FORT WALTON BEACH — Sitting on her new leopard-print blanket, Mavis Gilmore looked around her redecorated room at the Emerald Coast Center on Friday afternoon.
On the once bare walls hung paintings of angels and flowers. Her bed was now piled high with throw pillows.
A week ago, she was having a bad day. Now, she couldn’t stop smiling.
“It’s more than I deserve,” Gilmore said.
As a part of National Hospice Month, Covenant Hospice is encouraging its employees to perform a random act of kindness in their community.
See more photos of the makeover. >>
Several employees decided they wanted to redecorate a resident’s room at the Emerald Coast Center on Third Street in Fort Walton Beach.
“It’s our version of paying it forward,” said Pam Peck, access representative at Covenant Hospice.
Gilmore spent the week planning her room makeover. Her preferences were clear: pink, leopard print and angels.
“I was so surprised,” she said.
Her two roommates also received some items to brighten their spaces.
In a shelf across from Gilmore’s bed, photos of some of her grandchildren sat along with more figurines of angels and ladies. Gilmore loves to sing, so an angel statue that plays music is her favorite among the treasure trove.
She was most excited to show off the new painting above her bed — two angels beatifically gazing off in the distance — to her children and 16 grandchildren.
Inspired by the random act of kindness, Gilmore asked Emerald Coast Center employees to pass along her small quilt to another resident, said Candice Felton, the center’s admissions and business director.
“Once it gets started, it doesn’t stop,” Felton said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Lauren Delgado at 850-315-4445 or ldelgado@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @LaurenDnwfdn.