Brighten Your Day

Contest winner donates $500 prize to local cancer patient

July 19, 2012

In a Pay it Forward contest held on facebook by a local news station in California, one lucky, randomly selected winner receives $500. The only rule is that the winner may not keep the money. They must "pay it forward" and present it to someone else.

Recent winner, Shawn Nelson, decided to give it to her friend, Susan Shields, who also happens to work for her. Nelson owns a custom, hand-made jewelery store and claims Shields is like no one she has ever met. She doesn't even accept paychecks for her work. Instead, she tells Nelson to donate the money to a charity.

This time she took the $500, but she did not plan on using it on herself. Naturally, she donated the money to high school football player, Austin Munoz, who was diagnosed with brain cancer over one year ago. Although he successfully recovered from chemo therapy last year, the cancer returned with a vengeance. Financially, this is not easy for him and his mother, who is raising him all on her own. She will have to take off from work for long periods of time to be by his side.

This are the types of things Susan Shields does on an every day basis. She pays it forward every chance she gets, spreading happiness and joy.

According to Nelson, Shields recently raised money to purchase a reading bench at a local elementary school and dedicated it to a teacher who passed away.

"Someday I'm sure there is going to be a time when I need something," said Shields. "You don't do it expecting anything in return. But it makes you feel good, you give what you get."

We all might not be able to donate our paychecks to charity every 2 weeks, but there is a lot to learn from someone like Susan Shields.