| December 1, 2005 In this issue... A BE NICE Story People Profile Monthly Audio Message Corporate Corner Do Something! Quote of the Month And on BeNiceOrElse.com: Featured Article Doing What You Have to Do – Even When You Don't Want To! Past Newsletters November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 Making your list and checking it twice? Listen to Finalist — Attention "A famous swami once told me years ago that someone who’s nice always gains... Winn Claybaugh is a remarkable guy and one of the best motivational speakers in the country. In this terrific work, he brings you easy-to-use concepts that could bring interesting rewards." |
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Celebration!
 Hi Everyone,Have you noticed that time is speeding up? It seems that kids today at 12 years old know more than we knew at age 25. And the problems that used to come up in our lives in the course of a year now seem to come up in about one week. Yes, this year has been marked with some monumental challenges and heartaches, many caused by weather calamities across the planet. So as we move into the last month of 2005, the message I want to send out loud and clear is to find the gifts of life, give thanks, and celebrate. Learning to celebrate and choosing to focus on what’s working will certainly bring more of the same, because what we choose to focus on starts to grow. Although I certainly will continue my efforts to raise money, awareness, and hope for all the causes that tug at my heartstrings, I also choose to spend this joyous time of the year celebrating—I will celebrate my loved ones, my career, my health, my awareness, and mostly how lucky I am to have been inspired with a message that is so needed and has been so embraced by so many individuals, companies, and organizations—the message of BE NICE. Thanks for helping me live my fantasy of spreading this BE NICE message and giving nice people a voice. XOXO, Winn
A BE NICE Story Do you have a BE NICE story to share? Send it to editor@BeNiceOrElse.com. If it appears in the newsletter, you’ll receive a BE NICE T-shirt and CD! This month’s BE NICE Story comes from Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay It Forward and founder of the Pay It Forward Foundation.  Hi Winn, A little update on our Pay It Forward Foundation: We’re still a small organization—all unpaid volunteers at this point. Even our talented part-time director is working pro bono right now. What we could accomplish if we could afford to have her full time! But more people need to know about what we do. If they did, I think the little individual contributions would increase. And we thrive on small contributions and a percentage of royalties from the book Pay It Forward. So I’d like to introduce ourselves to your readers. The Pay It Forward Foundation serves kids on two levels. We maintain a self-service Web site that allows educators to download all the information they need to generate Pay It Forward projects in their classrooms. Then, as funding allows, they apply for mini-grants—seed money for the kids’ dreams of making a difference. We all want a kinder world, and at the Pay It Forward Foundation we’re big believers in the next generation. What will the world be like if every member of the next generation is introduced to selfless giving? If we allow them to believe they are powerful enough to effect change? Maybe we can’t reach everyone, but we’re determined to reach as many as we can, and we have faith in the Pay It Forward idea and its ability to plant roots and multiply. The people we don’t reach may be reached by those we do. The ripple effect is bound to make a difference. How much of a difference depends on how effectively we spread the word. Your readers can get all the information they need at: www.payitforwardfoundation.org Thanks for all you do, Winn. You help the Kindness Movement grow strong. Much love, Catherine Ryan Hyde People Profile  I’m really excited to profile Helice “Sparky” Bridges and her “Who I Am Makes a Difference” campaign. Helice has spent years teaching people how to celebrate others. I know you will find her story and her mission to be a lovely breath of fresh air. Enjoy!Helice Bridges is a dynamic contributing author to the blockbuster Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, and her articles have been featured in the Los Angeles Times and Women’s World magazine. An invigorating speaker, Helice has addressed over 200,000 people worldwide. She was a keynote speaker at the Environmental Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro along with Vice President Al Gore, the Dalai Lama, and John Denver. She was the keynote speaker for Big Brothers and Big Sisters’ national conference, and she has received recognition for her work in raising self-esteem in children and adults along with Barbara Bush, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Norman Cousins, and Oliver Stone. 
The founder of the nonprofit service organization Difference Makers International, Helice has published her own volume of stories entitled Who I Am Makes a Difference. The book gets its title from an amazing tool she created to bring communities together and ignite the human spirit. That tool is a blue satin ribbon imprinted with the words “Who I Am Makes a Difference,” and it is given by one person to another as part of a simple three-step acknowledgement ceremony. So far, more than 20 million people have been given a ribbon and told that they matter, in eight different languages.For more information, call (800) 887-8422, e-mail ablueribbn@aol.com, or visit www.blueribbons.com. Monthly Audio Message  Known as the First Lady of Acknowledgements, Helice Bridges left a successful real estate career to pursue a mission to bring acknowledgement to the world. While working on the Hunger Project in San Diego, she came to realize that acknowledgement is a basic human need, as important as food, shelter, and clothing to the successful and healthy development of each human being.  This MASTERS interview with Helice Bridges was facilitated by our good friend Susie Fields and is guaranteed to bring kindness to your life and career. Listen in and find out how you can host your own “Who I Am Makes a Difference” campaign.If you enjoyed this month’s audio message, you’ll love our MASTERS Audio Club. CLICK HERE for more information. Corporate Corner Many companies give their employees awards for improving productivity, service, and profits. Bosses give out gold watches for time served or “Employee of the Month” acknowledgements. But if you really want to boost morale, teamwork, and an all-around great feeling at work (listen up . . . this means more profits!), have I got a treat for you: the Character Awards. Of course it’s valuable when the boss acknowledges and celebrates the employees’ successes, but a Character Awards ceremony is about the employees celebrating and acknowledging each other. These awards are not about who had the highest customer service ratings, or who sold the most widgets. They’re about personality, character, heart, love, and the individual person.
CLICK HERE to download a special document and learn how to host a Character Awards ceremony in your workplace. I promise you an experience unlike any other. Your Character Awards ceremony will be an event filled with fun, laughter, tears, hugs, and celebration. Trust me—you’ll be sending me lots of follow-up emails and thank you’s!
Do Something! PAY IT FORWARD This month’s Do Something article comes from our good friend and author of Pay It Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde. You won’t want to miss the heartwarming story of a sixth-grade class and the domino effect they had in their community. Save this one in your BE NICE files—you’ll want to read it again and again! THE WINNER IS:
This is their letter of nomination, submitted by Mary Beth Tang, mother of one of the 35 students:
Mrs. Lisa Burgess’s 6th grade class raised approximately $1,500 in one day—all with the students’ own money—for the family of a handicapped student whose house had burned down. When Mrs. Burgess told the class that the Bamber family had lost their home as well as the family pets in an electrical fire, and that they had no homeowner’s insurance, she suggested to them to take action to help the family. The class brainstormed the idea of donating $1 to $5 each. Instead, on the following day, one boy came to class with his mom and had her write a check from his savings account for all the money he had saved to date: $250!! He said he was waiting to find something special to spend the money on, and this was it. The effect snowballed from there: the next child cleaned out his account of $166, the next brought in $50, some brought in $5, some sought out donations from other classes . . . CLICK HERE to download the rest of the story. Find out how you can help the Pay It Forward Foundation. CLICK HERE Quote of the Month “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
Winn Claybaugh’s Be Nice (Or Else!) The Newsletter! |
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