TOLEDO—Students at Toledo St. Pius X are living out the “Pay it Forward” theme at their school this year by carrying out projects that show kindness to others.

School principal Deb O’Shea explained the philosophy of the saying to the students, and teachers were given paper kites to decorate with their own “pay it forward” gestures to demonstrate to the students just what was meant.

“Pay it forward” is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 2000. Challenged by a social studies teacher to do something to help mankind, a child develops the “pay it forward” concept. He does good deeds for three people. Instead of gratitude or another form of pay-back, he asks his beneficiaries to “pay forward” three good deeds for three others.

At St. Pius X, the teachers and students witnessed the effects made simply by someone holding the door open for another person, or helping them pick up their spilled papers. Parents soon commented on how the theme was impacting interactions at home with siblings.

Each classroom was then asked to choose a project.

Eighteen four-year-olds in Carol Alexander’s preschool class decided to “pay it forward” for one of their own.

Mrs. Crawford, the teacher’s assistant, recently learned she would need surgery for a brain aneurysm. The children collected money through a $1 jeans day to purchase restaurant gift cards to help the family while Mrs. Crawford recovers. The donation amounted to $135 for the family.

Katie Delgado’s kindergarten class decided to adopt a family of eight for the Christmas season, and provided more than everything the family had requested on a wish list.

Laura Wright’s first-grade class had a school-wide food drive to support a soup kitchen, and boxed up the food items. They presented the soup kitchen with 10 boxes and eight grocery bags of food.

In December, second-graders in Connie Hurley’s class brought holiday cheer and activities to residents at Wright Harvey House, an assisted living home in Northwood, Ohio. They sang carols and worked on crafts, creating Christmas ornaments. The activities coordinator told Mrs. Hurley she had never seen the residents smile so much in one day.

Third-graders taught by Marge Olszewski took on two projects for the year. One is a bake sale to benefit the Crawford family, and the other will benefit Women Blessing Women.

Kim Blocking’s fourth-grade students caught word that the St. Vincent de Paul Society needed donations, and are heading up a clothing and toy drive.

Jen Bine’s class of fifth-graders touched the heart and sweet tooth of residents of Heartland of Holly Glenn nursing home in December by taking decorated sugar cookies to the residents.

During Lent, sixth-graders in Cathie Ujvagi’s class began their project, “Beds for Babies,” to collect money to purchase cribs and mattresses for local families in need. The families in turn send a photo of the baby who benefited from their donation.

Seventh-graders taught by Beth Patrilla are collecting coupons for overseas troops. Their project, OSCAR, Over Seas Coupon Aid & Reward, involves collecting manufacturer’s coupons, sorting them by food and non-food items, tabulating their value and sending them to a military base in Germany. Service families overseas use these coupons for doing their weekly grocery shopping. As of Jan. 29, the class had sent more than $50,000 worth of coupons. The project will continue through the school year with a new batch of coupons sent each month.

Judy Nachazel and her eighth-grade class tackled two projects for the school year, assisting with the St. Pius X Blood Drive in September and adopting three anonymous St. Pius X families who were experiencing difficult times.

Every student donated $5 they had earned or received in allowance to help the families. The project was then opened to the school community, and two more large donations came from eighth-grade families. More than $1,200 was collected in all.

Each adopted family received a check for $300, a gas car, a grocery gift card and cash for other needed expenses. They also received a Christmas ornament resembling a school bus that was personalized with “Best Wishes from St. Pius X.”

Students hope the ornament hanging on the tree will be a catalyst for the families to “pay it forward” to someone else in need in the years to come.