Pay It Forward Stories

Carolyn Hassett decides to help Our Lady's Inn in St. Louis, a home for pregnant women and their children where she once volunteered. "Throughout my service, I thought to myself, 'I wish there was something more I could give," Carolyn says. Now she has the chance!

The staff at Our Lady's Inn helps Carolyn track down Jennifer, a former resident and single mom raising two children and a teenage goddaughter. Carolyn surprises Jennifer with money for gas, rent, car insurance and a trip to Wal-Mart.

"It was great to know that I had given the money to the right person, and it came just at the right time," Carolyn says. "I couldn't have been more sure that God placed Jen in my life for this day."

With the remainder of her money, Carolyn surprises strangers at Wal-Mart with $20 gift cards and gives a $50 Walgreens gift card to a man selling newspapers on a street corner.

Wal-Mart also donates $250 in gift cards, which Carolyn uses to buy 27 gifts for homeless people at the St. Lawrence O'Toole Public Action to Deliver Shelter. "It was amazing to be able to do that for so many people—27 gifts, 27 smiles! Everybody loved it," she says.