By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

PERRIN – What started with a fourth grade teacher wanting to teach kids to “pay it forward” concluded with kids coming together with enthusiasm to help a fellow resident.

Perrin-Whitt Consolidated ISD fourth grade teacher Rhonda Self got the idea to teach her students about doing good deeds without the expectation of compensation from the movie, “Pay It Forward.” Research led her to the Pay It Forward Foundation on the Internet. The foundation espouses that the concept “begins with doing a favor for another person – without any expectation of being paid back.”

Self introduced the concept to her students in January.

At first, when she suggested they start at home by doing something helpful, like one of their chores for no charge, she said students asked, “You mean doing something for nothing?”

After exercising altruism at home, the class next focused the concept at school by helping out by picking up trash on the playground. This was followed by emptying trashcans when a janitor was ill.

“After they got a ‘thank you’ [for something they did], then they asked, ‘What else could we do?’” said Self.

She said they continued to get excited when they did a good deed and the attitude caught on with other classes.

This culminated in a grand project, just over a month in the planning. “Self motivated her students to take the ‘pay it forward’ idea to the next level,” said PWCISD Librarian Jo Brumfield.


Helping a community member

Self wanted to extend beyond the school walls and reach into the community. Being from Jacksboro, she did not know any local residents who might need help, but asked Brumfield.

Brumfield and her husband, Jeff, who also teaches, help care for an elderly man, Lauden Gonce. She suggested Gonce as a potential recipient of the fourth graders’ goodwill.

At 75, Gonce rides a three-wheeler bike with a flag as his mode of transportation, according to Brumfield. His only living relative is a sister, Eula Fay, who lives in a nursing home in Jacksboro.

Brumfield said Gonce was born at his home in Perrin and has lived in the community his whole life.

“He has been eating at school since the Cow Patty Restaurant burned about two years ago,” she said. “He eats with the kids.”

“They see him a lot at school and around town. He wasn’t a stranger to the kids,” said Brumfield.

Self’s students were excited knowing they would do something to help him. She said that after brainstorming ideas like yard work and cleaning house, “we chose to do the cooking because his housekeeper had quit.”

“Since the cafeteria would be closed over the summer they decided they wanted to cook some meals for him,” Self explained.

“They knew what they were doing and who it was for,” said Brumfield. “It was exciting – they were able to get out of their comfort zone and do something for someone else.”

Self’s class’ original plan to “cook him a week’s worth of meals took off like wildfire,” she said. “It went from five meals to 50 bags of things.”

The culinary learners started their three-day project during the last week of school.

“My students took cookbooks and found recipes they thought Gonce would enjoy, made a list of ingredients, then the parents and I made sure they had everything they needed to cook their recipes,” said Self.

“They cooked for three days. The adrenaline was so high; it was the most fun I’d had all year long,” she added.

On day two, students “worked in groups of three to four in the high school cooking lab to prepare the food,” Self said. “On day three, we cooked and delivered at the end of the day.

“When the kids started cooking they were so excited,” said Self. “All that we kept hearing was that this was the best thing they could be doing.”

She said that students were thrilled about every role involved in the process.

“Even the boys were excited to wash dishes,” she said. “Some kids had tears in their eyes when we went to deliver the meals.”

“It was so exciting to see them take this project to such heights,” Self said.

On Wednesday afternoon of their second-to-last day of school, the teachers and kids delivered the food to Gonce.

This included meals of chicken spaghetti, lemon-herb chicken, cream of mushroom chicken, burger bites, ribs, Velveeta cheese dip and many vegetables.

“He was so overwhelmed that he didn’t know what to say to the students. They made him a book with letters inside telling him they hoped he had a good summer and hoped he would enjoy the food. We copied pictures for him from our project as a keepsake for him to realize that the fourth grade class loves him and wants to see to it that he has plenty to eat this summer,” said Self.

“I was surprised,” said Gonce. “They fixed the food, all I have to do is take it out of the freezer and let it thaw out and warm it in the microwave.”

He said students provided him with “a good bit … about a month’s worth of food.”

“They brought it over. It helped; I was glad to get it,” he said.

“‘We did something really great Ms. Self. We’ve got to do this again next year. We’ve got to do something bigger and better,’” Self said her students told her. “A few meals for someone in need – it hit them in their hearts.”

“It was a lot of hard work for the fourth grade teachers, but they pulled it off,” Brumfield said. “It was a good two days of them cooking in the last week. It was a good way to end the school year.”

Prologue

After school let out, “two kids called me and said they found a billfold with a lot of money,” Self said. She said they took it to one of the children’s father to contact the owner of the billfold. The owner gave them each $5 and they told Self they didn’t feel right taking it. She suggested they enjoy it, since it was an unanticipated bonus for a good deed. “They were thrilled they could use their five dollars.”

Student’s Comments

• “I felt good what I did and I hope other people do it too.” – Matthew Newsome.

• “I feel good that I got to help Lauden. I hope people will help their community, too.“ – Maddison Richardson.

• “Cooking for Lauden was fun and it felt good for us to do something to help our community.” – Ashlyn Cox.

• “After we gave the food to Lauden, I felt good that we did a good deed.” – Robert Jump.

• “I thought the project was going to be the coolest project ever.” – Justin Francis.

• “Cooking for Lauden was a lot of fun. It was even more fun cooking for somebody that you know you are helping.” – Danyelle Kuhn.

• “I felt good because it made me feel like a better person.” – Mick Williams.

• “Making food for Lauden was AWESOME!!!” – Brittney Mitchell.

• “I enjoyed cooking for Lauden because it was the right thing to do. We cooked enough food for the whole summer for him.” – Jordan Wise.

• “When we made food for Lauden I was glad to help someone in need. Helping him was very fun.” – Emily Taylor.