Sowing Money, Reaping Goodness

By any measure, Lisa Panzica was struggling.

After fleeing an abusive relationship and a home-invasion robbery, the Aliso Viejo woman lived day to day to make ends meet--to pay rent, provide food for her children, attend college night classes.

Across town, Terry Zwick had few worries, living in a comfortable, spacious home in one of Orange County’s most affluent communities.

Their lives intersected after Zwick was given money by her pastor and told to do a good deed.

“It seems like such a simple act, but it’s having a ripple effect,” Zwick said. “People are . . . ‘paying it forward.’ We helped Lisa, and she helped her family.”

Zwick was one of 100 people selected from the Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo by the Rev. Denny Bellesi to participate in a living Bible lesson.

“I wanted to teach this principle of stewardship,” Bellesi said. “I wanted to leave an impression they would never forget.”

In November, the pastor gave out $100 bills--a total of $10,000--with the instruction that recipients do good. He was partly inspired by the recent movie “Pay It Forward,” about a child’s efforts to change the world with good deeds.

“I told them it had to be invested outside the church. It had to be glorifying to God, and it had to be benefiting to others,” he said.

What began with 100 people has since involved hundreds more. Their actions include small acts of kindness (helping a family get on its feet) to large ones (funding construction of a church in Asia).

But deciding how to spend the money wasn’t easy.

“It was the most important $100 I had ever held in my hands,” said Bill Shedd. To add to the pot, Shedd’s 13-year-old son donated $100 of the allowance he had saved. Then his daughter pitched in money. Soon, the Shedds had collected $1,000.

After weeks of debate, the family donated $800 to a shelter for abused women and children.

Then Shedd read a newspaper article about 15-year-old Javier Zambrano in nearby Santa Ana, who was collecting holiday gifts for children even though he didn’t have enough money himself to buy soccer shoes.

“I thought, ‘This kid already got what Pastor Denny was trying to teach us.’ ”

Shedd gave Javier the remaining $200 for soccer supplies.

Michael Rodriguez, 33, used the $100 to begin a donation drive at his job at an Internet consulting company to help a family with funeral costs for two daughters who had died.

Gene Shook, 47, used the money to buy Bibles and study guides to train pastors in Asia.

Alex Bentson, 9, sent the money to a 4-year-old Oregon girl to help her family defray the expenses of a heart transplant.

In Zwick’s case, she was introduced to Panzica by a friend who had met the 33-year-old single mother while taking community college classes.

Panzica told Zwick about her struggles and how she was happy that at least her children were now safe.

A week later, Zwick and two friends showed up with $700 in gift certificates for clothing and food and a $1,100 check to cover the January rent.

In turn, Panzica used the gift certificates to buy her family and another needy family food and clothes.