May is finally here, and with it the local Pay It Forward (PIF) campaign.
The Winkler Community Foundation and the Morden Community Foundation are challenging their communities to “plant kindness, grow community” for PIF 2025.
Even a small act of kindness can grow into something amazing, creating a cascade of giving that ripples throughout the community, says Myra Peters, executive director of the Winkler foundation.
“The biggest thing we want people to know is to look around you and see the good and the little things you can do for others, because everybody can participate in Pay It Forward May,” she says. “It doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money, it doesn’t have to be a grand gesture—it can be giving your time, sharing some baking, cleaning up someone’s yard. There’s so many wonderful things you can do for someone else.
“That’s the fun part about it—there’s no one way of paying it forward.”
Every year the foundations hear stories of people paying for the person behind them in the drive-thru, students going out to clean up trash in local parks, community groups delivering sweet treats to care home residents, and businesses putting encouraging messages on their outdoor signage or hosting special Pay It Forward events.
“Our communities have been engaging with this and that is so exciting to see,” Peters says, noting they’ve moved away somewhat from focusing on what the foundations are doing for PIF May (though their board members do have a few things in the works—keep an eye out in the weeks ahead) to shine the brighter spotlight on the community as a whole.
“It’s about what the community is doing,” she says. “We’re all sharing kindness.”
To learn more about the initiative—how you can get involved, resources available, and ideas to inspire you—head to winklercommunityfoundation.com/what-we-do/#PayItForwardMay
Peters also encourages people to share acts of kindness they’ve done or have witnessed by using #PIFM on social media or by contacting the foundations so they can share those stories.
“I understand it might feel silly to be sharing the good things that you’re doing,” she acknowledges. “But what it does is it inspires others.”
