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Canal Winchester family gives thousands of dollars in random acts of kindness to honor son

A Canal Winchester family honored their 14-year-old son by performing a Day of Giving.

A crowd of people dressed in green t-shirts huddled together in Canal Winchester to execute a plan of kindness.

"People see us around and they know something good is going to happen," said Kristi Johnson.

The group of about 70 were volunteers for the Brock Strong Foundation.

"We started this out two years ago. We had maybe 30 people," said Terry Johnson, Kristi's husband.

The cause is extremely dear to Terry and Kristi. The Brock Strong Foundation is named after their 14-year-old son who passed away in 2015.

"So, when Brock was born, he had several health issues that we really didn't know what they were," said Kristi. "We went every month for probably three years to the NIH, National Institute of Health, trying to figure out what he had."

Doctors never could diagnose Brock's sickness, but they recommended that he get a bone marrow transplant.

"We didn't want to do that, but they said it was his best shot. And, he wanted to do it. He wanted a shot at being a normal kid," said Kristi.

Brock eventually got an infection that his body could not fight.

"I spent 90 percent of my time with Brock," Kristi said. "And we were really close. When everything happened I was devastated... didn't know how I was going to get out of bed."

More than 4,000 people attended Brock's memorial service. His parents say it was a testament to his legacy of kindness and generosity.

"He could talk to anybody. He was wise beyond his years," Terry said.

"Brock was super smart. Straight A Student, fiercely competitive, amazing travel baseball player," said Kristi.

Brock would have been 17-years old on October 19. As a way to honor his birthday Thursday, his family and friends did a Day of Giving, where they performed random acts of kindness across Canal Winchester.

"It's a perfect representation of what he was and what he was all about, cause you don't really find very many teenagers who are very giving," said Terry.

Thursday, Kristi, Terry and volunteers for the Brock Strong Foundation started giving back around 6am!

First, the non-profit surprised three families by paying for a week of childcare. They went to Waffle House and gave each employee a $100 tip.

Mid-morning, volunteers went to Children's Hospital and gave gifts to doctors, nurses and donated three iPads to transplant patients.

The foundation also paid for gas at a local gas station for an hour, bought people's groceries for an hour at the local Kroger, took over the drive-thru at five different fast food restaurants and paid of the customer's lunches, delivered cupcakes to 11 area business, gave gifts to church employees and ended with a big party at Brock's high school.

If you would like to donate or volunteer with the Brock Strong Foundation, click here for more details.

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