Uncle-Niece Duo Create Huge ‘Thank You’ Sign for Hospital Staff Amid CCP Virus Fight

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People around the world have been providing free meals, applauding, and blowing horns and whistles to show their appreciation to hospital staff who are working tirelessly during the CCP virus outbreak. Meanwhile, an uncle and niece duo from Connecticut came up with a unique idea to show their gratitude to healthcare workers, which left many of them in tears.

Kyle DeLucia, founder and CEO of K&J Tree Service in Hamden and Norwalk, was video-chatting with his 8-year-old niece, Kayla Boyle, one Friday night when the young girl said she wanted to show her appreciation to the medical workers, who were courageously battling the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus.

Listening to his little niece’s idea, DeLucia wrote on his business website, “I was instantly inspired.”

“They’re working so hard and exposing themselves,” DeLucia told New Haven Register. “We thought, ‘What can we do, not just for nurses and doctors, but also for sanitation and management?’”

The pair then decided to make a giant sign with the words “Thank You” and a red cross beneath it. DeLucia and Kayla worked on the weekend on the idea by printing stencils for the nine letters and the red cross sign, then cut them out, put them together, and painted them.

The completed sign was then mounted on one of DeLucia’s company service trucks with help from some of his employees.

On April 6, 2020, with assistance from the police department to close off part of the road, the 12-foot sign along with a 50-foot American flag, hanging from a 38-ton crane—was put on display outside Yale New Haven Hospital, where DeLucia’s sister, Jillian Wright works as a nurse in the intensive treatment unit. DeLucia was surprised to see the hospital workers’ response.

“As soon as the flag rose, 30-plus hospital workers emerged from the emergency department doors, and multiple floors were filled with people waving from the windows, wiping tears from their eyes,” DeLucia recalled on his website.

Tom Saxa, a patient service manager of the adult department of Emergency medicine at the hospital, told New Haven Register in an email that the staff was “very moved” by DeLucia’s gesture.

“Two simple words—‘thank-you’—I can assure you, goes a very long way,” Saxa added.

Wright, who wasn’t aware of the plan, was equally touched by the sign when she saw it. DeLucia told Hartford Courant that his sister was caught off guard by the surprise and came out to meet him with “tears in her eyes.”

However, DeLucia didn’t make the display sign for just one hospital. He took the American flag and “Thank You” sign to Norwalk Hospital on April 8 and Danbury Hospital on April 14 according to K&J Tree Service’s Facebook page. Witnessing how the experience has brought joy to so many people, DeLucia intends to display his sign to every hospital in Connecticut—a suggestion that was made by Kayla.

Alluding to the unique idea, Kayla shared with The News-Times, “I thought about what was happening, so I just wanted to think of what would make them happier.”

Though DeLucia acknowledged that his show of gratitude was a “simple gesture” from his side, he hopes that his action could motivate others to do something positive. He also took the opportunity to remind everyone of an important lesson in life, which is “the very essence of what it means to be American: kindness, gratitude, and resilience.”

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