Phoenix day care teacher wins Pay It Forward award

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — We decided to Pay It Forward to Mary Salazar, a teacher at Rise and Shine Daycare in south Phoenix. Nicole Rivotta-Leschak nominated Salazar. “Mary has been watching our children since they have been 3 months old at this day care and they are now 2 and 4. She has gone above and beyond take care of our children, giving them birthday gifts, extra snacks throughout the day, and just giving them an extra hug if they need one. So we wanted to show our appreciation for her,” said Rivotta-Leschak.

Salazar is a kind, giving, and loving person that goes out of her way to make her kids feel special every day. Because of her hard work, Rivotta-Leschak and Raina wanted to pay it forward to Mary.

So Rivotta-Leschak, Raina and I walked up to the day care to surprise her. “Hi Mary, we have a surprise for you. We nominated your for Pay It Forward because you are so great with our kids. We have an award of $500. We are also matching it for another $500,” said Rivotta-Leschak. There were a lot of hugs.

This money will help. Salazar has recently faced some issues with her car and she walks to work each day with her two kids enduring the heat this time of year. She says she does it for her kids. “I definitely love all the children. I do so many projects with them, they are all my babies. I am so beyond blessed and honored, thank you,” said Salazar. If you would like to nominate someone for our Pay It Forward award, log on our website and fill out a nomination form.

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