Do One Nice Thing: Little Things You Can Do to Make the World a Lot Nicer

A few years ago, Debbie Tenzer was feeling overwhelmed by all the crises in the news. But rather than give in to despair, she thought, Maybe I can’t solve our big problems, but I know I can do something. She realized that helping doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive or time-consuming. You can help simply by doing one nice thing. So that’s what she vowed to do, one day a week. Not every day–she says she’s not that nice–but once a week was a promise she could keep.

So she started a website, DoOneNiceThing.com, and each week she posted an easy way to help people around town or across the globe. Good news traveled fast, and now Debbie is the leader of a worldwide kindness movement with fellow Nice-o-holics in ninety countries. They’ve sent . . .

• cans of food to food banks and schools
• notebooks to soldiers who will give them to Afghan children
• gifts to foster children whose birthdays are overlooked
• and much more

Do One Nice Thing has many new, easy ideas for small deeds that anyone can do (and includes explicit information on how exactly to execute the ideas, so you don’t have to go digging for information or resources). There’s even a chapter of nice things you can do in minutes without leaving your desk.

Join Debbie and her army of Nice-o-holics, and give the world some help–and some hope. Best of all, the more help you give, the more hopeful you’ll feel. And before you know it, you won’t be able to stop.

Deborah Bigelow - Library Journal

This uplifting compilation presents 100-plus ideas for doing good works on a tight schedule. Tenzer, founder of DoOneNiceThing.com, bases chapters on the recipients of the good deeds, such as children and the planet; her suggestions include donating used sports equipment to Big Brothers/Big Sisters and sending a gas/gift card to a wounded service member. Public service has become a hot topic because of President Obama's vow to increase funding for AmeriCorps, so this book has a potentially huge audience.