Tag Archives: Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward: South County High School

Community, Uncategorized,

The impact of the pandemic has affected our senior citizens greatly. The elder outreach program at South County High school wanted to support the elders in their community by creating the Elder Outreach Program.

As elders were confined to their homes during the pandemic and unable to interact with their families, these students made sure they didn’t feel forgotten. They began writing handwritten letters and delivering them to homes in the community.

The vice president, Gavin, has been a part of the club for two years, and he finds it fulfilling to see the smile on the elders’ faces and see the impact they have on their lives.

We appreciate everything that they are doing in the community and want to support their awesome initiative. We surprised the students from South County High School with goody bags to deliver to the senior citizens.

Pay It Forward: First Baptist Church of Highland Park

Community,

Last month during senior week we celebrated seniors during our Pay It forward special with Fox 5 DC. 

We were able to surprise the sensational seniors of First Baptist Church of Highland Park. In their senior ministry, they work to have food drives, weekly grocery distribution, vaccination clinics, and even blood drives. Their goal is to keep people engaged, connected, and feeling a sense of they can be brought through hard situations. 

Thankful for all of the great work they are doing in the community we gave them goody bags with everyday items to make their life easier!

If you know someone who should be featured on Pay It Forward, you can nominate them here. In your email, be sure to include who they are and why they deserve to be recognized.

Pay It Forward: Senior Line Dancing at Turkey Thicket Recreation Center

Community, Uncategorized,

The Pay it Forward crew had the opportunity to visit the Senior Line Dancing Group in Northeast DC for Senior week at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center. The line dancing teachers have been instructing within the community since 2012 and say it helps to keep them young and is a great sense of community and camaraderie.

We wanted to surprise the members of the Senior Line Dancing Group with a special goodie bag to show our appreciation for what they are doing in the community. The goodie bags include everyday goods to make life easier as well as treats from Madison Square Bakery.

Pay It Forward: Upcounty HUB

Community,

Upcounty Hub is a program that provides resources for our senior citizens and families in Montogomery County. Maureen Umeh met with the coordinator, Grace Rivera-Oven, to learn more about what they are doing.

Upcounty Hub started during the pandemic 2 years ago when they began feeding 23 families and they are now feeding about 1300 families a week. They are focused on making sure senior citizens get everything they need because so many spend time home alone.

The volunteers have the heart to serve others and spend a lot of their time handing out food and everyday needs. Easterns Automotive Group wanted to pay it forward with a special surprise. We surprised them with gift bags to everyone within the program.

Pay It Forward: Bold, Brilliant, Beautiful

Community, Uncategorized,

Teenagers can face many challenges, and for young girls struggling with body image and lacking confidence or support, it can be especially difficult. An organization in Bowie is looking to change that, inspiring young ladies to be bold, brilliant, and beautiful.

Dr. Jacqueline Marshall has been in education for over 20 years and is the founder of the Bold, Brilliant, Beautiful Girls Youth Empowerment group that she started in 2019. She saw the need to help young women find their voice and feel empowered.

Parents like Monica Freeman, who has two daughters apart of the group, noticed the positive changes that have taken place with the help of Bold, Brilliant, Beautiful. Aaliyah Waterman is a program graduate now in college who loved her experience learning about financial literacy, finding her voice, gaining confidence, and even helping within the community. 

Easterns Automotive Group wanted to pay it forward as well by giving them a $2,000 donation. Joel Bassam joined with a special message. “We want to support your cause of empowering the young women of that community by preparing them for college, gaining financial literacy, and helping them with body acceptance by donating $2,000 to your programs to continue to support the young ladies of that community.”

 If you want to learn more about this organization or to get involved, please visit www.bbbyeg.org. 

Pay It Forward – Lorton Community Action Center

Community, Uncategorized

Lorton Community Action Center saw a need in the face of the pandemic and wanted to make sure families had a wonderful holiday season. Over 300 families signed up to receive assistance for the holidays. That’s why they kicked collecting toys and food for a community distribution day into overdrive.

For those families who were just barely surviving, this holiday season has been challenging due to the pandemic, according to the center’s executive director, Linda Patterson. “We want to help them, take the stress off trying to make the holidays enjoyable for these families who’ve seen so much heartbreak this year,” she says.

They were committed to providing food, toys, and resources to those who needed them the most. They worked tirelessly to gather donations to distribute, and we had a secret surprise on this Pay It forward. To support this incredible project, we donated $2,000 to buy toys for the center. LCAC provided toys, store gift cards, and food gift cards for more than 351 households, reaching 1,272 individuals.

Pay It Forward – Veteran Eddie Smith

Community

A Vietnam veteran who served in the military for two tours, Mr. Smith, affectionately known as Mr. Eddie, has come through some very dark times yet still has the heart to serve.

Even though everyone in his family was in the army or navy at 19, he decided to join the Marnie Corp. His experience with racism as a marine motivated him to become a respected leader while serving in the military. 

In October, the 82-year-old veteran lost his home of 40 years in a fire, forcing him to start over. Joel Bassam of Easterns Automotive Group joined with a surprise! “The dedication you’ve shown your country through your two tours in Vietnam and to the community after your military service is absolutely incredible. We were hurt to hear about what happened to your home and wanted to brighten your day a little.”

During their honeymoon in Jamaica, Mr. Eddie and his wife Paula intended to return. But they weren’t able to due to the pandemic and the fire. In honor of his service, Easterns Automotive Group is sending the couple on an all-expenses-paid trip to Jamaica. 

Completely shocked, the entire family was speechless and brought to tears. If you know someone who should be featured on Pay It Forward, you can nominate them here. In your email, be sure to include who they are and why they deserve to be recognized.

Pay It Forward – Soles4Souls

Community, Uncategorized

Chris Cabrera has a sustainability line called Naturally London.
It is a botanical-based award-winning foot and hair care line that focuses on transparency and sustainability. This pairs perfectly with the mission of Souls4Soles because they keep shoes out of landfills and provide resources for others around the world.

Sometimes we have more shoes than we need, and somewhere there are others with no shoes at all. There is an organization that changes that. Soles4Souls works with various locations so that people in the community can drop off shoes for those in need. After making sure the shoes are good quality they ship them out.

Easterns Automotive Group heard of the amazing things that Soles4Souls was doing and wanted to help with this awesome mission. We surprised them with $500 worth of shoes and purchased $1,500 worth of foot soap for first responders and hospital staff! Completely speeches you could see the joy in Chris’s face as she accepted the check. She was honored that Naturally London would have the opportunity to help support our everyday heroes.

Pay It Forward – Blessings Box

Community, Uncategorized,

Residents in a Capitol Heights neighborhood joined together to create what they call the “Blessing Box.” It is a large box in their community full of food for others to take when in need. Maureen Umeh met with two community members to learn more about the different things they do to help each other. One neighbor shared that she has a garden and often gives away fresh vegetables to others in the community.

Inspired by these neighbors coming together to help one another Joel Bassam of Easterns Automotive Group joined with a special surprise, “You guys show that blessings begin with a heart to give! We want to be a blessing to you and your neighbors by giving each household a $100 gift card to help with their Thanksgiving day shopping!” The neighbors lit up with joy and excitement as they heard the good news!

Pay It Forward – Manizi Azizi Helps Families Who Fled Afghanistan

Community, Uncategorized,

For the past month, thousands of Afghans have been fleeing Afghanistan. Some of these refugees are starting a new life here in America with nothing but a Maryland resident named Manizha Aziz has decided to pay it forward and help.

Aziz understood how these families felt since she came to this country as a refugee with her family years ago. She first volunteered with local groups and helped distribute donated items, but soon, refugees reached out to her directly because she spoke Farsi.

They felt comfortable with Aziz because she was once in their shoes. Aziz worked for weeks and had a trailer full of items ready for the families until it was stolen from a parking lot in College Park, Maryland. 

Aziz didn’t let that stop her with the help of family and friends; she started over and began to collect more donations and distribute items needed to families. Many families asked for things like diapers and winter clothes because of the upcoming winter months, and that has been her current goal.  

Heartbroken by what happened to Aziz’s trailer, we wanted to help replace some of the stolen items. Joel Bassam, President of Easterns Automotive Group, told Azizi that the company would be donating to help clear her wish list on Amazon. Manizha was speechless and grateful as she received the check for $2,000.

If you know someone who should be featured on Pay It Forward, you can nominate them by emailing wttgpayitforward@foxtv.com. In your message, be sure to include who they are and why they deserve to be recognized.