Actively Caring For People is the product of many people who actively care everyday.
Dr. E. Scott Geller, Founder of Actively Caring for People, and co-owner of Safety Performance Solutions, is a faculty member of Virginia Tech’s Department of Psychology where he has taught and conducted applied/experimental research for more than three decades. In this capacity, he has authored more than 300 research articles and over 50 books or chapters addressing the development and evaluation of behavior-change interventions to improve quality of life. Dr. Geller has been honored with all three university-wide teaching awards at Virginia Tech, and is a widely sought-after speaker at safety and industrial conferences, such as ASSE, NSC, and VPPPA. He has addressed audiences throughout the world including Africa, Asia, Australia. He recently received the Gold Medal for Life Achievement by a Psychologist in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Association. For years, Actively Caring was used in the field of safety, but now it’s a movement spreading across the world to increase caring behavior!

The Movement

In the fall of 2008, five individuals approached Dr. Geller about creating a culture shift at Virginia Tech and beyond. David, Vince, Joey, Brandon, and Shane purchased 2,000 green “Actively Carting 4 People” wristbands that could be used as a way of “paying-it forward.” When students witness someone else being kind, they are encouraged to thank the person for this kindness, offer him or her their green AC wristband, and ask the person to “pay it forward” when next he or she witnesses an act of kindness. A wristband has the potential to connect us all through acts of kindness and create a more compassionate world.

Click for more information on the movement.

Actively Caring Leaders

Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA): Shane McCarty (smac@vt.edu), Brandon Carroll, Vince Mirabella, Joey Zakutney, David Dorsett, Hunter Bradshaw, Joanne Dean

• Student Government Association
• Center for Applied Behavior Systems

Ohio State University (Columbus, Ohio): Taris Mullins, tgmulli5@vt.edu

Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, Louisiana): Aly Neel, aneel1@tigers.lsu.edu

Lane Community College (Eugene, OR):  Cindy Manning

Contact a local leader to join the movement or bring AC4P to your school, town, city, or country by emailing us at: activelycaring4people@gmail.com

Caring News

A group of Virginia Tech students initiated a movement with the mission “to change the world with small intentional acts of kindness.” They handed out green “actively caring” wristbands as symbols that students were “empowered to actively care by doing an act of kindness for someone else.” When students witness someone else being kind, they are encouraged to thank the person for this kindness, offer him or her their wristband, and ask the person to “pay it forward” when next he or she witnesses an act of kindness. I encourage you to read some of the student stories that are documented at www.Activelycaring4people.org. These actively caring students have discovered the real meaning of civility—that is, as Stephen Carter suggests, “the set of sacrifices we make for the sake of our commonOur humanity calls on higher education to face tragedy head-on in order to make the world more humane or even, perhaps, less tragic journey with others, and out of love and respect for the very idea that there are others” (p. 23).

When Good People Happen to Bad Things, an article by Dr. Frank Shushok, Jr

On a collegiate level, Geller and the center, along with members of the Student Government Association, have passed out more than 7,000 green “Actively Caring For People” wristbands on this campus as a way of recognizing individuals, who perform acts of caring. Similar to the elementary school students, Hokies are looking for others to do kind acts. When someone is caught doing a good deed, he receives a green wristband as a token of appreciation. Then he is encouraged to pass it on to someone else that is seen doing a kind act. This wristband serves as a tangible object that represents caring and connectedness.

Society Needs a More Actively Caring Culture At All Levels, a letter to the editor by Shane McCarty