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Inverness Pay-it-forward Fairies will strike again!

Paying it forward with gifts and smiles, the founder of the Inverness Pay-it-forward Fairies, Sasha MacNeil, is joined by her own precious little fairies Harlow and Knox.


-by Bill Dunphy

    The early Gaelic-speaking settlers of Inverness nicknamed the town “Shean” – meaning Fairy Hill.
    But not even in their wildest imaginings could they have foreseen what the re-emergence of fairies in Inverness would look like in 2020.
    Inverness recently had some 300 mythical creatures zooming around for a two-week period, dropping off goodies to unsuspecting humans.
    The Inverness Pay-it-forward Fairies was the brainchild of Sasha MacNeil.


    “I saw a group on Facebook called the Nova Scotia Wine Fairies, which exploded to 25,000 members. I thought we could do something similar here, but I didn’t want to call it Wine Fairies because wine limits people and not everyone drinks wine,” she said.
    So, deciding to broaden the scope of the idea, the Inverness Pay-it-forward Fairies was born.
    Collecting names and addresses from people who wanted to participate, the idea was to drop a gift off anonymously, leaving the recipient to choose whether to pay-it-forward. When you received a gift, you took your name off the list. By the end of the two-week run on May 17, she had more than 300 people on her list.
    “I didn’t expect it to get to 300 people; I just thought it would be something fun to do between me and my friends,” MacNeil said.
    “I was responsible for telling them that a fairy had paid them a visit. I had people saying they hadn’t smiled in two months. It was good timing, a good distraction given what’s going on in the world.”
    While participants could note what their likes and dislikes were, it was up to the one paying it forward as to what the gift would be.
    “People were giving scratch tickets, bingo markers, homemade goodies, beer, wine, plants, books, and some said ‘surprise me!’” she said.
    Along with people who weren’t even in the group receiving anonymous gifts, there were some unexpected spinoffs created.
    “Larry (LaRiviere) at the Dollar Store called to say he was crazy busy with people coming in looking for gifts. So, it was really good for the businesses, including Freeman’s Pharmacy and the liquor store.”
    At the height of it, administrating the list almost became a full-time job for the single mother of two.
    “It certainly took up some time, but it went really well and was totally worth it. And people were good to remove their own names off the list once they received a gift,” she said.
    Those that missed out on the fun this time around may get their chance to join in the fall.
    “We’re going to try it again, maybe in November just before Christmas,” MacNeil said.
    By then, it might be a case of Fairies Wear Boots, but when it comes to finding ways to show how neighbours look after each other in this neck of the woods, a little snow or rain doesn’t make a ghost of a difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

       


Oran Dan - The Inverness Oran - www.invernessoran.ca

The Inverness Oran
15767 Central Avenue. P.O. Box 100
Inverness, Nova Scotia. B0E 1N0
Tel.: 1 (902) 258-2253. Fax: 1 (902) 258-2632
Email: [email protected]