VALDOSTA — Since 2017, Patsy Casteen has been on a rockin’ mission to spread kindness. 

Administrator for the Facebook group South GA Rocks!, which has nearly 2,000 members, Casteen creates artwork with painted rocks that she hides around town.

Inspirational messages and colorful imagery aid her on her journey to help other people smile.

“You never know what they could’ve been going through,” she said. “If they’re (the rocks) found, that’s good but I just release mine. I just put them out there and let them go hoping to make someone’s day.”

Casteen has painted 4,548 rocks that she has given to people or has hid in the community, she said.

She has only kept one and owns at least 1,000 rocks that have been found or gifted to her.

Casteen remembers the first rock she found in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. It read “Eternal Love” surrounded by hearts.

“I will never get rid of the first rock I (found),” she said.

The rock, which was painted by someone in Tallahassee, Fla., introduced Casteen to Megan Murphy’s Kindness Rock Project.

The Kindness Rock Project is a national movement and has inspired South GA Rocks!

“The Kindness Rock Project has totally changed my life,” Casteen said. “It’s been a lifesaver to me.”

She said finding the artistic rocks can offer encouragement in trying times.

Casteen remembers finding a “plain, rough looking rock” at the red heart sculpture at Valdosta City Hall. The rock was painted pink and read “Prayer Changes Everything.”

The words comforted Casteen that day as she helped her daughter go through a difficult period in her life, she said.

“I’d been praying, ‘Lord, show me that this is going to work out for my daughter’ because my heart was breaking for my daughter,” she said.

Her daughter had been attempting to get a “case” approved at city hall, and Casteen decided to show her daughter the rock for an uplift.

Her daughter’s “case” was the only one approved on that day, she said.

Casteen said she hopes she inspires others through avenues such as rock exchanges. At rock exchanges, anyone can hide a rock and choose one to own.

Raisin’ Cane, the Central Floral Company, American Lube Fast and the Front Porch are all rock exchanges in Valdosta.

Other popular areas include the city hall heart and the James Eunice Rock Exchange in McKey Park near the tennis courts.

Casteen is in the process of creating a rock library at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.

Casteen’s rocks have traveled miles, even reaching as far as Afghanistan and France, she said. Recently, she painted 14 rocks for a 5-year-old to hide while on vacation.

The young boy asked his mom if he could bring rocks back with him to gift people who have given rocks to him.

Casteen takes her mission into schools by reading “Sally the Stone and Friends” by Sally Schnarr.

Most recently, she visited Sheri Jackson’s class at Lake Park Elementary School where she provided painted rocks for the students.

“I teach them about sharing kindness and how they’re supposed to share with others,” Casteen said.

Overjoyed by the warm reception from the students, she said her heart melts for some of the children.

“You don’t know what their life’s like,” she said. “You don’t know what kind of situation they live in, and for them, it totally melts my heart.”

When kids post photos of them with her rocks on Facebook, she said the smile “says it all.”

Her rocks have offered positivity and enthusiasm to the community, she said.

“It’s amazing how one little rock can change somebody’s whole life,” Casteen said.

She asks anyone hiding rocks to seal them and remove any protective materials before hiding to aid the environment.

Her Facebook group continues to grow as people hide and find these inspirational rocks.

As Casteen says, “keep, hide, you decide.”