After a heartbreaking loss to close out 2015, a Boise family and their friends are spending the New Year spreading kindness through the community in the name of their 15-year-old daughter taken too soon.
Sylvia King was a student at North Junior High when she contracted a rare illness in November. She spent her final weeks in a Boise intensive care unit before passing away in mid-December.
“She was totally healthy,” Sylvia’s father Jon King said. “It came out of the blue. It was a total shock to us.”
A few weeks later, a family friend came up with an idea to keep Sylvia’s memory alive – a movement in her name, inspiring members of the community to display random acts of kindness upon strangers.
“Sylvia would. That is all she did was spread love and kindness, that's what she was all about,” Camille McCauley said.
“Sylvia would have loved it. It's something she totally would’ve been into,” Jon said. “It's been really nice for us to see. It helps give us something to kind of cheer our days up to see [the pictures]."
Camille says one of the most rewarding things about the experience has been seeing the specific acts of kindness strangers have come up with, honoring things Sylvia loved most.
“Sylvia loved donuts!” Camille said, “So there were a lot of donuts given out this week in the memory of Sylvia!”
Others honored the bookworm by hiding single dollar bills in library books.
"Doing things for other people are the one thing that kind of does make you feel better when you're going through this, so it's been nice and Sylvia would have loved it," Jon said.
Joining the movement is easy. Just think of a way to brighten someone’s day, and when you step in with kindness, leave behind a printed tag from their Facebook page, or write a message of your own including these three hashtags: #Sylviawould #Spreadkindness #Spreadlove. That allows friends and family to follow the discoveries on social media.
