Customer gives cafe owner $100 and says "Pay It Forward"

Posted Feb 16, 2012 By Sue Dickens

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EMC Lifestyles -Campbellford -There's a movie and a book about it, there's a foundation about it and even a web site about it.

The concept "Pay It Forward," which has had a ripple effect around the world has received a jolt of java in Campbellford at the Grind House Cafe where a customer who wished to remain anonymous recently handed the owner $100 and said, "Pay It Forward."

"This particular person thought it would be something nice to do for February. We would like to think of it as Pay It Forward month here at the Grind House," said owner Gerhard Marzinski.

"I was very proud of the fact that somebody in the community would step forward and do that. February is a good month for this because a lot of people are down in the dumps," he added.

This is the first time something like this has happened but the concept is not new at the cafe.

"I'll have someone come in here who is a regular and they will pay for a coffee and pay for a coffee for the person behind them ... or they will buy a kid a hot chocolate," commented Marzinski.

He knows there are a lot of people who can't afford a coffee every day "as much as they'd like to ... you know they have an X amount of money in their coffee budget each week."

So on occasion he has in the past given a free coffee to someone.

"If I could afford it I would do it every month but we are a small business and especially at this time of year it's difficult because business is very slow for January, February and March," he said.

An e-mail to EMC Community Newspaper set the wheels in motion for this article.

"The anonymous customer ... has asked me to write to you to see if a trend could be set. This is a real feel-good deal. Could we start a trend?" asked the e-mail writer.

So EMC wanted to know what some of the customers at the cafe thought of the idea.

Sandy Stapley who had popped into the cafe to get a coffee said, "I think that's pretty fantastic."

Donnie McIlmoyle said that Pay It Forward is a great idea.

"It is awesome. I will do it, sure why not," he commented.

Another customer Christina Mechetuk agreed, "I think it's a great idea."

Seated at a table by the window in the cafe, Don King and his wife Jane, when told about the anonymous gift, had their own Pay It Forward tale.

"We were in Europe travelling around with Jane's sister and her husband and there was a young girl eating in the same restaurant. She was counting out every penny and Pauline, Jane's sister, said let's just pay her bill and escape before she knows anything about it," said King.

"Being on the (Campbellford Memorial Hospital) Foundation for years I know this is a fabulous community for supporting the community itself and especially the hospital," he commented.

"This is your basic blue-collar average to low-income community. It blows me away how people keep giving," he said.







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