Lincoln School Participates in Pay It Forward 9/11 Initiative

Random acts of kindness can go a long way.

students learned that message Monday from guest speaker Keith Sabatino, founder of the Pay It Forward 9/11 initiative which simply inspires others to take a little time to brighten someone else’s day with a kind gesture.

Sabatino, who is a volunteer fire fighter with Fort Lee Fire Department said he had always wished there was more he could’ve done to help after the attacks 10 years ago. So on a Sunday this past July, Sabatino sat at his computer and created an event on Facebook inviting others to pay it forward believing that random acts of kindness on this 10^th anniversary of 9/11 can help make this day just a little bit better.

When he first launched the event he had a goal of generating about 1,000 participants. Much to his surprise the event managed to generate 85,194 people in just six weeks.

Word spread quickly and even reached different parts of the world. Sabatino told the students he received a note last week from a woman in Australia thanking him for starting this initiative.

He told the youngsters that they too can take part in paying it forward by doing something nice for someone. He explained to the children that the act of kindness can be very simple such as stopping to pick up a classmates books if he or she were to drop them in the hall. The kind gesture is likely to make their classmate happy and they themselves will feel good about it too.

In addition to supporting Sabatino’s inspired Pay It Forward initiative the school is also collecting items for the Hasbrouck Heights food pantry. Principal Lesa Brinker said the goal is to collect 1,000 items for the food pantry.

In recognition of the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 all the students were encouraged to wear red, white and blue on Monday and the outside of the school is decorated with patriotic colors.