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Newtown Shootings Inspire '26 Acts Of Kindness' Campaign

A woman and child earlier this week at a makeshift memorial in Newtown, Conn.
Shannon Stapleton

The idea is simple:

Do "26 acts of kindness" — one for each of the 20 children and six adults killed last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Stories and photos are coming in to the "26 Acts of Kindness" Facebook page.
/ Facebook.com/26acts

Since NBC News' Ann Curry tweeted that idea earlier this week, it's taken off. Thousands have tweeted back to her about things they've done.

-- Donating trees.

-- Delivering meals.

-- Anonymously leaving money for a co-worker who's struggling.

-- Helping a stranger who's short on cash in the check-out line.

-- Donating frequent flier miles to Make A Wish.

You get the idea.

There's a 26 Acts of Kindness page on Facebook. It's had more than 31,500 "likes."

And there are variations on the theme: "20 acts" to focus on the children; "27 acts" to include gunman Adam Lanza's mother, Nancy, who police say he killed before the attack on the school. Curry writes to those who've joined up: "All good. You are in charge of this wave now."

We'd be glad to hear in the comments thread about things you've done.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
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