We’ve all experienced a positive mental boost from doing a good deed, whether it’s opening a door for someone with their hands full, donating time, giving blood, or organizing volunteers to make a bigger impact―it feels great to do something purposeful to help people. Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison knows this feeling well. That’s why in 2007, she initiated the first Good Deeds Day, which has since developed into a global movement for doing good.

This annual tradition started with 7,000 participants in Israel. The event went global in 2011 and began uniting people from Vietnam to Costa Rica, from Australia to Italy, from the U.S. to Kenya, from Moldova to Argentina…and in just 10 years has widened its reach to 93 countries with nearly 2.5 million participants.

EO Costa Rica’s Marcelo Burman (pictured above, on right) is the leader of Latin America’s Good Deeds Day initiative—in 2016, the event was on 2 April. We asked Marcelo to share his experiences.

How did you get involved with Good Deeds Day? 

I first heard about Good Deeds Day in January 2014, just 45 days before that year’s event. We discussed the idea at my company and decided to “sow the seed” of this initiative. To our surprise, we attracted more than 5,000 volunteers working on about 50 different projects.