By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynwes.net

There are many things about Sept. 11 that are steeped in sadness for Rick and Mary Claiborn.

But this year, they aim to bring something positive into the lives of many on that day through a series of random acts of kindness.

In memory of the World Trade Center tragedy in 2001 and of the death of their 16-year-old daughter, Jordyn, in 2009, the Claiborns are encouraging everyone they know to participate Saturday.

"Think about the nicest thing anybody's done for you -- do that for someone," Rick Claiborn said.

The Claiborns have picked a couple of projects they will be completing Saturday including helping place bricks in the memory garden at Celebration Community Church.

Delivering food or drink to nursing homes, neighbors and friends, mowing a neighbor's lawn, offering a free lemonade stand or pulling weeds in a park are just a few of the things Rick Claiborn could think of when listing random acts of kindness.

"Just go visit your neighbor," he said. "We kind of lose the art of doing that sometimes."

The Claiborns have received an outpouring of support from family, friends and even strangers since the death of their daughter, Jordyn, as the result of a car accident in rural Ellis County on Sept. 11, 2009. Cody Younger, 16, also was killed in the accident.

Saturday's event is a way to repay those acts of kindness shown toward the Claiborn family.

"Somebody told me early on that if we get stuck on the death, we get stuck on Sept. 11, it defeats the beauty you had before it; it defeats the good God can do after," Rick Claiborn said. "This is a way of us trying not to get stuck on the death. We're trying to say something positive can come out of this."

And while the Claiborns will be honoring their daughter with their work Saturday, they also will be honoring God, Rick Claiborn said.

"In my opinion, it should honor God first," he said. "And serving other people honors God."

Saturday's random acts of kindness isn't intended to be something done all at once by the community. But the Claiborns hope it's something many in the community catch onto and continue for years to come.

"It doesn't have to be any big, elaborate plan," Mary Claiborn said. "If you see someone struggling with groceries at the grocery store, you (can) help them with their groceries to their car."