World Caring Day

The non-profit organisation Caring Bridge has bridged the gap between the attribute of caring and individual human lives who need it most at the right time by sharing their stories. And it is this human tendency that we celebrate on World Caring Day.

World Caring Day was declared in 2022 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of CaringBridge. Source: CaringBridge

Caring is not just about rearing your children or looking after your aged parents or spending your hard-earned money and time in charity, it is also about a simple smile or a wave to a ragpicker or asking your neighbour they are. Sometimes it is also about keeping track of someone’s needs who may not be able to reach out at the right time or in the right way. Many times we forget that a person who is taking care of someone else also needs a strong dose of caring. That is the basic concept of the organisation named Caring Bridge.

The origin of this non-profit organisation takes us back to the story of a mother who gave birth to a baby named Brighid in 1997. The baby was born three months premature and needed a lot of medical attention and care. When the baby’s parents, JoAnn Hardegger and Darrin Swanson, were going through a tumultuous time, their friends and relatives wished to help by staying in touch and asking for regular updates on the baby’s health and progress. For this, the parents sought the help of their college friend Sona Mehring, a software engineer, who created a website through which she could add updates on the baby’s condition so that friends and family could reach out and also provide much-needed support, advice, and emotional strength. The web page received 1000 hits within a week of its publishing.

Sona Mehring with the parents of baby Brighid, who can be seen in the picture frame they hold. Source: CaringBridge

Unfortunately, Brighid could not survive beyond nine days. While the parents were grieving and the purpose of the website had left the mortal world, Sona received a donation to help with the baby’s medical expenses. Realising the potential of the page to bridge the gap between people who need care and the people who needed a proper medium to give back to people, Sona decided to upgrade the page. By December 1997, she had created 50 personalised websites that garnered a total of 4,900 views. She, by then, had renamed her venture to 'CaringBridge'. In the next four years, CaringBridge created 3,800 websites, channelling 372,400 hits.

In 2022, the non-profit organisation, which has grown by leaps and bounds through its mission of caring for human lives, celebrated its silver jubilee by declaring the first World Caring Day.

World Caring Day -2023. Source: National Day Calendar

Their inherent belief, that no one should go through a health journey alone, has bridged the global needs of patients with the contributions of caregivers and donors. So, CaringBridge provides a space where any patient or a friend/relative of a patient who needs a medium to share their story and stay connected with regular updates on the health situation can create a personalised page or website by following some simple steps. This page then connects them to the global network of people who want to lend their support in different forms and means to the patient. The story of World Caring Day may have begun with one life, that of little Brighid, but the trait of caring is as old as the human species itself. And World Caring Day is a celebration of this most fundamental of human tendencies.