A Movement of Kindness

In 2017, Leah Davis’s 14-month-old son, Blake, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. From his first hospital admission to his passing just before he turned three, Blake’s unthinkable journey sparked a powerful movement: a movement called #ForBlake. Since 2019, this worldwide movement has been capturing, tracking and sharing stories of uplifting good deeds and acts of kindness in Blake’s honor.

Throughout that time, Leah Davis, President of Good Deeds #ForBlake and VP of Operations at Civilian, remembers how friends would ask her and her husband Rob how they could help. They encouraged them to perform acts of kindness for strangers in their son’s name. Within weeks, the #ForBlake movement had gone viral on Facebook, eventually spreading across the nation and into several other countries. “Those were the darkest times of our lives, but reading the beautiful stories kept us going,” Leah says. “It’s overwhelming that our special little guy could touch the lives of so many people.”

Leah Davis is a 20-year marketing professional serving as the VP of Operations at Civilian, a San Diego-based marketing communications agency. Civilian is a purpose-driven agency and Certified B Corp whose mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities and better the world. Leah enjoys a sense of purpose and fulfillment helping the agency to raise awareness and inspire action on issues that improve people’s quality of life and benefit the greater good. Similarly, with her nonprofit, Leah has helped create and foster a wave of positivity touching thousands of people, reaching across the nation and beyond with a clear call to action: Do a good deed. “I think it’s important to like what you do and what you work on, and then commitment comes easy. For me, I am personally aligned with Civilian’s vision and values and our client's work. At its core, helping people and making a positive impact is also the purpose and intention of my nonprofit Good Deeds #ForBlake.”

Leah is an eternal optimist with a positive mindset grounded in gratitude. However, she has personally persevered through the unimaginable when her son Blake died in 2019. To transform the worst day of their lives into a positive milestone, the Davis family launched the website forblake.org on the first anniversary of his death. The website preserves all of the #ForBlake good deeds recorded on Facebook in the past and serves as the future home for all good deeds to come.

Among the hundreds of posts on the site are stories and photos of people buying coffee and meals for strangers, and baking cookies and pies for nurses, firefighters, and first responders. They donated blood, books, blankets, toys, groceries, doughnuts, pajamas, and services for hospitalized children and the needy. A local youth soccer team played under the name For Blake. In Borneo, a nest for endangered turtles was dedicated to Blake. A giant sequoia tree was planted in Huntington Beach's urban forest and named Big Blake.

Leah, Rob, and their two daughters, Scarlett and Skye, now make doing good deeds for Blake a part of their daily practice of living in gratitude.

"Our friends and family started this movement at the beginning, and it was as if the entire network that grew exponentially had doubled down on good deeds after Blake’s death," explains Leah. The website forblake.org offers a closer look at Blake's story, and the hundreds of kind acts people have done in his honor. They are marked on a global map, and visitors are encouraged to add good deeds to the platform. The website offers downloadable "kindness cards" that anyone doing good can print and hand out.

"Across the country and beyond is a movement of kindness born from the struggle of this little boy and his family," the cards read. "Though he received his angel wings, the miracle of Blake has forever changed the world as we know it. Join the wave of positivity and pay it forward with your own good deed #ForBlake." Leah adds that the buoyant force that surrounded their son in his hospital bed several years ago is alive and well with #ForBlake. "He continues to make an impact," she says. "We choose to foster that because it keeps his spirit alive. We are hoping that it perpetuates and builds momentum. The concept is simple enough that everybody and anybody can join in. Sharing gifts of kindness and generosity only help strengthen human connection.”