Norien's Pay it Forward

Part 1

What is "Pay it Forward" ?

Pay it Forward is a movie that the grade 8 students had to watch. The movie was about a guy named Trevor and how he wanted to make a difference. It all started when his teacher talked about it in the first day of school. Trevor's idea, to make a difference, was to perform an act of kindness for three people, but it has to be something that those three people cannot do on their own. When the person/people ask what they can do to pay you back, you say, "You have to pay it forward." Which means that he/she will have to perform an act of kindness to three other people and the three other people have to perform an act of kindness to three other people, and so on. Which will create a kind of domino action and soon a lot of people will be making a difference. The main idea is, that one person can make a difference even if your act of changing the world isn't that big, you'll still make people happy or help them in a way and, to them you have made a difference.

Part 2

What was your Pay It Forward act of kindness?

Why did you choose this activity?

Who did you help?

What did you do?

When did you do your act of kindness?

Our act of kindness was to give treats to the children tin the Children's Hospital. I chose to this activity because I really like children and I felt sad for the children that have to stay in the hospital and can't go outside or school to play with their friends. Sometimes, I feel guilty because I have a healthy life and at times, I don't appreciate it enough, that's why I wanted to give children that are sick some toys to play with, although it isn't much, I hope I/we made them happy and forget about their sickness, even just for awhile. My friends, Nicole, Nikka, Beverly, and I helped and hopefully made some children in the Children's Hospital happy. On November 10, after school, I bought cookies in Superstore and then went to dollarama to buy toys, like Play-Doh, stickers, stamps, and more. After we bought the treats, three days after, we went to the Children's Hospital Foundation to give them. We weren't able to meet with the children, although, the workers there were really nice and they said that they would give them to the children, and that they were very thankful. After we went to the Children's Hospital Foundation, we had some extra time before my dad would pick us up so we went to St. Agnes Guild Gift Shop, in the hospital, and we bought stuffed animals. The lady that worked there told us that the money we spent on the stuffed animals will go to the Children's Hospital of Winnipeg Research Foundation, which surprised me, but at the same time I felt happy to be donating some money, without even knowing in the first place. We went to the Children's Hospital Foundation on November 14, at lunch.

If we can make a difference, you can too. (:

I hope you like it.

Part 3

How did your act of kindness go?

What Happened?

How did you feel?

How did the person or people react?

Did you ask the person or people to "Pay It Forward"?

How did they react to your request?

If you did not ask the person to "Pay It Forward" how come?

I felt like my act of kindness went very well because when we gave our treats to the workers there and told them about our project, they were very happy and looked really fascinated of what we were doing. Although I didn't see any of the kids reactions I felt really good that we helped and I was really happy that everything we planned, went smoothly. We couldn't ask the children to "Pay it Forward" and we didn't know if we should ask the workers to "Pay it Forward" because we didn't really do anything for them, but we gave them the yellow sheet of paper that explains what "Pay it Forward" is and even talked to them about it for awhile. Although we didn't ask them anything, I think they got what we were trying to do and maybe they might even "Pay it Forward."

Part 4

Why is the idea of "Pay it Forward" important?

Has your act of kindness made a difference?

In my opinion, the idea of "Pay it Forward" is really important because if this alone can make the world a better place in different ways, imagine what other ideas can do. To "Pay it Forward" you don't have to do that much and there's various possibilities, it could be endless if you think about it and in the end you'll still make someone happy and maybe even forget about their problems. I also like how the person you help doesn't have to do anything back for you for your act of kindness instead they do an act of kindness to someone else. In some ways, this idea of "Pay it Forward" can really make you a better person and it will teach you to be less selfish and think of others, even for just a little while. This idea will be a good inspiration for others and maybe even children, because "I believe the children are our future." In my opinion, I think my act of kindness made a difference because, seeing the expressions of the workers in the Children's Hospital Foundation, made me think, "if the workers are this happy, imagine the children's faces." I really hope we made a difference to them. Because of this project, it made me want to help more people, not because of school or a project, but because of the feeling I get when I help people. I feel mushy inside, but at the same time I feel overly happy that I helped someone. (: