Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Kindness aplenty

A look back, and follow-up, on coronaviru­s good-deed tales

- Associated Press writers Mariam Fam in Winter Park, Fla., Stacey Plaisance in New Orleans, Emily Schmall in New Delhi and Luis Andres Henao in Hershey, Pa., contribute­d to this report.

One Good Thing, each day.

That was the guiding principle when The Associated Press launched this fixture in mid-March.

An act of generosity or self-sacrifice. A whimsical gesture to distract neighbors from anxiety or cabin fever. A helping hand to a person thrown out of a job, support for a patient struggling with covid-19, solidarity with the medical profession­al toiling day and night to save them.

Nearly three months later, there’s been no end to the tales of good deeds we’ve found.

Whitney Rutz began making giant cinnamon rolls in March, initially to amuse herself and later, as they took off online, to raise money for the Oregon

Food Bank.

By now the Portland, Ore., resident has rustled up more than $50,000 in donations and sent out over 100 rolls, most of them to health care and other essential workers. “Some weeks it was overwhelmi­ng,” she says, reached by AP for a follow-up. “Other times it was the most uplifting experience.”

With the nation in ongoing turmoil, including nearly two weeks of outrage and nationwide protests over the police killing of George Floyd, Rutz is looking to use her rolls to support other causes. She’s still working out details, but she’d like to help schoolkids from low-income families: “It has a lot to do with racial inequities. The kids are our future.”

Even “while our country is suffering,” Rutz adds, “I really have started to believe that the world is mostly made of good people.”

Emily Bauman and a friend donated their government-issued pandemic stimulus checks last month to pay for a ” stimulus-serenade ” for health workers. The May 19 performanc­e not only cheered up the New Orleans East Hospital staffers who danced and clapped along, it meant a paid gig for the nine-member New Orleans Jazz Orchestra.

The performanc­e exceeded her expectatio­ns. “From the feedback I got … it seemed like a community formed around the event,” Bauman says today.

Bauman, who lives in New York City, watched the spectacle via live feed that day. She says she was moved the orchestra included a local parade tradition known as a second line, which originated with organizati­ons helping people with illness and loss. Bauman was also gratified to see the story get national attention: “That means that it resonates with communitie­s everywhere, which is what I was hoping.”

In India, which ordered one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, feeding the working poor at a time they couldn’t work was an obvious concern. The Sikh temple Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi rose to the challenge, ramping up a kitchen operation that already fed a half-million people per week to help the growing ranks of the unfortunat­e.

With virus cases spiking in the country even as the lockdown eased the first week in June, the temple has had to adapt to challenges but is still producing millions of meals. It lost some distributi­on partners when charities that lent vehicles reclaimed them for other projects. Email poured in from around the world after the story was published from people wanting to donate: An Australian man sent $100, a Canadian doctor $50. But cash is still tight. The temple has used its dwindling money to hire a fleet of trucks and drivers to keep delivering 100,000 meals a day to some 30 dropoff points where people form long lines holding tin pitchers and bowls to fill and take home. Temple president Manjinder Singh Sirsa says they used their TV channel to appeal for more help, leading to pledges of five more loaned vehicles.

May 22 was the second annual 1-4-3 Day, when Pennsylvan­ians are encouraged to be extra kind to their neighbors. Inspired by the nicest guy in the history of children’s television, the late Mister Rogers, it took on new poignance this year for focusing on first-responders and other essential workers risking their health every day during the pandemic. The 143rd day of the year, its name is a nod to the number of letters in each word of Fred Rogers’ favorite phrase, “I love you.”

A state website asked people to share stories of goodness and has tracked more than 4,900 of them since May 22.

One woman ran 1.43 miles to honor her nurse father. Another baked cookies for frontline workers. A girl left a thank you note in the mailbox for her letter carrier. A food bank in central Pennsylvan­ia delivered meals to a nursing home. Others sang songs about kindness, bought coffee for the person in line behind them and donated blood.

The governor’s office says #143DayInPA was the top Twitter trending topic in the state and went as high as No. 25 nationwide. “I think now … we could all use a little more kindness in our lives,” Philadelph­ia Mayor Jim Kenney says.

“I really have started to believe that the world is mostly made of good people.” — Whitney Rutz

 ?? (File Photo/AP/Manish Swarup) ?? Sikh volunteers take a tea break May 10 in the kitchen hall of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi, India. The Sikh temple ramped up a kitchen operation that already fed a half-million people per week to help the growing ranks of the unfortunat­e.
(File Photo/AP/Manish Swarup) Sikh volunteers take a tea break May 10 in the kitchen hall of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi, India. The Sikh temple ramped up a kitchen operation that already fed a half-million people per week to help the growing ranks of the unfortunat­e.
 ?? (File Photo/AP/Gerald Herbert) ?? Health care workers at New Orleans East Hospital wave handkerchi­efs and dance May 15 to a jazz serenade by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, as a tribute for their care for covid-19 patients, outside the hospital in New Orleans.
(File Photo/AP/Gerald Herbert) Health care workers at New Orleans East Hospital wave handkerchi­efs and dance May 15 to a jazz serenade by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, as a tribute for their care for covid-19 patients, outside the hospital in New Orleans.
 ?? (File Photo/AP/Manish Swarup) ?? Sikh volunteers load prepared food May 10 onto a trolley to be taken out from the kitchen hall of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi, India.
(File Photo/AP/Manish Swarup) Sikh volunteers load prepared food May 10 onto a trolley to be taken out from the kitchen hall of the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara in New Delhi, India.
 ?? (File Photo/AP/Keith Srakocic) ?? The statue of Public Broadcasti­ng Service’s Fred Rogers, the host of children’s program Mister Rogers’ Neighborho­od, is visible May 22 behind the fencing in the closed-off park area where the statue is located, during this year’s “1-4-3 Day” in Pittsburgh.
(File Photo/AP/Keith Srakocic) The statue of Public Broadcasti­ng Service’s Fred Rogers, the host of children’s program Mister Rogers’ Neighborho­od, is visible May 22 behind the fencing in the closed-off park area where the statue is located, during this year’s “1-4-3 Day” in Pittsburgh.
 ?? (Courtesy Photo/ Whitney Rutz) ?? Whitney Rutz
displays a large cinnamon roll before putting it in the oven in her home in Portland, Ore.
(Courtesy Photo/ Whitney Rutz) Whitney Rutz displays a large cinnamon roll before putting it in the oven in her home in Portland, Ore.

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