People who parked at a B.C. hospital recently walked out to find a surprise on their vehicles.
On Sept. 2, two dozen pink and orange long-stem roses with handwritten notes were left on windshields at Langley Memorial Hospital.
Notes tied to the roses read, "You’re not alone," "You are strong," "You’re so loved," "You got this" and other messages of support.
The two people behind the kind gesture were not looking for any acknowledgment and instead wanted people not to feel alone during the difficult days they might be experiencing.
“I hope they feel like they're meant to be here, although they might be having a really hard time or going through something really hard,” says Sarah Graham.
Graham, 25, and Kyla Lokay, 23, came up with the idea. The two Surrey women have been best friends for 13 years.
For Lokay, the reason behind the kindness is personal.
“Last year, right before Christmas, my mother lost her fight to cancer,” she says. “That month before, she was in the hospital the whole time."
When Lokay would return to her car in the hospital parking lot she would be very sad.
“I felt very lonely, so I thought something like this would be nice to cheer people up a little bit or give them a little bit of hope,” she tells Glacier Media.
Graham’s grandmother, meanwhile, recently passed away. She says she felt helpless when it happened and wasn’t sure how to comfort those around her.
“Doing something like this has made me feel like I could at least put a smile on someone's face, even for a moment, and that was enough for me,” says Graham.
Lokay believes her mom would have loved the idea.
The pair did not stay to watch people’s reactions as they wanted to give them privacy.
"I don't know how people are going to react. I don't know what they're walking out from, how their days have been. It could be the worst day of their life,” says Graham.
They hope to have helped even just one person and encourage others to spread kindness.
The friends plan to spread kindness at other B.C. hospitals.
"People never forget those kinds of things, they never forget how you made them feel, especially during such a dark moment,” says Graham.
