CHANNEL 4 PROJECT CHALLENGES TEENAGERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

CHANNEL 4 PROJECT CHALLENGES TEENAGERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

As part of Channel 4’s Battlefront project, 20-year-old Tom Robbins will bring kindness and goodwill to the citizens of the capital when his ‘Do-Gooder Army Good Deed Desk’ opens today in London’s financial hub – the City. Amidst the current financial turmoil and economic uncertainty, Tom’s ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ campaign and his Do-Gooder Army aims to encourage members of the public to perform good deeds and promote consideration across the UK.  From 10:00am the Do-Gooder Army will be carrying shopping, helping with directions or even telling a joke in the hope of putting smile on the faces of some of the UK’s stressed out population.

Community spirit and trust is low.  When asked in a recent survey conducted by National Statistics, 48% of the people said they would rather “go their own way” than help their neighbors who may be in need. This is a shocking statistic and the ‘Random Acts of Kindness’ campaign aims to encourage a more positive approach to the way we treat each other.  Research has proved that it is good for an individual to help others. Researcher in the field of altruism, David G. Meyers, states; “Doing good makes us feel good. Altruism enhances our self-esteem. It gets our eyes off ourselves, makes us less self-preoccupied”. Researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, in collaboration with National Institute on Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging in the USA, have produced evidence that doing good deeds actually makes a part of our brain feel pleasure and concluded that ‘“we feel good, and are rewarded by a dopamine pulse, when doing good deeds