The Irish Clown Doctors (found on facebook) look like they're having fun following in the footsteps of the Australian Humor Foundation!! Smile by smile, giggle by giggle they make a difference! How cool is that?!
Here are a few of the published benefits of laughter...
The findings are that humour:
Laughter that is based on caring and empathy also:
Find out more on their website www.clowndoctors.ie and www.humourfoundation.com.au. Read about Project Giggles and how you can become a LaughterBoss too!!
By Christmas Day, a career Santa can name the top 10 toys for girls and boys in a heartbeat. He has sat smiling patiently, swathed in red velvet on his gilded throne, and listened to countless children whisper their innermost desires.
A volunteer hospice Santa hears a different sort of wish list. Sometimes, the children he visits don’t want to talk. Others ask questions no one feels brave enough to answer.
The non-profit national volunteer service organization known as Santa-America has 175 hospice-trained Santas, scattered over more than 40 states, who visit terminally ill children or youngsters who are grieving because of the loss or impending loss of a parent. The Santas are an elite and bearded group from all backgrounds: Some are retired, others work at jobs that range from salesmen to psychologists. Before visiting a home or hospital, they memorize names of family members and pets; they undergo a rigorous background check and receive ongoing instruction in grief, bereavement, symptom management and spirituality.
“First and foremost, you have to remember that these are children, and you have to go in treating them like children,” says John Scheuch, Santa-America’s executive director. “I have visited babies who are only weeks old, and, on Christmas morning, it’s clear that some won’t survive. There are others who are realizing where they are and what is going to happen and they are wrestling with that. I visited a 6-year-old who asked Santa, ‘What is it going to be like when I die?’.......
See http://nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/9201-hospice-santa-volunteers-face-grief-kids-hard-questions for the rest of this moving story!
