Pay It Forward 9/11

Today is the sixth anniversary of that tragic day which we said, "Never Forget." As we remember those who lost their lives, we also remember all the generosity and kindness to strangers. Please go out and do three good deeds today as a remembrance. Comment here (anonymously) to share your story.

A huge blimp, one of two in the world with a "floating jumbotron," will broadcast messages across Central Texas  Monday night (9/10), encouraging people to do good deeds for strangers on Tuesday, the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The American Blimp Corporation (www.lightship.com) is donating the public service advertising space to support the Pay It Forward 9/11 effort started by EnviroMedia Social Marketing of Austin.

It's been six years since the 9/11 attacks, so this makes the fifth anniversary of our Pay It Forward 9/11 effort. It's grown organically, as it should. Last year several Austin area businesses and non-profits participated. And several individuals around the country did as well. It doesn't take much to plan, just get people to mark off an hour or two on their Tuesday, Sept. 11 calendar. Leave the rest to creativity and the human spirit. There's plenty of ideas on this blog from previous years. Post your comments and questions here so we know how far this spreads. Thanks, Kevin Tuerff

Imagine what would happen, if on one day, hundreds of people spent time and a little money helping out a stranger in Central Texas.

On the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, employees of Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc. did just that.

EnviroMedia President Kevin Tuerff started Pay It Forward (Gratitude to Gander) on the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as a symbolic gesture of thanks to the generous Canadians who opened their homes, schools and churches to house and feed tens of thousands of stranded airline passengers trying to return home to the U.S.

Kevin was one of those stranded passengers. Although he couldn’t get home to Austin on one of the darkest days in U.S. history, the experience provided him with an opportunity to develop a bond with a caring bunch of people from Gander, Newfoundland, that he'll never forget.

On Sept. 11, 2002, Kevin asked his 20 staffers to fan out across Austin to spend a corporate contribution of $1,100 on strangers in whatever way they wanted.

Employees returned to the office late in the day to share emotional stories of how they were able to Pay it Forward with Central Texans, honoring the kindness and compassion of the people of Gander. Each year since then, the tradition has continued at EnviroMedia. It also has inspired others to start their own traditions of kindness.

The purpose of this exercise is to challenge ourselves to look at how we treat the strangers among us, and to help people realize just how far a little kindness and generosity will go. The idea behind Pay It Forward is to change the world, one favor at a time. Hopefully, every person who receives a favor will turn around and do one to another.

Over the years, the EnviroMedia staff has come up with a wide variety of gestures to pass along an act of kindness to strangers. Below are snippets from those experiences:

• A donation to an organization that helps to resettle refugees. A client of a local resettlement nonprofit was the lucky recipient of $100 from one team.
• Care about the caregivers. Nurses and other other caregivers have some of the toughest jobs out there. Pass along some kindness to them by delivering cookies along with a note of thanks.
• Pay It Forward in the Drive-Thru.Make someone's day by making his or her lunch your treat.
• Help teachers teach. Many schools are desperate for extra classroom supplies to supplement lesson plans. Find out if a school near you could use a little help.
• Help someone pay for a prescription. $20 could help an elderly person or a person with special needs fill a prescription without putting a crimp in an already-tight budget.

Last year for Pay It Forward, Khoa and I spent our $100 purchasing baby supplies (and lunch) for a mother and her newborn daughter who had been evacuated following Katrina.

Because of the lack of space (and nowhere to place a newborn), this mother was forced to hold her daughter all day. More than anything, she wanted a stroller so she could lay her baby down for a while—providing a good place for her to nap and letting Mom rest her arms.

We bought a small stroller and a form that holds a newborn’s head in place. We also bought some toys for her.

My own Pay It Forward really began later that day, though. I’m a big animal advocate, and it broke my heart to see all the cats and dogs and other pets stranded after the hurricane (no food, no water, living in filth). A local group called PawMatch was collecting crates. They were preparing to make their second trip to Jefferson County to retrieve animals. Many people had donated small carriers, but they were in desperate need of very large, collapsible crates (in addition to food, leashes, harnesses, etc.) that could hold bigger dogs or multiple animals. We took up a collection of more than $300 at EnviroMedia, and with the help of a generous manager at a local pet store who gave us discount, we were able to donate six good quality, large crates.

PawMatch made a trip that week to Louisiana, and our crates made it possible. —Adrienne

Morgan and I met Diane H., a Hurricane Katrina evacuee, on Friday, Sept. 9, while participating in EnviroMedia’s 2006 Pay it Forward.

Diane was at the Austin Convention Center standing in the lines for housing and employment information when she met my coworker Tamala, who was volunteering with the Red Cross, and through the day she paired willing evacuees with EnviroMedia staff members for an afternoon dedicated to fulfilling any particular needs or desires.

Tamala discovered during her conversation with Diane that Diane was a vegan, a person who does not use or eat animal products. She asked Diane if she’d like to go to lunch with me since I eat a vegetarian diet. Morgan and I picked Diane up at the convention center and took her to a vegetarian restaurant with an extensive menu. Each of us chose different entrées along with some appetizers and shared the entire meal. Diane said that it was the best meal she’d had since she was evacuated from New Orleans.

Over lunch Diane told us her story: She was a single woman less than one year short of retirement when the hurricane hit. She was a homeowner, and she had never been homeless before. Like so many evacuees Diane had had to leave her three dogs at her house when she was evacuated to Lafayette. While in Lafayette she was paired with a Texas couple who wanted to provide a temporary home for a Katrina evacuee. When these good Samaritans arrived in Lafayette to pick up Diane they had a rowboat tied to the roof of their car. Instead of heading for Georgetown they continued on to New Orleans with the goal of rescuing Diane’s dogs! It was an adventure, but with an abandoned motor boat and the help of a British news crew Diane was reunited with her dogs. She and her dogs were living with the Texas couple when we met.

When the restaurant owner overheard Diane’s story he insisted on covering the cost of our meals. Due to the generosity of the restaurant’s owner we were then able to give Diane the entire $100 that EnviroMedia provides each team of two employees. (Our only directive was to spend it doing random acts of kindness to commemorate the kindness strangers displayed worldwide on 9-11-2001.)

After lunch Morgan showed Diane an Austin map so that Diane could get a feel for the layout of the city during her housing search, and then we took a driving tour of Austin along MoPac, Lamar and South Congress. We stopped by Whole Foods to enquire about employment opportunities and to give Diane a chance to do a little shopping. We dropped Diane off at her car, a loaner from her Texas sponsors, by the convention center and said goodbye. It was a really big day for Diane and a big day for us too.

Meeting Diane was so rewarding and inspiring. As traumatized as she was by her experiences she was amazingly resilient and optimistic. Diane’s story was filled with examples of extraordinary kindness from complete strangers. There was the Texas couple opening their home, initiating the dog rescue and loaning their car to Diane; the British news crew who navigated the streets of New Orleans in a motor boat to retrieve Diane’s dogs; the restaurant owner who treated us to that fabulous lunch after hearing Diane’s story; and finally Kevin and Valerie who gave us the opportunity to pay it forward.

I’m eagerly anticipating Pay it Forward 2006. —Cathy

On my first Pay It Forward, my buddy and I decided our random act of kindness was to buy lunch for someone.

It was a restaurant where several cashiers staff registers, and patrons wait for an available cashier to place their orders. As we placed our order, we told the cashier what we wanted to do and gave her $10 to cover the next person’s meal. We asked her not to reveal our identities to our recipient and only to tell him it was a “Pay It Forward” gesture.

We sat down, and we watched. The next person at that register was a nicely dressed, clean-cut man, probably 35. As the cashier explained that someone was buying lunch for him, we could see his reaction in his gestures. He “pushed back” by raising his hands and shaking his head, and then he turned around to scan the crowd. This man obviously didn’t want to accept the gesture. After looking around for a bit to see who had paid for his lunch (my companion and I were “busy” looking elsewhere as much as possible), he finally shrugged and agreed to take the meal.

When the man sat down, we watched him tell the other people at his table. His expressions and body language again said, “I didn’t want to take it, but hey, what can I do?” His tablemates looked around and shrugged as well.

We stopped gawking at his table and finished our lunches. As we were leaving, the cashier flagged us down. We hadn't seen this, but the man had gone back to the cashier after he finished his meal, and he bought dessert for other patrons in the line, also as anonymous gesture. Although he was hesitant at first to accept the gift, it was gratifying to see he wasn’t reluctant to extend the kindness to others.

"My favorite Pay It Forward experience was when my partners and I went to the police station a few years ago. We were trying to pay for other people's parking tickets.

The feedback varied. Most people welcomed the gesture and said they too would pay it forward in the future. Some people were thankful but did not accept." —J.B.