Paying it Forward

[Owen Dashner]

I have tried to make it a practice (recently) of giving something away whenever I have come into some unexpected cash. I realize that I could do (should do) more, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

A few times I have paid the gas tab of the person behind me at my local gas station (without them knowing it was me). This time I tried something a little different.

Recently I got a little unexpected chunk of change from my employer and decided that I would give $100 of it away to complete strangers. So I stop into the Dollar General store in my town and buy four $25 prepaid Visa cards.

A nice older woman walked to one of checkouts at the same time as me and insisted that I go ahead of her in line because she had several things to buy and she saw that I only had the Visa cards. So I pay for the cards and then I stick one of them in her shopping cart and say, "Thank you for being so nice." She thanks me and says, "You don't have to do that!".

As I walk around past the other checkout, a woman is trying to pay for her groceries, but her credit card isn't working. I hand her one of the $25 cards and say, "Here, try this one", then I walk out of the store.

As I am in my car pulling away from the store, the second lady comes running out waving her arms to get my attention. I roll down my window as she approaches. She says, "Thank you so much, mister! You have no idea how much that helped me- it has been so hard recently for me and my family." I was a little humbled and didn't really know what to say, so I handed her my two remaining Visa cards and said, "Well hopefully this will help you even more."

At that point she exclaimed, "Oh my goodness! You are like an angel! AN ABSOLUTE ANGEL! Thank you so much!", and ran back toward the store shouting and waving the Visa cards in the air.

I drove away from the store with a HUGE smile on my face and it stayed there until after I got home. But it got me thinking that I am not doing nearly enough for others that are less fortunate than me. I mean, if $25 can affect a woman's life so much that she would literally run after me to tell me how much it meant to her- then I could be doing a helluva a lot more for others.

This was a bit of an epiphany for me. I am a bit young yet to be worrying about my legacy, but I can only think of a few times in my life where I have felt as good about myself as that day at Dollar General. Hopefully someday I will have enough to give to truly make a difference.

So what have you done to pay it forward? What has been your most rewarding philanthropic moment?