What began as a work of fiction in its release in January 2000 has already become something much more than author Catherine Ryan Hyde could ever have imagined and has resulted in a real-life social movement , not only in the U.S. but worldwide.

In the book, “Pay it Forward”, Reuben St. Clair, a protagonist and teacher inadvertently starts a movement with a voluntary, extra-credit assignment offered to his students: THINK OF AN IDEA FOR WORLD CHANGE, AND PUT IT INTO ACTION.

Responding to a bewildered mother Ruben St. Clair explains: “First of all, it’s a voluntary assignment, for extra credit. If a student finds the idea overwhelming, he or she need not participate. Second of all, what I want is for the students to re-examine their role in the world, and think of ways one person can make a difference. It’s a very healthy exercise.”

Trevor, an innocent 12-year-old hero thinks of quite an idea, which he describes to his mother and teacher this way: “You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.” He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. “Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?”

So Trevor explained, with the help of his calculator, how big this thing could become. Somewhere around the sixteenth level, at which he’d involved forty-three million, forty-six thousand, seven hundred twenty-one people, the calculator proved smaller than Trevor’s optimism. But he was convinced that in just a few more levels the numbers would be larger than the population of the world. “Then you know what happens? Then everybody gets helped more than once. And then it gets bigger even faster.”

True to his plan, Trevor helps Mrs. Greenberg, his neighbor, because she has arthritis and there are things she can’t do for herself. She was right near the end of his paper route, which he changed around just a little, so her house would be very last. He’d leave his big, heavy old bicycle on its side on her lawn, and bring the paper right to her door and knock; knowing as he did that it was a bother for her to go out after it. She was so pleased by his thoughtful attention that she always offered him a glass of cherry Kool-Aid, which she bought specially for him, and he’d sit at her kitchen table and talk to her. About school mostly, and football, and then a special project he had thought up for his Social Studies class, and how he needed more people he could help, and she said she had some gardening to be done, though she couldn’t afford to pay much.

He said she wasn’t to pay anything at all to him, and what she paid to others needn’t be money, unless that was what she had plenty of. And then he drew some circles for her on a piece of paper, with her name in one, and told her about Paying Forward.

He said it started with something his dad had told him. He even took out his calculator to help him explain… “That’s how I thought of my idea for Mr. St. Clair’s class. You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven.” He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. “Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?”

“It’s like random acts of kindness,” she’d said, but he disagreed. It was not random, not at all, and therein lay its beauty, built right into the sweet organization of the deal.

Even though Trevor thinks his plan is not working, things were happening, things he couldn’t see. People were paying it forward whether he knew it or not. And soon Pay It Forward became a movement that even surprises Trevor.

Author Catherine Ryan Hyde reports, “The Pay It Forward Movement is the real-life reaction to the release of my novel in early 2000, followed by the creation of the Pay It Forward Foundation, followed by the Warner Brothers movie. I didn’t write the novel expecting a social movement, but it’s certainly been exciting to watch it grow.

The purpose of the Pay It Forward Movement website is to bring together, in one place, as many real stories as we can. This serves several purposes. It helps the cynics see that Pay It Forward really is working, not just around the United States but around the world. It brings much-deserved recognition to those doing the work, and puts the results of their efforts out in the open so others can be inspired. It’s also a source of some good news for a change, a way to renew your faith in human nature.”

For more information see the following links. http://www.payitforwardmovement.org/ and http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org – We think they’re Doing Good Business.