Pay It Forward: A Week in Review

Hello again!

What a week we've had! As promised, here's a recap of what we did to celebrate our 'Pay It Forward Week'. This week has shown us how simple Paying It Forward can be and that random acts of kindness can and should be done more often. What a world this would be if everyone joined the Pay It Forward bandwagon! We will now challenge ourselves to continue this trend - we hope you will do the same too!

For our first 'Pay it Forward', we decided to recognize a couple of the incredible Bed and Breakfasts we've stayed at during our travels over the past few years. In particular, we wanted to acknowledge the 'Hollywood Bed and Breakfast' in Hollywood, California, and 'Bed, Books and Breakfast' in Stavanger, Norway. These friendly B&B's helped make our vacations more enjoyable and our experiences more unique, so we wanted others to know about them! For that reason, we wrote complementary reviews on Trip Advisor with the hopes that other travelers would stumble across them during their trip planning and visit them in the future. This was an easy gesture on our part, but we know that in a competitive hospitality market, a good word or recommendation makes the world of difference. Hopefully our reviews prove helpful to others and bring business to two B&Bs that are truly one of a kind!

Next, we thought it would be fitting to donate school supplies seeing as it's back to school time. We found the Caring and Sharing Exchange program which "is a local charity that provides assistance to Ottawa families and individuals in need, during the Christmas season and the back-to-school season". Upon doing some research, we found that there was a drop box for supplies at our local library. Since we are no longer in school and no longer make the back to school supplies trip, we had fun going up and down the aisles picking out items that we know will be well used. Going to school was always something we enjoyed; knowing that we will be providing a child with the necessary tools to succeed and will potentially help them enjoy school like we did, warms our hearts :)

 

Mid-week, we thought we'd incorporate our love for baking into our Pay It Forward Week. We pulled out our favourite no-fail chocolate chip cookie recipe and went to work! It wasn't hard to decide who we wanted to reward with these delicious treats. Every morning when we walk into work, we receive a warm greeting from the Commissionaires (Security Guards). We always show them our ID pass, say hello and wish them a nice day. This morning though, we thought we'd give them a little bit more. We handed them a bag of cookies to enjoy and help make their day a little bit 'sweeter'. We don't know that many people stop to acknowledge them in the busy-ness of the day, so we hope that this small gesture brightened their day and made them feel appreciated.

 

To continue with our Drive to 25's reading and books dimension, we decided to buy two Chapter's gift cards and pass them along to two un-expecting people. Just like it's a surprise when you find money in your pocket, it would have been a big surprise for our Librarians when they opened the drop off box to our two gift cards. We could have given the cards in person, but this way the act was anonymous and would have come as a surprise. As we frequent the library often, we know that the ladies there work hard and have a love for books. We hope that they were excited to receive something special in the drop box and, who knows, maybe they will be inspired by this act and pay it forward too.

 

 

Finally, to close off Pay It Forward Week, we thought we'd donate to a cause close to us, our Reading Room fundraising campaign with Room to Read. This is a global Pay It Forward initiative that we are proud to be a part of. Although it is hard work to fundraise and to commit to making a difference globally, in the end, knowing that hundreds of children will benefit from a new Reading Room and will be able to share in our love of reading, makes everything worthwhile. By both donating to our campaign, we are making strides to our final goal of $5000.

 

Although these are the main Pay It Forward events we initiated this week, we did our best to go that extra mile to smile at strangers, hold the door open longer, and to inquire about someone's day. What we didn't realize was that at the same time, we would also be receivers of generosity this week. When we stopped to think about our days, we noticed that kindness was all around us - we just needed to take a moment to reflect and take it all in. From getting the brake light fixed on our car for free, having a co-worker ask to help with a busy workload, to having someone unexpectedly buy one of us a muffin - everyday was and is filled with its own special moments that can make you smile. And that's exactly what this week was all about!

 

We hope our Pay It Forward Week has inspired you to take the extra effort to make a difference. The feeling is contagious and we know that we will continue to act on and look for Pay It Forward moments every day.

 

“Together we can change the world, one good deed at a time.”

 

 Melissa and Laura