Ryan Nece Pays It Forward
WTSP, Tampa Bays CBS Affiliate, forwarded us along a real nice story about former Bucs LB Ryan Nece. During the time of the NFL calendar when there isn’t much going on in terms of football, many players are doing things to help out the community.
Nece was always known as a real Tony Dungy type of player as far as community involvement was concerned, and his latest act shows why. Last month, Nece gathered 40 people from around the Bay Area, handed them envelopes with $55 in them, and told them to “Pay It Forward.” For those who haven’t seen the movie that this refers to, please do, Kevin Spacey once again is brilliant, but the premise of the movie is someone does something nice for you, you do something nice to someone else, and before you know it, everyone is doing nice things for everyone. Simple concept, if people were to actually do it.
Some examples of what happened from Nece’s site, RyanNece.Com.
"Once I had the $55 in my hand I posed a challenge to myself. How can I affect the most amount of people with the least amount of money? I figured this would be my marketing strategy for spreading the good word. I know this didn’t change anyone’s life per say, but this random act of kindness might have shown some how simple, and inexpensive, it can be to pay it forward. With .25¢ and a little leg work we were able to leave a personal touch on 60 people and hopefully brighten their day while saving them $30.With $15 in quarters on hand, Hannah, our Intern, and I hit the streets of Downtown Tampa. Our first order of business was to find an unsuspecting Meter Man. Seeing the direction he was headed we made sure to stay a few cars ahead of him. Any meter that had 5 minuets or less received a quarter, along with a note on their window shield explaining the concept. It was quite the experience to say the least. We learned a few things along the way. If you ever want to have the same fun pay close attention! First, handicap patrons do not have to pay the meter. Not to worry, we only spent .75¢ before we figured this out. Two, there are pre-paid parking meter hang tags as well as ticket stubs for the dash board. It got better because this only took .50¢ to realize. Either way, even though these meters didn’t need our quarters, I’m sure they appreciated our efforts J Finally, and most important, it’s against city ordinance. Opps! We were unaware of this and kept out of sight once the Meter Man made this apparent to us. Without condoning being unlawful I would say…..let your conscience be your guide.Going a step further, the $15 in quarters was actually worth more. Let me explain:60 quarters (1 for each meter) x $30 (price of a parking ticket) = $1,800!As they say, time is of the essence. Whether it is with the parking meter or in life, I hope you find this true and are able to make the most of not only your time but others.Remember, it’s not the size of the gift.Nina Lopez"