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Pure Kindness Pays

by Diane Berenbaum, Senior Vice President, Communico Ltd. - March 25, 2013

Pure Kindness Pays
 By Diane Berenbaum


In a world that is being reshaped by the relentless advance of technology, what stands out are acts of compassion and connection that remind us what it means to be human."
Bill Taylor,
cofounder of Fast Company magazine

Suzanne Fortier, of Panera Bread, touched a young man, his mother, grandmother and over 800,000 people with one such unselfish act. In August 2012, Brandon Cook, an 11 year old from Wilton, NH, was visiting his grandmother. She was in the hospital, dying from cancer. She told her grandson that she wanted soup; not just any soup, but clam chowder in a bread bowl from Panera, her favorite.

Determined to fulfill her wish, he called the local Panera Bread on Amherst Street and discovered that they only sold the seasonal chowder on Fridays. He asked to speak to a manager and was connected to Suzanne Fortier. After hearing Brandon’s story, Sue didn’t hesitate. She said, “Absolutely, we can do that,” and immediately went to work. “It wasn’t that huge,” Sue insisted. “I said whatever you need, whenever you need it; just keep me posted during the day.”

It was a very big deal to Brandon. He posted the story on Facebook and noted, "She not only got me the soup, she gave it to me, no charge. And she threw in a box of cookies.” It meant a lot to his grandmother too. He wrote, “I really want to thank Sue and the rest of the staff from Panera in Nashua, NH just for making my grandmother happy.”

Brandon’s mother, Gail, was so touched that she shared Brandon’s post on Panera Bread’s Facebook page. Since then, the post has gone viral. And this act of kindness has touched hundreds of thousands of people around the world. It highlights that you can’t fake or pretend kindness; it comes from the heart.

Pure kindness pays off. We’ve heard for years that helping others is good for the soul. It turns out that it is also good for your emotional and physical health, according to Allan Luks, former executive director of the Institute for the Advancement of Health. He studied kindness and shared the following results in his book, The Healing Power of Doing Good: The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others:

· Helping others contributes to the maintenance of good health, and it can diminish the effect of diseases. Plus, the benefits return for hours or even days whenever the helping act is remembered.

· Stress-related health problems improve after performing kind acts.

· It can enhance our feelings of joyfulness, emotional resilience, and vigor.

· An increased sense of self-worth, greater happiness, and optimism, as well as a decrease in feelings of helplessness and depression, is achieved.

Being kind is a way to make our own lives, and the lives of others, more meaningful. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Diane Berenbaum is Senior Vice President of Communico Ltd (www.communicoltd.com). She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a consultant, coach, and facilitator. Diane is the co-author of How to Talk to Customers: Create a Great Impression Every Time with MAGIC®. She can be reached at 203-226-7117 or diane.berenbaum@communicoltd.com.



 
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