by AWG Coordinator Jan Cunningham
Doing Good/Being Kind: Decreases stress and increases life expectancy as well as makes us feel better
and motivates us to do good again because it generates a “Helper’s High”. Feeling good is good for you.
I have a great niece Karsyn who has Down Syndrome, she was born with heart issues and needed
surgery with in the first few months of her life. She survived the surgery and as she has grown, she has
always had a very positive and infectious outlook on life. Karsyn is always happy and seems to be able to
find the bright side of things. Being around her never fails to lift the mood of others!
Around her first birthday, her parents came up with the idea to start Karsyn’s Karnival, an annual event
dedicated to raising money to promote Awareness of Down Syndrome. Karsyn’s parents teach at a high
school and coordinated the help of students, teachers and administrators, as well as family members
and friends. The Karnival took place in Southern Maryland where they live, but relatives and friends like
my husband and myself flew in from all over to participate.
One of the volunteers is a Theater Arts teacher, he built mini golf holes and carnival games out of left
over wood from his work building sets for the school’s theater, another teacher offered her barn to
store the items over the winter. Another neighbor was a retired radio DJ, he set up a sound stage,
played music and took care of announcements. Local businesses and food trucks donated gifts, money
and part of their profits from the event. A volunteer crew made up of friends, relatives and high school
students helped with this event every year by setting up and tearing down the attractions, working the
games, collecting donations and organizing all of the activities and prizes. The Karnival grew year after
year and was huge success! Karsyn became a celebrity in her community.
Besides raising a lot of money for a great cause, the volunteers who helped build and work the Karnival
every year, became a close-knit group of friends, who all experienced a “Helpers High” by being involved
and working in support of a great cause.
Karsyn’s Karnival is not a singular event, but an example of something Steve Hartman, who does the “On
the Road” segment for CBS News, espouses in his Kindness 101 series. Steve developed this series with
his two children during the pandemic. His belief is that kindness multiplies easily, because doing good
things feels good to both the doer and the recipient of the kindness. It’s basic math: If one person does
an act of kindness for two people, and those two people go out and do an act of kindness for two more
people, and so on, these multiplying kindnesses will eventually lead to an infinite number of good deeds
done. Being kind and working for good causes, experiencing the “Helper’s High” is not only satisfying
and fulfilling for us, it will ultimately make the world a better place for everyone.
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