Hannah's Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward

Part 1

Pay It Forward is a powerful and inspiring movie that we, grades 8's watched. Pay it forward is about a young boy named Trevor McKinney, his social studies teacher, Mr.Simonet, gives the class an assignment to come up with a plan that will change the world. Trevor comes up with the plan to "pay it forward" by doing good deeds for 3 people, and instead of asking for anything in return he asks each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing good deeds for 3 other people and in a matter of time, it should become bigger and bigger.

"You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward...to three more people. Each. So, nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven." He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see, to eighty-one, then two hundred forty-three, then seven hundred twenty-nine, then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?" - Trevor McKinney

To me, "Pay it forward " means it doesn't matter who you are, or where you are, you can always do something to change someones life.

Our Act Of Kindness

Part 2

Our act of kindness was to go to a seniors home and spend a day with an elder. We did this because, we knew that it would be something other people wouldn't think of doing, most people want to donate or volunteer, I mean, don't get me wrong, that's amazing and it would make a big difference but, we wanted to help an elder and get a nice big smile in return. We also wanted to ask the elders questions and see things from there point of view. We helped Carol Stuart. She has lived at the seniors home for about 9 years. We spent a day with her and got to know her. We did our act of kindness on November 13, 2011.

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Results

Part 3

Our act of kindness went great. We spent 6 hours with Carol (6am-12noon). Before going to the seniors home, we bought Carol a fruit basket. First thing we did was get to know each other and interviewed her about herself and about society, we wanted to see things from her point of view. We then baked cookies and biscuits, they were delicious! (we supplied all the baking needs) She then told us about her past. At 2:00 pm, we went out to buy her some roses and a card, to thank her for the wonderful day. She taught my partner and I, a lesson. Her lesson was "even if you're just a kid, if you believe, you can make a difference" . When we asked Carol about world poverty, she had an amazing answer. "There shouldn't be a reason for us to be in such a mess. There's just too much giving away, this war was silly. I think we're spending millions of dollars for wars, where as we got people in the streets starving" I definitely agree with Carol's statement because, if we can afford war, then we can afford to feed the hunger. At first, it felt awkward to interview someone we barely knew, but as time passed by, we felt as if we've known her forever. I think Carol's reaction was happy, we really enjoyed the day we spent with her. We told her about the "Pay it Forward" project we were doing and she believed that it would work and she would love to be part of it. She accepted our invitation to interview her and told us she was going to tell all her friends about it!

The Importance Of "Pay It Forward"

Part 4

Pay It Forward is important because not a lot of people do it, and they don't notice how easy it is. Giving compliments are not that hard, yet it can make anyone smile. Being sick doesn't just mean physically sick, but there's people in the world who are also emotionally sick, like some people are depressed, giving them greeting card wouldn't hurt would it? By doing that you can help them believe in their self. Pay It Forward doesn't have to big and beyond to make a difference, it can be small, and it can count a lot to some people. Our act of kindness definitely made a difference because we helped her have some fun and managed to put a smile on her face. We realize that others do want to help, they just might now know how to start, but just like what Carol had said " I think you have to believe. I think that's the biggest thing" .