Pay it Forward Stories 2019

My husband and I have been fortunate to have the same group of gals take care of our kids as babies. When you have others who care for your kids while you work, it's so comforting to know that they are receiving the care, love, and support that you want them to have. Recently one of the gals had an accident that required her to be out of work for a couple of months. Daycare providers in my eyes don't make enough for the vital role they play in caring for kids and knowing that medical bills and other expenses can grow quickly, I'm so thankful that I was able to give a Pay It Forward card to help her meet some of these needs.

Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for allowing us to be able to Pay It Forward within our communities.

What a wonderful gift to "re-gift"!
I split $500 between 3 families who have had major medical bills. Each family is frugal with their money and is always ready to give a hand to others.
It was great to see the look of surprise and thankfulness for the gift cards each family received!!
Thank you Dennis & Phyllis for all the ways you give to your community!

I decided to give the card to a family in Butte, MT. I personally know this family and knew of them having a hard time keeping up on their bills and running low on funds. The husband works in town for the city not sure of his job title and his wife is a first year teacher. They also have a 1 year old daughter. I've witnessed them struggle to come up with money for groceries for the family and staying up on their bills due to fixing issues with their home and that happened in the last year. This family helps out everyone they can with no questions asked. The husband has helped neighbors fix their homes or any other issues they have without wanting anything in return. This money I know will help them out tremendously with supporting their family and help get them back on track. After giving them the card personally they were so grateful that you have helped them out.

My son Shawn had the same teacher at Russell Elementary for kindergarten and first grade, Amy Stemple. She is the type of teacher that from day one we immediately knew would be excellent - a bubbly personality, responsive to parent inquiries, kind but structured disciplined in her approach to teaching.
Day one of kindergarten, she took a photo of Shawn writing his name and it is still on our kitchen refrigerator door, as are all the many other glimpses into Shawn’s time in her classes.
There were only a handful of kids that stayed with Amy as she moved to the first grade class, but for those kids, last year when they all graduated from high school, she sent them a collage of pictures and projects from their time in her. They were her special ‘pandas’ and she wanted them to know that she was behind them still even, in their endeavors, whatever they chose.
Those extra momentos mean the world to us as parents – to have those little glimpses into his childhood that we wouldn’t ordinarily have had.
My hope is with this gift, I can not only ‘Pay It Forward’ so Ms. Stemple will be able to continue those special touches for her students and parents, but also pay her back for the outstanding beginning she gave our son.

Thomas Slagle is a 2013 graduate of Joliet high school, in Joliet, MT. He has a twin brother, William. Both Thomas and William have Klinefelter syndrome, which is an extra x chromosome. They both have struggled with many medical problems for most of their lives.
In June of 2018, it was discovered that Thomas had a massive brain tumor. He was flown from Billings, MT to Denver CO where he underwent a 12 hour surgery. The tumor was so large that the doctors were only able to remove half of it. They planned for Thomas to recover for a couple of weeks and then remove the remaining tumor. Unfortunately, Thomas became very ill with pneumonia and the surgery was postponed. Since then, Thomas has battled many infections, including an infection in his brain and his blood. He is also resistant or allergic to many of the anti-biotics, which has made recovery painful and difficult. Most recently he is recovering from a massive bed sore, which was infected to the bone.
Thomas’ mom, Michelle, was able to spend the first 3 months with him in Denver while his dad, Danny stayed back in Joliet with William. In September Michelle’s leave from work was up and she had to return to Montana. Danny recently had back surgery but as soon as he was cleared by his doctors he went to be with Thomas in Denver.
At this time, the family is waiting for Thomas to recover enough to make the trip to a rehabilitation center closer to their home in Montana, where they hope he will become well enough to remove the rest of the tumor.
In May of 2015, William suffered from the same tumor, at the time the doctors did not believe it to be genetic so they chose not to test Thomas. William spent about 3 months in Denver recovering from his surgery to remove the tumor. William’s tumor was about half the size that Thomas’ was. William has a few lingering problems but for the most part, he has recovered well.

This year I donated my card to Valicity Once Upon A Time Charity. Each year they hold a Princess Ball in honor of their daughter Valicity who passed away at age 5 after battling leukemia for 2 1/2 years. This year was the ninth annual Princess Ball. Each year they choose one of 3 charities to give the money too. Ronald McDonald House Charities, Angel flight West or The Montana Hope Project. This year the money went to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. In the last eight year they have raised over $460,000 for these charities. It is nice to see that they were able to turn a sad event into something positive, to be able to give back to the community.

i used the card to donate to the a non profit called Heart of The Valley, which is an animal shelter where i live in Bozeman. The money will be going to the animals directly in their care.

I chose to give the $500.00 gift card to the Missoula Food Bank. With the long winter this year, I thought there would a greater need for families that rely on the Food Bank. Missoula Food Bank has been serving the Missoula community for many years. With this donation, it will help the Food Bank continue to provide food to families in desperate need. Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for this program.

We would like to say a very greatfull thank you for the pay it forward program. We gave or gift card to 15 year old Jayden Lewis, who was very recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma, known as cancer of the bone. The cancer had started out in his pelvis and has already spread to his spine. The costs of his treatment are and will be extensive as well as the flights back and forth from Billings MT to Salt Lake City UT. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to help them out!

Brittany Goodson with Montana Rail Link

Bitterroot Winter Special Olympics is a local organization helping local people using local volunteers and donations. Started in 1981 with twelve athletes, a handful of volunteers provided a cross country ski venue for adults and children with physical and mental challenges. Since then it has grown into a very popular winter event.

In January of 2019 the Bitterroot Winter Special Olympics hosted 141 athletes representing 16 schools and other organizations, with over 200 coaches and support people and 200 plus volunteers. Cross country skiing, downhill skiing and snowshoes races were the events provided at Lost Trail Powder Mountain over a two day period. A banquet and dance is also hosted by the Olympic organizers at the Bitterroot River Inn.

Bitterroot Winter Special Olympics raises the majority of it's funding by hosting the annual Hacker Golf Tournament at the Hamilton Golf Club in September each year. Donations from local businesses and individuals help provide the funds needed to keep this popular event going every January.

The Bitterroot Winter Special Olympics is truly a grassroots organization promoting competition, friendship and joy between athletes, coaches and volunteers alike.

My mother in-law, Marla Hennequin, has been a volunteer on the steering committee for 33 years.

I chose to give my gift card to the YMCA of Gallatin Valley in support of the youth sports programs they provide. Many kids who participate in their programs are unable to afford the fees associated with them. The YMCA uses the scholarship program to help pay for their enrollment. This contribution will help many kids grow, thrive, and learn that otherwise may not have had the opportunity.

I Chose to donate my giving Card to the Eagle mount Cancer Survivor Flight Camp.

Every year, Summit Aviation in Bozeman, Montana hosts four young cancer survivors for a week-long Cancer Survivor Flight Camp. The campers, who are all young adult survivors of childhood cancer participating in Eagle Mount Bozeman’s Big Sky Kids program, will get to live their dream of taking flight! Throughout the course of the week, these individuals aren’t just passengers along for the ride as each participant learns the basics of aviation, how to manipulate aircraft controls, goes on a cross-country flight over Yellowstone National Park, and even has the opportunity to perform his or her own take offs and landings! The daily itinerary includes breakfast briefings and themed lunches, one-on-one instruction with some of Summit’s premier Certified Flight Instructors, ground school courses, behind-the-scenes airport tours, local and scenic tours, and over 10 hours of flight time in Summit’s state-of-the-art Diamond aircraft. The camp is completely donation funded and every cent received goes straight towards helping to cover the costs of food, fuel, and other Camp necessities. For these individuals, who have braved the challenges of diagnosis and treatment, the Flight Camp is a chance to escape limitations and experience the freedom of flight!

I decided to gift my card to a family in Whitehall, MT who's primary provider was diagnosed with cancer. They have 3 young girls to support and have been making multiple long term trips to Salt lake for treatment. The card will no doubt help with day to day expenses and hotel stays.

We used the Pay it Forward donation to Centennial Ice Arena in Billings MT. The Ice Arena has been struggling for many years with increasing cost of maintenance due to the age of the building. This $500 will be used for supplies to fix some of the delayed repairs due to funds.

I chose the American Cancer Society Relay For Life as my charitable cause because cancer affects everyone. My girlfriend is a member of the Butte Relay For Life volunteer committee and I want to support their fundraising efforts. The American Caner Society saves lives, celebrates lives, and leads the fight for a world free of cancer. Locally they provide cancer patients with free rides to treatment, free lodging for those that must travel, and 24/7 resources and support.

Thank you for allowing me to take part in the pay it forward giving campaign again this year. My wife Caryn and i donate to some great causes and organizations throughout the year, and with this card initially I was going to donate it to one of our usual worthy organizations. I was strolling through social media one day and came across the Casting Shadows Foundation that a Facebook friend Gary Schild and his friend Ben Sharbono had started. I read the story of why they started the foundation....while Gary was at Bens fathers funeral the Pastor asked "Have we seen a decline in the importance, that we as a society place on both fatherhood, and young people having adult male mentors to follow and look up to in their lives? That is the question the Pastor posed. If so, and he implied, as this older generation passes will this trend continue?"

This brought back memories of the role models in my life that I looked up to. Not having children of our own, I hope to be one of those role models to my nieces and nephews, and I hope this gift can help someone else become a strong role model.

From their Facebook page: "The concept is simple. We want to promote the importance of fatherhood, and young growing minds to have strong adult male mentors to look up to. We want to encourage father’s, uncle’s, stepfather’s, teacher’s and big brother’s, to step up and be positive strong role models. They are always looking up.
To encourage the importance of respect, and making good decisions. To protect and make them feel safe. A person they can come to in times of need. To give a young woman confidence and strength in herself, and a young man a lesson in how to honor and respect their mother, and their sister and their future wives and girlfriends."
"The mission of the Casting Shadows Foundation will be to provide guided, free of charge, fly fishing trips to young people (boys or girls) along with their father, stepfather, big brother, or some other male mentor. Just a day on one of Montana’s beautiful rivers fly fishing, or learning to fly fish, spending time, talking, building and strengthening relationships.
Some of our trips will be just a reward to an absolutely outstanding father, or mentor, and chance to strengthen that relationship. Some will be for young people desperately seeking a mentor, or father figure in in their lives."

And finally a note from Gary on their foundation page:
I received a message a few weeks ago from a Facebook friend Gregg Cooney. He so graciously wanted to donate a $500 “pay it forward” gift card he received from his work at Rail Link. He noted how Casting Shadows brought up all of the fond hours he spent fishing with his dad, grandad, and uncle growing up. I’ve never met Gregg in person but appreciate his kind cyber friend heart.

So with this, I got ahold of my friend Taylor that owns the Missoulian Angler. He is such a kind and generous young guy himself. Already a strong supporter of what we are doing here. I know from having fished and floated with him what an awesome role model he has in his father. And now a new baby to pass those traits on to.

Anyway for the $500 Taylor was able to get us into 6 quality rod and reel combos worth nearly twice that. They carry a lifetime warranty. Just really good quality rods and reels.

We are planning six float trips this summer and thanks to the generosity of Gregg, and Taylor, and the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation (and Rail Link). Every single child that takes a trip with us this summer will take with them this beautiful brand new rod and reel set up. Ready to go.

Hopefully at least a few will use this opportunity as a steppingstone to take on the wonderful pastime of fly fishing and who knows maybe someday pass that down to their children fondly recalling where it all began.

That is really what we want to be about.

In checking the We Care section of the Missoulian I came across the story of an 83 year old vet who had to have his teeth removed and now needed money to purchase dentures. I donated the $500 Pay-it-Forward gift towards the $2,400 cost of his dentures.

I would like to thank the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for giving me this opportunity to Pay It Forward. I gave my Pay It Forward gift card to the family of a little girl who was severely injured in an accident – here is an excerpt of her story that I copied from her Go Fund Me page:

On the morning of Tuesday, November 6th, Jewell was waiting at her bus stop, and started crossing the street to meet the bus as it approached. Unfortunately, a passing car was unable to stop when she ran into the road, and she was struck by the car.
Jewell was taken to Missoula's St. Patrick Hospital for immediate care, and then life flighted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for ongoing medical treatment.

Jewell sustained multiple injuries in the accident - a brain injury with swelling and bleeding, a fractured vertebrae, skull fracture, broken eye socket, nose and jaw, fractures to her clavicle, pelvis and foot. Despite all of these conditions, she has proven to be too tough to give up, making progress every day.

Beyond medical expenses, there will be months of therapy and doctors’ visits in her road to final recovery.

I used my " Pay it forward $500 gift card", to help out Mike Phyfield and his family, he was hit by a truck on Harrison Ave in Butte, MT on 1/18/19. He is still in the hospital in Billings with lots of DR bills and has a long recovery ahead.

Thank You for this opportunity to pay it forward.

Bob

I chose Anaconda Montana's youngster Kasey Morley to receive my giving card. Kasey was born with a severe cleft palate and skull. Kasey has had several surgeries and many medical procedures. These include repairing his skull, palate, orbital and facial bones, nasal passage and hands. He will be having many more surgeries in the future. Travel expenses for Kasey's medical appointments are the families biggest struggle.

I had not yet met Kasey but recently started following his "Friends of Kasey Morley" site on Facebook. Kasey's mom describes his journey on this site and when I was chosen to get a giving card I immediately wanted to pick this family. I contacted Kasey's mom and went to the family's resident. I got to meet an amazing young boy. He was so talkative, friendly and full of hugs. You cant help but to fall in love with him! I also met his mom, dad and his brother Kaleb who were all very thankful.

Thank you Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for giving me the joy of "Paying It Forward". It was a very "feel good" moment!

I gave my card to a fellow employee, Doug Fink, who is in his early fifties has been diagnosed with Liver cancer and colon cancer. He has recently
had surgery to remove liver metastasis and is recovering , before another round of chemotherapy. He has not been able to work full time
since October , and as you can imagine has accumulated a lot of hospital bills that aren't covered by health insurance , along with travel expenses
to Denver where he had surgery . I never hesitated giving my 500 dollar card to him and he immediately used it to pay down his hospital bills
Many thanks to Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for giving me the ability to help my friend in need !

I decided to give my Pay It Forward Giving Card to the Larson Family, Ashley and Gerry Larson. Their little girl Lindsey, who is 6 years old, came down with a sudden illness. They rushed her to the hospital and progressively started to get worse. She started getting red lesions/blisters all over her body including her eyes, mouth and genitals. They sewed pieces of placenta around her eyes to protect them. Doctors couldn't figure out what it was.
They had many ideas but were ruling them out as multiples tests were being performed on her. The longer they went, the more stumped they were becoming. Her symptoms were fitting a few ideas but they were not fitting 100% so the doctors didn't want to give an affinitive diagnosis unless all the symptoms fit. Lindsay was not able to open her eyes or be able to feed herself. They had to insert a catheter and a feeding tube to keep her stabilized.
After about 2 weeks she started to get better, slowly but surely. She was able to start to try and feed herself. She spent a little over 2 weeks in the hospital. During the time Lindsay was in the hospital her mother, Ashley, was staying with her constantly while her husband Gerry took care of their toddler daughter, Laney, as well as them both running a cattle ranch. To say they had a lot on their plate was an understatement.
Modern Machinery Rochester Branch, after finding out what was going on, began to take donations to give to the family such as clothes, coloring books and pencils and anything that would help the little girl feel better as well as the family. Multiple people also donated PTO since Ashley was close to running out and we knew she was not going to be at work for a little longer. She works in parts. We also brought together cash donations. We came together as a family to help Ashley and her family because here in Rochester, we are all a family and we come together to help each other in time of need.
Lindsey is a budding artist and absolutely loves coloring and drawing. Her artwork can be seen all over the branch in select offices. She is Modern's Picasso. She is often at the branch drawing and coloring beautiful pictures and has been doing so since she was very young so to say she has grown up here is a very accurate statement. Many people in the branch have known her since birth and have watched her blossom into a beautiful and thoughtful little girl. To say her falling ill effected us is a vast understatement. I feel as if she is my own and I'm sure many would agree.
Lindsay got well enough to where she was able to go home. She has been home for about 2 weeks and is getting stronger and better every day. She is already back at school. Doctors still couldn't pin point exactly what was causing her illness other than diagnosing her with lesions of the skin and mucosal membranes. All I know is she is the bravest and strongest little girl I know and it was my honor to donate my giving card to her and her family.

Thank you for the opportunity to Pay It Forward. I gave the gift to a young woman battling cancer. In less than a year, this young woman went through surgery, chemotherapy, and after treatment received news that the cancer spread. With the initial diagnosis, medical expenses and missing work created a financial burden. Now with news that the cancer has spread, she has been referred to doctors elsewhere; and, the financial burdens will increase. My hope is that this gift creates some financial relief and she finds comfort in the knowledge that the entire Washington Corporation family is thinking of her.

Thank you,

Joe Kump and Family

My “Pay It Forward” donation card is going to the youth girls softball organization Montana Extreme. This card will help ensure each and every youngster on this team will have the funding they will need to participate fully. I’ve seen first hand how hard each and every one of these young ladies work. They all deserve to be there. The future is bright with these girls.

Good Luck on your season girls!!

This card was used to pay for East Travel Club to go on an Educational trip to New York City and Boston this May.
Thank you so much Dennis and Phyllis for your generous donation. This is a class act foundation and an even more amazing company to work for.

Again, Thank you for all you do.

Shane Mellott