Pay It Forward Movement

WHITEWATER - I have to love a group of women whose motto is: no guilt.

Can't make the meeting? That's OK. No time to cook? That's fine. Taco Bell burritos and "gas station cookies" are as welcome at the potluck as the homemade cake and healthy salads.

But what they have achieved is noteworthy. In two years, they have given away more than $10,000 to local people in need.

Their "Pay It Forward" club is a simple but great idea. They based it on another group they read about - and encourage others to copy their model. (There was also a movie by the same name.)

Here's how it works:

On the first Thursday of the month, the women gather at a local home after work. They bring $25, an item to donate to the group of the month, such as the food bank, and a dish to pass.

Once they've eaten, they bring up people in the community who need help. The group is diverse: police officers and teachers, UW-Whitewater professors and grandmothers. And their stories remind us that we're all an accident or serious illness away from needing the help of strangers.

The week I visited, a local teen died in a car crash. The group voted to send money to her family, and within an hour, the meeting was breaking up. One woman took the cash to the bank, got a money order made out to the family and put it in the mail.

Every month, someone in the area who is having a bad time walks - or wheels - to the mailbox, and finds a check from an anonymous group called Pay It Forward.

The women in the group want to stay unnamed because they don't want recipients to feel indebted.

The envelopes have a return address so the money orders don't get lost. And nearly everyone sends a thank- you card. The first gift was to a woman who recently had to begin using a wheelchair.

"Your gift, and the spirit in which it was given, moved me to tears," the woman wrote. "Someday when I'm well I, too, shall reach out to someone in need."

A group scrapbook keeps track of the monthly gifts and thank-you letters.

The stories they tell are heartbreaking: an elderly woman who struggled to pay her husband's funeral expenses; a teen waiting for an organ transplant; an impoverished single mother with two special needs children; a little girl who died suddenly.

Some months, the money goes to groups. The women have donated to military families, to Hurricane Katrina victims, to a local house for homeless families, to the UW-Whitewater wheelchair basketball team.

Once, they heard that a service dog had incurred a large veterinarian bill and sent the month's check to pay it off.

The donations vary from month to month, but average around $500. Some women have never been to the potluck but send a check each month. And members are invited to bring in other women who would like to make a difference.

Paying it forward is a simple but profound idea.

We can't fix all the world's problems, but we can all do something.