After suffering the loss of a child, Exchange associates Mike and Jessica Domingos channeled their grief into something positive, kind and even record-breaking.
In May 2019, Mike and Jessica’s 12-year-old daughter, Evie, took her own life after struggling with depression and severe social anxiety.
“She was so funny and such a cool kid,” said Jessica, an e-Commerce merchandiser who has been with the Exchange since 2015. “She loved music. She was an artist. Her personality was just hilarious. She was unapologetically herself. But she just really struggled to find herself and to fit in, and it was more than she could handle.”
At Evie’s memorial service, friends and neighbors brought “kindness rocks,” stones with inspirational messages or uplifting art painted on them, as a supportive gesture.
“We started painting them,” said Mike, a buyer in the e-Commerce affiliate program who joined the Exchange in 2018. “Jess was the first one to start. She was painting hearts, and we’d go on walks and leave the rocks along the trail. Eventually I said, ‘I’ll give this a try.’ I’d spent 50 years telling myself that I wasn’t an artist. Then I started painting rocks and said, ‘Maybe I can do this.’”
On the first anniversary of Evie’s death, they hid 600 rocks all over Dallas. The rocks included their @tinyevierocks social-media handle, and people who picked up the rocks would get in touch via Instagram or Facebook.
“We started getting messages back from people talking about how a rock brightened their day or how it made a difference,” Mike said. “The response was overwhelming.”
They decided to turn Tiny Evie Rocks into an official nonprofit. One of their first projects was to submit rocks to the Joshua York Legacy Foundation, a suicide-prevention organization named for a young man – the son of an Air Force lieutenant colonel – who took his own life in 2018.
Mike and Jessica contributed to the foundation’s attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the largest display of painted rocks in one place. On May 15, the foundation smashed the record with just more than 21,900 rocks – more than twice the previous record. The foundation shared credit with everyone who participated.
But Mike and Jessica are about more than breaking records.
“We’ve painted probably close to 4,000 rocks,” Jessica said. “We’re never going to stop that. But now we’re doing things to reach more people.”
The Domingoses, who live in Tyler, Texas, are collaborating with the city’s Parks Department to create a heart-shaped meditation labyrinth across from Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital. And in May, they provided rock-painting activities at a retreat for mothers who have lost children.
“Painting rocks gives people a creative outlet for stress, grief, anxiety,” Jessica said. “It was great to watch the moms’ faces. It brings people together.”
Mike and Jessica, both based at the Exchange’s Dallas headquarters, would even leave rocks in hallways or the food court before they began working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There were a few people who knew us and knew what we were doing, so if they found out about a rock, they would run to look for it,” Mike said
They say they’ll be forever grateful for the support they received from co-workers who showed the spirit of family serving family.
“People volunteered to give their vacation hours,” Jessica said. “But we came back to work the next week because we couldn’t just sit there asking ‘Why?’ We just wanted some normal, and we were welcomed back with so much love. They still look out for us and make sure we’re OK.”
More samples of Mike and Jessica’s work are below. For more about Tiny Evie Rocks, visit the website, or follow @tinyevierocks on Instagram or Facebook.
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