A Brief History

Many, many years ago...Founders and Board of Directors members have personal experience staying at Ronald McDonald Houses when close family members are seriously ill. Learn how much a hospital hospitality house can make a stressful time easier.

Sept. 2002

Carol W. is moved to Kindred Hospital-Sycamore (where part of her immediate family lives) after weeks of unsuccessful attempts to wean her from the ventilator at a suburban Chicago hospital.

Fall 2002

Carol and her family members make many good friends in the waiting room and halls of Kindred Hospital as Carol gets stronger. Family becomes aware of how lucky they are to live so close and not have to commute or live in a motel.

Christmas Day 2002

Family celebrates Christmas at Kindred. Carol's ventilator is wheeled out her room late that evening! 

January 2003

Carol moves to Marionjoy Rehab Center. Thank you, Kindred!

Christmas 2003

Carol records and sells the CD "Somebody's Watching Over M" and raises $10,000 for the American Cancer Society.  In all her public speeches, she talks about the importance of "paying it forward"-helping out others in their time of need, not to pay back a favor, but simply out of kindness. Her love of the concept and the way in which she lived her final years were the inspiration for the House's name.

March 30, 2004

Family approaches Kindred about opening a hospital hospitality house, stating "it will probably be June 2005 before we really start anything."

August 2004

The family at 719 Somonauk Street, the house right next to the Kindred Hospital parking lot, decides to move.

September 2004

Carol's family have the house appraised and inspected and make offer. Sellers accept.

December 21, 2004

City of Sycamore grants special use permit. Work on the house can begin.

January 2005

Community learns more about the project and embraces it wholeheartedly. Volunteers take on numerous tasks of bringing the house up to code and make it a "home away from home" for families and friends of patients at Kindred.

March  24, 2005

Pay It Forward House welcomes its first guests.

March 24, 2010

Pay It Forward House celebrates its fifth anniversary. It has provided a home-away-from home to more than 500 families and over 5700 nights of rest with the help of 150 active volunteers and hundreds of local and other donors. The number of nights of rest provided changes nightly as volunteers welcome new guests to share the comforts of this home-away-from-home.

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Story Behind Our Name

When we first opened our doors in 2005, many people were not familiar with the phrase pay it forward. That is less the case today, but in case you’re curious, here is the explanation we felt obliged to print in our February 2006 newsletter.

It has become clear that many people think the name Pay-It-Forward House a bit "strange," to put it mildly.  They have read on our brochure that to "pay it forward is to do a good deed for a stranger in their time of need" or some have heard that the 12-year-old hero of the book, Pay It Forward, set out to change the world through a chain of human kindness.  He told people not to pay him back for his "big helps," but rather to "pay it forward." But, as one person said, "I don’t get it.  The House helps others, but why the name?" 

So, let me explain. Our involvement with Kindred Hospital dates back to September 2002.  Phil's sister, Carol, was suffering from stage-four breast cancer and complications had left her on a ventilator, and a patient at Kindred Hospital. That’s how we became aware that, in spite of how tough our situation seemed, we were lucky. We lived within walking distance. We made friends with many families who were not so lucky and were commuting from great distances to be at their loved one’s bedside.

Carol was successfully weaned from the ventilator on Christmas Day 2002 and we were blessed with her presence and love for almost two years after that. She was inspired by the pay-it-forward philosophy when the book was published in 2000 and wove it into her teaching of middle school students before she became ill. 

Once released from the hospital, she put the philosophy into action in the last months of her life, raising more than $10,000 for the American Cancer Society. In spite of being confined to a wheelchair and weakened by chemo therapy, she sang a song and told her story on an inspirational CD to educate women not to avoid going to the doctor out of fear. 

As Phil and I considered how to honor her memory, we searched for a way for us to pay it forward as well.  Another loss in our lives- the death of my father in 2003-allowed us to take the steps to purchase the property that is now the Pay-It-Forward House.  We never imagined that we’d be so blessed by all your help, support and love. We set out to make something good out of the bad in our lives. Thanks to you, an amazing chain of human kindness is touching many lives! 

Warm regards,

Mary Lou Eubanks
Executive Director

That last sentence still applies today. The dream of a hospital hospitality house in Sycamore was a dream that was meant to be. In less than a year, with phenomenal support from interested community members and organizations, Pay-It-Forward House opened its doors on March 24, 2005. As of its sixth anniversary, the House had provided more than 7,500 nights of rest and its outstanding community participation has created an amazing chain of human kindness that continues to touch many lives.

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