What’s next on your adventure of giving?
Author Mary O’Donohue of suburban Westchester is creating an online community of people who share what they’re doing to create a positive “ripple effect.”
“I think of it as a ‘bucket list with a twist,’” O’Donohue says. “The twist is this: A traditional bucket list is about the adventure of living. This list is about the adventure of giving.”
O’Donohue, a former editing supervisor for The Oprah Winfrey Show and the award-winning author of a parenting book, “When You Say `Thank You,’ Mean It,” says her mission is to provide powerful and practical tools to develop extraordinary character from childhood onward.
Ripple effects posted on O’Donohue’s website include ideas such as:
- Donate some time to a writing program for at-risk kids
- At least once a week, I will call someone that I haven’t seen or talked to for a long time, and set a time to visit
- I will organize a book drive at my school and donate them to a women’s prison. It just might help to make a visit with their children more “normal.”
Anything that causes a positive ripple effect, from donating coats to a local homeless shelter, to mentoring an at-risk child in the community, to volunteering time at a local animal shelter—they’re all fair game.
Join in and see the ideas that others are already posting. Only your first name and first initial of your last name is public. Leave a comment on the Ripple Effect page.
