Photos: Finding Kindness in the Time of Coronavirus

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Marie Huszarik
Escondido resident, Sylvia, 10, came up with her “Bucket Full of Kindness” project as a way to connect with neighbors during the coronavirus pandemic. She delivers these sweet surprises to porches around her neighborhood.
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This note is included in each bucket. Sylvia hopes people are inspired to pay forward the kindness.
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Marie Huszarik
The buckets are filled with simple treats — little “nice to have” items for those staying at home.
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Marie Huszarik
Sylvia’s mom, Marie Huszarik, said the simple project gives her daughter a lot of joy.
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Marie Huszarik
Sylvia leaves the buckets on porches, anonymously. Sometimes, she rings the doorbell.
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And then, she runs.
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Marie Huszarik
One time, for one neighbor, Sylvia’s mom added some adult beverages to the bucket.
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Coronasaurus and Friends
A group of Orange County moms “wanted to spread some fun and smiles to our local families.” So they purchased inflatable dinosaur costumes and visit families in their neighborhood for birthday parades or sometimes just to walk the dog and wave to people.
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Danny Trejo
Actor and Angeleno Danny Trejo is doing his part during the COVID-19 outbreak. One of his Trejo’s Tacos restaurants, located in the Colony Kitchen in Santa Monica, along with five other Colony restaurants have joined together to serve hundreds of meals to SoCal healthcare workers.
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Danny Trejo
Actor Danny Trejo of Trejo's Tacos helps prepare meals for Southern California's frontline workers.
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Danny Trejo
“It was just really heartwarming,” Danny Trejo said of serving the frontline workers. “They’re complete angels.”
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Danny Trejo
Here, actor Danny Trejo and his team serve meals to frontline workers at USC Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale.
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Raven Hennington-Billberry
Raven Hennington-Billberry wrote an Elie Weisel quote on the ground of her East Whittier neighborhood: "Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings."
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Denise Bayliss
The Bayliss family has been collecting rocks and painting them.
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Denise Bayliss

Every day, they go on a walk around their Canyon Country neighborhood and leave kindness rocks in random places. Twelve-year-old Bryce Bayliss helps paint and hide the "kindness rocks."
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"Our hope is someone will find a rock and it will make them smile during these scary and uncertain times," his mother Denise Bayliss said. "We enjoy leaving drops of kindness daily!"
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Denise Bayliss
A "kindness rock" painted by the Bayliss family reads: #Hope #Bepositive.
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Vikki Vargas/NBCLA
“Spread hope not fear.” NBCLA’s Vikki Vargas spotted these surfboards with a positive message around her Orange County neighborhood.
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Vikki Vargas/NBCLA
“Faith over fear.” NBCLA’s Vikki Vargas spotted these surfboards with a positive message around her Orange County neighborhood.
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Carla Gilhuys

 
Daisy Lagasca helped rally a few residents in Cerritos to offer support to seniors in their community. Lagasca started a Facebook group called "Cerritos Senior's Call."
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Carla Gilhuys

"The Facebook group started asking our neighbors for donations of food, cleaning supplies and paper products to give to our seniors in need," participant Carla Gilhuys said. "The donations started rolling in and we created a small food pantry."

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Carla Gilhuys

Then, the group began to canvas their neighborhoods, leaving notes for seniors offering them help with obtaining food and supplies.
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Carla Gilhuys
"The seniors are so grateful and the volunteers are so happy to be able to come together in a time with some much uncertainty," Carla Gilhuys said. "This was all the idea of one amazing lady living in Cerritos, with a kind and giving heart that wanted our seniors to know that they are not alone!"
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Jennifer Armstrong
“My husband Brian Armstrong does wood working as a hobby, so he made yard décor shaped like an Easter egg for each home on our street. The eggs décor was to be put in the yard so that families and individuals out for a stroll, run or bike ride could “hunt” for them from the safety of the street (we don’t have sidewalks). My husband, 8-year-old son William, and 4-year-old son Benjamin delivered the eggs along with a note asking the homeowners if they would like to participate, and giving them our contact info should they need any help during the stay-at-home order,” Jennifer Armstrong said.
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Jennifer Armstrong
“In just a few days we got emails from SEVENTY-FIVE families on the street eager to participate. In these emails are messages of thanks from residents who said they needed something to look forward to, photos of smiling kids eager to go on the hunt, parents of adult children reminiscing on the joys of youth, offers to help the elderly in our neighborhood, requests to pray for their loved ones who are medical professionals, and people who were inspired by the event to decorate for Easter, to perform magic shows from their porch and so on and so on,” Jennifer Armstrong said.
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Jennifer Armstrong
The Armstrongs kicked off the Egg Hunt on April 1 with 111 eggs hidden along Pepperwood Avenue between E. Village Road and Del Amo. A large sign in their yard announces the hunt and the rules. “We will also be placing a wooden bunny display in our yard that families can pose near in lieu of traditional Easter Bunny photos,” Jennifer Armstrong added. The hunt and bunny will stay up through Easter.
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Giovanna Lowell
“While practicing social distancing my 12-year-old neighbor decided to spread cheer, warmth and love with inspirational words throughout our neighborhood.”
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Giovanna Lowell
“While practicing social distancing my 12-year-old neighbor decided to spread cheer, warmth and love with inspirational words throughout our neighborhood.”
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Giovanna Lowell
“While practicing social distancing my 12-year-old neighbor decided to spread cheer, warmth and love with inspirational words throughout our neighborhood.”
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Christine Kim/NBCLA

From rainbows to hidden teddy bears, neighborhoods in Southern California are finding creative ways to bring smiles to people's faces while social distancing. "It's almost like a magical adventure for them to walk around a block they've seen a hundred times but to go on a hunt this time," mother Angela Friedman said.
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Christine Kim/NBCLA
From rainbows to hidden teddy bears, neighborhoods in Southern California are finding creative ways to bring smiles to people's faces while social distancing. "It's almost like a magical adventure for them to walk around a block they've seen a hundred times but to go on a hunt this time," mother Angela Friedman said.
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Christine Kim/NBCLA
From rainbows to hidden teddy bears, neighborhoods in Southern California are finding creative ways to bring smiles to people's faces while social distancing. "It's almost like a magical adventure for them to walk around a block they've seen a hundred times but to go on a hunt this time," mother Angela Friedman said.
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@benyhartart via Instagram
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@winter_fate via Instagram
“Today I made 7 dozen cupcakes and a tray of Fruity Pebbles treats and we brought them to the amazing folks at UCLA Medical Center to thank them for their hard and life saving work,” Winter Morvant wrote on Instagram. “Please take the time to thank your health care professionals in your community and pass on a kindness! Health Heroes – you are seen, appreciated and loved!”
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@winter_fate via Instagram
“Today I made 7 dozen cupcakes and a tray of Fruity Pebbles treats and we brought them to the amazing folks at UCLA Medical Center to thank them for their hard and life saving work,” Winter Morvant wrote on Instagram. “Please take the time to thank your health care professionals in your community and pass on a kindness! Health Heroes – you are seen, appreciated and loved!”
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@winter_fate via Instagram
“Today I made 7 dozen cupcakes and a tray of Fruity Pebbles treats and we brought them to the amazing folks at UCLA Medical Center to thank them for their hard and life saving work,” Winter Morvant wrote on Instagram. “Please take the time to thank your health care professionals in your community and pass on a kindness! Health Heroes – you are seen, appreciated and loved!”
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Michelle Bengtson
Michelle Bengtson and her children are going on walks in their neighborhood and hiding kindness rocks they have painted. Some people have posted photos to social media upon finding them. “It’s bringing smiles to everyone who sees them,” Bengtson told NBCLA. She is part of the Riverside Painted Rocks Kindness group. “We paint rocks and spread kindness all over,” she said.
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Michelle Bengtson
Michelle Bengtson and her children are going on walks in their neighborhood and hiding kindness rocks they have painted. Some people have posted photos to social media upon finding them. “It’s bringing smiles to everyone who sees them,” Bengtson told NBCLA. She is part of the Riverside Painted Rocks Kindness group. “We paint rocks and spread kindness all over,” she said.
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Tricia Cazaz
Tricia Cazaz shared this photo of a care package she left to give thanks to the city workers who are still picking up garbage amid the coronavirus pandemic. She and her family left a roll of toilet paper in a Ziploc bag that says, "God loves you," a bottle of bleach and a rose tree.
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Jessica Belanger
Jessica Belanger and her boyfriend made 15 care bags plus 10 dog bags for the homeless population in their Lancaster community. "It’s not much but it’s the thought that counts," Belanger said.
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Jessica Belanger and her boyfriend made 15 care bags plus 10 dog bags for the homeless population in their Lancaster community. "It’s not much but it’s the thought that counts," Belanger said.
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Angelos Papazis
On a fence in a neighborhood in Carlsbad, locals are encouraged to leave words of encouragement to share with others.
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Angelos Papazis
Neighbors said the inspirational quotes hanging on a street in Carlsbad are changed often and now, more than ever, are appreciated.
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A man known as “SoCal Batman” stopped by 40 families’ houses from Adelanto to Phelan to greet children as the caped crusader — at a social distance, of course.
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A man known as “SoCal Batman” stopped by 40 families’ houses from Adelanto to Phelan to greet children as the caped crusader — at a social distance, of course.
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