In early 2019, as an emergency substitute teacher on a reservation in Washington, my heart broke for my students. Many of them lost family members to suicide. Many grieved for months and I didn't know how to help them.

I began giving them naturally-shaped heart rocks I found on the beach. I would tell them something like, "I hope every time you see your heart rock it reminds you that you matter, you are loved, and seen, and you are never alone."

When I couldn't find any more heart rocks on the beach, I began making them.

I wondered: What would happen if I gave all 168 of my students a heart rock?

I spent a month making enough hearts, and after I gave them out, I witnessed about half of my students keep it as a treasured keepsake, an artifact of kindness, a reminder that they are loved. The rest, took them home and gave them to a family member, friend, or someone they knew was struggling.

I thought, "If 168 heart rocks brought about this much good, surely more hearts would create more opportunity for much, much more good."

Then, on Thanksgiving day, 2019, one of my family members died by suicide.

I swore in my grief I would do anything in my power to save a life by preventing a death by suicide. I remembered the heart rocks. I decided then and there I would dedicate my life to flooding the world with heart rocks.

I began giving heart rocks to my immediate family, then extended family, neighbors, community, local schools. Then I began flooding other communities with heart rocks. As of September 2023, I've distributed over 160,000 heart rocks.

I hope one of these heart rocks is used to help save one life by preventing a death by suicide.

I believe good people will use them to deepen friendships, strengthen family ties, and to reach out to anyone they notice needs a little reminder that they are loved.

Several years ago, I lived in Ocean Shores, Washington. I was an emergency substitute Spanish teacher, and each day I jogged down the beach, occasionally collecting naturally shaped heart rocks.

One particularly rainy winter, our small community was shaken by several deaths by suicide. I began giving away my collection of natural heart rocks, and when it ran out, I created more.

I gifted heart rocks to my students as reminders that they matter, are loved and seen. I noticed that some of them kept their heart rocks and others passed them on, reminding others. I saw heart rocks used to deepen friendships, strengthen families, and even help prevent deaths by suicide. 

I made and distributed hundreds of heart rocks. I saw the difference they were making. 

Then my family was touched by suicide. I moved home to Utah and brought my heart rocks with me.

I discovered that several local schools had recently experienced student deaths by suicide. I realized that I could do something about it. I made 100 heart rocks daily and gave them to school counselors.

In nearly three years I have distributed over 160,000 heart rocks, done scores of assemblies, and spoken with tens of thousands of individuals about using kindness to deepen friendships, strengthen families, and help prevent deaths by suicide.

When I heard about the elementary school massacre in Uvalde Texas, I realized once again that I could do something about it. I visited Uvalde twice. There are now more heart rocks than people in Uvalde, Texas.

My goal is to save a life by preventing one death by suicide. This is my lifelong pursuit. I will make and distribute millions of heart rocks. 

I am setting this up as a non-profit organization. I have assembled a little army of indigenous stone carvers to help me make tens of thousands of hearts monthly. I fund it by selling at markets and online.

In 2023, I did 50 school assemblies, gave students 60,000 heart rocks, and tasked them with finding the people that need them. Through my social media, they shared with me dozens of stories where they used the heart rocks to intervene and prevent dozens of potential deaths by suicide.

I invite you to find the perfect heart rock and keep it for as long as you need a reminder that you matter, are loved, seen, important, beautiful, and not alone. Then, when you are ready, pass it on.

If you know someone is in a dark place or has been struggling, I invite you to get a heart rock for them.

Your kindness transforms it into a powerful reminder that you care. It will act as an artifact and continually remind them of your love, caring, and connection.

Help me flood your community with heart rocks to spread kindness, deepen friendships, strengthen family ties, and prevent deaths by suicide. As we do, we become kind.

For every heart rock I sell, I give one to a student in a local classroom.

Take heart,

Tom Ballard 

“The Heart Rock Guy”