Kaitlyn Doorhy’s memory and legacy of love and giving will live forever, with her friends and family creating a new charitable group, “Kait’s Angels”, to help keep her philanthropic spirit alive.
The non-profit group was first announced in November, but now, a new Facebook page and website have been unveiled and the group is poised to take flight and soar.
A hallmark of the group will be “Angel Acts”, random acts of kindness to touch the lives of others, as well as events to help those in need. Kait’s Angels will feature youth programs, with an eye toward imbuing young people with positive values such as honesty, responsibility, compassion, positivity, ambition, productivity and kindness, traits that shone through in Kaitlyn.
The group’s “Fork it Forward” initiative is campaign that partners up with a different small local business every month to “spread a little joy and a message of random generosity to individual people in our community. Every month a local business, such as a local pizza shop, coffee shop, or small restaurant, with the help of Kait’s Angels, will ‘fork it forward,'” according to the Kait’s Angels website.
“The Fork It Forward local business of the month will spend a randomly chosen day giving away slices, coffee, or other items to customers, paid for by Kait’s Angels and our sponsors. The counter person will simply wish you a wonderful day and hand you a card reminding you to pay it forward, or fork it forward.”
According to the group who founded Kait’s Angels, “Kait was a huge loss to the community. She had no intention of leaving the North Fork behind; she planned to summer out here. A vivacious young girl and woman like that is just so valuable to a small community like this and can serve as an inspiration to anyone that meets her. Because of her inspiring life we want we create as many ‘angels’ as she was, and is, within the community. We encourage values like positivity, honesty, random acts of kindness, volunteering, hard work and productivity, to inspire you and those around you. The idea is to set a great example, as Kait did, to inspire others, especially young people. Positive and kindness are huge. Hard work and goal-setting, ambition and persistence.”
Kait’s Angels can also be found on Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus, Tumblr, and YouTube. President of the group is William Araneo; Tim Bialeski serves as vice president.
Down the line “Kait-inspired” shirts and other items will be available; a member kit includes a shirt, bracelets, a travel mug, lip balm, Kait’s Kards — for spreading the word about performing angelic acts of kindness — an iPhone case, notepad, and pens, for a minimum donation of $50.
Events are being planned, including designer handbag “wingo,” at a still-to-be-announced location on June 12, Kaitlyn’s 21st birthday, said Kait’s mom, Darla Doorhy. Also, Kaitlyn’s father Joe Doorhy is planning a bike rally on the North Fork, called a Poker Run, for July 26.
Later in the year, a concert will be held in the fall, and a gala is slated for the winter.
The events will help to keep donations flowing, all with an eye toward helping others around town, in Kait’s name.
“Our goal is just to provide a better quality of life within the community and provide a positive and limitless environment for young people to grow in,” organizers said. “We want young kids to have every opportunity to achieve the same type of direction and success that Kait did. Kait is just not the type of person you can forget, and if we can try to do one thing that she would do from up there, it’s this.”
The hope is that other communities will start their own chapters of Kait’s Angels.
“This organization is something that not only helps her close friends and family but others from the community and all over as well,” said Brittany Tumulty, Kait’s friend an an organizer of the group. “We needed to do this because she had so much passion and was going to accomplish every goal she wanted, so by having ‘Kait’s Angels,’ we can almost continue her legacy and help others realize their full potential along the way, as well.”
Added co-founder Kim Fenoy, “This whole start-up means so much to us on so many different levels. Kait was truly larger than life itself; she had so much potential and life in her that I feel like we have to keep on doing just as she had been. Kait was sassy and sharp, but also deeply compassionate, kind and generous. She really was and will continue to be a true inspiration and that’s what I hope to get out of this; to spread a sense of inspiration to be a better you.”
Those wishing to become an “Angel” can do so for free by filling out an application on the site. Links to donate and Kait’s Kits, for members, will be available in a few weeks. Until the online donation platform is set up, donations can be mailed to Kait’s Angels, P.O. Box 1081, Mattituck, NY 11952.
For additional information, contact info@kaitsangels.org.
In December, the group hosted its first event, a holiday food and cold weather clothing drive; donated goods were distributed to people in need in the community and helped to fill up local food pantries.
In the months after Kaitlyn’s tragic death, her memory lives on, and her legacy of love continues to touch the North Fork community. Kaitlyn, 20,died in August from injuries sustained after being hit by a car near her college, Sacred Heart University, in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Last fall, a sea of those who loved the former Mattituck Strawberry Queen flocked to Sacred Heart, where a football game was played in her honor during the school’s Family Weekend.
Wearing pink T-shirts adorned with her name and the words “Forever In Our Hearts,” about 90 friends and family members, as well as members of the Mattituck Lions Club, traveled to watch the game.
Kaitlyn was also honored by her four roommates, who planted a tree in her memory outside the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on the SHU campus. The tree was dedicated during Family Weekend and a plaque was placed nearby before a crowd of Doorhy’s visiting friends and family members.
According to Bialeski, president of the Mattituck Lions Club, Kaitlyn’s friends were “brought together to celebrate her life. We are inspired by her presence. Even though she is not physically here, we embrace her.”
Kaitlyn’s father Joe opened bottles of champagne, to toast his beautiful girl.
Sacred Heart University also announced that the H.W. Wilson Foundation has given $100,000 to Sacred Heart University to establish an endowed scholarship in memory of Kaitlyn, who died just before beginning her junior year after being hit by a motor vehicle while walking to campus.
The scholarship will be given each year to a junior student from Long Island with financial need; it is anticipated that the first award will be given for the 2015-2016 academic year.
