Author: fizur-philip@cooperhealth.edu

Read the entire story and learn of the many ways you can make a difference reuters.com.

Americans are giving to charity like never before amid pandemic.

“The only good thing about this pandemic is that it’s made people care a little bit more about their neighbors,” said Christopher Ivey, director of marketing for Forgotten Harvest, one of the largest food banks in Michigan.

Monetary donations to the food bank are on pace to top last year’s contributions, helping to fund a larger storage space and new mobile distribution sites required to distribute food safely during the crisis.

Amazon shareholder Mackenzie Scott’s $4 billion in charitable contributions, announced earlier this month, may be the biggest. But plenty of Americans are also chipping in, donating $10 or $20, some for the first time ever.

“People are giving like we’ve never seen before,” said Woodrow Rosenbaum, chief data officer for GivingTuesday.

Much of that is coming in small dollar amounts, suggesting that people across the income spectrum are stepping up their contributions, Rosenbaum said. Proof that many small acts of kindness can turn into something massive.

Read the entire story and learn of the many ways you can make a difference reuters.com.

Read the full story at ABCNews.com.

Many may have already come across the “If 2020 Were a Christmas Tree” meme on Facebook, generally associated with either a picture of the infamous tree from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or some other misshapen, hideous conifer. But Frank Pichel of Richmond, VA has gathered up all the sad little trees he could find and is putting them to good use. His trees have been selling as quickly as he can stock them over the last month, and all proceeds go to fund scholarships for students from an impoverished area of Richmond. The benefactor is the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in Richmond’s East End, which was started in 2009 o help children from low-income families change the trajectory of their lives.

Read the full story at ABCNews.com.

This week’s mindfulness exercise is delivered by guest contributor Neil Seligman, one of the UK’s best known mindfulness practitioners. This is a meditation for the holidays, a small gift from the RRT to you. Enjoy!

Read the full story at APNews.com

A tin of cookies is left on the running board of an ambulance outside a nursing home with a note for the emergency workers who operate it: “You’re AMAZING! Yes, you!”

A baggie sits on the edge of a fountain with dozens of copper coins and another message, for anyone who passes by and fancies tossing one in: “Take a penny. Make a wish! Hope your dreams come true.”

This is the world of Sparks of Kindness, an online community of people going out of their way to put a smile on the faces of others through small but touching good deeds, especially in tumultuous times of pandemic, protests and political division.

Debbie McFarland, the founder of the group, encourages people to keep their eyes open for random acts of kindness, like helping an older adult struggling to load groceries into the trunk. But she also wants them to do good with planning and intent — “deliberate acts of kindness,” as she puts it.

“When you’re making your to-do list for the day or the week, you think about where you’re going that particular day,” she said. “If you’re going to the tire shop, maybe swing by and pick up a pack of cookies. … Or if you know you’re going to the school, maybe pick up a hot chocolate for the crossing guard.”

“During this pandemic, I think people are starting to realize that … every person you come into contact with is fighting some kind of battle, whether it’s appointments or unmet expectations of others or health or bullying or whatever it is,” McFarland said. “Everyone’s facing a battle, and if you can get one tiny spark to ignite a hope within them, then it does something within them.”

Read the full story at APNews.com

Read the full story at NPR.org.

When listeners in Fort Wayne, Indiana, tuned into Majic 95.1 in July, they heard something both unexpected and all-too-familiar. The station was playing Christmas music. In the heat of summer.

With the pandemic making life miserable for people, the station was looking for a way to appeal to listeners and boost its ratings, and Christmas songs can be a dependable way of doing so.

“We knew that the world was topsy-turvy and we just knew from playing Christmas music over the years that there’s something special about it that people connect with,” says Chris Didier, operations manager at Majic 95.1, whose on-air name is Captain Chris.

All over the country this year, stations have been playing Christmas music much earlier than normal. One Memphis station started doing it right after Halloween. Another in Youngstown, Ohio, was decking the halls in September.

Christmas music has been a reliable source of ratings gold since around 1990, when 99.9 KEZ, an adult contemporary station in Phoenix, created the format. Since it’s start, the format turned out to be an enormous success, and within a few years hundreds of stations were playing non-stop Christmas music for 24 hours a day.

“We got incredible feedback. Lots of calls, lots of emails, people saying, ‘Yes, thank you for doing this, we really love the Christmas music,'” says Captain Chris of Majic 95.1 of its decision to play holiday music in July.

Emily Boldon, vice president of adult contemporary radio at Cumulus Media, which has some two dozen stations employing the holiday format, says she’s seen a similar response.

And she has a theory about what’s happening. She says listeners associate Christmas with the year ending, and this has been a really terrible year.

“I think everybody is trying to rush the holiday this year just so we can get beyond it,” Boldon says. “I really truly believe the audience was just ready to get to the end of 2020 as fast as possible this year.”

Read the full story at NPR.org.

Read the full story at APNews.com.

Hayley Orlinsky has made so many bracelets, looping colorful rubber bands over her thumb and index finger again and again, that she no longer must watch her hands.

The spunky 7-year-old from Chicago has spent most of the coronavirus pandemic crafting the creations as a fundraiser to buy personal protective equipment for a children’s hospital.

Hayley’s initial goal was $200, which she quickly surpassed, charging $3 a bracelet or $5 for an added charm. So far, the endeavor has generated nearly $20,000 for Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, prompting praise and purchases from Chicago politicians, a Broadway actor and her beloved White Sox.

It’s hard for the second grader to grasp how much more $20,000 is by comparison — but she figures it’s a lot.

“It’s more than the tooth fairy gives,” she said.

Read Hayley’s entire story at APNews.com.

Receiving a COVID-19 diagnosis or exposure alert can be a frightening experience as patients and their loved ones navigate quarantining, any actual infection, treatment and the path for healing.

To help their patients who are either quarantining after exposure or recovering after infection practically and emotionally, Geisinger have taken to providing care packages in the hospital and at home.

The packages include a mask, handwritten “get well” card, coloring book and colored pencils, a few snacks, essential oil soap, hot/cold pack and stress-relieving tea. The package also includes informational content on self-treating at home, how to stay separate from household members and Geisinger’s 24/7 COVID-19 hotline.

For more information, visit https://www.geisinger.org/health-and-wellness/wellness-articles/2020/05/11/20/12/care-package-covid

Read the full article at Forbes.com

With physical travel at a standstill because of the coronavirus pandemic, avid globetrotters are pining for novel ways to explore new destinations and discover underappreciated places. Well, why not “get away from it all” by undertaking an inner journey?

Mindfulness and meditation are hot topics these days and being housebound is a good excuse to give inner travel a try. Best of all, you don’t need to go off on an in-person retreat to discover how to meditate or to tap into some much-needed tranquility. Through an online—and distinctly domestic—voyage, you can learn to navigate your inner landscape from home and also find comfort in a like-minded contemplative community coming together to cope with the coronavirus. Here are some of North America’s best virtual meditation experiences:

Ten Percent Happier Live

The Do Nothing Project Live Broadcast

Insight Meditation Society

Spirit Rock Meditation Center

Cambridge Insight Meditation Center.

Insight Meditation Center of Pioneer Valley

Garrison Institute

True North Insight

Meditation Apps 
10 Percent Happier, Waking Up with Sam Harris, Calm, Insight Timer and Headspace. 

Meditation Teachers Live
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Oren Jay Sofer and Anushka Fernandopulle.

Read the full article at Forbes.com