Dear Chicken Soup for the Soul Writer,

First, we hope you and your family and friends are safe and well. The events of the last weeks have shaken us all to the very roots of who we are and what we believe. It has made us grateful for all of the wonderful friends we have made in the "Chicken Soup family" over the past eight years, and has made us aware of how fragile life and all of our assumptions about it are. We are reminded once again of the importance of our work as writers, editors and speakers—we have the ability to contribute to the healing of the pain, the grief, the fear and the confusion of our readers with the words we write and speak. We feel blessed to have the opportunity to reach so many people with stories of love, courage, heroism, service, compassion, and the overcoming of obstacles.

Over the past few weeks we have received several hundred requests to do a book that addresses this recent tragedy. As a result, we are compiling a book tentatively entitled Chicken Soup for America's Soul: Stories of Heroism, Courage, and Compassion in Our Time of National Tragedy. We believe we can give comfort to America and raise money for the relief funds in New York and Washington DC at the same time. We hope not only to deliver stories that comfort, heal and soothe those in need, we also plan to donate proceeds from the book and help some of the families and loved ones who need financial support.

We are asking for your help too. Do you have a story that you’ve written or one that you’ve read that you think will help your fellow Americans? If so, we would love to add it to our collection for possible inclusion. We invite you to send whatever you feel is appropriate—quotes, poems, stories, essays, touching cartoons and drawings, and e-mails. Together we can ‘Heal Our World One Story at a Time.’

Please send your contributions by e-mail to americasoul@chickensoupforthesoul.com.

With love for all of humanity and many blessings,

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen