How a shirt, a trip and thinking of others changed our FAMILY'S life after tragedy -

Alex met Matt while on a weekend trip to New Orleans for St. Patrick’s Day in 2012. Matt did not think about the chilly nights he might encounter and was not prepare with any long-sleeved shirts. Alex loaned Matt his shirt for the weekend so that he could continue the fun. Matt thought this was such an unexpected act of kindness since he had just met Alex. “I really thought this was cool, coming from someone I had just met. Alex surely saw I had a need, and he met it so that I'd be comfortable and continue to have fun with all of our friends,” Matt wrote on his wedding website in 2017.

Matt moved to Denver not too long after that weekend, and lost touch with Alex. One morning in Denver, He learned that Alex had come home from work for his lunch break, and he had surprised a burglar. Alex was shot and killed in his own apartment, just 30 years old.

“Alex is the fourth person in my life that I have known to have been killed by a gun in Atlanta. Fourth. Four people, all taken entirely too young. I try to see the good in everything, but these deaths are tough, because they are always cold, senseless.”

Matt got engaged and he and Ashleigh began planning their wedding and reception. The Denver Boathouse (where the reception was) was open-air, and the reception was in the evening. The boathouse does NOT allow portable heaters due to fire code, so it may be chilly after sunset. Matt’s wish was that for their wedding, the guests would bring a pair of gloves or a sweater to keep warm. They had their guests consider donating them at the end of the night. Matt wanted to be able to collect gloves, socks, sweaters or scarves from their wedding night, and donate them and provide warm clothing for the less fortunate. 181 pieces were collected that night. Matt and Ashleigh sent Alex's mother a note describing what her son did for Matt, and how that simple action helped keep others warm across the country this winter in Denver.

And so now Something For Alex has come about from Alex’s simple act of kindness and from how Matt and Ashleigh wanted to pay this act of kindness forward. Now Alex’s family wants to continue to pay Alex’s kindness forward.