On the afternoon of June 25th, 2018, Stephen and Courtney Knight received a phone call with news no parent should ever have to hear.
Their oldest son, 14-year-old Elijah, passed away in a tragic accident while at scout camp. The news left Elijah's parents, as well as their two younger children Joshua and Julia, absolutely devastated.
To this day, the Knights have kept Elijah's room exactly how he left it. Laundry is still in the hamper, a sports lanyard is still on the end table, and solved Rubik's cubes are still on the shelf. On the back wall of the room is a wooden sign with a saying immortalized by the boy;
These words spoken by Elijah have sparked the Knight family to do just that.
They have created an organization in his honor called Kindness to Action, encouraging people across the world to perform acts of kindness for others around them. Every year, on January 21st, Elijah's birthday, Kindness to Action heads up a different event in order to continue Elijah's legacy by doing kind things both in the Knight family's hometown and across the globe. Some of the events include "18 acts of kindness" on Elijah's 18th birthday, and creating food bags for the homeless on his 16th.
In 2020, Stephen Knight reached out to our team for a special project; the Kindness Coin.
This coin would be used to track people's acts of kindness to show the impact that Elijah has had both across the country and across the world. The coins feature Elijah's inspiring words on the back, and each one has a specific serial number printed on it, which can be submitted on kindnesstoaction.org, reporting on acts of kindness inspired by Elijah and the organization. At present, coins have been reported all over the U.S. and across the globe, including Spain, Germany, Japan, Uruguay, and the UK.
This year, on Elijah's 20th birthday, the Kindness Coins have made a particularly special journey, to Washington, D.C.. Kindness to action has sent letters to all 100 United States senators, encouraging them to remember Elijah and his words by starting everything with kindness. Each letter was sent along with its own individual Kindness Coin.
Be a part of continuing Elijah's legacy
If you would like to be a part of continuing Elijah's legacy by donating to Kindness to Action, or you would like to become a Kindness Ambassador and receive Kindness Coins that you can distribute as well, you can do so by visiting their website, kindnesstoaction.org. You can also follow them on instagram at @kindnesstoaction.
We consider ourselves very fortunate to be a part of such an inspiring and revolutionary project, and to continue the legacy of such a wonderful human being like Elijah. In today's world, with all the turmoil around us, take time to remember Elijah's words to start everything you do with kindness.
And in the end, it will be okay.
