Pay it Forward for Michael Collins

[KristinTech]

I am astounded at this movement:

https://www.facebook.com/events/247105598806537/?source=3&source_newsfeed_story_type=regular

A college senior was killed by a drunk driver early in my town earlier this month. Although I didn't know him personally, I do know others who thought of him as part of their family. We have felt his loss in our family. A close friend of his started this facebook group "Pay it forward for Michael Collins" as a tribute to his memory. He was an organ donor, and the family kept him on life support for a short period of time so that the medical teams and the organ recipients could be in place. The friends and family describe him as someone who always paid it forward, and he did this even in his death. Over 200 people will benefit from his gift of organ donation.

I can't even begin to describe the enormity of the pay-it-forward acts... hundreds and hundreds of dollars of gift cards taped up at the local starbucks window for patrons to take in his memory... a nearby fast food restaurant having an hour-long chain of meals paid for by the car ahead of them... random $50 tips being left for servers at restaurants... adoption fees being paid for at local dog rescues... toys and bubbles left at local parks with a note for the recipient to pay it forward... just the tip of the iceberg! Birthday cakes paid for when the recipient went in to pick them up, dry cleaning bill anonymously paid... the homeless being fed meals, baseball! and oh, baseball! He loved baseball and played for the local community college here (also an assistant coach at the high school where his dad coaches). The amount of kids with new mitts, the random folks in line at the local Dick's Sporting Goods... the local PONY fields and their fees-- so many people donating money for fees and equipment paid in his honor. It is incredible.

Grab a tissue and check out that facebook page. I consider myself a "good" person, a generous person. But to read about the acts that people are performing in this college student's honor--it is just overwhelming. Until this past week, I had not intentionally set out to perform random acts of kindness in this way. It has been a wonderful thing to witness and to take part in, especially with my kids (Kinder through 4th grade).

And please, if you are so inclined, perform a random act of kindness and post it on the facebook page for the family to read. The page was started as a means for his family and friends to see the lasting impact of his legacy and zest for life.

a little more about it: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/thousands-paying-it-forward-in-memory-of-michael-collins/article_182ddd7e-1579-5ef5-b584-f3d83990704d.html

 

[momhappy]

I love these sorts of inspirational stories. I have been paying it forward "Jayden Style" since the passing of Jayden Lamb in November of 2012. I have even printed out labels that I can use when I engage in a random act of kindness (it explains what a random act of kindness is, links to Jayden's FB page, and encourages folks to continue the cycle of paying it forward). I have even gotten my young children in on the concept of paying it forward - sometimes when we go out to eat, they will select a family and we will secretly pay their bill.
https://www.facebook.com/KeepOnTruckinTeamJayden
No matter what inspires people to pay it forward, I wish more folks would - it's such a wonderful concept

 

[KristinTech]

Keep on trucking--I love that! My dad died of terminal cancer last year at 67 years old. He was so healthy and worked out every day and BOOM, he got the diagnosis. He told me in the weeks before he died, "We'll get down this road." And I thought it was a really nice way to put it. Things wouldn't get "better" or be "over," but we'd get down the road-- we'd keep on truckin'. I hope Jayden's family and friends are inspired by the acts and that were done and continue to be done. It is very healing to see the impact.

Here is the window at one of the local Starbucks. Kind of hard to make out, but those are all individual gift cards! The non-monetary acts are the best, but you never know what your act will inspire in others, or how much it will impact their day. One guy from this area now lives in TN. He paid for the woman behind him in line for coffee, and she burst into tears at the story and told him that her husband of 46 years had just died two weeks prior due to falling off a ladder in a tragic accident. His small act of "coffee's on me" meant the world to her.

 

[momhappy]

I have a bead bracelet that symbolizes random acts of kindness. Every time I engage in a random act of kindness, I get to pull a tiny rubber circle over another bead - until you get to the end. It has 100 beads for 100 random acts of kindness

 

[minousbijoux]

Kristin: thank you for sharing an amazing story and the best part of humanity.

 

[SB621]

What an amazing story. Sometimes I need to hear about this type of news to remember the world isn't an awful place all the time.

And another +1 for a fan of paying it forward!