Author: fizur-philip@cooperhealth.edu

The Lollipop Theater Network (LTN) is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing current movies and entertainment to children confined to hospitals nationwide due to chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Like many, LTN has been forced to change how they pursue their mission due to COVID, especially given that their work is with sick children. To that end, LTN recently arranged a surprise for one young patient from Hamilton star Christopher Jackson, who played George Washington in the original Broadway cast. Watch the video below of this 12-year-old with a with common immune variable deficiency as Mr. Jackson unexpectedly Zoom bombs here call, and check out the work of the Lollipop Theater Network here. 

From https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/ – Everyone has a COVID story now, and for those aged 16-18, the story likely has something to do with school and extra-curricular disruptions during a critical period of their lives.

We often like to say they were the best years of our lives, and noticing this—despite the fact that he didn’t even have a child on the podium—Graham Williams wanted to make sure that Denver Public Schools graduates from the ‘Class of COVID’ had something special to make them feel celebrated, as well as something to turn to if they ever needed advice.

As the CEO and founder of Impart, a unique gift-giving company, Williams put together a graduation book brimming with life lessons and advice from Colorado’s celebrities big and small.

After all, what could be more inspiring for a high school football player who hasn’t been able to play because of the lockdowns than a heartfelt message from Payton Manning?

“We’re big believers in the power of sharing life lessons, and we thought ‘Boy, we see a need in the community where these high schoolers have really had a tough time and shown their mettle, and we’ve got a platform where we can use the tools we have to put a gift in front of all of“We wanted to say: ‘one, that the entire community is behind you and you’re not alone in this, and two, what a great job you’ve done in difficult times.’”

Featuring everyone from local news anchors to philanthropists, athletes, artists, and civil servants, the 21-page book—which you can download for free at home—poses a simple question to each person featured: If you could go back and tell your high school graduate self one thing, what would it be?

“Passion and love will take you further and fulfill you more than anything else will,” says Missy Franklin, a five-time Olympic gold medalist swimmer.

“Question everything and never turn down an adventure,” says Colorado House Representative Jennifer Bacon.

“Live your life, not the life you think your parents, friends, or society want you to live,” says KBCO, 97.3 FM radio host DJ Keefer.

“What we wanted to do was gather a diverse and inspiring set of responses based on different experiences, and we wanted those responses to resonate with the students of Denver schools,” explains William.

“We didn’t know what was going to come back when we made the request, but we were really gratified at how the community really rallied around the students, wanted to show their support… and how genuine the respondents were.”

Hopefully with 21 pieces of wisdom, the students of Denver schools will feel a little more prepared for life beyond high school classrooms—and that their graduation was a special day after all.

This story comes to us from APNews.com “Celebrity stylist gives free haircuts to isolated clients“

Roberto Novo has styled the hair of a constellation of stars, from singer Britney Spears to supermodel Naomi Campbell. But during the pandemic, he’s turned his talents to the heads of lesser known, older New Yorkers — and he’s done it for free.

The Argentina-born stylist welcomes them to his Manhattan apartment or visits them in their homes. His two French bulldogs keep everyone company. He calls his initiative “Free haircut and puppy love.”

It started last summer when he and his dogs visited a client who had been isolated for months due to the pandemic. Seeing how happy it made her, he asked if she had friends in her apartment building who might be interested in a free hairdo.

“It doesn’t get any better than that — bring some joy to senior citizens in these hard times,” Novo said. “People really suffer with this situation right now. So if God blessed me (to help) with a simple haircut, making somebody happy, that’s a gift.”

On a recent day, Novo and his stocky, smush-faced dogs — Machitwo and a pregnant Tulula — walked into Marena Erdogan’s apartment and quickly turned the living room into a salon.

Sitting on a couch in a black cape, Madelon Spier waited to get her hair styled.

“I think he’s miraculous, an artist … and we’re all pictures that he’s painting,” Spier said.

“There’s his personality, and his way of cutting — a way of looking at a person and knowing what’s right for them,” said Spier, who copped to being in her “high 80s.”

Neighbor Andrew Langerman said Novo also gave him his first haircut in months.

“I’ve just been so deeply lonely through the (pandemic),” he said, and now, “I feel a lot better, actually. I wasn’t truly feeling very well when I came in here. It was great meeting everybody. I had a good haircut.”

Scissors snipped. Dogs grunted. Neighbors chatted. And Erdogan added to the din by playing her white baby grand piano, though the melodies were sometimes drowned out by Novo’s blow-dryer.

Others took turns petting Machitwo and Tulula or held them in their laps. The loyal Frenchies stayed close to Novo, who occasionally bent to give them a kiss on the head.

As Novo finished a cut, Erdogan ordered pizzas that the group later shared. They talked and laughed.

“I always tell people if I die and I’m born again, I’ll do exactly the same,” said Novo, 62.

“The power that we have with the scissors to bring happiness … it doesn’t matter what age you are, that’s incredible.”

This story comes to us from APNews.com “Celebrity stylist gives free haircuts to isolated clients“

Just down the road, Delaware State University is canceling $730,655 in student loans for 220 of their recent graduates impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. On average, each eligible student will qualify for about $3,276 in debt relief.

DSU’s Vice President for strategic enrollment management Antonio Boyle recently shared that “too many graduates across the country will leave their schools burdened by debt, making it difficult for them to rent an apartment, cover moving costs, or otherwise prepare for their new careers or graduate school.” She recognizes this effort will not help with all of obligations held by these students they felt compelled to do something.

Adding to this, DSU president Tony Allen shared his thoughts: “Our students don’t just come here for a quality college experience, most are trying to change the economic trajectory of their lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. Our responsibility is to do everything we can to put them on the path.”

98-year-old Trudy Berlin began hosting “The Ladies Room” at the JCC’s Sandler Center in 2000. For this group of women, generally ages 70 and above, no topic is off the table and any given conversation may range from thoughts on grief to politics and beyond. Each week Berlin comes up with a theme for the show, and then the conversation moves in whatever direction the woman care to take it. Participants have dubbed Berlin “ the Jewish Oprah” and feel that Berlin challenges them and that “her energy is absolutely unbelievable. She brings out thoughts that you never thought you would ever express.” Berlin notes “as you grow older, I think that the world can become very difficult for old people and they give up, ” and this is what she wanted to address, and did not want this hampered by COVID. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down the Levis Jewish Community Center last year, she predictably sprang into action to keep the group going. So with a little help from Stephanie Owitz, the Boca Raton, Florida, center’s director of arts, culture and learning, the show went virtual and it has been going strong with participants throughout the US and Canada since.

Learn more about Berlin and her group at APNews.com.

A recent poll conducted as a joint venture among OnePoll and the charity Eyes of Hope suggests that, while many acknowledge the difficulties of 2020, just as many acknowledge that it has also, in some ways, help to make them better people.

The poll, which surveyed 2,005 Americans, revealed a specific theme of cultivating care for our neighbors. Examples of how this has played range from 87% of respondents indicating that they have donated a portion of their paycheck, despite their own financial difficulties, to smaller acts of kindness including helping a stranger across the street, taking out their neighbor’s trash, walking a neighbor’s dog, or shoveling someone else’s property when it snow.

Overall, 72% of those who participated in the survey said they found themselves caring about the health and well-being of others significantly more in the past year. Want some more ideas of how to incorporate kindness into your own life, or stories of how others are already doing so? Check out https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/!

Muslims around the world will mark the end of Ramadan today. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, lasting from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next, which is traditionally dedicated to fasting (sawm), prayer, reflection and community to commemoration Muhammad’s first revelation.

But like everything else, Ramadan was impacted by COVID last year and has been again this year. Specifically, the iftar meal that breaks the fast at the end of each day is usually shared by friends, family, and strangers alike but to stem the tide of the pandemic these gatherings have remained highly limited. Enter Mariam Yehia.

As highlighted by APNews, a few years ago, Mariam, her mom and a friend started a Ramadan tradition of bringing hot meals to the needy in Cairo to observe iftar together.

“We feel really good that we try as much as we can to help people,” Yehia said. But “we feel always that we’re not doing enough.”

This year, when Mariam read the story of Mahmoud Kamal, she found a way to do more. Kamal, a chef by training, was struggling financially due to COVID, and so she decided to purchase her iftar meals for herself and those in need in Cairo from him to bolster

She and her group placed a first order of 60 meals that included chicken, rice and vegetables. For a little extra money, Kamal added dates and juice.

In Egypt, free communal iftar meals typically see strangers huddled around long tables on the street to break their fast together. But such tables were banned due to the coronavirus, and Yehia felt the need to give had been amplified.

Yehia then decided to make a post of her own, recommending the meals and encouraging people to either order from Kamal or suggest other cooks who may also need more business. Her post ended up getting about a thousand shares.

“The idea of going an extra mile to do two good things instead of one in one simple act, I think this is what resonated with people,” she said. “It’s all about encouraging people to do good things.”

Read more about Mariam Yehia and her efforts at APNews.com

Bless Parker is the 51-year-old volunteer mayor of Miami (pronounced my-am-uh), a former mining town with a population of about 13,000 located in the Northeast corner of Oklahoma. During the pandemic, as in former crises, Parker helped homeless people get into church shelters to have their needs meet however, more recently, he and his colleagues have decided they needed to do something to help people who were having a tough time. From here, the idea of the Giving Walls was born.

Since the inception of the Growing Wall, a growing number of restaurants in Miami and other towns around Oklahoma, these walls are decorated with hanging receipts and anyone can walk in, take a receipt, and order a meal free of charge. The receipts are put there by customers who prepay for food and tack them to the wall, leaving them on offer for anyone who is hungry. Customers can order anything from a three-egg omelet to chicken-fried steaks, no tips expected, no questions asked.

“Maybe if we can show people what it’s like to take care of your neighbor during a time of need, it will spread throughout the United States,” said Parker. “We want to bring back the old hometown values that I saw when I was growing up here as a kid.”

Learn more about the Giving Wall and read the full story at WashingtonPost.com.

Years of research in the field of psychology have provided consistent findings that suggest people who are able to observe and integrate both the positive and challenging aspects of any given situation, a part of what we consider cognitive flexibility, are the ones who fair best in the face of difficult situations. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most difficult aspects of this global problem have often been front and center, contributing to ongoing distress in the general public. So, to try to bring balance, a number of writers have taken to cataloging good news. Recently, elle.com cataloged 80 of the most uplifting news stories from early 2020 to the present.

Among the more recent of these stories include those of Europe’s oldest COVID survivor, and the role of fitness experts in promoting both physical and emotional health. Sister Andrea of Toulon, France was diagnosed with COVID just before her 117^th birthday. She isolated from the rest of her cloistered retirement home but has since celebrated her birthday surrounded by a small, safe group of her closest loved one. When asked of her experience, Sister Andre shared that, since she was asymptomatic, she did not realize she had it, but was grateful for her outcome and the support she received.

Meanwhile, personal trainer Joe Wicks of the United Kingdom, helped parents throughout the country who suddenly found themselves acting as teachers when schools closed. Recognizing the role of physical fitness in mental health, Mr. Wicks helped parents teach and model for their children the most important aspects of physical education at home. Every Monday through Friday at 9am, Wicks streams 30-minute long live PE classes that children can do from their homes with their parents. Despite the UK seeing some relief from COVID, Mr. Wicks continues these courses. To recognize the impact of these efforts, he awarded an MBE from the Queen for his contribution.

Do you have a positive news story or positive experience from the last year that you would want featured in the Daily Dose? E-mail your story to Fizur-philip@cooperhealth.edu.

While lockdowns, quarantines, and homeschooling have been highly stressful for many some have been able to have fun with it now and again. Such was the case with Carly Catalano, who moved from British Columbia to Australia with her partner, Sam, and their 3-year-old daughter Florence during the pandemic which required a mandatory 14-day hotel-room quarantine.

Knowing that two weeks in tight quarters with an active toddler might be a challange, Carly and Sam found at least one very creative way to keep Florence entertaining: “discovering” a new breed of dinosaur: “Bagasaurus”.

The family used the items that came with their takeout food: bags, containers, cutlery, and an ironing board amongst other things to make their own DIY dinosaur which now stands at about 5 feet tall. Since it’s creation, Florence and her parents have also created matching paper-bag-scaled outfits for her to continue the fun.