When Brandon Curtis found out his father was dying, he and his family thought of an awesome way to bring some happiness to him in his last days. Back in April 2012, 63-year-old Brian Curtis was given just months to live, following a battle with lung cancer and Parkinson's. The Curtis family launched the online campaign Sky Blue Pink, named after Brian's favorite color and describing the shade of the sky at sunrise and sunset. The project launched on the Web to "help fill his life with love, support and #SKYBLUEPINK" by sending a card, tweeting a note, or sharing a photo on Instagram. The goal of the project was to fill Brian's hospice room walls in Harvard, Nebraska, with images and drawings of pink and blue skies. Any photo tagged with #sky blue pink was printed out by the family.

They hoped for a large response, and happily, that is exactly what they got. More than 3,500 people from more than 100 countries responded to the call for "sky blue pink" images. On August 13 Brian Curtis passed away, but not before he got to see the outpouring of love from total strangers. The story of the project was recently told by Mashable's Brian Anthony Hernandez, who perfectly summed up the meaning of it, writing, "The success of #SKYBLUEPINK is a striking reminder — despite what people say about technology and social media making us less personal — that people still care and social platforms have the potential to bring the world together."



