Every Sunday morning, Jennifer Smith and other parents with teenagers gather at Country and Town Baptist Church just outside of Mechanicsburg for class.
The close group is now coming together for another cause, to help one of its members through FOX43’s Pay it Forward.
“Our teacher, Jeff Speese, lost his job the day after Christmas,” Smith said. “His loss of a job hit all of us hard because it could happen to any of us and we wanted to do something for him.”
Jeff Speese is a father of four who was the primary breadwinner for his family before he lost his job as a plant manager. Smith said he’s a shining example of what it means to be a giving person.
“Would do anything for you, would give you the shirt off of his back,” she said. “If it were one of us in this same situation, he would be doing all he could to help us out.”
Smith asked Speese and his wife Gigi to meet her at the church. When they arrived, Smith presented Jeff with the $200 from Pay it Forward.
The Speeses’ said they thought Smith was plotting something.
“About five minutes before we arrived, we thought something’s up!” Gigi Speese said. “We don’t know what she’s doing, but something’s up.”
“‘Meet me inside at the lobby’ and I’m like, ‘Ok, something’s going on,'” added Jeff.
But they are grateful for Smith’s fib and all of the help they’ve been getting from their church family.
“We have a lot of wonderful supporters here at this church and it’s just great to be here,” Jeff Speese said.