May 19, 2008 11:44 am US/Mountain
Pay It 4ward Helps Create Happy Homecoming
Written for the Web by CBS4 producer Libby Smith
The idea behind CBS4's Pay it Forward Colorado project is to give $1,000 to a Coloradan (or group of Coloradans) who will use the money to change someone else's life. Submit your ideas
on YouReport
. Below lies CBS4's May 18 report at 10 p.m. COAL CREEK, Colo. (CBS4) - Tucked away in the foothills of Coal Creek Canyon, there is a tiny chapel with a passionate congregation. They are devoted to God, community and country. Several family in this small church have sons and daughters in the military.
"We pray quite a bit for the military have done so over the last year and there's quite the response when we do that," said Rev. Mark Plaza.
From the pulpit, Plaza looks out at the faces in the pews and empathizes with those families. His own son is serving in Iraq.
"There were a couple of times he called and implied things got pretty hot," Plaza added.
Trevor Plaza is a Marine stationed near Baghdad, but he was scheduled to take leave in California. The Plazas wanted to see their son, but didn't have the money to get to Palm Springs. That's when the congregation came together to pay it forward - asking CBS4 for $1,000 to help pay for the trip.
"I wanted Trevor to be able to see his mom and dad," said congregation member, Shirley Ochoa-Dobies.
"You wonder how changed he's going to be, how he's going to adjust to normal life, but it's going to be great. It's going to be great," said Fay Plaza, Trevor's mom.
Excitement filled the air, as the Plaza family waited on the tarmac with all the other military families. When Trevor came off the plane, there were tears and hugs and prayers were answered. The family spend several days together enjoying each other's company.
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