This week’s Pay it Forward is in Jacobus, York County, where we surprised a man who’s feeding people’s bellies and souls with his homemade soups.

“The soup is more or less an outreach from mom, because she, she was always a giver,” said John McHenry, 79. “She was a giver when she had hardly anything.”

For the past 20 years, McHenry has been making and delivering soup weekly to people who are homebound, going through illnesses or just fans of his culinary creations.

“I charge no one, and I accept nothing,” he said. “If someone wants to pay, I say, ‘Give it to the church for the food bank.’”

McHenry’s recipes are often inspired by his mother Peg, who worked hard to raise five young children alone after her husband’s death.

“Mom made sure we learned how to cook and most of the cooking was done with the ingredients from our garden,” he said.

This particular week, McHenry had ten drop-offs to make, feeding a total of 22 people.

His first stop was Frank Franklin’s house. Franklin said McHenry’s soup is great, but his character is even better.

“I couldn’t say enough,” Franklin said. “He’s absolutely great. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”

At McHenry’s second stop, FOX43 had a surprise in store for him, $200 from Pay it Forward.

“Oh my word!” McHenry said. “Now I’m going to have to make soup for another three weeks!”

Making and delivering homemade soup from scratch is no easy task.

McHenry plans to retire from his weekly soup delivery when he turns 80 on May 30th.

He said he’ll miss seeing the people more than anything.

“I’ve got fantastic people,” McHenry said. “I mean if they started out as strangers, they end up as friends, they always do. They’re fantastic people. And they’re all very humble.”

Family and friends are throwing McHenry an 80th birthday party on March 26 from 3pm-6pm at The Grove Building in Jacobus.

McHenry said he’d love for all of his friends to attend.

In this week’s Pay it Forward, an Annville, Lebanon County man surprises a woman he considers a mother figure with $200.

“I think she deserves it, most of all!” said Ron Guringo, about his former mother-in-law, Dorothy Whorley.

Whorley still plays a major role in Guringo’s life, helping him care for his daughter and just being there for him and everyone else in her life when they need her.

“Over the past, 14-15 years, she’s been like my mother,” he said. “She scolds me when I do something wrong, when I say something wrong. But she’s my friend.”

“I’ve always wanted to do more for her and I think this is, this is that little boost that’ll make me feel better,” added Guringo. “That I could say, ‘Yeah, I did this for her.’”

“Hey Ma! I got a surprise for you,” Guringo said as he presented Whorley with the money.

“Oh my goodness! Thank you very much!” Whorley said.

Just like Guringo sees Whorley as a mom, she views him as a son.

“Yeah, he’s good to us. He’s good. Uh huh. He buys six loaves of bread and gives us three. He always does that!” she said.

Even now at 80, taking care of kids, biological or not, is what brings Whorley the most joy.

“I love ‘em! Yup! I raised foster kids,” she said. “Yeah, any kids that come around I get all the hugs.”

As for how she plans to spend the money, Whorley said she recently lost 60 pounds and is going to buy new pants that actually fit her.

A Bishop McDevitt High School senior, who’s making a big difference in her community, was surprised with $200 in this week’s Pay it Forward.

Girl scout troop leader Patty Desmond always knew there was something special about one of her scouts in particular, 18-year-old Rikka Olsen.

“When she set her goals, she knew what she wanted and you just never stop her,” Desmond said.

Rikka’s determination led her to develop “Full Bowls for Furry Souls.”

The program works in conjunction with Meals on Wheels in Dauphin County to provide pet food for low-income senior citizens who struggle to feed themselves and their pets.

Rikka’s hard work earned her the Gold Award, the Girl Scouts’ highest honor.

“She’s a very compassionate person,” Desmond said. “She’s not thinking of herself in any way. I mean this is just a huge need and she’s fulfilling it.”

Desmond and our FOX43 Pay it Forward crew set off to surprise Rikka at Susquehanna Township High School’s track, where she was practicing with her team.

“Rikka Olsen, I’m here with FOX43 because you’re so awesome, and I’m here to present you with $200,” Desmond said.

“This is awesome!” Rikka replied.

Rikka, an animal lover with three horses, four dogs and two cats, couldn’t bear to think of pets going hungry or owners having to give them up.

“I kind of grew up with animals, they’ve been a big part of their life since I was really little,” she said. “So, helping them out, helping people.”

Along with everything Rikka does, she’s aiming high, hoping to expand Full Bowls for Furry Souls to help even more seniors and their animals.

“I want to be able to help everyone and everyone’s pet,” she said. “Make sure that they’re okay and to be a big part of their life is really rewarding for me.”

The pet food for Full Bowls for Furry Souls is donated by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank.

It’s currently helping 50 needy seniors and their pets.

A Red Lion, York County family whose daughter was stricken with a serious brain condition is surprised with $200 from Pay it Forward.

Life was pretty normal for the Kehoes of Red Lion. But all of that changed in an instant on February 9th, when their healthy, 12-year-old daughter Hailey suddenly collapsed.

“They had to rush her to the hospital and she ended up at Hershey with, it’s called AVM,” said family friend Linda Palmieri.

AVM is short for Arteriovenous Malformation, a tangle of abnormal arteries and veins.

The condition ruptured vessels in Hailey’s brain, causing a brain hemorrhage.

Hailey has since undergone two surgeries, spending five-and-a-half weeks at Hershey Medical Center. With more treatments ahead, things haven’t been easy for the family of five.

“Even now that they’re home waiting for the next surgery, there’s still a lot of physical therapy and speech therapy and trips back and forth to Hershey and so it’s just been a huge stress and strain for the family,” Palmieri said.

It’s a strain that Palmieri would like to help ease.

“They’re a wonderful, wonderful family,” she said. “Would do anything for anybody, so I want to be able to help them out.”

When Palmieri arrived at the Kehoes’ doorstep to surprise the family, mom Penny greeted her at the door.

“Hey! I’m here with FOX43′s Pay it Forward,” Palmieri said. “And we want to give you $200 from FOX43.”

“Oh my God, are you kidding?” Penny Kehoe asked.

Hailey Kehoe expressed her gratitude for all of the help her family has been receiving in their time of need.

“I’d just like to say thank you for helping me get better,” she said.

The Kehoes have a community rallying around them, bringing them food, raising money and just helping out with whatever they need.

“We’ve definitely been blessed, we have a lot of support, which has definitely helped us as well,” Penny Kehoe said. “Our faith got us through and she’s doing amazing. Can’t ask for anything better.”

Hailey’s twin sister Jenna definitely agrees with her mom.

“It’s really nice to have her back,” Jenna said. “She’s just my partner in crime, I can’t do anything without her.”

Hailey is looking forward to getting back to doing the things she enjoys.

“Getting back to school!” she said. “Most kids wouldn’t say that, but I like school!”

Hailey has at least another surgery or two ahead of her and her friends and teachers are looking forward to welcoming her back when she’s ready.

Friends of the Kehoes have set up a donation fund to help them with medical costs. The fund is in Hailey Kehoe’s name at the Wells Fargo branch in Red Lion.

Driving through the rolling hills of Perry County, our Pay it Forward crew stopped in Newport.

It’s where Marilyn Allamon spotted us and tracked us down.

“When I saw you guys, I was just so excited! I thought, ‘Oh my god! Maybe this is my chance that maybe I could help someone!” Allamon said.

She wanted to help Cindy and Kenny Bohr of Newport.

The couple’s blended family includes 10 kids, ranging in age from 25 to a one year old.

Though the family has an abundance of love, money is very tight.

“It’s hard to take care of 10 kids and we thought this would be such a great help for them,” Allamon said.

Allamon said Cindy Bohr, her hands pretty full, is always helping others with their kids.

“She treats them all like their her children,” she said. “It’s like the second mom away from gram or mom or where ever they’re at.”

Bohr was standing outside her home on the phone, when Allamon walked up to surprise her.

“Hi! We are bringing you 200 dollars to help you and Kenny because we love you so much! And we know you could use it!” Allamon told Bohr. “I love you, you’re so wonderful to everybody. You help us all with all our kids”

The gesture immediately brought tears to Bohr’s eyes.

“Thank you so much!”  she said. “This has come really, really handy. Very helpful, very, very, oh my God.”

But even in the most trying times, Bohr says seeing her kids makes everything worth it.

“I just look at them and that’s my strength,” she said. “Just looking at these kids. I wouldn’t know where I’d be without them or everybody else’s kids.”

With our Pay it Forward sign in tow, we took a stroll in Manheim, Lancaster County’s town square.

It’s where Jessica Nell and her two sons stopped our crew outside of a consignment shop to tell us who they thought was deserving of a $200 surprise.

She hoped to give the money to Steve and Brenda Hershey, a couple she isn’t related to, but who she considers a second set of parents.

“They just came to my rescue all of the time,” Nell said. “And if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have a house today, I would not have completed school. I would not have made it through all of the things I was going through at the time that they took me in.”

Her boys feel the same way, calling the Hersheys grandma and grandpa.

“They took us in when we didn’t have a home and if it wasn’t for them, we would be on the street,” said Uriah Warner.

Added older brother Cayden Warner, “Glad that they helped us because we wouldn’t be as far as we would if they didn’t help us. We wouldn’t have everything we have.”

With FOX43 following close behind, Nell drove to the Hershey home to surprise them with the money.

“I’m here to tell you guys that you guys have blessed me and my children beyond what I can thank you,” she told the couple after they answered the door. “And so I’m paying it forward by blessing you guys with 200 dollars.”

The Hersheys have a full house.

On top of their two biological sons who are still at home, they have 11 others staying with them.

They’re mostly women who’ve hit a rough patch, women and children in need of help.

“We behave as a family, we are mom and dad to these kids,” Steve Hershey said.

“God kind of snuck us into it,” he added. “We started with a missionary’s kid who was having trouble and it kind of went on to harder problems, kids with harder problems.”

They do it all while running a 300 cow dairy farm.

“Brenda tends to run a little earlier mornings, I tend to run later nights and it’s very, very busy,” Steve Hershey said.

But when it’s needed most, some form of help always seems to find its way.

“When we feel like we are, we don’t know what to do or where it’s going to come from, it seems like God intervenes,” Brenda Hershey said.

FOX43′S Pay it Forward crew rolled into Kennie’s Market in Littlestown, Adams County.

It didn’t take long for curious shoppers to pull up and ask up what we were doing.

Ken Eckard was one of them and he knew exactly who he wanted to have the money, Debbie Nail.

Nail is one of his tenants and Eckard said she’s a kindhearted woman facing difficult times.

She lost her job while caring for her mother, who’s battling lung cancer.

“Eventually she missed enough work that they just let her go,” Eckard said. “She just continually stayed and helped her mom and stuff and her sister also lives with her and has a handicap of her own and she can’t work.”

Eckard said Nail always puts herself on the back burner.

“She never once says I this or I that,” he said.

When Nail opened the door to her apartment, Eckard had this to say to her:

“Hi Debbie! I’m here with FOX43 News. I’d like to Pay it Forward because you’re always doing stuff for your mom and everything else and always taking care of everybody else before you take care of yourself,” he said. “I feel that there’s nobody more deserving than you that could use this $200.”

“Thank you so much,” Nail said, visibly emotional. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t expect this.”

“I feel really good. Kenny, he’s also a very, very nice kind person. He’s helped me out also,” she added.

Before he left, Nail thanked Eckard one more time.

“Thank you so much Kenny,” she said. “I think that’s the sweetest thing anybody has ever done.”

Nail recently got some great news.

Doctors say after months of treatments, her mother is now cancer free.

Nail is now hoping she can find another job and get back to work.

This week’s Pay it Forward is in Etters, York County, with the $200 surprise going to a family of seven whose home was destroyed in a fire.

Since the morning of February 21, one thing has weighed heavily on Chandra Cooper’s mind.

That was the day her close friends and neighbors, Larry and Jessica Umphred and their five children, lost their trailer and belongings in a fire.

“Started in the wall, took off from there in their bedroom, and took their home from them,” Cooper said.

The Umphreds didn’t have insurance.

Cooper said they’re keeping their spirits up, but they’re in desperate need of help.

“With Larry being the only one who has a job, I just don’t know where they’re going to land,” she said. “With all those kids. They’re great kids.”

Cooper, with the Pay it Forward crew in tow, went to surprise the Umphreds with $200.

“I’m here with FOX43 to Pay it Forward to you and to your wife and all of the wonderful things that you’ve done for me and my family and to help you through your problems,” Cooper said to Larry Umphred.

“You don’t have to do this,” Umphred said.

“I love you guys,” Cooper said.

“Thank you. I love you too,” said Umphred.

When he’s not at work, Larry Umphred and a few friends have been tearing down what’s left of the family’s burnt out trailer.

He’s also coordinating efforts to get a donated trailer eventually transported to the plot.

“It’s all in small steps, it’s just getting there one at a time,” Umphred said. “I’ve got to keep it together, not only for myself, but for my entire family.”

In the meantime, great friends like Cooper will be there for them all the way.

“She’s been nothing but a giant angel to me and my wife and my kids,” Umphred said about Cooper. “I don’t know where I would be right now, if it wouldn’t be for her.”

There’s a fund online where people can donate to help the Umphred family:

http://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/tz02/umphredfamilyfire

Friends have also set up a benefit account under Larry A. Umphred. You can donate at any Fulton Bank branch.

This week’s quest to find someone to surprise with $200 from FOX43′s Pay it Forward, began in Columbia, Lancaster County.

Finding no luck there, we went to nearby West Hempfield Township, where we caught Evie Martinez and her daughter coming out of a grocery store. Martinez didn’t have to think twice about who she would nominate.

“We call her Mama Rose in our church because she is a mama and not only to the children that she has adopted and taken care of, but also to all the kids in the church and all the kids that have grown up there,” she said.

Mama Rose has nine adopted children, and countless others that she has helped to raise over the years.

“Not many people think about what could happen to kids if they don’t have a stable or an example person in front of them and it takes a lot of courage and understanding and a willingness to do that and she has all that,” Martinez said.

Our next stop was Mama Rose’s Mount Joy home to surprise her with the money.

“Hi! I am here with FOX43, with Pay it Forward,” Martinez told Mama Rose. “They approached me and asked me if I knew someone who does stuff for the community to give them 200 dollars,  and you were the first person that came to my mind, because you are awesome and everything that you do for the church and the kids is very much appreciated. So we wanted to come and surprise you.”

Mama Rose’s blended family includes foster children that she went on to adopt and her sister’s children, who she took in as her own after tragedy.

“My sister passed two years ago, so then I had to step in and do what I can to try to help along with her kids and I helped her while she was still living with her kids, so it’s a lot of kids,” said Mama Rose, whose full name is Rosetta Pearson. “We got a big family.”

She wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I just love kids and I think that’s my calling is to help kids that are less fortunate and need that extra help,” Pearson said.

On top of her nine adopted kids, Mama Rose is also helping to raise her late niece’s six-year-old son.