Anyone in need of a Christmas meal can head to McDonald’s on Thursday afternoon.
Those who visit the restaurant on the southwest side of Interstate 25 at Colo. 119 shouldn’t expect burgers and fries, but rather a different sort of happy meal — a grab-and-go holiday feast being offered by Community Pay it Forward Fundraising.
The organization, while not a nonprofit, has spent the past 5½ years working to help people and has a particular soft spot for veterans, families and children. It plans to hand out at least 200 meals at the giveaway from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday. At a similar event Monday in Greeley, more than 100 meals were distributed, said Community Pay it Forward founder Zak Clayton.
Greeley resident Clayton said Community Pay it Forward is focused on helping meet “life-critical needs” — food, clothing, housewares, certain medical supplies. Anyone who needs something can get it for free with no residency or income requirements, he said.
The Dare to Care holiday food box effort has been going on for 26 years, with Community Pay it Forward adding a hot meal program two years ago. In that time, Clayton estimates it has distributed more than 2,000 meals and served many more at community meals, which are off the table this year because of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
A desire to help anyone and its freedom to do so is why Community Pay it Forward will never be designated as a 501(3)(c) nonprofit, but its outreach arm, Community Dare to Care, will be someday, Clayton said.
“We’re not going to be told by the government we can’t help everybody,” he said. “... We want to help as many people as we can.”
That effort not only allows individuals to donate money or goods but also creates the opportunity for businesses to partner with Community Pay it Forward to share a portion of sales or service fees with the organization, Clayton said. A list of those partners can be found on the organization’s website.
“The main thing we do is work with local merchants to raise money for people in emergency situations,” he said. “We do that by generating sales for merchants, allowing people to determine who to shop with and where their money goes — a family in need, a child sick or injured, veteran or hero causes. As long as it’s got a heart and it’s doing good, we’re going to try to raise money for it.”
The focus on helping everybody no matter geographical location also extends to partners, with Community Pay it Forward having worked with businesses as far away as Idaho and New York, he said.
Closer to home, Sharon Koenig is among those partners.
Koenig, who owns the McDonald’s at Colo. 119 and I-25 with her husband, Gary, and whose daughter, Lauren, is poised to take over the family business, learned of Community Pay it Forward through a mutual friend of hers and Clayton’s.
“We love bringing community folks together,” Koenig said, which is something she has seen from her conveniently located restaurant that has been a spot for many business meetings and family gatherings.
Involved in numerous giving efforts, including the Firestone Santa Cops program and, of course, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Koenig said she was glad to offer up the restaurant’s parking lot for the meal giveaway and to support an organization that works to support veterans and kids. She also embraced it as a way to show her thanks.
“It’s a nice time of year to show some gratitude,” Koenig said.
Clayton said gratitude was the initial spark for Community Pay it Forward.
The organization was born in the wake of a motorcycle crash in which he was run off the road and left lying in a ditch for seven hours.
“I had many friends who stepped up and helped us out, but then a bunch of businesses that could barely keep their doors open were willing to give us products, help out in any way they could,” he said.
That generosity and the lingering effects of his head trauma and other injuries started Clayton thinking about his next steps.
“I wanted to make sure there was a way I could be doing something to help people. I always enjoyed fundraising,” he said, adding that ironically his first foray into fundraising was at age 16, when he started an effort to help friends hurt in a motorcycle crash.
He turns 49 on Thursday.
As part of his work at Community Pay it Forward, Clayton also is working to inspire new generations to be fundraisers and agents for good. The organization’s Community Cares Cub Club allows children to get involved in helping neighbors and strangers by creating holiday-themed poster boards that are used to decorate donation boxes.
Young artists are told where their masterpieces are displayed so they can visit them with their families and see firsthand “they did something. They’re helping other people,” Clayton said.
Anyone else seeking the same sense of satisfaction can make monetary donations year-round via the Community Pay it Forward website. Those who donate are entered into drawings for prizes, with the current prize being a Green Mountain Davy Crockett grill, for which $5 raffle tickets also can be purchased.
And even if they don’t win the grill, those who donate will be entered in future prize drawings. “Their names stay in the bucket and we give away stuff all year long,” Clayton said.
The prizes are just another way of creating community, which is at the heart of all the organization does, he said.
“One of the things we really, really want to do is bring back the feeling of community, the feeling that everybody needs help at some point in time and it’s not a crime to need help and it feels good to help,” Clayton said. “We want to make sure we give people the opportunity to step in whenever they can.”
Want updates?
For the latest updates on Community Pay it Forward Fundraising’s meal giveaway and other efforts, check out is Facebook page, Colorado Helpers.
Correction: The Dare to Care hot meal program has been taking place for 26 years. That information was incorrect in the original posting of this story.
Clarification: For food safety reasons, organizers on Thursday morning asked people not to bring food to McDonald's.
