Pay it Forward Stories 2019

Due to the generosity of the Foundation, I was able to gift my card to a local school teacher. Her story is below:

My name is Taylor Hassler, and I am the teacher of a Functional Life Skills Classroom for grades 9-12 at Capital High School in Helena, MT. Each student in this classroom has one or more type of a cognitive disability. Teaching functional daily living skills is vital to these students as we prepare them for their post-secondary lives, with the ultimate goal to be as independent as possible.

With the great honor of being chosen for this $500 gift, I thought a lot about the best way to put it to use so that my current and future students would benefit from this for more than just this year. Funded completely by your generosity, I have used this money to start a coffee shop business for our classroom! I have purchased the supplies and tools to set up a beverage business in our classroom. Not only will this continue to benefit the students’ needs by bringing money directly back into our classroom, but it will also teach the students invaluable skills in money management and social skills, among many other important skills.
We will start this coffee business at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year by offering a wide variety of coffee and hot chocolate options to our students and faculty. I am so thankful for the generosity of your foundation to be able to start this business for the benefit of these wonderful students.

For my Pay-it-Forward I chose Freckles and Dreams which is a fundraiser for Erin Tucker. She is trying to fundraiser to go to a once in a lifetime acting competition for IMTA in New York. She is also the daughter of fellow employee Nicholas Tucker. My wife and I have seen her in various plays at the local theaters here in town and even at the young age of 10 it’s easy to see she has a passion for this that will help her succeed. We are glad that MRL has given us this chance to help her in her journey towards what is hopefully a very illustrious career. Good luck and best wishes Erin!!

I donated my giving card to Harvest food ministry/ Vicki's food pantry. This organization helps meet the Billings community food needs.

I received a Pay It Forward $500 gift card and donated it to the Ronald McDonald House in Seattle, Washington. This house provides sleeping accommodations, meals, & other services for families with children who are receiving treatment at the Children's Hospital. Their services are provided for a small donation or free of charge for anyone in need.

My close friend and co-worker from Butte, has a grandson that was born with some medical issues that required care at the Seattle Children's Hospital. While the baby received care, his family utilized the services provided by the Ronald McDonald house for approximately seven months, making their time away from home a little easier and less of a financial burden.

The Ronald McDonald house is a non-profit organization that runs on donations, and I felt this was a very worthy organization to receive the gift card.
Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for your generosity & for the Pay It Forward program.

This year I decided to split the money from the Pay it Forward program. Half went to the Jump Rope for Heart/American Heart Association through Russell School where my Son attends in Missoula. The next portion I donated to MS-150 bike ride in honor of a high school classmate who committed suicide and was afflicted with MS. The final portion was donated to the Alzheimer's Association. The last donation was the most important to me as my family recently found out our Beautiful Mom has been diagnosed with dementia.

So this year I chose to help out my daughter in her fundraising to go to an acting competition in New York. My oldest Erin has always been head strong and enjoyed being the center of attention. When something grabs her attention and she wants to do it she usually takes it head on with very little care of how hard or difficult the endeavor may be. This has helped her academically as she studies hard and is in both the AP classes and the gifted classes as well. When she first saw a science fair she immediately wanted to to do an experiment and chose cleaning water as her basis in all her experiments. Her first year she placed and took best experiment in show that involved food as she showed how to make salt water drinkable beating out kids much older then herself. This attitude has also helped her in her extracurricular activities as well. Like I said she loves to be the center of attention so she immediately fell in love with acting and singing. She takes voice lessons and has also been in a couple of shows at the Local NOVA theater in school house rock and as Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol. So when she could she rushed at the idea of going to a talent agency. Through that she was able to audition for a IMTA. It was no surprise that they loved her and she was able to secure an invite to their conference in New York. She begged and begged to be able to go and like any good father I told her NO, way to expensive, maybe some other time when she could raise the money. And the last part was the only part she would accept ( like i said very headstrong). So the talk of fundraising begin. I told her with that I would help her, and now armed with nothing but her freckles and dreams of being able to make it there we are starting her fundraising. I want to thank MRL for helping us sponsor her in farthing her dreams.

My wife and I were at a parent teacher conference in late 2018. My youngest son goes to Lone Rock School between Florence and Stevesville. His home room teacher is the science teacher. She was explaining to us that they were waiting to start some experiments because she was using her own money for supplies. The home room teacher needed another paycheck to have enough supplies. The teacher maybe makes $30-$35K a year and she is willing to contribute her own money to my sons education. Giving her the pay-it-forward card is the least I could do.

Upon winning the pay it forward card I knew just who to bless in there time of need. A family that is close to mine recently went through a huge life change. A mother and daughter victims of an ugly domestic violence act were left with only the clothes on there back. After wining this card I choose to give it to them so they could buy beds for there new low income apartment and use the rest to stock up there kitchen with all the items that are needed to cook basic meals. Such as flour, spices, vegetables, meat, sugar etc. As for the beds they hit a good sale day at mattress land and were able to get the floor model beds for a reasonable price, both the mother and daughter no longer had to sleep on the floor. This gift card went very far for a wonderful family in need. Thank you.

We gave our $500 gift card to the newly formed Custer County Transit service, which started giving rides April 2, 2019. The Council on Aging was the major sponsor of the grant application and is very committed to helping fund the service. Many of our Seniors are disadvantaged when they can no longer drive, and we lose many of them to larger communities where public transit is available. Your gift was very much appreciated! Thank you!!

I donated my Pay it Forward card to the Cross Country sports program at Big Sky High School in Missoula. The cross country team will use the money to purchase warm up jackets and pants.

I gave the funds from this card to two organizations. It was given to Trees For Missoula, which is an organization that plants urban trees within our city. They also spread education on pruning and care to our community.

I gave the other half of the funds to the State of Montana Arboretum. They facilitate study and exhibition of many different tree species, and maintain and plant trees for education, beauty, and for the various benefits of growing trees.

This year I donated my “Pay it Forward” gift card to the Kloberdanz family. I hope this relieved some of the stress and financial burden you all experienced This winter. Congratulations, Quinn Ann is beautiful!!

We used our giving card for medical expenses for a family who is trying to have a baby but has some complications and has to go through doctors to make it possible.

Our friend's breast cancer metastasized to her lungs. She is a wife and mother to two beautiful children. They recently had to relocate from Missoula away from family which provided support when she was in treatment. Her husband had to take leave from work in order to help care for her and the kids. They are a wonderful family and this was given to them to help them through the next round of treatment she had to go through.

I used the Pay it Forward card that I received to help somebody that had been recently injured by a fall and broke her ankle. She had no insurance and was struggling with the medical bills. I felt that this was a great way to use this card. This person is Butte through and through. She always the first to offer help to those in need. She is always helping to plan benefits and is very involved in our community. She would give the shirt off her back to help anybody in need. She is kind and filled with laughter. The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation support our community is so many different ways. Butte is better because of the support they give. This woman also makes Butte a better place. It was an honor to help her when she needed a hand up just as is was an honor to receive the card. I am proud to be part of the Butte Community and proud to be part of the Montana Resources family. Thank you to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for letting me be part of the Pay it Forward project.

I gave my Pay-it-Forward card to Jase Leister's parents.

Jase was born with Apert Syndrom, an incredibly rare disease that affects an estimated 1/88,0000 newborns. During his first year of life, Jase had 124 appointments, which doesn't account for an additional five surgeries and 76 days in the hospital. Jase and his family have had a difficult year but keep moving forward with tremendous hope and love.

Jase's family was extremely grateful to receive this generous gift and used the money for general expenses and to help with medical expenses.

To learn more about Jase and his incredible story, please visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1876049412419081/
(Embracing Jase)

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help a family in need.

This year I gave the card to a friend who lives in low income housing. Prior to me receiving the card she had missed about a month of work due to illness and was having trouble catching up. She used the card to pay rent.

Thanks to the generosity of the foundation, I donated to the Missoula Life Maintenance Center “Joey’s Place;” (MLMC). MLMC was founded by a longtime family friend, Mikey after the loss of his brother to suicide. Suicide is a major public health concern. Over 40,000 people die by suicide each year in the United States; it is the 10th leading cause of death overall. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 34. Suicide is complicated and tragic but it is often preventable. The Missoula Life Maintenance Center will be a free community based “Drop in Center” guided towards helping people with behavioral health issues. MLMC will be starting a new trend in health and wellness, offer peer support specialists, life coaching, art, music, mindfulness activities, recreation and gardening; offering a place that doesn’t carry a stigma behind it and talks opening about suicide. We're all in it together.

Speaking with Mike, the pay it forward gift card was used to purchase an external hard drive to safely store valuable data, as well as purchasing additional 'we're all in it together' bracelets that will be handed out at community awareness events.

Learn more about MLMC at https://www.missoulalmc.com/. If you know someone in crisis call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are confidential.

Funds provide youth opportunities to participate in sports of skiing and snowboarding. Scholarships are provided to young athletes and costs of the program are offset permitting youths of all ages to participate. They are committed to creating the opportunity for all team members to develop to their fullest potential.

Potomac School, a small K-8 school, used my PIF card to purchase the following items which will be used by students:

Pop-up Canopy (currently being used by the track team and will be used for other sports teams and at outdoor fund raisers and other school events)
Watercolor paints
Paintbrushes
Watercolor paper
Tempra paint
Markers
Glue sticks
Protractors
Lead refills

The teachers were very thankful for the gift!

First of all, thank you so much Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for implementing the Pay-It-Forward program. When I found out my name was drawn, so many good organizations came to mind that could really benefit from this and I fully support. It was quite a dilemma to choose only one or two and which way to go; Watson's Children Shelter, Missoula Youth Homes, Special Olympics, The Dragon Hollow Playground update, Camp-Make-A-Dream, the Animal Shelter, etc....; but one dilemma I would never complain about.

I was leaning towards Missoula Youth Homes since there a quite a few organizations that cater to younger kids, but not as many to the older youth. Kind of what I call the "Puppy Syndrome". People love to get puppies because they're so cute and playful, but don't want to take care of them when they get older. They still need love and attention, but just don't get it like when they were younger. Missoula Youth Homes fills this gap and provides support until the teens become adults through Family Support Services and Group Home Care.

What I didn't realize, until recently, is that they also help with foster care and adoption through The Dan Fox Family Care Program. This surprised me and was the determining factor for this years recipient, as it reaches all aged children.

I donated my Pay It Forward gift card to a local non-profit, all volunteer organization named Many Miles Home Rescue. Their main goal is to rescue unwanted and mistreated dogs and puppies from shelters that do not have a “no kill” system in place. They travel to these shelters and adopt the dogs, bringing them back to their shelter to find them a good home. All donations go to adopting and caring for these dogs; from food, to improving living conditions, to medical. All dogs are treated as a member of their family until they find them their “forever family.” On average they are saving and adopting out over ten thousand animals a year. If there is any interest in seeing some of their many success stories, their website is www.manymilesrescue.com. Thank-you for the opportunity to help this terrific charity to protect man’s best friend.

I gave my card to Daxton Beardslee to help with his heart surgeries.Daxton has been diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and hypoplastic aortic arch, at 6 months old he has had 3 open heart surgeries. Since his 3rd surgery he has finally been able to come home. His mother Cameron was in Seattle for almost 6 months with him during his procedures. Daxton is doing well since his return.♥️💙♥️

PER Kalie Vest (Parkers Mom)- Parker Jane was born November 7th, 2018 with Tetralogy of Fallot with an ASD which are severe congenital heart defects. The four defects that make up Tetralogy of Fallot are pulmonary atresia, overriding aorta, thickening of the right ventricle muscle wall, a VSD (ventricular septal defect, a hole between the bottom halves of her heart) plus an ASD (atrial septal defect, a hole between the top halves of her heart). During an X-ray immediately after birth we discovered Parker also has congenital scoliosis and various fused ribs on the left side. Parker had her full repair via open heart surgery at just six days old on November 13th, 2018. We spent 45 days at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT before being discharged home for the first time. She has since been life flighted, twice, to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, ID for what was unknown respiratory distress. Through her second admission we learned that because of her scoliosis and fused ribs her left lung is undeveloped and her right lung is hyper extended making it quite difficult to make both lungs and the heart happy. Parker suffered her first cardiac and respiratory arrest on February 7th, 2019 leading her to be intubated to keep her safe. Three days later she suffered a second cardiac arrest and the only way to keep her Earth side was to medically paralyze her and let the breathing machine do all of the work for her. Parker was left intubated until we collectively, with the help from her doctors, decided to trach her as well as give her a semi-permanent feeding tube called the G tube. On February 28th, 2019 Parker had her double surgery and was wheeled back into her room a new baby! There was a light at the end of our long, dark tunnel! Eight days later things quickly unraveled. Parker had a 105 degree fever that no amount of intervention could break. She went into septic shock as her tiny body tried to preserve its major organs. We learned she had had a stroke and was seizing. She was put into a medically induced coma for three days in hopes it would give her brain the chance to reset itself. It was a success. Once Parker was stable enough she was wheeled downstairs for an MRI to see the extent of the damage done to her brain from the stroke and seizures. Miraculously, it appears to be minimal, but we won’t know for sure if she will have deficits until she is older. The brain is a powerful organ, the remaining brain cells can relearn that of those that died as a result of her injuries. As we have gotten further from the dates of her cardiac arrests and stroke Parker’s heart failure number has dropped from greater than 5,000 to 52. She has regained strength and mobility in her right side, which seemed to be affected most from her stroke. We have been inpatient 102 days, and counting, but have gained knowledge and strength in those difficult, hard and beautiful days. Parker is a survivor. The power of prayer is real. And I have witnessed too many of God’s miracles to not believe in His existence in all of our lives.

We have a Facebook page called Sweet P’s special heart. I encourage you to follow along as I will continue to update all who are invested in our warrior girl. Our goal is to spread awareness and be a beacon of hope as Parker’s light shines so bright. This story is built on a foundation of faith, hope and love which wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s support and prayers. Just like the scars on Parker’s chest, we will leave our mark 🖤

I have the privilege of knowing some amazing single moms. I find it awe-inspiring that both these women work full time and take care of two children. Velvet and Zonda are two of the most generous, loving moms that I know. I was so grateful for the opportunity to pay it forward to both of them by giving them each a $200 Walmart gift card.

The remaining $100 will go to our friends the McClain's. They have had some very difficult medical issues the past couple months, including their 8 year old being diagnosed with diabetes.

Thank you Dennis and Phyllis!