For several years, we had provided a special Christmas dinner for low-income families here in São Paulo, Brazil. By November many of these people were already eagerly looking forward to and talking about the next one.

It wasn’t until we started drawing up our guest list that we realized how much our work had grown. Our initial list had 500 names! Even if our sponsors were able to provide that much food, so many people would cause the event to be less personal than previous years. It was time to reevaluate—to pray, discuss, and possibly change what had already become a “young tradition.”

Perhaps you remember the movie Pay It Forward (2000), in which a schoolboy attempts to make the world a better place by inspiring people to respond to a favor done for them by doing favors for three new people—not paying back the debt, but paying forward. That was the basic challenge we put to those who had been on the receiving end in previous years: Change sides. Be the givers, the organizers, the hosts. What could they give to the community this Christmas?

Their reaction could not have been better! From day one, the small building where our social work is based was buzzing with excitement and activity. Children rehearsed pageants while a group of teenagers choreographed and rehearsed the Christmas songs they wanted to perform. Some of the adults made a list of families that were having an especially rough time and set out to collect food, clothes, and other basic needs. Others decided to teach the children some of the games they used to play when they were small.

When the day came, city officials blocked off the designated street to traffic, and a stage was erected for the performances. Throughout the day children and adults played hopscotch, capture the flag, and other games. Children sang and danced. The story of the first Christmas was told once again, and once again it moved many to tears. A group of children and preteens from the Family International performed. People who scarcely had enough for their own needs worked tirelessly to deliver the food, cleaning supplies, clothes, and toys they had collected to others who had even less.

At the end of the day, we realized that Christmas lives on because, throughout history, ordinary people on the receiving end of God’s extraordinary love have taken up the challenge to change sides and become donors of that love—a love that came to earth in human form on the very first Christmas. They’ve paid forward.

Mario Sant’Ana is a full-time volunteer with the Family International and one of the coordinators of Projeto Resgate (Project Rescue), an NGO that helps 200 low-income families in the south of Brazil.