Austin Kevitch a native of Blue Bell has created the anti-bullying app Brighten that allows users to send compliments to friends anonymously, writes Stacy Suaya for The New York Times.

The idea for the innovative app came to Kevitch in 2013 when he was a junior at Bucknell University after a close friend named Oliver died in a climbing accident. He noticed how his friends Facebook page was suddenly filled with fond remembrances and wished Oliver could have seen them while he was still alive.

To develop his idea he found a programmer through the Kairos Society, an organization that brings young entrepreneurs together to solve the world’s problems.

“I paid a couple thousand dollars, it was my life savings at the time,” noted Kevitch. “If feels good to make someone smile,” is the app’s tagline

Following its release in 2014, Brighten drew over 5,000 users in the first three months. Now it has grown to over a million users, most of which are in high school or college, that have sent more than 10 million uplifting messages.

Now, according to Kevitch, his next step will be to team up with other anti-bullying platforms such as Kind Campaign.

Read more about the app at The New York Times by clicking here.