Perform a Simple Good Deed Every Day
December issue of Reader’s Digest gives you ideas for daily kindness

In our busy and hectic lives, we all have room for daily kindness. In A Good Deed a Day, author Lisa Bendall proves that even when short on time and careful with spending, you can make room for good deeds. She wanted to show her daughter that they could do more for the world around them, so she made a resolution to do a good deed a day for 50 days, which soon influenced friends and family to do the same. From clearing a handicapped-parking spot of shopping carts to bringing flowers to her local nursery home, the deeds became easier to accomplish each day. In addition, her daughter organized a litter cleanup at school, her husband helped an elderly lady after a fall and her father had held up six lanes of traffic while a mother and two ducklings crossed the street. Good deeds were all around, and by the end of the 50 days, Bendall felt more alert to her surroundings and a greater responsibility for taking action. She realized that three quarters of her deeds took less than 15 minutes to complete, and three quarters cost no money at all. She has now established a habit that will continue throughout her life, proving that everyone has it in them to perform a simple good deed every day.

Others do their good deeds in a more obvious way. In Retirement Refuge Reader’s Digest profiles the Fauna Foundation, a haven for traumatized chimpanzees. Located 30 minutes Southeast of Montreal, this non-profit sanctuary was established in 1997 and has been home to 19 chimps since its inception. Providing palliative care for aging and diseased chimps, the Fauna Foundation relies on charitable donations for the $250,000 per year it takes to house and care for the chimps (fruit and vegetables alone cost $1,400 each week). Chimpanzees share 98.7 per cent of our DNA, which means they are a frequent stand-in for humans in scientific research. Yet because they have such reliable long-term memories and a full range of psychological responses, such research is ethically contentious. While this issue polarizes the scientific and animal-rights communities, until proper legislation is formed it must be agreed that if chimpanzees are used for research they must be treated with the same ethical care and dignity as any human child.

Reader’s Digest is a magazine about lives well shared, and these two stories are great examples. “You don’t have to risk your life or go very far out of your way to make a difference in people’s lives – or to make a lasting impression on your kids,” says Editor-in-Chief Robert Goyette. During this holiday season, consider how helping others can change your own outlook on life, plus it’s easy and feels great.

Reader’s Digest is a leading Canadian multi-brand media and marketing company that educates, entertains and inspires, connecting audiences throughout Canada.  It publishes 5 magazines, including Reader’s Digest and Sélection, Canada's most read magazines with 7.8 million readers a month. It has recently launched Best Health, a healthy lifestyle magazine for Canadian women and More of Our Canada, a companion magazine to the very popular Our Canada magazine. It operates 4 branded websites (rd.ca, selection.ca, ourcanada.ca and besthealthmag.ca) along with being a premier publisher of books, music and video products.

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