Doc Compton wants giving to go viral. He says that to give is such a great feeling he wants everyone to experience it. So he stuffed 100 envelopes each with a dollar and a letter that basically says: Keep this if you need it, or add to it and pass it on.
On Sunday, he distributed the envelopes to strangers in McKinney and at the Dallas Arboretum, and now he's hearing from people who want to do the same in their communities.
"Think of how awesome it would be if we could have the entire state of Texas 'Paying it forward,' " said "Tonya" on the guestbook on Compton's website, NeeditKeepit.org.
Compton, who lives in McKinney, where he has a credit counseling business, said he developed the idea last month after handing cash to a couple in need.
"There are so many things that go viral, so many inane things with no social impact," Compton said. "I thought, 'What if we could make something like this go viral and get big and in so doing change some people?' It's not about the money; it's not about whose hands the money ultimately lands in. It's about the hands along the way that get to experience the gift of giving."
Compton has been on the receiving end of other people's generosity.
He talks about 2004, which he calls the worst year of his life. He said his wife left him with their baby boy, Chase, and 4-year-old daughter, Breanna. He started a credit repair company to make extra money and subsequently lost his job as an investment banker. "It was pretty grim at my house," he said
Late that December, an acquaintance, Weslyn Reynolds Wood, pulled up to his house with a trunkload of gifts for his children. "It was the Christmas my kids would have not had," he said.
She had one gift for him – $2,500 in an envelope. "She said, 'I just kind of told your story to a bunch of people, and before I knew it, everyone began to help.' I swore to her that day that I would spend the rest of my life paying it forward."
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