The Pay It Forward Challenge

For the last year, Trinidad and Tobago native Roxanne Brizan has been helping families in her home country recover from unfortunate circumstances. When she’s given the Pay It Forward Challenge, she decides to do the same in her new hometown in Maryland.

Roxanne learns about the Martinez family, who lost their home and all their possessions during Hurricane Isabel. After the hurricane, Yadaly Martinez (who was pregnant at the time), her husband and their young son had to move three times in a year—from her in-laws’ home to a townhome and finally to their current apartment.

The Martinez family is still struggling to get back on their feet, and Yadaly says that the $1,000 will be a great help. The first thing she plans to do is give her children a wonderful Christmas, "because we’ve had Christmases that have been bad," she says.