It began with the seeds of an idea put forward to me by former resident of Dryden – Jeff Kruger.
Jeff (now living in Thunder Bay) used to manage the Robins Donuts by the Wabigoon River. Remember that? Yeah you’re right. That was a few years ago! The late 80’s and early 90’s. That’s where I first met Jeff as I routinely picked up my early morning coffee and donuts….I mean sandwich….before heading to work at CKDR.
In later years Jeff could be found tinkering/running the film at the Cinema 86 movie theatre on Queen Street. Jeff was also the creator of the interesting and still running Facebook page: ‘Reflections Of Dryden’.
After reconnecting a few years ago by way of social media, Jeff supported my first 2 GoFundMe for charities and my…some would say ‘Spider-Man obsession’ for everything.
Jeff has never forgotten about his roots in Dryden.
Fast forward to late April 2020 – COVID-19. By this point we’re all familiar with what it is, what it could do and how to prevent it and what we needed to do. Our world has been turned upside down. A whole lot of stress and anxiety was created in such a short period of time for everyone.
April 18th…..Jeff sends me 50 bucks to ‘pay it forward’ to someone who would be in the Tim Hortons drive-thru behind me. Says ‘everyone could use a helping hand right now’. Wants me to get the Spidey suit on, be a hero and go through the drive-thru and do it. Cool and very generous gift from Jeff!! But wait….who would really see me if I’m in the Spidey truck and just going through the drive-thru?
Jeff and I chat some more about the idea. I wondered how many people, like Jeff, are actually into the whole ‘pay it forward’ thing? One way to find out. Create a GoFundMe page with 100% of contributions to be used to purchase 10 dollar Tim Hortons gift cards to eventually have Spider-Dad McCarthy ‘hand out’ (physical distancing in mind) in the Tim Hortons drive-thru to unsuspecting customers!!
What a great idea right?!? But I wondered – would people actually ‘pay it forward’ that way? I should have never wondered. There are a lot of good, kind people out there. People that you know and people that you’ll never know who do good things for others….just because. The GoFundMe has been a success with the goal of reaching 750 dollars surpassed! It may not look that way when you click the link below but what you don’t see on the link are the cash and EMTs received.
The GoFundMe will close this Friday at midnight.
Every person who contributes to the pay it forward fund will have the opportunity to pass along whatever words of encouragement they would like that will be printed out on a piece of paper, attached to the gift card and given to the unknown receipiant! You smiling yet?!?
Thank you so much to all of the contributors for your part in ‘Spiderona Coff-Free’. That’s what Jeff and I named this thingy.
Thank you to all of you who believe in ‘paying it forward’.
The ‘Spiderona Coff-Free’ GoFundMe will end this Friday at midnight and then the next stage of getting the Tim cards and your notes ready will begin!!
It you are interested in learning more and doing more to pay it forward check out this link and…..thank you!!
