Blair Ryan finds his Empathy

Blair Ryan met with our staff today to tell us a bit about The Empathy Factory and their vision for empowering children to make the world a better place.  Everyone seemed excited about the prospect of getting Bridgeway's students involved.  I'll blog more as we move the project forward.  What I did want to share today was the story Blair shared about how he started thinking about kids and empathy.

Enjoy!

Rhonda and the Bridgeway team*

About 7 years ago, Blair was a third-year student at Laurier University.  He studied business, played football, and aspired to a future that included fame and fortune. 

Those aspirations changed when he was diagnosed with liver disease and told he would eventually require a liver transplant.  With an 80% success rate (or 20% chance of not being successful), the news prompted Blair to re-evaluate what was important in his life.  A little self-reflection led him to realize that he hadn't really given his time for others.  In fact, he hadn't ever volunteered for anything.  That started him on the road of trying to do good for others.

About five years later, he undertook an experiment to help his fiancee's daughters learn more about the concept of giving.  He promised the girls $10 a week, for ten weeks, but told them they had to use it to help others.  Although he thought the girls, then 8 and 10, would roll their eyes, he was pleasantly surprised when they got really excited about the idea.

One girl decided she wanted to give her first $10 to Haiti, which Blair helped her do.  But when he started talking to her about what she got from the giving experience, he soon realized that she understood little about the cause, the country or even what happened there.  She did know something bad had happened and she wanted to help, but she really didn't know how her gift would be used and wasn't really feeling much of the reward of helping. 

In the following weeks, she chose to give her money to causes that were more closely connected to her.  The experience of seeing how her charitable act was appreciated by others gave her a sense of satisfaction she hadn't experienced in that first week.

The other girl chose instead to save her money and give a full $100 to a special cause in her community.  Both were equally excited about what they had achieved, which left Blair wondering what it was they were really excited about.  He decided it was the act of empathy - putting themselves in someone else's shoes and finding a way to help - that made a difference.

He set about finding a way that kids could tap into that natural sense of empathy, and how he could make it his job.  He found that most of us have the capacity to empathize, but only 18-20% actually use it.

In short, he came up with the concept of The Empathy Factory.  It's now a full-time job.  At each school he works with, he helps run a 6-7 week program that allow students to develop and execute a project of their choosing to help another organiztion, group or cause.  So far, he has worked with 10 schools, and has another 17 coming up this year (so far).  By the end of the year, he'll have helped 4000 kids change the world through their acts of empathy.  Great work Blair!


*A note about the new signoff.  I can't do this blog alone.  Everyone in the Bridgeway family helps with knowledge we share here, and we're all equally invested in the success of kids with learning disabilities, so it only seemed fitting to send out our postings on behalf of everyone.  I hope to share even more of their writings and throughts directly through the blog in the coming year.