Kansas FFA members pay it forward, and an Indiana mom does the same

During a national convention filled with motivational speakers, career shows and networking, members of Kansas’ Eureka FFA chapter offered a sign of hope to a family in Indianapolis just by paying it forward.

Randi Jo Amt of Indiana and her family were forced to live in a hotel during the same week more than 65,000 FFA members were in the city for the National FFA Convention. Amt’s house was flooded because of a broken toilet.

It was day nine of living in a hotel when her outlook changed.

Amt had just returned to the hotel after picking her kids up from Boy Scouts and basketball practice. She had hoped to put the kids to bed as quickly as possible, she wrote on Facebook, but teenagers were being noisy in the hall.

“I was frustrated, but wanted to wait to talk to them when I could tell them about our situation to see if they could show compassion rather than become angry at the lady next door,” Amt said.

She did not see them until the next night. Her oldest son saw that they were wearing FFA jackets – and they were from Kansas.

Amt decided to talk to them Friday, Oct. 27.

“I noticed that the FFA kids had their doors cracked, so I decided to talk to them,” Amt said. “I let them know about our house being destroyed by water. I told them that we wanted them to have their fun and we would appreciate their respect to let our kids get good rest.”

The FFA member who answered the door said he “was very sorry” about what her family was going through, Amt wrote.

And just before Amt went to bed, she found a note slipped under her door. A note that offered her a sign of hope.

“We are more than sorry for waking you and your family up the past few nights,” the note read. “We hope everything goes well with your house.”

Attached to the note was some cash.

“In a world where some people sit behind screens and become angry on social media, this young man restored my faith that the next generation can make eye contact and show compassion to the person right in front of him,” Amt wrote.

She asked that anyone who knew the FFA members to tag them in her post so she could thank them.

She didn’t have to search very far.

The next day she found herself in the elevator with two members of the Eureka FFA. The girls from the chapter told Amt they had learned at their national convention to “pay it forward” when they can.

The girls handed her a “pay-it-forward card” and explained what they learned from a motivational speaker at the conference.

Thanks to the kindness Eureka FFA members showed Amt, she has been motivated to pay it forward.

“It’s our turn to pay forward the kindness that these kids showed us,” Amt commented on her original post. “It’s our turn to plant more seeds and watch them grow.”

Since she is without her home right now, she decided to help the homeless in Indianapolis.

“The structure of our house is still there and we have a hotel roof over our heads,” she wrote. “I think of all the people in Indianapolis who will be very cold this winter because they have no place to call home and have to ask or search for food.”

To donate to her cause, visit https://www.youcaring.com/indianapolisshelters-993781/donate/general.

This story was originally published October 30, 2017 at 9:29 AM with the headline "Kansas FFA members pay it forward, and an Indiana mom does the same."