(NewsNation Now) — Lisa DeCoste’s wish to honor the memory of her late husband Scott with random acts of kindness spread in a domino effect of paying it forward.

“Scott was in the Navy for 23 years. He loved CrossFit, was the New England Patriots’ biggest fan and was “the first person to give you the shirt off his back,” DeCoste said.

Before Scott passed away in 2015, one of his biggest fears was that his daughter Alexis would not remember him.

In an inspirational story of hope and legacy, Lisa DeCoste began performing random acts of kindness for total strangers as a lesson for their daughter that giving back can honor his memory.

It turns out kindness is contagious and sometimes tragedy can spark a movement.

Starting small, “The first couple of years we started giving random money to people at Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks,” DeCoste said. “And then all of a sudden it just like snowballed and really, really took off.”

DeCoste created “Scott’s Paying It Forward,” a social media channel to document her giving.

“The next thing you know, people in Canada, in Maine and California, they were all like hey, we want to take part,” DeCoste said.

The acts of kindness could be as small as mowing somebody’s lawn or buying somebody dinner.

“It was kind of like a domino effect,” she said. “What would happen is people would be the recipient of something and then they, in turn, would turn around and pay it forward themselves.”

“This is just something to bring everybody together,” DeCoste said. “Make somebody smile.”

Their daughter, Alexis, gets involved too.

“She really gets into it,” DeCoste said.

All in memory of her dad, Scott.