Paying it forward

Published 12:00 am Friday, January 17, 2014

Glenda Mosley and Felicia Taylor bag clothes for disposal Thursday at the Christian Service Center.

Glenda Mosley and Felicia Taylor bag clothes for disposal Thursday at the Christian Service Center.

All it takes is one kind act to spark change – and that’s the goal of a national movement called “Pay It Forward Weekend.”

Starting today and through Sunday, one is asked to perform some random act kindness.

“Of course, more than one is better,” said local inviter Dana Barefoot. “All you have to do is something for someone or an organization without expecting anything in return.”

During last year’s event, social media was filled with stories of paying for stranger’s meals and sending special notes in the mail.

One such example included volunteering for local non-profit. For those working at the Andalusia Christian Service Center, every day is a “pay it forward” day.

For years, Barbara Douglas of Andalusia had shopped at the local second hand store, where sale proceeds are used to fund mission and outreach projects in the community and abroad.

Three years ago, she decided to give back in another way.

“I’m here every day it’s open,” Douglas said of the storefront. On Thursday, she and four other volunteers worked to sort donations from clothing items to picture frames. “I shopped here for years, and another volunteer said to me, ‘You should come help.’ It wasn’t long before

I took her advice, and I haven’t looked back.”

Douglas said volunteering gives one such a “feeling of accomplishment.”

“I love it,” she said of donating her time. “I love being around people. This is something I do for God.”

Barefoot said the work is a perfect illustration of how one person can make a difference.

“The most important person is the one person, family or cause that you touch,” she wrote. “Remember, it doesn’t take people doing a lot – just a lot of people doing a little.”