Family honors father, husband with acts of kindness in his memory
Paula Britt of Canonsburg and her children, Mikelyn, left, 15, and Paul, 13, perform random acts of kindness in honor of her husband and their dad, who died four years ago. Since he would have been 59 years old Wednesday, their target was 59 random acts.
Paula Britt of Canonsburg, center, and her children, Mikelyn, 15, and Paul, 13, perform random acts of kindness in honor of her husband and their father, who died four years ago. Because he would have been 59 years old Wednesday, their goal was 59 random acts.
William Britt would have turned 59 Wednesday.
For the past four years since he died, the holiday season has been difficult for the Britt family.
But instead of mourning, the Britts, inspired by a blog Britt’s daughter, Tiffany, read shortly after he died, chose to celebrate his life by performing random acts of kindness in his memory.
In the blog, a woman who was turning 40 asked her friends and family to perform 40 random acts of kindness to celebrate her birthday, instead of buying her presents.
“Then it hit me, that’s what Dad would want,” said Tiffany, a special education teacher who now lives in North Carolina. “He wouldn’t want us sitting around all day, crying and sad. My dad would want us out there making life easier for someone else, by doing something to help them.”
When Tiffany first mentioned the idea, her mother, Paula, was enthusiastic, but her brother, Paul, now 13, and sister, Mikelyn, 15, both students at Chartiers-Houston Junior-Senior High School, were hesitant.
“They weren’t sure we could do it, but when I explained friends and family could help by performing random acts of kindness, they felt better about being able to get it done,” Tiffany said.
The first year, the family performed 55 random acts of kindness in the month leading up to what would have been William Britt’s 55th birthday.
They put quarters in all of the shopping carts at Aldi. Paula purchased a gift card to a tire shop for down-on-their-luck neighbors who had bald tires on their car. Tiffany bought breakfast sandwiches for her co-workers and paid the toll for a car behind her on a West Virginia toll road.
Every year since, they’ve added an act of kindness in order to match Britt’s age.
The purpose of the random acts of kindness event, said Paula, is less about grandiose gestures, and more about focusing on little things that can make a difference in someone’s life – putting away a grocery cart for someone, or helping an elderly person to their car.
“These small, random acts of kindness can mean the world to people,” said Paula, who lives in Canonsburg. “Our hope is that we make a positive difference for someone, and that people are inspired to pay it forward in their own way. Those are the values that Bill wanted to teach our children.”
For the Britts, their annual Random Acts of Kindness Month honors who William was as a person, and the legacy of generosity he passed on to his wife and children.
“My dad would buy homeless people dinner; he’d pick up hitchhikers and take them where they needed to go, even though he told me never to pick up a hitchhiker; he’d give people money for groceries or buy someone a cup of coffee,” Tiffany said. “He always said there’s no act too small to help change someone’s life. He looked like a very intimidating man, but he was a big-hearted guy who would drop everything to help his kids, wife, friends, or anyone who needed a hand.”
Britt worked for more than 30 years in construction and house repair, worked as a security guard at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino, and held several odd jobs.
He left behind seven children, seven grandchildren, his wife and his parents.
“People loved him and opened up to him. He was a very reassuring and comforting man,” said Paula.
Chartiers-Houston Middle School teachers Gary Popiolkowski and Caroline Kline and the students in their classrooms have participated in the Random Acts of Kindness campaign, encouraging his students to complete a good deed each day.
Popiolkowski’s classes continue to do a daily act of kindness, even after the Britts’ initiatives end each December.
“Middle school is a really great time to have kids think about other people besides themselves. To get involved in something like this, I thought, would be an eye-opener for them and give them a different perspective,” he said.
Students write their generous acts on 3-inch by 5-inch note cards, which Popiolkowski displays in his classroom.
Kline, whose students also participate in Random Acts of Kindness Week in February, said, “The middle school years are very self-centered years for kids. They have a tendency to only think about what’s going on in their lives. We emphasize the domino effect that doing something nice can have on people, and we try to make the kids better people. Kudos for the Britt family for doing this.”
Tiffany posts the acts of kindness completed by Chartiers-Houston students, friends and family on a Facebook page, The Small Things.
So far, more than 180 random acts of kindness have been performed since Nov. 16.
The Britts hope that the generosity displayed through their Random Acts of Kindness Month is contagious, and that others follow suit.
“The random acts of kindness help us to deal with our loss,” said Paula. “They say it gets easier with time, but it hasn’t. Bill was just such a kind and compassionate person, and I feel that we’re carrying a little bit of his heart with us when we do this. We hope people continue to make other people’s lives better through this. He would have liked that.”