6-year-old help Neighbours beat stress amid pandemic

Callaghan McLaughlin is making his neighbours' laugh with his joke stand amid coronavirus pandemic.

In Saanich, British Columbia, Canada, McLaughlin sets up a lemonade stand around this time of year. Still, because of social distancing guidelines, he and his mother came up with another idea.

Kelsea McLaughlin, 6-year-old's mom, told CNN, "I had to think of something that was going to be contactless and cashless, but also had the same sort of community spirit and social aspect that a lemonade stand has."

These days, every morning, the young boy sets up a stand on his driveway and gives out free jokes for 45 minutes to people who pass by and who need some laughter.

He told CNBC news, "There's a lot of stress in the world, and I kind of want to get some smiles on people's faces."

Callaghan chooses his jokes from the kid's joke book called Laugh Out Loud Jokes For Kids by Rob Elliott, but his mother shares that he's also learned a few new ones from the people who stop by his stand.

Kelsea said, "He usually has a pretty high success rate of a joke returned. He has learned a whole new repertoire."

Most of the people from Callaghan's neighbourhood are elderly, and she said her son's uplifting joke stand has certainly impressed the community.

"I think it helps them to feel a little more connected because they're one of our more isolated community groups," the proud mother said. "It does bring a smile to people's faces. It kind of reminds them of pre-pandemic times and kind of doing something fun."

He recently even got a special shout-out from actor Ryan Reynolds, who called him a "hero" on Twitter.