I was watching the nightly news with Brain Williams last night when they introduced their “acts of kindness” good news segment. Last week they asked viewers to e-mail good news stories so that Nightly News could cover them. They were inundated with so many stories that Mr. Williams commented, “If we were to send a camera crew to cover each of them it would take up the entire week of Nightly News!” Wow…what a concept…a whole week dedicated to good news!
The first story was about a man who volunteers to drive cancer patients to their treatments every day. He is retired and spends over $800 per month just on gas to drive the hundreds of miles he covers. You see he lost his wife to cancer about 10 years ago and he said that all of the support he received from friends, family and nurses during that terrible time made it bearable. He was never able to thank those who helped enough so he felt that giving back to others going through similar challenges was the best way to say thank you. What a great story and it got me to think…what great story could we tell?
I heard about how Elkhart Indiana has been hit extremely hard due to the collapse of the RV industry. Middle income families in Elkhart are now waiting in food lines just to get by. These are very proud, hard working people that never expected to be asking for hand outs. Many of them broke down when asked about how it felt for them and their children. In a news segment about the Elkhart families I saw long lines of cars filled with Mom’s, Dad’s and children waiting for packages of food essentials. I noticed that the children were smiling and laughing in the back of the car which was in dramatic contrast to the looks on their parent’s faces. I thought about how great it would be to have a costume character there entertaining the kids, pumping up their laughter with unexpected fun and a few surprise gifts. It would distract the parents and give them a brief respite from their troubles. We could add that to a list of “acts of kindness” stories!
All of us that have character branding programs should commit to find a need in our local community and write our own “acts of kindness” good news story. Our characters are the most memorable, loveable and valuable asset we have for community good initiatives. There has never been a better time with a greater need for positive, feel good initiatives than now. Raymond Entertainment and Reggy are committed to writing our act of kindness story before the end of the second quarter of 2009. Stay tuned and I hope that you will have your character join us!
This is the heart and sole of what we call MoneyMakingFun. At Raymond Entertainment we are here to help you create and deliver successful and powerful character branding programs and initiatives. For more character development ideas call us at 866-925-6500 or visit our web site at www.raymondeg.com.
