To honor Texas teacher Zelene Blancas after she died of COVID-19, Brian Aikens, a special education teacher in Royersford, relied on the kindness of others to transport a painted, heart-shaped rock to her school more than 2,000 miles away, writes Jamie Stengle for The Indiana Gazette.

The rock spent nearly five months on the road going from one person to the next, and it finally reached its destination as school started at Dr. Sue A. Shook Elementary in El Paso.

The “kindness rock” was a fitting tribute for the 35-year-old Blancas, who charmed Twitter users in 2018 with a video of her bilingual class of first-graders hugging each other as they left the class.

Soon, she linked up with Aikens as part of the Pinksocks Life initiative, and the pair introduced their students virtually.

When Blancas died in December, Aikens decided to paint a heart-shaped rock his young son found years before while hiking and send it to her class.

“When Zelene passed I just felt like, you know what, this is the time to pass this rock on, this is where it needs to go,” said Aikens.

Read more about the Kindness Rock in The Indiana Gazette.