14 DAY TRIAL // The parents of an 18-year-old losing her life after an epileptic seizure have started a Pay It Forward campaign which has quickly caught on.
Before Alyssa Josephine O'Neill of Erie, Pennsylvania, died, she asked for a pumpkin spice latte.
Her mother and father never had the chance to get her one, so, after her passing, they bought 40 people drinks at a local Starbucks.
They had the baristas scribble #AJO on the cups, to honor their daughter. The phenomenon, promoted via the hashtag, grew on Twitter and Facebook.
Alyssa had sent a request to her parents about the latter by text message, on September 3. She died the next day, one year after the initial diagnosis with epilepsia. Jason and Sarah O'Neill had the cups donated two days after the funeral.
"You really can't go anywhere in Erie or the surrounding areas without seeing it. [...] Every restaurant, every coffee shop — we haven't been able to buy ourselves a meal in a week or two because it’s already paid for," Jason describes for Today.
"My wife and I have said the words, 'amazing,' 'awesome' and 'magical' more than we ever have in our entire lives. We never thought it would spread like this," Jason says.
They have received messages from as far as Reykjavik in Iceland. Some people replaced coffees with movie tickets or Christmas presents put on hold at Toys ‘R’ Us.
"People have paid for people's coffees and then thought, 'What else can I do?' They would pay for movie tickets, or go to Toys 'R' Us and pay off random people's layaways for their kids' Christmas presents. It's nice to know that one small act of kindness and a little help from social media can spark all of this," Jason adds.