Family remembers son with ‘kindness coins’
Cypress teen’s legacy of creativity and caring lives on through a nonprofit that encourages others to perform benevolent acts
Stephen and Courtney Knight sent their two sons off to camp with their Scout troops in Covington, Ga., in June 2018, with the hope of creating fun childhood memories.
But a violent summer thunderstorm at the Bert Adams Scout Camp knocked down a tree that crushed the tent their 14-year-old son Elijah was sheltered in, killing the teen.
The memory of the phone call from the Newton County coroner’s office is burned into Stephen Knight’s heart. And then, he had to share the tragic news with his wife.
“I will always remember hearing her scream. We will always remember having to tell Joshua and our daughter Julia. It left a trail of heartbreaking dominoes,” he recalled. “Each of us will remember the moment we heard the words, ‘Elijah died.’”
The family created a nonprofit, called Kindness to Action, to honor their oldest child, and on his 17th birthday on Jan. 21, they began distributing Kindness Coins to recognize the acts of kindness by those living out Elijah’s legacy.
Knight remembers his son as creative, intelligent and funny.
“He would wake up on Saturday mornings, on his own as a teenage boy, and start making things out of popsicle sticks, duct tape and hot glue. We would wake up and he had made a fully articulating robotic hand made of cardboard, string, and springs,” his father said proudly. “He had this creative energy about him that he always needed to be manifesting something.”
He always brought out the best in others, including his family and friends.
It was after his death that his family learned of his exploits and kindness to others with multiple stories from friends and strangers alike.
Knight challenged the nearly 1,000 mourners at his funeral to live out Elijah’s legacy of kindness. “He never whined or complained about the way things were in the world; he just tried to fix things,” he said. “That’s the kind of meaningful, systemic action we’re asking everyone to do since he’s not here to do it himself.”
For his Eagle Scout project, which he started the month before his death, he coined the phrase, “Start everything with kindness and the end will be OK.” It is now the mantra for the nonprofit and the impetus for the Kindness Coins modeled after challengetype coins.
A bench and plaque were dedicated in his honor at Spillane Middle School bearing that inscription.
“These are challenge coins made in Elijah’s honor,” Knight said. “They have intrinsic, intangible worth in that they are awarded and not won and given freely.”
Each coin has a sequential serial number so that they can be registered on KindnessAction.org, which allows the family, friends, and supporters of the Knight family to see just how far around the world the acts of kindness are performed, and Elijah’s memory is extended.
The family recently received 5,000 coins and are distributing them to those who have supported them in their grief journey.
They are taking nominations for kindness ambassadors to help distribute tokens
Another potential idea for the nonprofit was to ensure that all the libraries in Cy-Fair ISD are stocked with books that encourage the kind of thinking and kindness that Elijah embodied.
Elijah would be a junior this year at Cy Woods High School.
“It’s hard because we love his peers and friends who are progressing, getting driver’s licenses, applying to colleges. Those were things we were looking forward to,” his dad said.
The week before Elijah died, he and his dad were trading texts about university programs that would have focused on things he would have been interested in like environmental engineering that would have had an impact on the world. He was so excited about it, and his parents looked forward to some of the college visits.
The coins and the kindness efforts help bring meaning to Stephen and Courtney’s life as they find ways to connect to their son.
“As parents, we don’t claim credit for how wonderful Elijah was and the effect he had on the world. We’re honored,” he said.
To learn more about the Kindness Ambassador program or to purchase Kindness Coins at cost, visit kindnesstoaction.org or contact Stephen Knight at KindnessToAction@gmail.com.