During her life, Emily transcended the norms of the typical middle school girl. She didn’t subscribe to the ideas of cliques and she didn’t pass harsh judgments onto others. Instead, she always chose to be generous and to shine her light of goodness onto everyone she crossed paths with. That meant extending a warm invitation to the kids who would find themselves excluded at lunch, or in the classroom. It meant always lending a kind word or doing whatever she could to uplift those around her. She was a dreamer, an empath, an idealist, an advocate, a considerate friend, and a loving daughter.

It’s who Emily was in her everyday life that inspired the idea behind the Emily Shane Foundation. Our #PassitForward campaign honors & recognizes Emily’s belief that through being kind to one another, we can change the world. The SEA program, founded later, helps other children facing similar circumstances as Emily, whose ability to overcome academic challenges was made possible through the support she was lucky to have obtained.

We strive to expand the reach of our work and to pursue initiatives that memorialize Emily’s gentle and charitable spirit.