imPACT Report: 12/20
Pay It Forward
Just recently at a Dairy Queen in Minnesota, customers collaborated in a “Pay It Forward Chain.” One customer told the drive-in window employee that he or she will pay for the order of the person waiting in line behind them. This particular Pay It Forward Chain” was something special. Over 900 consecutive customers decided to pay it forward resulting in a stunning $10,000 in sales.
The first customer did not know how long and strong a chain would be initiated. And all 900 participants were not aware of how abundant their collective impact would be.
When the Phoenix Pact was first initiated, we had no idea how long and strong its chain would be. There was no way to fully comprehend the abundant blessing our collective impact would have.
These past months have been the most challenging of our lives. Never before has the resilience of our students been so tested. Our Pact Scholars have had to grind it out; to innovate; and to be courageous. Because of your generosity, we have had the great honor to help them through, whether it be an emergency relocation, finding a part time job, arranging counseling or medical help, cheer-leading or swooping in with a right on time goodie bag. The chain has been as long as it has been strong. It is simply who we are. Phoenix Pact is more than a scholarship.
The collective impact does not stop there. When the Phoenix Pact began, the intention was to support our scholars in their journey to and through college. We did not dream how stunning the impact our graduates would have on the world around them. Together, we have come to see that the Pact is as much for our world as it is for our students.
Kasandra Posey has earned a BA in Special Education from Western Michigan and two Masters, one in Instructional Leadership from Loyola University and the other in Special Education from UIC. She is now one year from completing her Ph.D. in Special Education while serving as Director of Student Services at Civitas Education Partners. She is paying it forward with students who need it most.
And, Kasandra has paid it forward within her own family. Her nephew Lavor Little has followed her lead and is graduating from Elmhurst University in the Spring of 2021 with 3 majors Accounting, Finance and Management! Lavor hasn’t waited to start paying it forward as a volunteer with young people in North Lawndale at the Off the Street Club and is committed to maintaining a lifetime of service.
The Phoenix Pact is something special. It is a chain of support as long as it is strong. It is an abundant blessing for our students, their families, and our city. RBL Scholars are already spanning generations and their impact will transform future generations. They are Paying the Phoenix Pact Forward as an abundant blessing to the world. The collective impact of Phoenix Pact has only just begun and it is your partnership that is making it happen.
A 2002 graduate of NLCP, Kasandra Posey was in the first cohort of RBL Scholars who went on to graduate from Western Michigan University. Read more about Kasandra here.
Kasandra Posey’s nephew Lavor Little is a 2016 RBL Scholar attending Elmhurst University, where he expects to graduate in 2021 with a triple major.
2019 RBL Scholar Roosevelt Harris Williams (second from left) recently sent a dispatch from Colby-Sawyer College in New Hampshire, where he’s now in his Sophomore year. Roosevelt is a Student Senator and reports that COVID at college is a challenge, but not slowing down his pursuit of a degree in 2023.
2020 RBL Scholar Samuel Nelson is carving out time to pursue his interests in photography while studying at Grand Valley State University. Here, Samuel captured the Cook Carillon Tower as it peeks from behind the spectacular colors of the GVSU campus in autumn.
Congratulations to 2016 RBL Scholar Michael Tucker! Michael graduated in December 2020 from McKendree University, majoring in Business.
2016 RBL Scholar Stanley Taylor had a busy 2020! Stanley is pictured here against the skyline of Florence, Italy, where he completed a work internship after receiving his communications degree from University of Illinois at Urbana.
