We’re excited to announce the winner of our July, 2026 Matt Kurtz Kindness Grant for her wonderful kindness project. The grant was given by Matt’s Kindness Ripples On (MKRO), an organization that encourages acts of kindness by helping people who have ideas for kindness projects but lack the funding to follow through on those ideas.
Congratulations to Emily Hsia!
She will receive a grant to help fund her acts of kindness project!
A Ray of Sunshine When it’s Needed Most
You know those moments when you read something and your heart just does a little flip? That’s what happened when Emily Hsia’s (Tustin, CA) application landed in our inbox at Matt’s Kindness Ripples On.
Emily started the Sunshine Project which is absolutely beautiful. She is delivering care packages to kids in inpatient psychiatric facilities. These are kids who are isolated from their friends, families and everything that feels normal.
Growing up, Emily noticed that mental health wasn’t really talked about. That silence shaped her; and today she sees how it shapes the children she serves. It’s the exact silence she is determined to break.
Many of the kids come from underserved communities and are already fighting a massive battle. Then they find themselves stuck in a facility, wondering if anyone outside those walls is actually thinking about them.
Emily’s answer is a resounding, beautiful “Yes!”
Every single kit Emily puts together is packed with intention. Inside a child finds a soft stuffed animal, a journal, a coloring book, stress-relief fidget tools and a handwritten note from a volunteer. None of it is accidental. Every item is chosen to say: You are worth showing up for, and you are not forgotten.
Emily doesn’t do this alone. She turns the packing into a movement. She teams up with her local Youth Action Team, a group of incredible high schoolers. Together they don’t just pack boxes; they sit down and talk openly about mental health, breaking down the heavy stigma that so many teenagers carry.
It’s a double dose of kindness: healing for the kids receiving the kits, and community-building for the teens making them.
Once the kits are ready, Emily coordinates directly with psychiatric facility staff, something she has successfully navigated at places like the Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), UCI Health, and the Child Guidance Center, to make the deliveries in person. Because of her hard work, a child gets to hold something soft, open something to color in and read a note that reminds them they are seen.
The impact of these packages is real and immediate. After a recent delivery to CHOC, the staff shared that the kits were “an absolute hit.” Kids were carrying their coloring books around the unit and using them during group sessions. The staff described how the items brought comfort, joy and a sense of normalcy when it was needed most, saying the smiles on the patients’ faces were “immeasurable.”
At UCI Health, a manager wrote to Emily about a long-term patient who instantly fell in love with the stuffed animal and started coloring right away. The timing was especially meaningful because the hospital’s child life specialist was on leave, making Emily’s resources an absolute lifesaver for the staff and the kids.
We talk a lot about how small acts create massive ripple effects. Emily is the living, breathing proof of that. Through her Sunshine Project she is creating bright rays of sunshine in the middle of a dark, gloomy storm. We are incredibly honored to support Emily and The Sunshine Project.
This grant is given in honor of Matt Kurtz, (1985-2017), a young man whose personal philosophy was to live an honorable, compassionate and non-judgmental life. To give for the sake of giving, to expect nothing in return, to be aware of the world around him and to step in to help others without being asked whenever he saw the need. Matt believed in the ripple effect of a simple act of kindness – like a pebble dropped in water, it goes on and on. You can find out more about how Matt lived his life, examples of his many acts of kindness, big and small, and why this grant was created on MattsKindnessRipplesOn.com.
