Annual Pay It Forward 9/11 effort launches good deed Twitter challenge
AUSTIN, Texas — To honor the victims and survivors of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Pay It Forward 9/11 is encouraging 10,000 surprise good deeds.
In the days leading up to the 10th anniversary, people are asked to help a stranger and share their stories through social media. EnviroMedia Social Marketing will donate $1 to the Pay It Forward Foundation for every new Twitter follower of @PIFFoundation.
EnviroMedia co-founder Kevin Tuerff started Pay It Forward 9/11 after he experienced life-changing kindness in Gander, Newfoundland, on Sept. 11, 2001. Tuerff will return to Gander on Sept. 9 to launch the “10,000 Acts of Kindness for 9/11” effort.
Tuerff was stranded in the small Canadian town after 38 jumbo jets unexpectedly landed there when U.S. airspace closed due to the terrorist attacks.
Tuerff and his fellow passengers sat onboard for 10 hours without knowing the extent of the attacks. When finally let off the plane, he and about 7,000 other stranded passengers had no access to their luggage, no food and no place to stay.
“The 10,000 people of Gander had mobilized to take care of us,” said Tuerff. “My temporary home was a community college classroom, where I slept on the floor. The Newfoundlanders fed us and drove me to buy fresh clothes. They were our lifelines, helping us connect to what was happening at home.”
Six days later, Tuerff made it home to Texas. To honor Gander’s kindness, each year on Sept. 11 Tuerff gives teams of two employees at EnviroMedia $100 and time off to perform good deeds for strangers. Over nine years, Pay It Forward 9/11 has spread to other businesses and across the country.
Pay It Forward 9/11 good deeds have ranged from buying coffee for strangers to secretly paying for a senior citizen’s prescriptions to baking cookies for school crossing guards.
Pay It Forward Foundation
EnviroMedia will donate $1 up to $10,000 for each new Pay It Forward Foundation follower on Twitter @PIFFoundation from Sept. 7 through Sept. 11.
“A lot has changed in how people communicate with one another 10 years after the attacks,” said Tuerff of this effort. “We all need to remember the unity and kindness we felt during a very difficult time for the country. This call to action is not just to talk about it on Twitter, but to do something for a stranger.”
Pay It Forward 9/11 received inspiration from Catherine Ryan Hyde’s 1999 novel, Pay It Forward, and the subsequent movie. The Pay It Forward Foundation’s mission is to create a world where the principles of paying it forward are practiced with deliberate intent through education, sharing stories and social networking.
“The seed for the pay it forward movement is the recognition that you don’t need much to change the entire world for the better,” said Hyde. “You can start with the most ordinary ingredients — the people, the community and the world you’ve got — to create a movement that will have a far-reaching impact.”
For information on Pay It Forward 9/11 or the Pay It Forward Foundation, visit facebook.com/PayItForward9.11 or www.payitforwardfoundation.org.
MEDIA NOTE: Contact Melanie Fish at 512-476-4368 for access to Tuerff’s 2001 Gander home video or an interview request.
Media Contacts:
Kelli Johnson
512-476-4368 Office
[email protected]
Melanie Fish
512-476-4368 Office
[email protected]
