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Erie Times-News |
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| 'Pay It Forward' author excited about contest BY SHARLA BARDIN sharla.bardin@timesnews.com Published: June 06. 2008 6:00AM One winner was chosen in the local "Pay It Forward" challenge, but the author of the book who popularized the concept says all of those who entered should feel proud. "Only one person's going to get this award but what everybody did was equally important," said author Catherine Ryan Hyde. "When you decide to look at the world and see what it needs and what you can provide, you've changed the world." Her novel, "Pay It Forward," is the story of a 12-year-old boy, Trevor McKinney, who chooses three people for whom he will do a favor. When those people thank him and ask how they can pay him back, he decides to tell them to "pay it forward" by choosing other people and doing good deeds for them and so on. The book was made into a movie of the same name in 2000 that starred Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey. Hyde said she thinks the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation's "Pay It Forward" challenge is terrific. The Erie Times-News and more than 60 other Pennsylvania newspapers are carrying out the campaign, which encourages people to think of an act of kindness and submit a plan on how to use prize money to do the good deed. Hyde said it's the first she has heard of newspapers taking on such an effort, and she is glad for the promotion of the "Pay It Forward" philosophy. "If you can get that many people all talking about this concept at the same time in a geographical area, you could really see a change," said Hyde, who grew up in Buffalo and now lives in Cambria, Calif. Her inspiration for the "Pay It Forward" book happened in the late 1970s when she was driving alone in a rough area of Los Angeles, according to Hyde's description on her Web site, www.cryanhyde.com. The engine suddenly died in her old car, all the lights went out, and the passenger compartment filled with smoke. She jumped out of the car and saw two men running toward her, one holding a blanket. One of the men popped the hood of her car, and the engine was on fire. The other stranger smothered the blaze with the blanket. The two men had saved her car and Hyde. In the aftermath, while dealing with the fire department, she looked up to thank the strangers, but they were gone. After the incident, she started thinking of ways to give back. "Over the following months, I started keeping an eye out for someone who needed help. If I couldn't pay the favor back to the men who helped me, I figured I would have to 'Pay It Forward' to somebody else. That's how I learned that this brand of caring can be contagious," she wrote on the Web site. So why should people continue to "Pay It Forward"? "This is our world," Hyde said. "We get the benefit of any improvements we can make to it." SHARLA BARDIN can be reached at 870-1791 or by e-mail. @ For more information about Catherine Ryan Hyde, visit www.cryanhyde.com. For information on the "Pay It Forward" concept and actions, visit www.payitforwardfoundation.org and www.payitforwardmovement.org. |
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