Helping Tackle Life’s Challenges: PAULA HICKS-SOWERSBY ASSISTS WITH HER PAY IT FORWARD PANTRY

For this column, I seek out stories of everyday people doing incredible things to help out their fellow humans. Goodness knows, life can be tough sometimes, so it’s one of my treasured privileges to be able to share these stories. I kept seeing posts on the Victor and Farmington Neighbors page by Canandaigua resident, Paula Hicks – Sowersby, who coordinates a Pay It Forward pantry outside her home, helps out other blessings boxes around the area,andhelpspeople ndassistance or information on anything from food and rent assistance to repairing a vehicle for reliable transportation. I simply had to reach out to nd out more, and thankfully, Paula agreed to share her story:

“About 10 years ago, a medical condition I have that causes joints to dislocate and internal organs to dissect caused me to have a rare heart attack called a spontaneous coronary artery dissection. About 18 months later, I had a second. Doctors said most do not survive one of these dissections, let alone two.

I had always lived a pay it forward lifestyle, but I found myself looking for ways to make an impact in people’s lives in any good way while I still had time le . Maybe it was an attempt to heal my own heart.

I started on a Facebook group called Canandaigua Selling/Buying doing little Pay-It-Forwards (PIFs), giving away $20 a few times a month. is slowly grew into huge things like $200 grocery giveaways because I had donors who wanted to help.

When I heard of Noah’s Blessings Box, which the Marinelli’s started in Canandaigua a er the tragic loss of their son in a car accident, that inspired me to start my own blessing box, the Pay It Forward pantry. It’s just a large blessing box in front of my home.

I also started a small bank account, in which I put 1/3 of my monthly social security in to help people with emergencies when possible. is grew bigger and bigger, and more and more people ask for help, so when emergency requests come but my PIF account is empty, I reach out to the community for help.” (Hence my nding her FB posts).

We have raised thousands of dollars to help people in need of a hand up in a world where people struggle to eat and pay bills. I’ve paid for lifesaving medications for cancer patients, we’ve lled people’s propane tanks, kept lights on, xed cars; you name it, we’ve probably done it. Everyone knows when I say Mornin’ PIF’ers... Paula is about to ask for help. I make the calls and the community answers them every single time. I’m on my phone from 6 am to 11 pm and I o en get messaged during the night. But most people just need to be pointed in the right direction; that’s why I made the pinned post on my page. And many just need an ear, and I’m always willing to be that ear. Any time, day or night.

In my ten years doing this, we’ve helped hundreds of families. is past Christmas, my program found sponsors for 96 families needing help. I don’t get a lot of tra c at my box, so I mostly support other blessing boxes in the area. True blessing boxes run on donations from the community. Mine’s a bit di erent in that it’s 90% self-funded. But I always love and appreciate donations when they come. Without the community’s support, we would never accomplish half of what we’ve done. I have a pinned post on my Facebook page with lots of info for people needing a variety of information to nd help. It also includes the pantry’s Amazon wishlist and cashtags for anyone wanting to help. If you are able, help out Paula’s pantry or another blessing box in your area, or maybe nd your own way to pay forward the blessings in your life. We all need a little help sometimes. Why not help when we

Paula also shares one of MANY stories that have impacted her life:

About a year ago, a woman named Jill Nunes Madden messaged me to say she had received the all clear from breast cancer but felt awful and asked if I could nd someone to come clean for her but keep it private so people didn’t know how hard she had it. I found her help and I checked in from time to time. She felt worse and kept passing out, and her family and I encouraged her to see the doctor, where she was diagnosed with brain cancer. A few weeks later she moved into Hospeace House. I came to keep her company, and we laughed, we cried, and I knew immediately I had a friend I never knew I was missing. I stayed with her about once a week. She was there several months, a lot longer than doctors expected. Jill lost her battle in March. She was an absolute human angel. I miss her but I’m just so blessed to have been in her life even that short amount of time. I talk about how this PIF mission has helped others. [Meeting such incredible people as Jill] is one way [the PIF mission] has helped me.

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