Change the world: Pay it forward

Sometimes it takes a village. Sometimes just one person.

Author Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote in her 2000 novel, "Pay It Forward," about a teacher who gave his class a monumental assignment - to change the world - and how one young boy did so by doing good deeds for strangers and encouraging them to do the same.

Paying it forward rather than paying back.

Hyde came to Huntley last week to help launch a communitywide effort to stir interest in reading and foster community spirit. The goal is to have everyone in town read the book, talk about it and follow its message. It will be interesting to see what Huntley can do to change the world.

When Kari Albert-Sheppard discovered recently that St. Joseph Catholic Church in Elgin would be unable to put on its annual community dinner to give the homeless, poor and lonely some sustenance and fraternity at Thanksgiving, she thought, "I can do this."

The Thanksgiving feast - a 24-year tradition - will merely change venue this year to the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin. Albert-Sheppard works for Community Crisis Center, which is leading the charge in putting on the meal, and is getting plenty of help from others. Her mom, Rebecca Albert, a masterful caterer, faces her largest party ever.

Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Roselle for years has provided food baskets at Thanksgiving and Christmas for people in need. Last year the church brought the full force of its congregation to help, staging a clinic that this year provided between 500 and 1,000 people from all over the Chicago area a cursory dental checkup, blood pressure check, optical and chiropractic screenings, haircuts, massages, a family portrait, blankets and groceries and a feast with musical accompaniment.

"We're trying to lift them up, give them a chance to have a great day," said the Rev. Charles Mueller, Jr., senior pastor.

Julio Mayorga got the bad news last month.

The executive director of Meadows Community Services, a Rolling Meadows-based organization that provided immigration services and financial help to those in need, was laid off when his organization was disbanded.

It was done at a time when people could direct their holiday philanthropy elsewhere.

Mayorga knew his responsibility didn't end there.

The part-time pastor of Iglesia Bautista Sembradores still helps some of the 150 to 200 clients that used the organization's services each month. The food distribution program is still going, now under the auspices of the church. And still with the hard work of the Rotary Club, which oversees food collection, and school kids who pack boxes.

When "Pay It Forward" was released in theaters in 2000, it seemed quaint, even sappy.

But that was before Sept. 11., before Iraq, before Afghanistan, before the economy began to fall apart.

That movie doesn't seem so sappy now.