Pay It Forward Stories 2021

I gave my Pay it Forward card to the Youth Homes for their Run 4 Kids fundraiser associated with the Missoula Marathon. Every year the team raises funds to ensure kids in care with Youth Homes have the help, care and support they need to heal and become healthy. For the second year in a row, the Missoula Marathon has gone virtual and the number of participants in the Run 4 Kids has dropped, but the needs of the kids remains the same.

Because of the Youth Homes organization, over 12,000 at-risk children in Western Montana have be given the opportunity to experience childhood in a safe and secure place to call home since 1971. Each day they serve over 300 children and families through their emergency shelters, therapeutic group homes, foster care and adoption programs and counseling services. Over 90% of these kids improve their grades and stay in school and nearly 95% graduate or get their GED. Most importantly, the Youth Homes provides kids the chance to be a kid and work on building healthy relationships that will be their base for moving forward as a healthier and happier adult.

Thank you to the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation for the opportunity to help this organization.

The COVID 19 pandemic forced many Americans out of work leading to a surge in unemployment and a lack of funds to support themselves and their families. With this came an uptick of people and families struggling with food insecurities. I chose to donate to the Stevensville Pantry Partners to help support families in need.

Pantry Partners is a 100% volunteer organization and has been supporting its local community since 1989. The program provides a monthly food box to those in need in North Ravalli County and people can visit the food bank as needed to obtain donated items including fresh produce, baked goods, milk and eggs.

Thank you to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for allowing me to participate in supporting our local communities!

I went to a local mechanic shop and paid an outstanding bill for an individual. This individual is a hard working dad of 4 kids and is having some financial difficulties. The transmission went out on his truck that he depends on for work and he has been trying to make payments to pay off the debt.

I donated my gift card to the Franklin Family Resource Center at Franklin School in Missoula, MT. They in turn used the funds to purchase new Franklin Bulldog T-shirts for the incoming class of kindergarteners for the 21-22 school year. The principal and Resource Center leader are going to go to each new kindergartener's house this summer and welcome them to Franklin and give them a shirt!

Having been a member of the Laurel Volunteer Fire Dept. for 15 yrs. this year I decided to give my Pay It Forward card to the LVFD. Chief Peters informed me that they were going to use it for the upcoming wild land season. Once again it was an honor to receive this card and be able to present it to a great organization such as the volunteers who deserve this and so much more. Thanks to the Washington Companies for such great generosity once again.

Cory Spehar contacted me as he knows that the work of the Anaconda Community Foundation causes us to be very knowledgeable of the greatest needs in our community.  In discussing several ideas and sharing the needs of various individuals, Cory asked me to reach out to and individual we will call Rita (not her real name.)  Rita is past retirement age but continues to work as a home health caregiver.  She pours out her heart, her time, her energy, and her private resources to help her clients.  Rita is known for using her own meagher funds to assist someone who requires special care.  When presented with the card, Rita said with great emphasis that surely someone else was more deserving.  After convincing her the funds were meant to help her carry on her work and service, she agreed to accept the funds.  Rita paid forward Cory's pay-it-forward gift and the funds continue to ripple.  Rita assisted animals in need as well as people.  On the people side, Rita purchased bathroom equipment for a disabled client, as well as gas cards to use as needed.  Rita spent only a small amount on herself, one of the items to repair a window in her home.   Countless thanks to Cory for working with the Anaconda Community Foundation; and more thanks to the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation for creating this tremendous program

We gave our pay-it-forward card to a family that recently lost their father to Covid-19. The unexpected death of a family member is enough of a burden and now their youngest daughter is moving off to college in Utah. Hopefully, they can use the card to visit each other or use it to relieve some of the financial stress during these hard times.

Due to a harsh winter throughout central America, a family was left without work for a month. during this month they struggled paying bills and used all their savings. They needed a new tire, gas, and food to be able to get to their new jobsite. The card was used to help them get to the new jobsite to start earning money again.

My wife and I gave all our Pay It Forward dollars to Watson's Children's Shelter here in Missoula. Watson's recently had a giving campaign and based on various levels of giving they stated what could be done within the organization, $500 can feed a child for one month. We are very thankful of the Foundation for the opportunity to give to a cause that is close to our hearts.

I presented the $500 gift card to Dave Williamson, Chairman of the Southwest Montana Veterans Home Foundation at their monthly meeting on April 5th. The monies were to be spent on improvements at the facilities, assist with veterans with financial issue, or providing supplies to the veterans for COVID prevention.

I feel that it is great to help support the veterans that have done so much for our country and are sometimes forgotten after they have provided their service.

I gave this pay it forward card a lady who has three children (two are very young) and very recently lost her husband. they are facing a very difficult time. Her husband was in Alaska when he passed away, and had no insurance, so even getting him back home was a substantial financial burden. she was very grateful and wished to offer sincere thanks to this foundation for its generous gift.

My Late wife's cousin and her Husband recently had a baby. With my wife's passing, I was not able to contribute my own money to help them. I knew if she were still here we would be doing whatever we could to help them. It takes a lot to bring a child into this world. It takes more to take care of them. So I gave them the giving card in her honor to make sure they had what their new baby would need.

With the help of my family, we decided to give our card to the Humane Society of Western Montana. We have a love for animals, and have had the privilege of rescuing our own pets. I called and spoke with a manager there and they gave us a list of items that would be helpful for their animals. We went to local companies for some of the toys/treats, as well as to Petsmart to get the healthy diet food they had requested. Feeling the spirit the card gave, my wife and I matched the donation amount to give more to the Humane Society.

Thank you very much to Dennis and Phyllis and the foundation for helping give back to our community.

I gave my giving card to The Greenleaf School in Missoula, MT. This is the only Waldorf Education school in the entire state of Montana. In 2018, with the help of a supportive parent community, The Greenleaf School was founded, with intentions of one day developing it to a full Pre-K through 8th grade nationally accredited Waldorf School. I decided to give the card to them to help them reach this goal.

Waldorf Education is a distinctive approach to fostering children’s development through their heads, hearts and hands. Minimizing technology and access to media, children are guided through their days immersed in singing, movement, creative play and crafting. Classrooms are furnished with locally made, hand-crafted materials, schools often grow much of their own food and children participate in simple daily tasks such as baking, crafting and moving together as a group. A paramount concept in Waldorf Education is the importance of relationships, utilizing this as a tool itself for learning, with all stories, songs and plays coming from the creative spirit of the teacher and not books or pre-recorded music. Waldorf Education is a worldwide movement towards independent, non-profit education with no centralized administrative structure, allowing each school to act out of it’s own interpretation of freedom.

If interested, the following is more history of Waldorf Education.

EDUCATING THE HEAD, HEART AND HANDS

Emil Molt was a very kind man. He was also a terrible student and could not find academic success in school despite attending a number of them. Through his childhood in Germany, he barely completed schooling and struggled through is apprenticeship due to his meager size meeting with the required demanding physical labor of the work. While Molt struggled, he formed a very important bond with his mentor, and a change happened in him that would ignite the beginning of his true academic career. From this bond, Molt felt seen by his mentor and though he was not as strong as the other boys, this mentor valued what Molt could offer that was different from the rest. Emil Molt went on to become a successful business man using his capacity for relationships to create trusting partners leading to large investments to create the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory. He even went on to marry a woman whom he had loved since the age of 10, and thus, a once sad and orphaned boy had found his place in the world and supposed satisfaction.

Then WWI came, and blew Molt's smooth life trajectory  into a complete spiral. Molt's factory was clinging for success to stay open while in a greater perspective, the entire country of Germany, as well as many others, was in complete imbalance. At the end of the war, Molt had too many workers in his factory as soldiers returned from war, but with a kind heart Molt kept them on payroll, working them half days and conducting educational classes for his otherwise under-educationed staff. This brought him to realize that through the upcoming changes his country was going to face, education was the vehicle to smooth through this transition and he began to consider a new education for the children of the workers in his factory. 

Having little background and working knowledge in human development and pedagogy, Emil Molt sought Rudolf Steiner, a popular and respected philosopher and activist speaking on behalf of a more dimensional human potential. Molt asked Steiner if he would embark upon opening a quality school for the families within his factory,  and Steiner agreed but set four conditions, each of which went against common practice of the day:

1) that the school be open to all children
2) that it be coeducational
3) that it be a unified twelve-year school
4) that the teachers, those individuals actually in contact with the children, have primary control of the school, with minimum interference from the state or economic sources

Steiner's conditions were radical for the day, but Molt gladly agreed to them. Working alongside E.A. Karl Stockman for curriculum organization, they designed a pedagogy that did not depend on material outcomes and rote information, but rather prized open discussion, free expression and a deep immersion in the arts, in music and in foreign language 

On September 7, 1919, the independent Waldorf School (Die Freie Waldorfschule) opened its doors in Stuttgart, Germany. However, knowing that Waldorf Schools promote peace and unity, they were quickly shut down during Nazi occupation, and remained unavailable for years. When they were able to reopen, the concept of the  Waldorf School spread internationally, and currently has 900 schools spread through 83 countries. 

I donated my card to Lorinda Marcy and family. Their house burned down during the Holiday Farm Fire. She has been going out of her way to help keep the local elementary school running, all while living in a camp trailer on a friend's property trying to relocate her family. For all the help she has provided to her community before, during and after the fires I appreciate you allowing me to give her something back when she needed it the most.

Thank-you

Cash Hyde Foundation. This foundation gives to Montana families with Children Fighting Cancer. Our cards went to a local issoula family whose son is fighting bone cancer and was sent to Boston for treatment.

Hello, I gave my dad my Gift Card. He just turned 94 this year, and still lives at home. He’s on a fixed income, and with this card it helps a lot with Prescriptions and grocery’s. My older sister and brother who live in the same town, help tremendously take care of him.
Many Thanks to the Washington Foundation for doing this, it helps a lot!
Sincerely Pete Trunkle and Family!

I gave the card to the Opossums Pouch Sanctuary, Rescue and Rehab, this is an 501C-3 non profit my wife started several years ago to rescue Opossums and other wildlife. Currently a 20 X 50 two story structure is being built to serve as a sanctuary building. The money has been used to support the construction of the building which is being built by Branded Builders local to my home town in Prosperity, SC

The Director of the Opossum Pouch Beth Sparks would like to thank the foundation for its support in her efforts.

I used my giving card in many ways. It was a true "Pay It Forward"! It was used randomly for random strangers to brighten their day. We would use it when we were out and about in our normal lives. Paying for strangers meals at restaurants that we were at or paying for items at grocery stores, or gas stations. There were quite a few people who benefited from this card in one way or another. Thank you for the opportunity to spread some kindness and joy. We really enjoyed being able to do this, during this year especially.

I used part of my card to sponsor a friend in Anchorage Alaska for the Polar Bear plunge for the benefit of The American Cancer Society. The remainder of the card I donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Billings Mt to be used by out of town family's of young patients, who are in local hospitals, to purchase gas, entertainment, or food. Thank you DP Washington Foundation on making this possible.

I am grateful to have the ability to pay it forward to an elderly couple who was in great need to have a ramp built to enter/exit there home. This elderly couple both suffer from severe medical issues including multiple myeloma cancer that affects movement. Stairs make it almost impossible for this 85 yr old man to go fishing (his greatest loved hobby) along with the ability to make daily visits with their fourteen grand babies. His wife, at 65 yrs of age needs both knees replaced also adding to the difficulty of stairs. With this donation, the couple was able to build a ramp off of their house including a small deck for them to enjoy sharing the crisp Montana air. Thank you!

Card was given to a dear friend who was married for less than a year when her husband was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There have been significant travel and medical costs per their insurance is limited since they have been having to go out of state for treatment. She has been a life long friend and her and her family have been an integral part of Missoula for many years. Their entire family is always doing for others and felt this would be used, needed and greatly appreciated. We have know her since kindergarten and have been through many ups and downs together. Dennis and Phyllis, Kyle and Kevin all know this family as well. We felt that would be given and received with close connection and heart felt support.

Thanks to the Washington's

I chose to use the gift card for an individual. Even though there are many organizations and good causes that would benefit and appreciate the gift, we really wanted to find a person that could use a hand up. My wife used the Salvation Army at Christmas time to help out a family and so we decided to go this route again. The Salvation Army provided information of a single mom with 4 children that had lived in a one room facility, holding down a job and taking her children to work with her as no child care was available or could be afforded. Please see the attached letter we received from the young mother via the Salvation Army.

I donated my card this year to a non-profit youth sports program in our local community. Exceeding in athletics can be hard because now days because of traveling expenses and such. Seeing some of these kids get the ok to make that leap into competition is fun to watch. With the help of these cards it allows more future generations to excel!

I donated my card to a local club that helps teenage kids stay out of trouble. Through sports activities and team building.