Upon turning 10, Maxx Raser vowed to complete 10 acts of kindness to celebrate. He’s now reached his goal, and helped hundreds in the process. Garvin Thomas reports.
There are few things 11-year-old Maxx Raser loves more than playing hockey. It takes something special to take priority over ice time for Maxx.
Ever since Maxx turned ten, though, there is one thing he has always made time for. Well, ten things actually.
"I'm about to complete my tenth act of kindness," Maxx said last week at an East Bay ice rink.
The story of Maxx and his acts of kindness goes back to the summer of 2023. As he was approaching his tenth birthday, Maxx saw a Bay Area Proud story about Bryan Tsiliacos, a South San Francisco man who had vowed to complete 30 acts of kindness to celebrate his 30th birthday.
Maxx was inspired by what he saw. "I told my mom I really wanted to do something like this," Maxx said. With that, ten acts to celebrate Maxx's tenth birthday were born.
From making sandwiches for people living in a homeless shelter to running a bingo game for veterans to making care packages for the Ronald McDonald Foundation, Maxx has spent the past year and a half making good on his pledge.
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In the process, Maxx's kindness has benefitted hundreds of people.
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For his tenth act, Maxx organized an event called Pledges For Puck's event. Maxx was moved by the more than two dozen members of the ice skating community who died in January's plane crash in Washington, DC, and he wanted to help their families.
He and his hockey buddies gathered 67 pledges (one for each person who died in the crash) and ended up raising close to $5,000.
The end of the promise, however, is not the end of the road for Maxx when it comes to doing good.
"This isn't the end. I tell my mom that every day."
