WILLIAMSBURG — On what would be his 13th birthday, Joshua Peck’s legacy will live on with the third annual Joshua Peck Kindness Day.
Peck, who suffered from an illness and ultimately lost his life over Christmas Break, was known around Laurel Lane Elementary School for his kindness and willingness to help others. After his passing, the team at the school started Josh’s Kindness Squad.
“When the school came back together after break, one of the teachers at the school put together Josh’s Kindness Squad. Coming up to his birthday that year, we had come up with the idea that everyone should go out on his birthday and do a random act of kindness. From there, it became a thing within the foundation,” Peck’s father, Matt, shared.
After the first year, the family decided that each year on Peck’s birthday, the foundation would ask that others do a random act of kindness in the spirit of remembering Josh.
“Everyone always says to remember the positives, and not the negatives, when you lose someone, but it’s actually easier when you are doing something in memory of him that is just wholesome and good, something that he would have done, which truly was just randomly helping people,” Matthew said.
In years past, the Peck family has heard about various acts of kindness done in Josh’s name, including elementary school students putting together snack packs for teachers at Laurel Lane. There have also been classes that have created positive affirmation signs that greet students getting off the bus in the morning and older students reading books to the younger classes.
In addition to the random acts of kindness, the Peck family also collects and donates birthday kits to schools and various social services groups. The kits contain cake mix, candles and birthday party decorations packaged in a disposable cake mix pan.
While the Peck family manages its own grief and feelings over missing Josh, it still feels his presence through the annual Joshua Peck Kindness Day initiative.
“We do it around his birthday, just like we do the holiday drive around the holidays, which are two big times throughout the year where you are really missing someone. It’s a common goal that is kind and just and caring and it gives us something to focus on besides the grief,” Matthew said.
To participate in Joshua Peck Kindness Day, the community is asked to go out on April 6 and commit a random act of kindness. People are then asked to jot down a story or take a photo of the act and use the hashtag #JoshuaPeckKindness on social media so the family can see Josh’s impact.
For more information on the foundation, visit The Joshua Chamberlain Project on Facebook.