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BLACKSBURG, Va., May 8, 2012 – See. Act. Pass. Share. The concept is simple enough. If youobserve an act of kindness, thank the person for actively caring,then pass the wristband and ask the person to pass it on. Thelittle green wristband that was first distributed at Virginia Tech in the fall of 2008 has now made its way all over the globe. Sophia Teie from Washington D.C., a member of Actively Caring for People (AC4P) and a fifth-year student, says a touching moment occurredwhen she handed her mom s friend a green wristband in gratitudefor a feast while traveling in Peru. "What she appreciated most wasthe chance that she could pass it on," Teie recalls. Teie, who is studying psychology and sociology in the College of Science and the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences , credits Virginia Tech's E. Scott Geller, Alumni DistinguishedProfessor at Virginia Tech and director of the Center for AppliedBehavior Systems in the Department of Psychology. "He saved livesfor 40 years that way," she says. "That way" is Geller's coining of the concept of actively caringthrough application of psychology in the workplace to decreasehuman injury, Teie says; instead of punishment, employees arerewarded when they look out for one another. "The movement has spread to multiple universities," says movementcofounder Shane McCarty of Arlington, Va. , a Pamplin College of Business recent grad who s now a Ph.D. student in theindustrial/organizational psychology program in the College ofScience. "Since the website s inception in January, more than7,500 unique visitors from every U.S. state and 73 differentcountries have visited, and they have posted 1,100 actively caringstories." Among the stories resulting from Virginia Tech students' passing ofthe green wristbands: Justin Graves from Fredericksburg, Va. , a senior studying sociology in the College of Liberal Arts andHuman Sciences, is a Hokie Ambassador well known for giving campus tours backwards from his wheelchair. He once handed a green wristband toa Radford student in a parking lot for helping load groceries intohis car. The student's mother learned of the exchange and told hercoworker about it and it turned out the coworker was the motherof Graves' little brother in the Big Brothers Big Sisters programin Blacksburg. "It made me feel happy that such a small story hadtravelled so far because that guy appreciated his wristband,"Graves says. In another coincidence involving an exchange on the Washington,D.C., metro system, a Louisiana State University student whooddly enough had earlier befriended AC4P cofounder McCarty endedup with a green bracelet on her wrist . Her good deed? She had simply smiled at someone who was having areally bad day. Jessica Cea from Fairfax, Va ., a current member of AC4P and a junior studying psychology in theCollege of Science, says that wristbands are now numbered , which makes tracking possible. A Virginia Tech student recentlyreceived wristband #12548 in the mail. It had been sent to him by ayoung car-accident victim, grateful that he had stayed by her sidewhen her legs were pinned, keeping her company until paramedicsarrived. "She said she had a bracelet to give me and wanted myaddress. A little while later I got the bracelet in the mail," thestudent said in a Facebook posting. Your browser does not support iframes. www.vt.edu/ Currently 50,000 numbered wristbands are in circulation, cofounderMcCarty says. That includes wristband #240, which an AppalachianState University student received after helping a man who hadcrashed his dirt bike through a glass window. The man, who required200 stitches, was grateful because the student who came to his aidhelped keep him from bleeding to death. "It's like being a modern-day hero," says Rohan Cobb-Ozanne from Blacksburg , also a member of AC4P and a sophomore studying psychology in theCollege of Science. Cea echoes, "It s a mark that says I activelycare, and it's a daily reminder that you got it for a reason andyou need to pass it on." Popular as the wristbands are, group members want the community toknow that wristbands are only one medium by which the mission iscarried out. At an AC4P meeting on a recent Thursday evening,students discussed lesson plans that could go into a middle school in less than five years the movement has grown to tackling theprominent issue of bullying in schools. The middle school program will deploy Virginia Tech students asmentors. The system will be convenient for teachers, who can maketime for the program without the pressure of an additional task toprepare for their students. The mentors will develop a lesson planthat includes an activity to share with the youngsters. Teie says, "What we didn t expect at the time was that the mentorsthemselves change as a result of participating in the program."Some Virginia Tech students have even changed their career plans,choosing to gravitate toward service-oriented professions, shesays. The movement's foundation ties back to the concept of servingothers embodied in Virginia Tech's motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). "Hokies have a great sense of community," Ceasays. I am an expert from inflatable-advertisingballoon.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Inflatable Helium Balloon , Sport Balloons Manufacturer, Inflatable Lighting Balloon,and more.
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