Bell Employee

Giselle Corella

Gilbert, Ariz.

Recipient

The Finol Chacin family

The Need

Touched by the tenderness a preschool teacher showed the children in her care, Giselle Corella wanted to help when the teacher went through an unimaginable loss.

Giselle knew Marines Chacin as her daughter’s teacher. Marines and her husband, Hugo Finol, had recently moved to Phoenix from Miami. The parents of 3-year-old twins, their lives were turned upside down when Hugo suddenly suffered a brain aneurysm. He never recovered.

Like so many, Giselle’s first thought on hearing the news was, “What can I do?” She began sharing the story, and a GoFundMe page started by a family friend – then started a “pool” with her $1,000 in Pay It Forward funds.

After her husband’s passing, Marines returned to her job at the preschool – where parents had already noticed her warmhearted enjoyment of her work.

“She’s really personable with every toddler,” comments Giselle, “and I feel like they can see that.”

The Impact

Giselle’s giving pool for Marines and her children soon grew to more than $5,000.

“I was just impressed to see the generosity,” she says. “I was not expecting the pool to get this big.”

The next time Giselle picked up her daughter from preschool, she pulled Marines aside, asking if they could have a conversation. It was then she presented Marines with an envelope, holding the Pay It Forward check.

Marines didn’t open the envelope right then and there, but Giselle still remembers the expression of gratitude in her eyes. “It was really hard not to bring me to tears,” she says. “Just to see that someone thought of her. She couldn’t believe it.”

While such a gift can’t take away Marines’ loss, Giselle hopes “those thoughts can help her, and give her some peace of mind while she’s trying to get back on her feet and support her two kids.”

And indeed, that was the sentiment expressed by Marines in a letter to Giselle and the Bell Bank team. Their support and solidarity, Marines wrote, had been comforting to her and her family during a difficult time.

“It has helped pass this moment with more peacefulness,” she said.

Through the Pay It Forward program, Bell gives employees money each year to donate to people in need and causes they care about.