“Pay it forward” is not a new idea. In 2000, Hollywood made a film of the same name. Even the Ancient Greeks were aware of the concept. So, its has been around for awhile.
The Pay-It-Forward effect, first described by Catherine Ryan Hyde, is a domino-like phenomenon, where a single act of kindness creates a cascade, or chain reaction of kindness. In such a phenomenon, the person who receives the initial kindness pays it forward to a stranger, and the chain continues from there. The act of kindness can be as simple as paying for a coffee for the person behind you in the queue.
Our community has been paying it forward during our “Pay What You Can” initiative which ran from January through March. Initially funded by a grant of £1260 from the Highland Council Cost of Living Support Fund, The GALE Community Cafe offered everyone the chance to “Pay What You Can” for food and drink. The Community Cafe provided 64 toasties, 37 soups, 23 baked potatoes, 3 salad plates, 157 hot drinks, 59 cold drinks and 115 cakes, traybakes or scones either free or subsided. But some generous souls paid more than our normal menu prices. They paid it forward!
Thanks to their generosity we have funds to bring the scheme back this coming winter. But we will need more funds to be able to run all the way through winter.
It has been proven that acts of kindness build exponentially in a community because people believe that one good deed deserves another. So we are asking you to ‘Pay It Forward’ to help our community as the cost of living crisis continues.
If you’d like to “Pay It Forward”, just tell your server when you pay your bill or visit our donation page. Let’s keep the kindness chain reaction going.
Text / SMS donations
To donate £1, text JIAJ09 to 70201
To donate £3, text JIAJ09 to 70331
To donate £5, text JIAJ09 to 70970
To donate £10, text JIAJ09 to 70191
