More Than 1,500 Kind Acts Logged on PSYC Good Deed Day 2026

Group of students collecting books for donation to a local prison

The University of Maryland Department of Psychology (PSYC) hosted its second annual PSYC Good Deed Day on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. More than 1,500 good deeds were added to the PSYC Good Deed Day website's global tracker, and there was ample participation on the University of Maryland campus.

  • Over 80 undergraduate students participated in PSYC's on-site good deed event. This involved assembling 50 care packages for A Wider Circle and creating a canned food drive for the campus pantry. This involved collecting items, writing thank you cards, and crafting. PSYC also had a Good Deed Day assignment station that involved people spinning an urn and, depending on what color ball popped out, doing the good deed the ball indicated they were to complete.
  • The Psi Chi International Honors Society for Psychology held a canned food drive.
  • PSYC Assistant Professor Terrill Taylor's Restoring H.O.P.E. Research Lab held a book drive for DC Books to Prison, and created bookmarks.
  • PSYC Professor and Chair Michael Dougherty's research lab decorated cards to include in Halloween gift bags for kids in Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The bags are being decorated by high schoolers who are part of the national arts honors society. The goodie bags will be delivered closer to Halloween.
  • PSYC Professor Jude Cassidy's Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory wrote a bunch of notes of encouragement with chocolate attached and handed them out to random people.
  • The Resilient Adaptation across Culture and Context (RACC) Lab led by PSYC Assistant Professor Fanita Tyrell wrote affirmations, compliments, and generally positive statements on note cards or sticky notes and left them around the UMD campus.

 

 

Published on Wed, 10/21/2026 - 14:43