Boy, 11, creates #ElPasoChallenge to encourage community to do 20 good deeds to honor victims

EL PASO, Texas - An 11-year-old boy created the #ElPasoChallenge to encourage his community to do 20 good deeds to honor victims who died in the El Paso mass shooting. 

Ruben Martinez III was having “some bad anxiety” after the weekend shooting rampage at Walmart that killed 22 people, his mother Rose Gandarilla said in a Facebook post that showed her son holding up an #ElPasoChallenge sign. 

“After some discussion, he came to me asking if I would help him do the #ElPasoChallenge,” she wrote. “He challenges each El Pasoan to do 20 good deeds.” 

Gandarilla also posted a picture of a handwritten note by her son that was titled, “#elpasoCHALLENGE.” 

“Purpose: To honor the people who got killed in our city,” he wrote. 

“How: I’ll challenge each person in El Paso to do 20 good deeds for each other,” Martinez wrote. 

He then wrote out some examples. 

“Examples: Mow someone’s lawn, visit a nursing home, pay for someone’s lunch or dinner, donate to the families in need, write someone a letter and tell them how great they are, hold the door for everyone, comfort someone when they are sad or stressed, take flowers to someone in the hospital, leave a dollar on the vending machine for the next person, and any other random act of kindness,” he wrote. 

Martinez then wrote about how to “convince everyone to join the El Paso Challenge.” 

“Hold up posters, pass out flyers, send it to Facebook,” he wrote. 

“This will show the world that people from El Paso, TX are kind and care for each other.” 

Gandarilla also tweeted the photos of her son and his note, asking the community to “accept the #ElPasoChallenge.” 

“You never know when your kindness is the only one they knew,” she tweeted. 

Chris Castaneda posted on Facebook about how Martinez presented the #ElPasoChallenge to him at a local Taco Bell. 

“This courageous young man came up to us at Taco Bell and challenged us to make El Paso a better place,” Castaneda wrote. “The challenge is to do 20 good deeds in memory of the 20 who were killed in the Walmark shooting. I challenge you to fulfill this challenge and share this on your page to challenge others. #ElPasoCHALLENGE.” 

This story was reported from Los Angeles.