Blais household turning grief into random acts of kindness in reminiscence of their deceased liked one
In 2021, throughout the midst of the pandemic the Blais household declared Could 18 as Random Acts of Kindness Day (RAK) in reminiscence of their late son/brother Stephane Blais.
The family announced his sudden passing in Could 2010 after a deadly accident.
For 10 years, the household held annual mud runs to boost cash for the Brain Injury Association in his reminiscence, however when the pandemic put an finish to their gatherings, they determined to recollect him otherwise.
“He was the kindest child. He liked everybody, and everybody liked him,” mentioned Francine Blais, Stephane’s mom.
Francine mentioned their household determined with all the space and isolation brought on by the pandemic the world might use a bit extra kindness.
With solely per week to plan, the household partnered with Papaya Pops, an area popsicle store in Chelmsford, at hand out free popsicles. This yr, with extra time to plan, round 15 native companies have joined the Blais household in conducting random acts of kindness this Could 18. For an inventory of the companies, you’ll be able to go to their Facebook page.
“For the primary time, I by no means thought I’d say, I’m excited for Could 18. To see all of the random acts of kindness all in honour of my son,” mentioned Blais.
The household determined this yr they have been going to go greater and determined to make RAK playing cards at hand out to folks. The playing cards learn, “In case you have acquired this card do an act of kindness, preliminary the again of this card and cross it on to that particular person.”
The household has been receiving requests for RAK playing cards throughout Ontario and has been mailing them to locations like Oshawa, Mississauga, and lots of extra.
Francine hopes at some point the playing cards will make it again to her and she’s going to be capable of see all of the individuals who have initiated the playing cards.
To thank everybody for his or her efforts and becoming a member of in on their random acts of kindness the household has put collectively a basket of lottery tickets for a raffle prize. Extra particulars on tips on how to enter the draw will be discovered of their Facebook page. They’ll ship the basket to the winner collectively as a household as soon as a winner is drawn.
The Blais Household encourages folks to affix them this Could 18 to seek out artistic methods to indicate somebody a bit little bit of kindness, and possibly they’ll too.
Annie Duncan is a journalism scholar at Loyalist School. She is on a piece placement at Sudbury.com.
