Raegan Richins and her little sister, Rylyn, were heading back to their home in La Grange, Kentucky, after a family outing in 2019 when they spotted a number of “Just Be Kind” signs posted in yards along the country road they were traveling down. For the two girls — who have two sisters with Down syndrome — the signs struck a nerve.
“We have siblings with special needs,” Raegan, 13, tells PEOPLE, “and we both felt that people sometimes weren’t as kind to them as they should be.”
Hours later, when the family arrived home, the sisters dreamed up a plan to create their own colorful yard signs — bearing the simple message"Be Kind"— that soon touched thousands of residents in La Grange and beyond. Working on a picnic table in their backyard, Raegan and Rylyn, 10, use spray paint and wooden block letters to create their multicolored signs, which they sell for $10, donating the proceeds to local charities.
Their modest ambition of selling 65 signs has mushroomed into more than 3,000 signs, raising more than $40,000 for the Humane Society, food pantries and other organizations. Now visible in countless shop windows and front yards across the community, their creations urge folks to take a moment to be a little nicer to one another.
Rylyn and Raegan Richins.courtesy Rhonda Richins
Adds Raegan: “An act of kindness doesn’t have to be something big. It can be as simple as holding the door open for someone, which is what I do at school all the time and it always makes me happy.”
Rylyn and Raegan Richins with their late sister, Kendall.Courtesy Rhonda Richins
Helping others is something the sisters learned early in their lives when their parents — Rhonda, 51, and Ryan, 50, a police officer — adopted two children with Down syndrome after their brother Kallen, who also had the disorder, died shortly after birth.
When their eldest sister Kendall, 16, who also had Down syndrome, died last year after an illness, spray painting their signs helped ease the pain.
“It always lifted our mood,” recalls Raegan, “when Kendall was sick.”
Rylyn and Raegan Richins.Courtesy Rhonda Richins
What does the future hold for the two sisters who are focused on spreading kindness one cardboard sign at a time? Lots more signs, of course — along with t-shirts and cards (available on theirwebsite) and an upcoming book that they’re now writing.
“I can’t tell you how many of our signs we see each day,” says Raegan. “But every time we see one, it makes us happy because we know we’re spreading kindness.”
source: people.com
