Bermudians have been asked to perform random acts of kindness in memory of murdered Canadian teenager Rebecca Middleton.

Volunteers from a new charity dedicated to the tragic schoolgirl yesterday said it would sponsor a special week to commemorate her ?warmth and generosity?.

Random Acts of Kindness Week will run from June 27 to July 3 ? ending ten years to the day when the 17-year-old was raped, tortured and murdered while on holiday in Bermuda. Nobody has been convicted of her murder.

The charity said the teenager was remembered for her kindness, lack of prejudice and love of life.

And it called on Islanders to be spontaneously generous in a bid to counterbalance random acts of violence, and said random acts of kindness included visiting housebound residents, taking flowers to work or adopting stray animals.

Rebecca?s father, Dave Middleton, honorary president of the Rebecca Middleton Conscience Trust, confirmed the charity would sponsor kindness week in Bermuda from June 27 to July 3.

The two dates coincide with Rebecca?s birthday ? which she celebrated ten years ago while in Bermuda ? and the day on which her life was brutally cut short.

?We know that people will want to remember Rebecca, and we are happy to be a part of that process,? Mr. Middleton told .

?We want, though, to stress the positive, her life and her spirit that remain so dear to us.?

Carol Shuman, chairman of the Rebecca Middleton Conscience Trust, said the week?s dedication to positive communication served as a reminder that ?kindness is contagious? and that the world, generally, was a wonderful place.

?Murders such as Becky?s and the events that followed are not the norm ? in Bermuda or elsewhere,? she said.

?Small acts with great love create compassion that far outweighs the effects that those who behave in a negative way.?

Random Acts of Kindness Week is a global grassroots awareness campaign aiming to counterbalance random acts of violence.

?It?s simple to get started,? said Dr. Shuman.

?Ideas can be simple or bold ? from paying a compliment at least once a day to calling on homebound persons, there are a myriad of ideas.

?Even giving someone your full attention and simply listening.?

In other communities, she said, people have delivered cookies to city workers, collected goods for food banks, brought flowers to work and shared them with co-workers or provided them for senior centres, nursing homes, hospitals or police stations.

Other ideas include buying a stranger a free pizza, singing at a nursing home, serving refreshments to customers, taking the kids to a park, baking cookies together, adopting a stray animal or helping out at SPCA, forgiving a debt, becoming a tutor, mowing a neighbour?s lawn, sending a treat to a school or nursing home.

She said ideas can be found at www.helpothers.org and other Random Acts of Kindness sites.

Meanwhile, the trust is inviting individuals and groups to submit nominations of people who have unselfishly given their time for no reason except to help others, between July 3, 2005 to 2006.

Nominations should list the act, its benefit to the recipient, and its benefit to the person behind the kind move.

The trust newsletter will list winners to be honoured during a special charity benefit event in the autumn.

Nominations must be received by the Rebecca Middleton Conscience Trust, PO Box 195, Southampton, SNBX, by August 31.