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Rose Marie Brady enlists her family and friends to help her "pay it forward" by giving them each $100. They create a giving tree, selling purple ribbons for $1 each to add to the $1000 from Oprah's Pay It Forward Challenge.
Rose Marie's grandson, Brady, buys books for his school's library. A young girl named Ellie, who is losing her sight because of a brain tumor, buys flowers and a restaurant gift certificate for her mother. Rose Marie is so touched that she gives Ellie another $100, just for her.
Another $100 purchases a Wal-Mart gift certificate for a family in need. Rose Marie and her friend Amelia donate wish-list items and children's medicine to a women's shelter.
Her daughter, Ashley, gives her $100 to a co-worker who always has a smile and a kind word for her. Another friend, Nancy, gives a friend a $50 bus pass and $50 in cash. Finally, Rose Marie brings clothes to a single mother with one adopted child and four foster children. The rest of her money is handed out spontaneously to people on the street, either in cash or gift cards.
"As we have given to each person, I have felt the goodness of those who received," Rose Marie says. "I know that my family and I will be more in tune with the many needs that are around us. My eyes will be looking constantly for ways I can help others."
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