Vista, California — When parents at a Vista, California, school were behind on lunch payments, Kiki Hardee, a soft-spoken kindergartner, decided to take action. Her solution was to open a cocoa and cookie stand to help out.

"I didn't even know who she was," said Teresa Sharp, who runs the cafeteria at Breeze Hill Elementary School. "You never know what their little minds are thinking."

Hardee, 5, cooked up a series of fundraisers. As donations poured in, her schoolmates were amazed. Her donation goal was to raise around $616 in order to eliminate her school's lunch debt. But Kiki's Kindness Project didn't just pay off her elementary school's debt, but the entire district's, totaling more than $7,000.

Kiki Hardee Karina Hardee

She's also inspired her peers. Fifth grader Dawson Spies said he's now inspired to plant trees. Rachel Chavez wants to feed the homeless. Rachel said when she told her family about Kiki's Kindness project, it made her "grandma cry."

"She was just so happy that our next generation is going to be that kind and caring," she said.

It's proof that kindness can be contagious.

Learn more about Kiki's Kindness Project.