A Philadelphia pizza parlor brought a community together in a city where poverty is a major issue. Rosa’s Fresh Pizza allows customers to ‘pay it forward’ by pre-purchasing slices of pizza to give to people in need. Each $1 donation is coupled with the chance to leave a post-it with a message to inspire more good in the world. The parlor’s walls are now covered with the acts of paying it forward. From word of mouth, the concept has taken off — providing almost 15,000 slices for the city with the worst poverty rate of all the big US cities.
The idea behind feeding a homeless person by ‘paying-it-forward’ isn’t new. In fact, it was the brain-child of a customer in Rosa’s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia last year, who paid an extra $1 towards his pizza. This was then transferred into a post-it note to which the homeless could use as a token for a slice. Since then, Rosa’s has provided nearly 15,000 slices to the needy.
The power of this initiative just goes to show the huge changes that can be made if a community of people pull together. Would you be willing to pay 1euro forward?
This Week:
- Get a group of students and children in youth groups to create “Birthday Boxes” for children living at the women’s shelters or in local foster homes. Fill the boxes with streamers, napkins, paper plates, decorations, balloons and gift cards for pizza and cake
- Be friendly to someone you would normally ignore
- Help someone with homework or classwork.
- Write cards to cheer up people
By paying a good deed forward children learn that they can make a positive difference to other people’s lives. The ripple effect is visible motivating and energising. Everyone can make a difference!