Welcome to the Pay It Forward Curation Contest, sponsored by the PIFC community you will find at @pifc! There you will "meet" a dedicated group of fellow Steemians hard at work on a weekly contest. Our goal is to find and encourage under-valued contributors of great content to our Steem blockchain.

This week is not just another week mind you. But the 🎂 one year anniversary 🎂 of this great weekly contest! Yes, you read that right. That is fifty two straight weeks of effort to find and promote our undervalued fellow Steemians!

Typically, to be selected, your post needs to have a minimum of 200 words of high quality, original content. And your reputation cannot be above 55. Pretty simple! As I normally like to say, "If you are reading this, perhaps we are looking for or have already found you." 😊

But ... This week, the contest founder @thedarkhorse, has instead asked that we "go back in time" and "feature 2 of your favorite bloggers from the past."

Well, frankly I do not have the time to find new Steemians for the normal weekly contest. I simply don't and was just going to be supportive from "behind the scenes," as much as I could. As I've done recently ...

I simply could not let this pass, however, as selecting two favorites warranted setting everything else aside and "do whatever it takes" ...

So, let's do it! 😉

My two entries for the 🎂 one year anniversary 🎂 contest are:

Selection #1: ⭐ @blessed-girl (523.101 SP) ⭐

Selecting my first featured Steemian was easy. @blessed-girl was the very first selection I made in my very first entry in the weekly PIFC contest.

I have come to have a very high regard for this remarkable lady from Venezuela and her faithful efforts to post quality content on the Steem blockchain. Here is her most recent post - Fidelity is the key to Christianity..

One image from this post:

^{(Click the image to visit this post.)}

Given what the people of Venezuela have already endured and continue to endure to this day, I extracted this text from her post:

"All of us who are faithful to God and take refuge in Him, please the Lord. The principle that God has given us talents is also reiterated because we have the ability to administer and traffic them. He would never give us anything bigger than our strength can withstand."

[emphasis mine]

In my Week 23 post below, you will find a link to what this lady has to say about her perspective on what the Venezuelan people are facing. I would highly recommend you read it.

For many of us, we actively participate on the Steem blockchain in the hopes of one day realizing a small profit. In the case of @blessed-girl and others like her, it is much more than that. While it is not my place to say, but hers, I know the income she derives from her steady efforts on the Steem blockchain play a significant role in helping her family "through the storm" of what is currently happening in Venezuela.

Her strength and grace in the midst of it is a wonderful example to us all. I hope you will take the time to visit the work of this great Steemian and offer her your support, as seems best to you!

Selection #2: ⭐ @insight-out (517.532 SP) ⭐

Selecting my second featured Steemian was also very easy. @insight-out was the first selection I made in my entry in the 25th weekly PIFC contest.

At the time, her Vacations & Your Mental Health played a role in my thinking about what ultimately became my "Road to Recovery" series of posts. Earning a tangible expression (beyond just words ...) of my appreciation here.

Her most recent post? "Coincidentally" ... 😉 ... once featured by @thedarkhorse, her response to the help received from everyone linked to the #tenkminnow initiative in becoming a new minnow - A Letter From a Brand New Minnow!

One image from this post:

^{(Click the image to visit this post.)}

Extracting a part of this post, here is what she had to say about the impact of @thedarkhorse selecting her for the #tenkminnows initiative:

Before: "I was feeling rather lonely on Steemit lately. It’s been a bit deserted recently or at least it felt like that. I was questioning how much of my scarce free time I should give to Steemit or should I prioritize doing something else?"

After: "I feel so warm and cared for, and hopeful, and positive… and it’s an amazing feeling. Thank you, guys, for making my day!"

Who says "reaching out" doesn't accomplish all that much? 😉

From the outset of my interaction with @insight-out, I have always enjoyed what she has to say. Always sincere, from the heart, and well spoken. Hard to ask for more!

She is a young mother, so cannot devote all of the time to writing on the Steem blockchain that she might wish. I am sure, though, what she does have the time to write, you will find very worthy of your time to read. And support!

Closing

I put a lot of time into writing the posts I publish on the Steem blockchain. And it is not always with the ... uhhhh ... most "cheerful" of thoughts on whether I am investing my time wisely ... 😉

This post, however, was easy and a real pleasure to write. "Meeting" these ladies is a great example to me of what the Steem blockchain, at its best, can be. They both are putting, in their own special ways, great effort into adding value to it. And doing so in other than their native language! We all benefit, as a result!!

Please take the opportunity to get to know them and others better. What a remarkable time we live in, where we can have interactions like this with others from all over the world!

We can all quite naturally wonder what the impact is of our efforts of this type. I don't claim to be wise enough to know. What I am certain of, though, is our actively engaging with our fellow Steemians like this significantly improves their chances of "hanging around."

Without the many associations I have formed over time, due in one way or another with the @pifc community, I for one, would be very unlikely to still be "in here." You have now been introduced to two of them.

Thank you for investing your time to read through this post. I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.

A big “shout out” and a sincere “thank you” to our judges for this week’s contest - @trincowski, @tryskele, @lynncoyle1, and @viking-ventures! And to our great sponsors - @bengy, @andrewharland, @stever82, @wolfhart and @thedarkhorse!

All the best to you for an even better tomorrow, as we all work together to build our Steem Community! 👍 😊

Respectfully,

Steemian @roleerob

Posted using SteemPeak and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Tuesday, 2 April 2019!

Source: Glowtext.com

Interested to know how I found this community and why I support it? The following post tells you the story:

• Chapter Two: My “Journey” and the Pay It Forward Community
  
  

If you have found this post to be of interest, the PIFC team would love to have you join us. Here are some posts to help you in making your decision:

• @PIFC's 1st Post: The beginning of a Steem movement flowing from the tireless efforts of @thedarkhorse and all of those who consistently and faithfully work alongside him to build up our Steem blockchain.
• @PIFC's Latest Update Post: The "latest word" on how well this movement is doing, through the eyes of @thedarkhorse, along with details about the judges and curators helping make it happen!
• @PIFC's Latest Financial Post: For transparency and accountability, the latest from @thedarkhorse on the @pifc account's financial status.
• @viking-ventures' post on Curation: Help from one of the dedicated PIFC team members on writing great Steem content.
  
  

Entries from previous weeks:

• Week 23: Featured @blessed-girl and @audreybits.
• Week 24: Featured @steematlas and @prechyrukky.
• Week 25: Featured @insight-out and @frdem3dot0.
• Week 26 Then Boom! HF20 impact edition …
• Week 26: Featured @jewlzie and @atmemestable.
• Week 30: Featured @cheekah and @ojap02.
• Week 32: Featured @thetreeoflife and @goodwithtravels.
• Week 34: Featured @alphaccino.art and @juliamulcahy.
• Week 39: Featured @nurseanne84 and @digi-me.
  
  

So, of the 16 selections I have made, those in bold are still active (defined by me as posting and / or commenting in the last 30 days ...). Even with that unfortunate "dead zone" in the middle, still an encouraging 68.8% active!

That said, I honestly have no idea how this "stacks up" against the overall percentages of those who remain actively involved on the Steem blockchain after, 1, 3, 6, 9 , 12 ... months. Likely something one of our great Witness teams - the @steemcommunity team (if you haven't already, support them with your vote!) of @abh12345 and @paulag - would know!

SteemPeak: An awesome interface for our Steem blockchain.

Check it out!

_{This account is protected by @dustsweeper}

________________________

Update / Edit: 3 April 2019 A.M.

Dear reader, please note @insight-out is on vacation. So, you will not find a current post to upvote. You can, of course, comment on the post I have linked to here in this post – her last one.

To support her work, please feel free to upvote her comment below, as that will be in place, for as long as this contest runs.

Update / Edit: 3 April 2019 P.M.

She elected to drop everything herself and get this post out just a short time ago - Entry to The Pay It Forward Curation Contest Week 52. Hard to beat that for a "Pay It Forward" example! 👍

😊 Thank you! 👍