Pay It Forward, a club at Iowa State, has a common goal of inspiring others to create positive change. Pay It Forward is an established service and volunteer student organization which has the purpose of engaging college students in service and leadership.

While the club spends most of the year volunteering within the community of Ames, for one week a year they turn their attention to the national level.

“Over the week of spring break, we spend every day in a different city working as volunteers,” said Brenna Russell, senior in kinesiology and the club’s exiting president.

During their 2019 spring break trip, the group traveled to Springfield, Missouri; Oklahoma City; Texas; Albuquerque, New Mexico and Denver. At each of these locations, they worked for charities such as Habitat for Humanity, various animal shelters, food banks, parks and recreation departments and more.

“We plan for our spring break trip all year,” Russell said. “This year, we took 38 members, and the experience was truly incredible.”

Russell has been a member of Pay It Forward since her sophomore year when she said she “took a chance” and ended up having the best spring break of her life.

Russell is leaving the club in the hands of Jacob Vos, a junior in meteorology and journalism. Vos will serve as the president for the 2019-20 school year.

“This club means so much to me,” Vos said. “The real impact we have on people is beyond words.”

The group has an impact on a national level during spring break, but spend most of the year impacting Ames. This includes volunteering to pick up trash around Ames, working during campus service day, setting up scholarships for students and volunteering for habitat for humanity.

Vos says the impact they have on communities is important, but so is the impact on the club’s members.

“Members join [Pay It Forward] to have an impact on people, but often the big surprise is the impact they have on themselves,” Vos said.

Both Russell and Vos agree that the work they do can wouldn’t be possible without their team.

“Without the group we had this last spring break, none of the work we did could have been done,” Russell said.