Pay It Forward Stories 2022

There’s a family I know that due to Covid and all these unseen unfortunate events was struggling to pay power bill and other house hold bills. So I offered the card to them to pay power and other bills. But I knew that there winter heating cost were high and they were adding up. There were young kids in the home so by doing so I hope I helped ease some of there pressures with all this and the winter months coming to an end. The feeling of seeing the look on the family’s face was more than heart warming. They look at you in complete disbelief when you present the card to them. It brought tears to there eyes as well as mine!! Thank you Washington corp for allowing me to be part of such an amazing foundation!!😇😇

Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter put out a request for help with 16 dogs that were rescued from an abuser and they were malnourished to the point the survivors need special food. I donated the Pay It Forward card along with blanket and puppy pads to help them with the cost of taking care of the animals in need of assistance.

I reached out to the school where my children attend, Hellgate Elementary. The school counselors notified me of a family that in was in need due to a recent death of a spouse and a newly single mom. Hellgate will be providing this mom and family with the Pay It Forward card.

This gift will be used for a young Hospice patient and his significant other. They both struggle with medical limitations and this patient requires continuous Oxygen. Neither one have been able to work and their electric bill has been over $400 a month. They are also struggling with obtaining consistent nutritional resources. This gift will go towards electric bills and nutritional support, directly impacting this patient and his significant other.

I gave my card to my parents. My dad had a extensive neck surgery two years ago an never fully recovered. My mom decided to quit her job to help my dad with work and everyday life at home. It seems sometimes they struggle to make ends meet so i figured they were the best people I knew to give the card to. They've always been there to help me throughout life so I decided it would be good to help them a little bit.

I gave my pay it forward card to Anaconda snowmobile club. They are a non profit that keeps snowmobile trails in our area cleared and groomed. Always doing maintenance on trails. They have been hit with some unexpected break downs this year and I hope they can use this to pay for parts or buy something to use to raffle off to generate funds to help the club.

My wife Mary is type 1 diabetic and has been since the age of 6. She is the secretary for the Montana Youth Diabetes Alliance, (MYDA).
MYDA is a 501C3 organization that started in 2019 to fulfill the unmet needs of the Montana Type 1 diabetes community. Here is their mission statement:

"Our mission is to enrich the lives of youth with Type 1 Diabetes and their families while offering safe, fun, and educational opportunities through camps and other events. MYDA provides financial assistance for out-of-pocket expenses associated with self-management supplies and networking resources to navigate diabetes-related support systems."

I donated my card to this organization to help offset the financial needs of providing these camps and supplies to these children and their families.

The giving card that I received went to the Lone Rock Middle School science department. Lone Rock is a small K-8th grade school located on the east side of the Bitterroot Valley between Stevensville and Florence. I have 2 boys who attended this school in the past and the science teachers they had at the school were amazing. The science teachers at the school made learning fun and furthered their interest in science through to high school and college.

Most people know that teachers are not nearly paid enough for what they do. Lone Rock School is one of the lowest paying schools in the state with an average teachers salary just above $22,000 per year. Many of the teachers have to use their own money to buy supplies and extra things for their classes. I don't understand how they do this on the poverty wages they are paid.

We ended up giving the card directly to science teacher Mrs. Amy Reed. She was so appreciative of the card that she broke down crying when she received it. She is going to use the card to buy science supplies for her classes. Mrs. Reed and teachers like her are the real hero's and hopefully this little bit of giving will help her and more importantly help the students .

I passed on my giving card to a Butte family with a young boy battling cancer. They have been spending most of their time traveling for doctors appointments and treatments, which is mostly out of pocket expenses. I know this donation will be very helpful to them. Thank you Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation.

Thank you Dennis and Phillis Washington for giving me this chance to give to a very good organization that helps all the animals in need.
The gift card of $500.00 was sent to World Wildlife Fund.
To help the animals that cannot help themselves. World Wildlife Fund has be protecting the future of nature for awhile.
Saving wildlife and Wildlife recoveries.

Again thank you - Dennis & Phillis

We gave our card to a family in our community whose child had been diagnosed with a rare cancer. (To help with medical travel costs.)

Last year I was chosen as a pay it forward giving recipient. I chose to give it to the Theodore Roosevelt conservation project. Since then, I have gotten emails and phone calls from then thanking me and wanting to know what conservation projects were important to me. I never would have imagined I would receive this much thanks and gratitude on a personal level from them. It truly gives me confidence that donating to them was a good choice. This year I chose to donate to the Theodore Roosevelt conservation project again because I truly believe they are making a difference in improving habitat for western big game animals and working hard towards finding a solution to a terrible disease that is severely affecting and expanding in deer, elk, and moose populations, that is Chronic Wasting Disease. I am so lucky to live and work in Montana and enjoy the outdoors. The Theodore Roosevelt conservation project protects and improves many of the recreational activities Montanans enjoy. I would like to thank the Dennis and Phyllis Washington foundation for the pay it forward program and choosing me to participate.

I gave the gift card to a lady that was off work for over a month and a half due to Covid, her name is Kurenda Boyd. Being off work put her family in a very hard spot. She has kids and the bills were piling up. She is a care giver for kids with special needs, and a hard working mother. They are going to use the card to help them pay bills and or buy groceries. I just received a text message today from Kurenda thanking me again and told me how unexpected it was and how thankful she is. She also said "it could not have come at a better time". She is now back to work but has had a hard time getting caught up with the past due bills from her time off.
I am also thankful to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for the opportunity to "pay it forward". This gives back to the community in which we live and can has such and impact closer to the employee level. Being apart of this is such an honor and I look forward to participating in this again.

I donated my card amount to a non-profit organization called Lowcrawl Hugs. It is a husband and wife team that helps new Marine recruits and their families navigate the boot camp experience. They post day to day updates of the activities of the recruits, travel information for families regarding graduation and family days at the base, and answer any questions that may come up for families. Each and every week, they attended the Marine graduation at San Diego MCRD to support new Marine graduates that do not have family attending. They offer cell phone use, free food, travel planning and any other service that may help the Marine through an exciting, but maybe lonely time. My son is about to graduate in March, and knowing there is a group of dedicated individuals standing by to help him in any way is a comfort to me.

First of all I want to sincerely thank the Dennis and Phyllis Foundation for this opportunity. As a fairly new employee, I had no idea about this program and was thrilled to be selected!!
I chose to support a fund raising event to purchase a new set of books for a low income elementary school near Dallas, TX. I called and learned that the librarian had spent her own money to purchase the first set and they desperately needed a second set as the children had a contest with prizes for reading a certain number of books. The problem was, there was not enough books on hand. So, she posted it on the "Donors Choose" website, which is a trusted classroom funding site for teachers needing things for their classes. I was included in an email blast about this need, so the timing was perfect as I just received my gift card! Her post on the website: "Today's students are used to the fast pace of images and sound via technology. Getting them to listen to stories read aloud by a person or to read anything on their own is a challenge. Capturing their interest through high-quality, visually dominant texts will provide them with the opportunity to practice their reading, leading to better reading skills and success in the classroom. Reading aloud high quality, eye-catching books can make learning fun and create a bond between the adult and the child. This collection of books was chosen by a committee of librarians and includes poetry, science, folktales, and social-emotional stories with lessons featuring a diverse cast of characters. Children will be sure to find something they enjoy reading or listening to as they browse the shelf."

Our donation completely fulfilled her project and allowed her to purchase 10 more books! In all, we purchased 30 books that will be in the library for many years. She sent a heartfelt note of gratitude to the Washington Foundation and is so grateful for the blessings it provided.

My mom is the Executive Director at Tumbleweed in Billings, MT. Tumbleweed serves youth and young adults who are at-risk, homeless, run-away, throw away, and human traffic. She speaks often of the youth and young adults she works with as having "food insecurity." I wanted to help provide food for the youth and young adults at Tumbleweed by donating my 2022 Pay it Forward Giving Card to Tumbleweed's food pantry. Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for partnering with me in this effort.

Thanks to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation's Pay It Forward Program I was able to donate to The Lifeguard Group. The Lifeguard Group is a local non-profit that is working to end human trafficking in our communities. They rely 100% on donations to save children and others being exploited. Their vision: To FIND, RESCUE, SHELTER and RESTORE exploited persons to a place of HOPE, FREEDOM, and a FUTURE for every survivor. We can longer believe that this doesn't happen in our communities - it happens EVERYWHERE!

*The average age of an individual that enters the life of human trafficking 12-13 years old
*A victim will return to their pimp/exploiter an average of seven times before she stays out of the life.
*75% of trafficking survivors noted that housing was the greatest area of need when trying to get out of the life.
*There are only 1044 beds exist in safe houses across the country. Only 150 of those beds are available for children who need protection.
*80% of victims end up back in their traffickers hands because of the lack of available resources.

We would first like to thank Dennis and Phyllis Washingtin Foubdation for the Pay It Forward. We chose to give the pay it forward giving card to a brave and courageous 6 yr. Old in Butte. They call this little guy Hulk. He is going to have to battle cancer for the third time at the young age of 6 yrs old. I'm sure the emotional and financial burden of this battle has been hard for the family. Hulk you are Buttes toughest little superhero. Once again Thanks for the Pay it Forward Program. PRAYERS FOR HULK. Scott and Sandy Zemljak

This is an amazing program. I chose to give this to a family member battling cancer. She have previously beaten cancer and unfortunately it has returned. Because of the stacks of medical bills and lost time at work this money was an unbelievable help to her and her family. The smile on there face said it all. I am already looking forward to this next year thank you so much.

I gave my Pay It Forward card to The Ronald McDonald House.
My family has a bit of a history with The Ronald McDonald House. My younger brother had a daughter that became Ill years ago. They were able to stay at The Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis while his daughter was being treated.
It is a great way to keep the family together. On occasion the stays are for extended times. And always at no cost to the family.
My mother and my younger brother have both been volunteers at the Missoula Ronald McDonald House.
The House is always in need of supplies and volunteers. All of the dinners at the House are done by volunteers, either purchasing or cooking of the meal.
They have a sign up list and are always in need of donors for the dinner meal.

This year I elected to give my card to the animal shelter. As the economy tightens and more people are displaced, animals are being surrendered at an increased rate. Many of these animals are older and harder to place. The animal shelter is regularly at capacity and needs donations for food, supplies and medical.

The card has been donated to a family for the cost and care of their daughter Paige. February 2nd Paige was life – flighted from Butte, where they live, to Kalispell where she received a blood transfusion and bone marrow biopsy. February 7th she was diagnosed with ALL Leukemia Type B. The next day she underwent surgery to have her port put in and received her first dose of chemotherapy. Their family will be staying in Kalispell for at least a month while she continues her first round of chemo.

I chose to give my Pay It Forward giving card to the Flagship Program in Missoula. My son is an enthusastic Flagship participant, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to help a program that plays such a big role in the lives of children in this community.

Flagship is unique to Missoula and provides out of school time opportunities for youth in eight Missoula County Public Schools from kindergarten through 12th grade and offers a school-based experience in mentoring and skill building. Flagship offers these programs to all youth, free of charge.

Thanks to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation and the Washington family for allowing me to support this great program in this way.

A friend of our family (who is a cop here in Billings MT)
Have medical issue,
So I gave the card to his family!!!
Thank you very much.

My Father and Mother in law have gone through terrible things at the hands of a former employer in the last few years Including wrongful discharge with no severance pay. He was a pastor. They have struggled immensely and need so many things for their home which to save they had to do a reverse mortgage. I just hope this wonderful gift from the Washington foundation will help them.