisted of a double mastectomy and chemo treatments. She learned in December of 2021 her cancer was back. More treatments and trips to Texas in February of 2022 she learned nothing is working and the doctors want to try something else.
My gift card was given to Molly to use as she wished, but with my request that she do something fun with her boys.
As time is so precious, it’s important to spend as much time as we can with the people we love.

Donated to Greater Impact in Bozeman Montana,

     Greater Impact was born with a heart to serve others. We were helping people with car troubles and housing problems, then with the help of our community partners realized that we could be impacting more people. Causing the 501(c)3 nonprofit to be born.
     We are passionate about giving people a hand up in their time of need. We are a non-profit designed to serve the community and, specifically, help families stay in their homes, cars, and jobs. Our three serving teams are committed to rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty by meeting needs in people's lives in personal and tangible ways.
     One of our teams is the auto repairs team, they are committed to helping families keep their cars safe, reliable, and legal so they can continue getting to work and earn money to pay their mortgage or rent and therefore stay in their homes.
     Another one of our teams is our housing team. They assist families living in housing with many problems. We have repaired holes in roofs and floors, gotten bathrooms to work, contracted electricians to safely rewire houses, and much more. We are looking to expand our housing team by developing a community for working homeless families in the form of cottages and tiny homes. This affordable, sustainable, housing will allow the families the chance to purchase an asset with a zero credit, zero interest loan. The hope is that they would then purchase a small piece of land and move their cottage to it or sell their cottage to another family and use the equity to purchase another home.
     The third team we have is our coaching team. This is made up of financial coaches and recovery coaches. Our  financial coaches help budget and plan to get out of debt and strategize for the future. Recovery coaches are there for those struggling with relationships and life choices.We like to link up with businesses and individuals in the community to make a Greater Impact. We want to give people, in the community we love, the hope of having a brighter future.

I was fortunate enough to receive a gift card to help a family when they needed it the most. I know of a few people that this gift card could have great impact on, so I wanted to try to select the one that could use it most and have great appreciation for the lift me up.

I chose to gift the card to a family that was being evicted from the home that they had lived in for quite some time. This was not due to anything that they had done wrong, but due to their home being sold by their landlord. Given only a short time to find a new place to call home, pack their belongings and start over would be a blow to any of us. This along with raising and providing for their young family was wearing hard on them.

I have chosen this family to receive the gift card, hoping that they could use the funds to purchase food, or personal items for the family and save money to be applied to any deposits or unexpected expenses that may come up in the moving process.

I would like to thank the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for allowing their employees to assist members of our community through the Pay It Forward Foundation.

Sincerely
Todd Vingom

The MT BIPOC Mutual Aid program provides grants to black, indigenous, and people of color in Montana who need housing assistance. I've been supporting this fund for a couple years and think they do a lot of good for the small size of the operation.

I donated my PIF to Denver Children's Hospital, I also personally donate to this organization every year as well.

I have my card to Discover Anaconda, they are doing a campaign to increase awareness for motorcycles on the roadways. They will be displaying two different life sized cutouts to remind people in Anaconda.

KRVM has a unique history as the non-commercial, public radio station of Eugene School District 4J. The first words ever spoken on FM radio in the Pacific Northwest were spoken on KRVM — the date was December 6, 1947. They receive no funding from the school district.

KRVM is dedicated to community service. KRVM serves the communities of Eugene, Springfield and the outlying areas in many ways. The station plays a variety of music, airs public service messages for local non-profit organizations, offers a student broadcast program for middle and high school students,

KRVM offers students a Radio Broadcast Program. The program is open to students from any area school who are eager to learn
students learn how to operate an audio board, microphones, and audio software. They also learn proper on-air communication skills, including announcement of songs and musical artists, and delivery of public service announcements.

I purchased gas cards for an employee of a locale security company. I have not personally met this person, but from what I have heard they are very hard working, kind and take pride in their work. Everyone raves about them. The reason I chose gas cards is they can’t afford to rent a home in Missoula with the current housing problem we have. The only home the could find is in St.Regis. We all know how much fuel costs are now . They are having a very hard time affording to drive to Missoula and back every day to come to work. I thought a little help in the fuel purchasing would give them some room to breathe.

I chose to give my pay it forward gift card to a family I grew up with in Anaconda. Due to an illness in the family, they have fallen on hard times; Medical bills, travel expenses associated with healthcare at specialized hospitals and the lack of an income.

I gave the card to a young single mother, the daughter of a woman on my bowling league. She is going to college in Dillon for early childhood education, she works every evening at McDonalds, and has an 18 month old boy. She's been enduring the normal struggles of being a single mom working to improve her life, and doing pretty good at it. But she's also going to lose her apartment in a few months, so this card will help her save up for another place, help with diapers, and give her a bit of a cushion so she can keep working hard on school.

My pay it forward card went to a young lady that my wife teaches. Though a senior in high school and just turning 18 she has supported herself and has been determined to graduate high school and go to college. She has suffered through all types of abuse at the hands of her father and step father. It’s sad that her teacher is the one person she trusts and leans on when life gets her down. So being able to give her something to help her get things she needs to head to college was a pleasure.

I chose to give my card to Emerson Elementary. Emerson is the largest low-income elementary in Butte. The card will be used for spare coats, shoes, and any other spare clothing to help kids in need. Thank you Dennis and Phyllis Washington for allowing me to help those less fortunate in my community.

My cousins son was killed in a motorcycle accident on January 30th 2022. I choose to donate my card to the family to help pay for funeral cost, time missed from work or any other bills that might have came up in this difficult time for them. Thank you to the Dennis and Phyllis foundation to ease some of the stressful and hard time for this family

We donated the $500 c.c. to a local Awana Club at the Frenchtown Community Church. They have been providing a wonderful ministry to our community by providing after school care each week for Frenchtown kids, K-5. Our two daughters have grown to love this program and it has strengthened their love for God and the church. This program reaches out to children from all demographics in our small community. Our girls have developed lots of long lasting friendships within the program. The program leaders are a wonderful group of volunteers. They give each child free snacks, crafts, and prizes for kids learning their weekly Bible verses. This pay it forward grant is a small way to say thank you for all their hard work and to offset their costs throughout the year.

This year I chose to pay it forward to a single mother of 5. This family has had a rough couple of years. In 2020 her abusive husband made a horrible decision and her and the children are now protected from him. Just a few months after that 2 of her children were in a near fatal collision. The two and their mother had to spend almost 3 months in Seattle in intensive care. The children are doing incredible now but there is some permanent scarring and some post traumatic stress. This mother is strong and raises her children the best she can. She always has a positive attitude and teaches the children to look at the brighter side of life. She works hard doing construction and any odd jobs to support her family. This lady rarely asks for help and I feel blessed to be able to help her a little with groceries and gas money to get back and forth to doctors appointments. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to "pay it forward" to a family in need.

I chose to purchase items for children, games, toys, crafts, books, etc. and gave those items to the non-profit 8 & 40. The primary mission of this wonderful group of ladies is to provide aide to children dealing with lung issues. Many of the items I purchased will be taken to National Jewish Hospital in Denver to be given to children in their respiratory care. The items help the children (of various ages) to feel less lost and alone. Another mission of the 8 & 40 is to help veterans in any way they can. Part of the items will be given to the Fort Harrison VA Hospital Christmas Gift Shop. This is a shop where veterans can get items for their families at no cost to them. Many times the veterans have been in the hospital long term and are unable to go shopping outside the hospital. I have seen the joy on the faces of many of these men and women as they choose something for a loved one. It is a real privilege to be a part of the joy and comfort for children and adults alike. Thank you to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for this opportunity.

In my hometown there are people that struggle to put there kids in sports especial in hockey because the kids out grow their gear every season. I donated the giving card to the Salmon hockey association, they provide gear for all the kids under 12 years old. They will be using the money to buy helmets, shoulder pads, shin guards and skates for the kids that are under the age of 12. They rely on donations to be able to provide gear to the kids and keep them safe. Without donations there probable wouldn't be a hockey league for the kids. They were very grateful for the donation.

A friend of our family battling cancer and the family is in need of help. I'm very grateful The Washington Foundation provides this program to help those in need.