Amy Newmark - Chicken Soup for the Soul: Canadian Acts of Kindness: 101 Stories of Caring and Compassion

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Canadian Acts of Kindness

101 Stories of Caring and Compassion

Amy Newmark

Published by Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC www.chickensoup.com

Copyright 2018 by Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

CSS, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and its Logo and Marks are trademarks of Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC.

The publisher gratefully acknowledges the many publishers and individuals who granted Chicken Soup for the Soul permission to reprint the cited material.

Front cover illustration of bears courtesy of iStockphoto.com/Boszorka (Boszorka) Front and back cover illustration of snowy background courtesy of iStockphoto.com/Relentless_one (Relentless_one)

Back cover artwork of Canadian flag heart courtesy of iStockphoto.com/Aquir (Aquir) Interior photo courtesy of iStockphoto.com/VisualCommunications (VisualCommunications)

Photo of Amy Newmark courtesy of Susan Morrow at SwickPix

Cover and Interior by Daniel Zaccari

Distributed to the booktrade by Simon & Schuster. SAN: 200-2442

Publishers Cataloging-In-Publication Data

(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Newmark, Amy, compiler.

Title: Chicken soup for the soul : Canadian acts of kindness : 101 stories of caring and compassion / [compiled by] Amy Newmark.

Other Titles: Canadian acts of kindness : 101 stories of caring and compassion

Description: [Cos Cob, Connecticut] : Chicken Soup for the Soul, LLC, [2018] | Contains stories that were published previously in other Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781611599831 (print) | ISBN 9781611592832 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Canadians--Social life and customs--Literary collections. | Canadians--Social life and customs--Anecdotes. | Canada--Social life and customs--Literary collections. | Canada--Social life and customs--Anecdotes. | Kindness--Canada--Literary collections. | Kindness--Canada--Anecdotes. | LCGFT: Anecdotes.

Classification: LCC F1021.2 .C452 2018 (print) | LCC F1021.2 (ebook) | DDC 971/.07--dc23

Library of Congress Control Number 2018949249

Changing the world one story at a time

www.chickensoup.com

W hats the best way to make yourself feel great? Do an act of kindness for someone! Scientific studies have shown that doing good for others is not only good for the recipient of the kindness, but also for the person who is doing it, making that person measurably happier and healthier.

Of course, Canadians are known around the world for their kindness. But even they need some help in letting that kindness shine through. Sometimes you might not know exactly how to help, or you feel that you might be interfering, so you hold back and you dont do that kind thing you were contemplating.

What I love about this new collection of stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul, just for Canadians, is that these stories show you that its okay to follow that impulse! Youll find stories about every kind of kindness in these pages, from the everyday to the extraordinary. And youll probably come away from this book with some new ideas for ways that you and your family and friends can make a difference in your communities and in your country.

Canada is filled with people who care for and about each other. One of the ways they help each other is through United Way Centraide Canada, which enables volunteers and donors to become champions of generosity in their communities.

In the pages of this book, youll read about how volunteering and giving changes the lives of both the givers and the recipients. In Chapter 1, for example, which is about The Power of Community, Laura Whitman tells us how the city of Halifax came together on the 100th anniversary of the historic explosion in the harbour. Lauras United Way decided they would enlist 500 volunteers to do 100 projects for the community on December 6, 2017. They ended up surpassing those numbers and Laura says it was a citywide display of volunteerism, kindness, gratitude and enthusiasm. When she learned that a businessman named A. H. Whitman had stepped in to help the city right after the explosion 100 years ago, she decided to research whether there was a family connection. Sure enough, Arthur Hanfield Whitman was her husbands cousin.

Canadian kindness comes in many forms, and we made sure to include an ample supply of stories that involve hockey, because this is, after all, Canada! In Chapter 2, which is titled Kindness from a Stranger, Leigh Anne Saxe tells us that it was the Leafs last game in the Maple Leaf Gardens and Leigh Annes whole family wanted to go. But there were five of them, and only four season tickets. So Leigh Anne and her sister were sharing a ticket, until a ticket collector noticed that they kept switching who got to go in and who had to stand outside and wait. He let both girls in. Leigh Anne says, It might have seemed like a little thing to him, easily forgotten, but it made a huge difference to us, and when I think of that night, I still remember what he did for our family.

Ill bet that kindly ticket collector did feel good about his act of kindness. He probably went home with a warm glow in his heart. Because when we reach out and help a stranger, it changes us. Mary Anne Molcan talks about that in Chapter 3, which is called There for Each Other. She was rushing home for Thanksgiving dinner after work when she encountered a young man who had missed his bus. If he waited for the next bus, hed miss his curfew and his bed at the Salvation Army. Mary Anne looked into his eyes, and she says, I saw a person. I saw him. I heard a small voice that quietly said, Hes someones son. She drove him, and as they chatted he learned that she was missing her own Thanksgiving dinner. That made him cry. Mary Anne says that not everyone should offer a ride to a stranger, but this felt right to her, and she says, In finding the strength to allow myself to be a little vulnerable, I opened myself up to a life-changing experience.

Its not all about helping strangers, because, of course, charity starts at home as the saying goes. Julie Winn has a story about that in Chapter 4, The Power of Friendship. She describes living in Toronto, in a neighbourhood that feels more like a village where everyone helps each other. Her neighbor acts as a surrogate grandmother to Julies children, and they in turn do nice things for her, such as shoveling her back stairs. She turns around and delivers homemade cookies the next day. This is how communities are supposed to behave, engaging in that back and forth that makes us all feel like family.

Speaking of family, did you know that Family Day is a uniquely Canadian holiday? In Chapter 5, We Are Family, I was impressed by Heidi Allen, who actually adopted a forty-year-old man with Down syndrome whom she met when she was working at a school for disabled adults. Heidi ended up raising her baby son with his special big brother, and she says, He taught us that family doesnt just exist in the DNA. Family is a feeling. Family is love.

Family includes your pets, and they can get in on the kindness act, too! If you have a dog or a cat, youll love Chapters 6 and 7 of this book Doggone Kind and Purrfect Compassion. Kimberley Campbell tells us about her rescue dog, a retired racing Greyhound that became a therapy dog and visited a ninety-year-old lady in a nursing home. That lady hadnt spoken in at least a year, until Itssy put her head in the ladys lap.