Bell Employee

Molly Carter 
Pelican Rapids, Minn.

Recipient

Princess Warrior Foundation

The Need

It started with an unimaginably powerful storm.

In 2010, after an F4 tornado wrecked her family’s home in Wadena, Minn., destroying much of the small town and its beloved “halo of trees,” Molly had a call from her childhood friend, Lindsey Moe. Lindsey wanted to know how she could help Molly’s family – and showed up in Wadena one day with a Pay It Forward check for $1,000.

“I knew of Bell Bank because I was a customer already,” Molly says. “When she presented that ($1,000) to my family, that was the first time ever experiencing something like that.”

A year later, Molly began working at Bell – and very quickly knew how she would pay it forward herself.

Jane, the 8-year-old niece of a very, very close family friend, was diagnosed with leukemia. Molly presented Jane and her family with Pay It Forward funds to help with expenses.

The Impact

At first, Jane’s family was optimistic, planning a home art area and a family getaway for when their daughter was feeling better.

“Her numbers never improved,” Molly relates. “She came home and passed away.”

Jane’s mother and sisters continue to “fight the good fight,” Molly says, starting the Princess Warrior Foundation in Wadena to help other families journeying through a diagnosis of childhood cancer.

Jane’s legacy lives on not only in the foundation’s legacy, but also in the little girl’s outsized influence on others – including Molly.

“Jane has all the aspects of a pay it forward heart,” Molly says. “Every day I look at that sweet little girl’s face and I really just try to live for her.”

Paying it forward ties into the “family” aspect of working at Bell, the personal banker adds, completing (or maybe continuing) the full-circle journey.

“The Bell Bank family is like no other,” says Molly. “And to have a pay it forward heart is about the best thing you can do. The friends and family that come out of something like this just will stay with you forever.”
 

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