'Kindness for Christopher' spreading globally from Mt. Arlington

Less than six months since 10-year-old Mount Arlington resident Christopher D'Amico died in a boating accident on Lake Hopatcong, the wounds still sting for everyone who knew him. But it took less than 30 days for his family and their friends to transform that unimaginable loss on June 24 into a call for random acts of kindness that quickly captured hearts around the world.

Since its launch on July 20, the "Kindness for Christopher" Facebook page has attracted more than 9,100 followers who are asked to perform random acts of kindness for strangers on the 24th of every month.

"We didn't want the 24th of every month of every month to be a sad occasion," said the boy's father, Chris D'Amico, "It's about taking this awful negative and turning it into a positive, and essentially making a legacy for my son."

A family friend helped the family to create the Facebook page.

"It's based upon the type of individual my son was," he said. "He didn't just do kind things. He lived it every day of his life. He wasn't somebody who had to be told the right thing to do. He went above and beyond in everything that he did with people, so the kindness thing was really a no-brainer."

Close friends and teammates of Christopher's Pop Warner football team were among the first to embrace the Kindness for Christopher movement.

"We wanted to get the word out that on the 24th of the month, please do at least one random act of kindness for someone," Christopher D'Amico said. "It didn't have to be monetary. Could be as simple as looking at somebody and telling them they look nice that day. Or holding the door open for somebody. Just going out of your way to make someone's life a little easier. Maybe buying a cup of coffee for somebody, paying it forward, essentially."

Next thing they knew, the word and the cause had spread across the country, in part through broadcast media outlets reporting the story. It kept going from there as people posted their acts of kindness on the Facebook page from as far away as Italy.

"Fox News picked it up about three months ago and dedicated a full minute of its 'America's News Desk' to it," D'Amico said. "This is now officially a global movement. We had classrooms in Arizona. We had a woman riding a bike tour in Italy in honor of Christopher. We had someone writing his name in the sand in Hawaii, which is a tradition called mana."

Students and cyclists were soon joined by corporate initiatives, including international companies such as Merck and Novartis through their U.S. headquarters based in New Jersey.

"There's people in Basel, Switzerland (home of Novartis International AG), doing random acts of kindness in my son's name," D'Amico said. "You have people in England doing it."

Everyone who embraces the spirit is encouraged to share their kind acts on the Facebook page.

"We request that people post what they've done on the page so that others can see, and just keep it going," he said.

The Kindness for Christopher movement quickly outgrew Facebook, however, as public tributes and events helped to honor Christopher and share his legacy. His Pop Warner football team retired his number (86) on Sept. 11 in a ceremony preceding the first home game of the season for the Roxbury High School football team.

A memorial concert followed on Oct. 11 at Horseshoe Lake Park that drew more than 2,000 people. Admission was free, but the family capitalized on the opportunity to host a pet adoption at the event and collect cans of food donated by supporters for area food pantries. Money also was collected to help the family of Evan Murray, the Warren Hills High School quarterback who died after an injury during a game on Sept. 25, and for the family of a Roxbury girl who is suffering from Lyme disease.

"My son's only been gone for five-and-a-half months, and the things we've done have been utterly amazing," D'Amico said.

The latest charitable endeavor inspired by the movement is a drive to collect pajama bottoms to be donated to patients at children's hospitals including Goryeb Children's Hospital in Morristown, for young patients to wear under their hospital gowns.

"We've become the D'Amico House of Pajamas," D'Amico said. "We wanted 1,000 pairs and we lost count after 1,200. Christopher, if he could live his life in pajama pants, he would. That was the inspiration. He was pajama pants, a sweatshirt and socks. The end."

Nothing special is planned for Dec. 24 other than renaming it "Kindness for Christopher-mas Eve," but D'Amico expects followers will embrace the spirit of both the cause and the season. Following the holidays, the D'Amico family and supporters will be back in action on Jan. 9 to stage a fund-raiser for the Dean Michael Clarizio Cancer Fund, a charity that honors D'Amico's friend from West Orange High School who died from an aggressive form of stomach cancer at age 32.

D'Amico, a musician and operator of an entertainment business, will perform at the DMCCF event with his band, Mr. Love Joy. Tickets are $20 for the show, which begins at 9 p.m. at McCloone's Boathouse in West Orange.

Along the way, the family and the movement have not only collected tributes and accolades, they have inspired legislators to introduce a bill that could help prevent similar boating tragedies in the future. Sponsor Sen. Anthony R. Bucco on Thursday helped "Christopher's Law" advance through the New Jersey Senate Transportation Committee and his son, Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, has promised to see it passes through the Assembly as well, according to D'Amico.

The bill would place new emphasis on ensuring all boat-renters receive this life-saving instruction before operating a pontoon boat like the one the D'Amico family was on when Christopher's accident occurred. The bill also would require rental businesses to display a large metallic sign at the entrance warning renters that pontoon propellers can cause serious injury or death.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Christopher’s Law will save lives,” Sen. Bucco said. “These are simple, commonsense requirements that will ensure no family ever has to endure a heartbreaking tragedy like the loss of Christopher D’Amico. I am proud to stand by the D’Amico family, and all those who continue to support Kindness for Christopher as we work to honor his memory and pass this lifesaving bill.”

Bucco even included the hashtag #KindnessforChristopher in his announcement.

The D'amico family also received support from an unlikely source — Butch Jones, head coach of the University of Tennessee football team. Last month, the family took an impromptu southbound road trip to decompress after the whirlwind of activity.

"Our friend Chuck Mound (a well-known coach and athletic trainer) knows Butch Jones and put words in his ears about our tragedy," D'Amico said. "When they heard we were making our way through Tennessee, they asked if we would like to be their special guests."

The team invited the D'amico family, including mom Laura and daughter, Vianna, 12, to watch a Volunteers game from the sidelines.

"They asked if we had any requests and I said I would like to meet the young gentlemen wearing No. 86 because that was my son's football number," D'Amico said. "There was no No. 86, so when we got there, they did the next best thing and gave us the No. 86 Jersey."

Last week, Mound entered the picture again when he created a Kindness for Christopher Legacy Award to be given at his annual Big Time Sports Awards for New Jersey scholastic athletes at a Times Square Theatre in New York.

Christopher's Jr. Gaels football coach, Roxbury resident Luis Maldonado, was shocked to receive the award, which he did not know existed until it was announced with him sitting in the audience.

"It was surreal," said Maldonado, who coached Christopher in both football and baseball and has been a strong supporter of the Kindness for Christopher movement. "I do this because I love the game, I love the kids and I love to teach. They talked about the impact I had on his life, which I didn't realize when I was doing it."

Maldonado, who was a pall bearer at the funeral, was one of the first people to visit with the family after the accident, and presented them with a No. 86 jersey signed by the team.

"He was a big-hearted young kid who just wanted to learn," said Maldonado, whose son, Alex, 10, was Christopher's teammate. "The kids, when they act up, I make them run. One day we had a sloppy practice and I see him running laps around the field. I say 'Chris, what are you doing?' He says 'Coach Bubba, everybody keeps messing around and you're going to make us run anyway, so I thought I would start early.' All of a sudden there's 10 kids running around the field without me telling them. He was one of those kids with a great big heart that just wanted to make people smile and feel better about themselves."

"I have a son who just turned 11 on Sunday and if something like that happened to my kid, I'd be in the corner of my room and I wouldn't see the daylight, forever," Maldonado said. "They keep going out every day, going out and making other families stronger. They are making families with children with illnesses stronger because they see the resilience of what the D'Amico's deal with on a daily basis."

"This has been horrendous, and I hope nobody has to go through this in their life," D'Amico said. "If something good can come out of this, we've done our job."

 Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-917-9242; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.