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The Daily & Sunday Review |
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| The Daily & Sunday Review Towanda, Pennsylvania – a division of nepanews.com Pay It Forward winners begin helping others BY JAMES LOEWENSTEIN STAFF WRITER 06/18/2008 Pay It Forward winners Ellen and Joe Foust on Tuesday cashed the $1,000 they received and immediately began helping the Bristol family, of Granville Summit, who are beset with financial and medical problems. Ellen Foust said that she has already begun to use part of the $1,000 to pay some of the medical bills for the father of the family, Charles Bristol, and to purchase medicine for him. Charles Bristol has Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and arthritis, according to his daughter, Judy Bristol, who serves as the caretaker for the family. Judy Bristol has health problems, too, and the third member of the family, David Bristol, is blind. The Fousts will be using the entire $1,000 award to assist the Bristol family, who are their neighbors. “I appreciate all that you (The Daily Review and Gannon Associates) did,” Judy Bristol said on Tuesday. “Other people could have used the money, too. We’re happy we got chosen.” Pay it Forward was a campaign to publicize and support acts of kindness. The campaign was sponsored by The Daily Review and Gannon Associates, in conjunction with The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. The concept of the campaign is that if someone pays you a good deed, don’t pay it back — pay it forward by helping someone else. The cash prize is to be used by the person who submitted the most innovative idea, to pay for carrying out the good deed. Some 50 people submitted entries in the campaign, indicating how they would use the $1,000 award to help others. Ellen Foust said the Bristol family has been thinking about how to use the money ever since June 1, when they saw information in The Sunday Review indicating how the Fousts intended to use the winnings. She said the Bristol family will be spending it on things they need. “It’s their decision” on how the money will be spent, she said. Besides paying medical bills, the $1,000 will be spent pumping out the Bristols’ septic tank and paying for a door for the new covered front porch that is being installed to access their front door, Judy Bristol said. The previous access porch had been rotting and run down, according to the Fousts. Pumping out the septic tank “is something they have not had done in many, many years,” Ellen Foust said. “Sometimes if (a septic tank) is not pumped and it has problems, it could back up into the house,” Ellen Foust said. “It’s a safety and health issue.” Ellen Foust said she traveled to Troy on Tuesday to pay Charles Bristol’s medical bills and purchase medicine for him because she needed to go there anyway and because none of the Bristols can drive. Judy Bristol said she also wanted to thank the Fousts. James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com ©Daily and Sunday Review 2008 |
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