Didn't know about the name, "pay it forward", but I've been repaying the
lady who gave me a box of baby clothes for my third child. Her husband
delivered a box so huge I couldn't imagine what was in it. The answer
was . . . everything I needed. I knew I could never repay her kindness,
so I guess what I've been doing for the last 45 years is what is now
called "paying it forward". It feels so good it is almost selfish.

Nann Hilyard wrote:
I confess that the phrase "pay it forward" was new to me. Maybe everyone
else knows just what it means, but in case you don't:

From http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=168
"Philanthropic scholar Robert Payton explained serial reciprocity as, "the
principle that says we should repay the good works done for us by the good
works we, in turn, do for others" (Payton 1990, 1). Thus, in serial
reciprocity, individuals "pay it forward" instead of paying it back."

and The Pay it Forward Movement's web site, at
http://www.payitforwardmovement.org,