If you live in the Fox Valley, you might have been the recipient of a random act of kindness on Wednesday. It was all part of an idea from family and friends of Olivia Stoffel, one of the victims in last year's Trestle Trail shooting.
Today in Kaukauna, a family dropped off gift baskets for the officers, all in memory of Olivia.
"We're very honored and grateful that they thought of us and included us in their random acts of kindness," said Lt. Jamie Graff with the Kaukauna Police Department. "By her family doing this, they're just showing how much love they have in their hearts for Olivia."
Olivia's family and friends created a Facebook group called "Olivia's Heart," encouraging people to pay it forward on December 7th, which would have been Olivia's 13th birthday.
"This isn't a Menasha thing, just as when the Trestle happened it wasn't a Menasha thing, Menasha was just where it happened," said Tim Styka, City of Menasha Police Chief. "The Fox Cities has shown that they come together."
Chief Styka never met Olivia, but through her family and friends, he learned about her "giving heart" described on the Facebook page, he said.
"If Olivia was here today, she would probably be the first one tying blankets and handing out cups of coffee because that's just the kind of loving and caring girl that Olivia was," he said. "So if we can do these little things in Olivia's memory, she lives on with each one of us."
Some companies even got involved in the kindness, like The Chiropractic Advantage in Appleton. Employees encouraged others to participate after a patient paid for another's treatment.
"What we wanted to do was let people know, and they just didn't have to pay it forward here, but anywhere else they thought of in the community," said Anna Tennessen, Practice Representative at The Chiropractic Advantage.
Olivia's family and friends are asking for everyone to post about their random acts of kindness in the Facebook group, Olivia's Heart, to give others ideas on what they can do and show how they're sharing Olivia's love and celebrating her life.
