Local musician Ryan Notely has written and performed a song for the Good4Olds challenge on the Anonymous Good website (anonymousgood.org).
It's called Change The World. The video was performed at Bean Brokers by Cappuccino Bar in Olds Dean Owen.
The video for the song has been posted to the site and was officially unveiled during a concert at Ecole Deer Meadow School this past week.
The town of olds is participating enthusiastically in the site, urging Olds residents to post acts of good.
Since it was developed in the United States Anonymous Good has spread throughout the world. Town chief executive officer Doug Wagstaff says Olds is the first Canadian municipality to become involved.
The goal, as stated by Dot Negropontes, who brought the idea here from the U.S., is to post 5,000 acts of good will by June, 2015.
Users are invited to post good deeds they've done or seen on Anonymous Good's website. Each time they do, sponsors donate 50 cents for each deed.
They can do so by posting them to #Good4_Olds, Alberta, Canada on the Anonymous Good website under the “challenges,” then “recent” menus.
Following are some of the lyrics to Notley's song.
“We may come from different lands, believe in different things,
We only have a world, let's do what it takes;
It won't work itself out without our help.”
“When's the last time you opened up the door to someone you never knew before?
Lend a helping hand to someone in need; never thought once what's in it for me because good comes from the heart and that's the best part.”
“Build a better future for you and me.
A little hard work can go a long way
We can change the world a little day by day
One simple act of kindness can open up your lives.”
“With a simple task at hand it'll change how you feel
With such an impact it'll feel so real
What's it going to hurt? Give it a shot.”
“It's a crazy world outside your door
But if we stand united it would be no more
With the power of people we can change the world.”
At the end of the video, the audience stands together and shouts the Anonymous Good slogan: “do good, feel good, change the world.”
“I thought it was a pretty good first video,” Notley told the Albertan.
He says the last line really gets to him.
“Every time I say it I get chills,” he says.
The video was shot in Bean Brokers.
Video taping began about a month ago.
Notley says the last time he checked it had received a couple of hundred hits.
“It's pretty cool. It kind of escalated pretty quickly,” he says.
The project began in about October when Notley got an email asking if he'd be interested in singing a song for the Olds part of the Anonymous Good site.
“I said I would do it. I wasn't sure what I would sing,” he says.
He checked out all kinds of songs but couldn't find one that felt right, so he decided to write his own song about it.
“I got this crazy idea seven days before (taping) that I would just write one for it,” Notley says. “I had seven days; I wrote it in two.”
He says writing a song was nothing new for him. He figures he's written about 25 songs.
What is different though is that he usually sings country songs. As far as he can recall, this is the first time he's written a song on this topic.
