Eight-year-old Myles Eckert had no idea the impact of his simple act of giving a $20 bill that he found in a restaurant parking lot to Lt. Col. Frank Dailey would have. He just knew it was the right thing to do.
But the Ohio boy’s simple act of kindness snowballed into a more than $1 million donation to Snowball Express, a national military children’s charity in Dallas that hosts a weeklong vacation for Gold Star children who have lost a parent in the line of duty.
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Myles is a Gold Star kid. His father, Army Sgt. Gary “Andy” Eckert, was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb in 2005 when Myles was only four weeks old. So when Myles found the $20 bill in a restaurant parking lot moments before he saw Dailey with his family in the restaurant, he knew what he wanted to do.
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Myles quickly penned a note to Dailey and gave him the $20 bill: “Dear Soldier, My dad was a soldier. He’s in heaven now. I found this $20 in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It’s your lucky day! Thank you for your service, Myles Eckert, a gold star kid.”
The story spread quickly after Dailey’s family posted it on Facebook. Media reports about it spread, and soon donations of money and toys were pouring in for the Eckert family. But instead of accepting the gifts, the Eckert family chose to continue paying it forward and donate all proceeds to Snowball Express. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres donated $20,000 to the cause, and Dallas-based Highland Capital Management offered to match every dollar donated through Memorial Day, up to $1 million.
Such is the power of paying it forward.
Now imagine if all parents stressed the importance of paying it forward to their children. What would be the impact?
Paying it forward is an incredibly powerful gift, and one that we all possess. What better way to teach kids to think of others and lend a helping hand? A random act of kindness has a ripple effect that one cannot imagine until it is given away.
Why not pick a day (or week or month) to teach your kids about paying it forward or volunteering? April 25 is “Pay it Forward” Day. You can also choose any day that is meaningful to you, such as a birthday or anniversary of the death of a loved one.
To get you started, here’s a list of “pay it forward” ideas:
Open the door for a person and smile and wish them a great day.
Donate your aluminum cans to a local Girl Scout troop.
Leave a little potted plant on a neighbor’s doorstep.
Offer to do some yard work for an elderly neighbor.
Pick up trash at a local park.
Pay for the food of the person behind you in line.
Donate toys to a local YMCA nursery or daycare center.
Make cards (or any kind of craft) for a local nursing home. Deliver them.
Give your mailman a little bag of cookies.
Write a thank-you note to a teacher (past or present) who really made a difference for you.
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Susan Barnes and Christy Pace created The COREMatters Project, a nonprofit organization that provides a multidimensional classroom experience to empower kids and teach them how to be more resilient in the face of adversity. It focuses on social-emotional learning, empathy and respect-building instruction through cooperative learning activities, role playing, classroom discussions, individual work and taekwondo. Approximately 1,000 kids have gone through the program since it began in 2011. For more information, visit http://www.coremattersproject.com/.
