There is still goodness in the world

sjleonelucas — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:56:29 +0000

Here’s a company whose actions are totally in line with their mission…Goodwill
Read this short clip about a ballerina that danced her way into their donation pile…”But rather than reel in the big bucks, the management at Goodwill decided to return the ballerina.

“Once we learned of the value and history of the ballerina and that the ballerina came from a large corporation that has gone through several ownership changes over the years, we suspected that the owner did not have a clue of the value of the statue,” Dennis Pastrana, President and CEO of Goodwill, said. Goodwill then advised a representative of the owner, who was pleasantly surprised that Goodwill contacted them.

“We have a reputation for integrity and honesty. And while we could have kept the statue, in good conscience we knew that it would have been wrong and unethical to attempt to sell such a valuable piece of art without notifying the donor first.”
Go here to see the whole article…http://cbs4.com/watercooler/goodwill.miami.ballerina.2.1172567.html

More firms need to model themself after this kind of business/entity behavior.

A+++ for Dr. Gupta

sjleonelucas — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:29:28 +0000

Dr. Gupta gets an A plus, plus, plus for attempting to get the facts straight and to quell some of the fear that is running rampant in the media about Swine Flu. See his article here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/09/01/parents.h1n1.flu.guide.gupta/index.html

Straight forward approach from Dr. Gupta heading into ER’s and getting pediatric ER docs opinions and advice. He came at the story as a parent himself. This coverage was refreshing to me from two vantage points. One, my training and career covers all things communication (it’s nice to see our profession get it right every once in a while.) Two, my nephew just recently had swine flue and he is doing fine now. In fact, he did fine thru it. He told me it was “just coughing and sneezing Auntie, like the regular flu. I am okay.”

So nice to observe a media story that actually is kind, helpful, and can impact a lot of people positively. Thanks Dr. Gupta.

Not Running Over the Hose

sjleonelucas — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:15:50 +0000

May seem like a small gesture; but, it had considerable and conscious thought behind it. I did not run over the hose in the 7-eleven parking lot. A certain 7-eleven employee was trying to tidy up the parking lot with a super industrial hose. The hose was spilling over into my parking slip as I careened into the lot. I pulled up far enough to keep the tail end of the monster SUV out of harm’s way; yet, not far enough into the slip to squish and paralyze the hose. You may be thinking, this is stupid- blabbering about a hose. You could be right. I tend to think not, as a huge lesson played out in the wet asphalt jungle of 7-eleven for my two young impressionable sons. Here’s how the rest of this RAK (Random Act of Kindness) plays out.

After spending considerable time positioning my vehicle so as to not be on the hose I enter said 7-eleven. Shop for some on the go snacks for the boys because the older son needed some substance to help hold down his medicine for a really irritating case of poison ivy. I bring copious amounts of peanut butter to the boys to hear the following exchange. “Mom, good thing you didn’t park on the hose. See the guy who pulled in next to us- he and his car got hosed down by the angry 7-eleven man trying to clean the parking lot – we think his window was open too!” A random act of kindness gives and receives (we stayed dry- our windows were down too.)