Good News About...People
Birth mother's life 'complete' upon reunion with Missouri man
(Jeff Goodman, Bakersfield Californian) The lounge area in the back of an Oildale hair salon is filled with cheerful conversation. A mother and her sons laugh and share stories, reminiscing about their pasts. It's Thursday morning, and they're all excited for the weekend. They'll cook barbecue dinners and catch a baseball game at Dodger Stadium, talking and joking, all the while enjoying each other's company. Vicki Ruddick Coble, a longtime stylist at Hair North, takes a can of Dr Pepper from the fridge. Her younger son, Allan Coble, places his coffee mug on the table. Kyle Carter, a 28-year-old who lives in Missouri, holds a bottle of Diet Mountain Dew. Each one's beverage preference is important to the others because it signifies a chemistry, a tangible familiarity, between them.
Nephew gives aunt a precious gift -- a kidney
(Cammy Clark, Miami Herald) Mary Kaklamanakis was deteriorating rapidly last year from end stage renal disease when her 24-year-old nephew Anthony Miaoulis surprised her with an offer of a precious gift: his kidney. When they learned of the transplant surgery's date -- July 14 -- both were awestruck. It was the seventh anniversary of the death of George Miaoulis, Anthony's father and Mary's brother. He had died from kidney failure. "I feel as if my brother was watching us and taking care of us," said Kaklamanakis, 56, from her 15th-floor room at Jackson Memorial Hospital where she was recovering on Tuesday.
Father, long-lost son reunite through Facebook
(Mary Schmich, Chicago Tribune) Shortly before Father's Day this year, Joe Monti was sitting at his living-room computer in St. Louis —- dinner done, the TV on — when he noticed that a stranger wanted to add him as a friend on Facebook. There was no message. He peered at the picture. The birth date. Holy cow. At that moment, near Chicago, another man named Joe — Joe Dus — was waiting for the answer to his friend request. Dus was adopted 30 years ago, at the age of 9, after two years in foster care. He had grown into an adult knowing nothing about his birth parents beyond their last name and that they were from St. Louis.
Texas teen raises $1 million for hospital
(Jamie Stengle, AP) Ben Sater had vowed that before he went off to college, he would raise $1 million for the Dallas children's hospital where he had received free treatments as a child. After eight years' worth of fundraising golf tournaments for kids, the soon-to-be Austin College freshman has reached the goal, with nearly $19,000 to spare. Organizers announced Monday that they've raised $1,018,842 for Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, an orthopedic center that treats patients free of charge. "We got it," the now 18-year-old told the group of kids gathered in McKinney on Monday for the second KidSwing tournament of the summer.
Visually impaired Alaska children learn at special sports camp
(Kaylin Bettinger, Anchorage Daily News) A grade school kid with a bow and arrow might be a little scary. Now imagine 25 of them, children and teenagers with bows and arrows, almost all of them legally blind. Nervous? Don't be. At Camp Abilities, a four-day summer program for blind children last week, nobody got hurt unless you count cramps from laughing too much. The kids, meeting in the bunker at Anchorage's Kincaid Park, were supervised by a bevy of volunteers. The aim of the camp was to give visually impaired children, from 9 to 19 years old, a chance to participate in sports, like archery, where they are often left out.
Man attacked in park responds with faith
(Shelia M. Poole, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Joshua Noblitt refuses to give in to the fear and anger he's felt since he and a friend were attacked and robbed at gunpoint in Piedmont Park earlier this month. A United Methodist minister, the Atlanta man is relying heavily on faith, which he says has helped him "move on in a healing way." And that includes concern for the young men whom he said attacked him. Noblitt, who works at the federal defender's office, said his job often brings him in contact with young people in the criminal justice system. He thinks about what brought them to the point where they would attack someone, and worries about their salvation. He's also thought more about the word "forgiveness" and what it really means.
Blind violinist struggles to rebuild Haiti in his own way
(Trenton Daniel, Miami Herald) Standing at the edge of a 10-acre stretch of dusty green fields on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, the blind Juilliard-trained violinist could almost hear the music. Soaring symphonies, beginners' scales, the sounds of hope. Antoine Romel Joseph, who was pinned for 18 hours under rubble from the January earthquake that upended Haiti, has plans for the land. He wants to build a world-class performing arts center for concerts, lessons and recitals. From the ruins of a country, he hopes to create a thing of beauty -- and a "second life" for himself.
The secrets of a 72-year marriage from the 'Original Grandparents'
(Stephanie Chen, CNN) Harry and Barbara Cooper are telling everyone how their marriage has lasted seven decades. On the day of their 72nd wedding anniversary, they leaned toward each other, hands tenderly clasped, as they peered into the camera. 'It's a give-and-take situation," said Harry, as Barbara, giggled. "I give, and she takes." This is an unconventional showcase for any elderly couple in their retirement home, but a typical day for two of the oldest bloggers in Los Angeles, California. Harry recently turned 98. Barbara is 93. The Coopers rely on their granddaughters to videotape their chat, which is later posted on their blog, "The OGs" (short for Original Grandparents).
Back-to-back surprises for wounded Conroe Marine
(Lindsay Wise, Houston Chronicle) Retired Marine Sgt. Eddie Wright deftly maneuvered the metal pinchers that serve as fingers on his prosthetic arm to pick up a blue box holding a diamond solitaire. Then the 34-year-old veteran, who lost both arms in Iraq, knelt down in front of his girlfriend and 150 other people and asked her to marry him. A tearful Cody Fife said yes and hugged him. The emotional moment followed another memorable scene: Wright surprised his girlfriend at the end of a ceremony during which former Vice President Dan Quayle presented Wright with the keys to a $300,000, fully furnished four-bedroom house in Conroe on Monday.
Ernestine Shepherd: Learn How This Grandmother Went From Flab to Fab
(ABC News) At 74, Baltimore grandmother Ernestine Shepherd is the Guinness World Records' oldest female bodybuilder. But less than 20 years ago, she was a pudgy, middle-aged woman who hated what she saw in the dressing room mirror as she tried on swimsuit after swimsuit. "I was too prissy to exercise," she said. "I just didn't want to have my hair messed up. Didn't want my fingernails broken." That all changed when Shepherd decided her health trumped all and hit the gym.
Record-breaking pilot takes to the skies for diabetes
(John Irish, Reuters) A former Royal Air Force pilot with diabetes is preparing to break another record by touching down in all 50 U.S. states and show that the disease is no obstacle for enthusiasts who dream of flying. London-based Douglas Cairns starts his journey of 9,000 miles on Sunday with a first leg from Hawaii, crossing the Pacific Ocean to Los Angeles. From there he aims to land in all 48 mainland states before finishing in Alaska. "One of the main aims of this is to highlight what you can do with diabetes when it comes to flying," Cairns told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Earthquake victim helps Haitian recovery effort
(Rosemary Shinohara, Anchorage Daily News) Twenty-five-year-old Christa Brelsford, who grew up in Anchorage, was in Haiti on a two-week volunteer trip when the earthquake that injured and killed hundreds of thousands of people struck on Jan. 12. Concrete slabs crushed her right leg. Her rescue is a story of compassionate acts by one person after another. Now that she is walking, ice climbing and generally adapting well to a prosthetic leg, Christa and her family are determined to help the villages and people who came through for her, in what dad, Taylor Brelsford, describes as "the darkest moments a parent can imagine."
Five-year survivor is reborn a runner
(Virginia Gullo, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) When I was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, a friend and I participated in the 2.5-mile walk that was part of the Breast Cancer Coalition's 5K Pink Ribbon Run. It was a great walk, but I found myself looking at those women runners, runners wearing scarves indicating they were cancer survivors. Thoughts of becoming one of those women popped in my mind. But those thoughts were quickly replaced with reality. I had never been a runner. I hated running.
Teen tackles 'bucket list' with smiles
(Peggy, O'Hare, Houston Chronicle) In the past five months, Fort Bend County teenager Carly Davis has been a wild horseback rider in the sand dunes of Utah, a ukulele player in Hawaii and a world traveler exploring the Louvre Museum in Paris and seeing Phantom of the Opera in London. Tonight she will meet singer Carrie Underwood at a concert, and next week she will fly down to Guatemala. When Davis, 17, is embarking on these adventures — or just enjoying the company of her family and friends - her mind is far away from the terminal cancer invading her body. Generous donations - more coming from strangers than people she knows personally - have enabled her to tackle her "bucket list."
Postal Worker Retires At 95, Onion Sandwich In Hand
(NPR) After 37 years on the job, and 95 years on the planet, the nation's oldest postal worker has punched the time clock for the last time. Chester Reed retired Wednesday with 3,856 hours of sick leave; this mail handler and forklift operator had never called in sick, not a single day. And his key to longevity? "One thing I do eat a lot of is garlic and onion sandwiches," he tells NPR's Michele Norris. "You say, well, what's an onion sandwich? You take two slices of bread, you put a lot of mayonnaise on both slices of bread, cut a great big slice of onion, and put it in between. It doesn't make a difference if it's a hot or sweet onion, but the vinegar in the mayonnaise will counteract the heat in the onion, and you won't have a hot onion. So you take a sandwich, and you eat it, and they're very healthful."
Tim Medvetz and the Heroes Project
(Bob Woodruff, Enjoli Francis, Susie Banikarim and Jim Hill, ABC News) Matt Nyman was told he'd never walk again. He was a sergeant first class in the Army in Iraq in 2005 when he lost his right leg and his left foot was crushed in combat. "I was missing my leg and my back was damaged. I had a collapsed lung and a bad bruising on the other one, on my chest. I had a compound femur fracture, which damaged the peripheral nerves to my left foot. And my foot was crushed," said Nyman, of North Carolina, and now retired. But Nyman has found inspiration and support from an unlikely source: Tim Medvetz, 40, a former nightclub bouncer from Los Angeles who once rode with the Hell's Angels.
Meet the man who gave up his face to save his life
(Rebecca Dube, TodayShow.com) Donnie Fritts had to make a terrible choice: his face or his life. That's what doctors told him after he was diagnosed with an extremely rare, aggressive cancer called ameloblastic carcinoma that attacks facial tissue and bones. His only hope to survive was an extreme surgery that would remove his nose, upper lip and palate, part of his forehead and part of his brain. "He could live without a face, or he could die with his face on," Sharon Fritts, Donnie's wife, told TODAY’s Ann Curry Thursday. Donnie chose life, but survival came with a heavy price. The 12-hour surgery at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta successfully removed his tumors — and left him with a gaping hole in the middle of his face.
Homeless Brooklyn teen proudly graduates from High School for Civil Rights
(Meredith Kolodner, New York Daily News) A Brooklyn teen who wasn't allowed to take a final exam because she is homeless finally got her diploma Monday. "We did it! We did it!" Rosa Bracero said at the High School for Civil Rights, her face buried in her mom's shoulder. "No, baby," her mom answered. "You did it." The 18-year-old could not take her English Regents exam in February because she was forced to sit through a grueling homeless shelter intake process. The Department of Homeless Services made her stay for seven hours - or else her entire family would not get housing. Bracero's school allowed her to take the exam three days later, but state Education Department officials refused to score it, citing regulations meant to prevent cheating. After the Daily News wrote about her plight, Bracero helped change city policy for others.
Lost ring returned to owner in Richardson after 33 years
(Michael E. Young, Dallas Morning News) After 33 years, Maureen Gresham's quest for her long-lost college ring finally came full circle. The Class of 1976 ring from Virginia's Longwood College was absolutely special to Gresham – then Maureen Hamann. Hers was the last class to graduate from the all-female Longwood, which went co-ed the next year. And when the school changed, the ring changed, too, so Gresham's was one of the last of its kind. And then she lost it.
Two war heroes forge bond fighting hate
(David Whiting, Orange County Register) Black military beret cocked slightly, an array of ribbons across his dress blues, the chief warrant officer pushes a wheelchair through the garden at the Long Beach V.A. Hospital. The man in the chair chatters amiably as they pass pink, purple and yellow flowers, the sun's rays filtering through overhanging trees. The officer nods, offering a comment. It's a moment of peace. But there is something about the men that hints at much more, a bond forged from shared horrors – and the shared knowledge that, sometimes, forgiveness is the only thing that allows us to survive. The man in the wheelchair is Tibor Rubin, 81, Nazi concentration camp survivor, Korean War Medal of Honor recipient, former POW and – in times of peace – Garden Grove resident affectionately known as "the Jewish Santa Claus." The man pushing the chair is Chief Warrant Officer Robert McCune, 58, survivor of racism, decorated warrior and – in times of peace and war – someone often mistaken for actor Lou Gossett Jr.
School nurse goes extra mile for kids
(Richard Skinner, Cincinnati Enquirer) As a nurse at Mount Airy Elementary School the past three years, Amy Kolbinsky could empathize with parents who were between a rock and a hard place in life, because she was once there herself. Kolbinsky dropped out of high school at age 15 when she became pregnant with twins. She eventually was able to get her GED, two nursing degrees and a bachelor's degree. Her past helped her understand the challenges of the families she worked with at a school in which 85 percent of the students live in poverty.
After 68 years, William Scanlan graduates from Tilden in school's last senior class
(Ben Chapman, New York Daily News) It's a fitting end for a Brooklyn high school. Tilden High School graduates its final class of seniors today - and among them is a retired grocer who dropped out of the East Flatbush school in 1942 to serve his country in World War II. "Better late than never," said William Scanlan, 82, an Army vet who lived in Brooklyn for half a century and now resides in Staten Island with his wife of 56 years, Laura. Scanlan is finally receiving his degree under a state law which automatically grants diplomas to veterans who left school in wartime and served in the armed forces.
Special needs, special gym for autistic kids
(Linda Shrieves, Orlando Sentinel) Dominic Roumeliotis is obsessed with rain. He pesters his mom every day, wanting to know if it's going to rain. Dominic, who is autistic, is frightened by the loud claps of thunder and the flashing of lightning. But despite his obsession — and fears of thunderstorms — Dominic is always ready to head to an Ocoee, Fla., gym on Tuesday nights. There, he can play basketball, chase other kids, play tag and scoot around on the gym floor. And no matter how loud he gets, or if he has a meltdown, this is one place where no one will stare at him. Or point at him. Or ask his parents what's wrong with him. And that, says his mom, Lauri, is the beauty of the program that Jo-Anne Houwers built.
Hospital Volunteer Unites Parents And Newborns
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) "Open your eyes so Mama could see you," Amanda Cobos says playfully to her sleeping infant daughter. Isabella, born seven weeks early, is in the intensive care unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose. But Amanda lives in Los Banos, an hour and a half away. "These are her first little moments, little things of her life and not being able to be here all the time can be overwhelming," Amanda explains. But thanks to Sue Shoff, Amanda gets gas vouchers so she can drive to see Isabella several times a week. Otherwise, she could not afford to visit. "I can't thank her enough," Amanda says.
Act of kindness turns bad Monday around
(Byron Williams, San Jose Mercury News) Recently, I had one of those Mondays. You know the type of Monday where everything that can go wrong does in an extremely short amount of time. If I possessed a modicum of clairvoyance, I would have called it a day, stayed in bed and watched a series of my favorite classic movies. My day began with the realization that there was a problem with my computer's host server, which meant my website was down and I had no access to my primary e-mail account. This alone caused sheer panic. My imagination began running wild. What if I had won the Pulitzer Prize?
Alum Rock in Birmingham has a heartwarming lesson for us all
(Hugh Muir, The Guardian) Denis Rose, a wiry 73-year-old white Englishman is reminiscing. He has done a few things in his time. Worked until retirement as a warehouse supervisor. Trained local lads to play football. Takes people as he finds them, does Denis. Take your hat off to him. It hasn't always been easy. He lives in Alum Rock, Birmingham; and in his time, Alum Rock has changed beyond all recognition. Once it was home to Irish Catholics. Now it is 80% Muslim. it isn't a no-go area for white people as some have claimed, but there's a lot that's unfamiliar to Denis; enough to make this a gloomy encounter. But it isn't.
Returning troops savor joys of face-to-face fatherhood
(David J. Neal, Miami Herald) Sometimes, Sgt. Chad Martens gets a reminder that he and infant son Caden still are working through the getting-to-know-you stage. "Today when he woke up, I don't think he had any idea who I was," Martens said. Martens no longer is a voice through a toy or face on a computer, the equivalent of an international Elmo. For returning troops like him, who became first-time parents just before -- or after -- leaving for Iraq, that may be the best Father's Day gift: Getting to be a dad face to face.
Austin's Zach Anner becomes Internet star with Oprah tryout
(Dale Roe, Austin American-Statesman) Internet celebrity has yet to transform Austin's Zach Anner into a diva. "I hope not," he joked as we chatted on the phone last week. "I do wear a lot of sparkly dresses, though, so I don't know what that qualifies me as." Jokes aside, it's easy to imagine the charismatic, 25-year-old Anner with an entourage — and it's not even hard to picture him with a congregation. Anner, a former University of Texas student and filmmaker who has cerebral palsy ("the sexiest of the palsies," he says) has, practically overnight, become an Internet phenomenon — as a result of a video he entered in a bid to win his own talk show on OWN, Oprah Winfrey's upcoming cable network.
As foster parent, Dallas dad finds fulfillment - and adds to family
(Neena Satija, Dallas Morning News) As families honor dads everywhere, Arthur Williams is constantly reminded that every day is Father's Day. He lives in a cottage on the grounds of an East Dallas children's home, where he and his wife, Vanessa, have served as foster parents for nine kids. On top of that, the couple adopted four children before moving to Buckner Children's Home two years ago. They added to the pack earlier this year by adopting one of the children they were fostering, 4-year-old Jeremiah Silva. And Williams has four grown children from his first marriage.
Queens man is halfway home - and gaining 34 miles a day - on cross-country run from L.A. for charity
(Leigh Remizowski, New York Daily News) Running a marathon is a once-in-a-lifetime feat for many people. For retired Flushing businessman Yi-joo Kwon, it has become a daily routine. Kwon, much like Forrest Gump of movie fame, has been running an average of 34 miles a day - eight more than a marathon - for the past 56 days. The 64-year-old whizzed past the 1,600-mile halfway mark in his coast-to-coast run on May 8, about a week ahead of schedule. He has not skipped a day since setting off from Los Angeles on March 23.
World Hope Day
(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) Ten-year-old Brianna Gardiner has a dream. Last year, she came up with the idea for a worldwide day of hope where people could come together to hope and pray. She’s now on her way to seeing her dream manifested this Monday, June 21st, as the inaugural World Hope Day is launched. It started with an idea, and then a letter to Congress that never got mailed. Brianna’s mom discovered the letter one day while cleaning up Brianna’s room, and found that it gave her hope. So work began to bring the idea to fruition.
Harvard-bound teen fulfills family's "dream"
(Jorge Barrientos, Bakersfield Californian) How does it feel to be the only Kern County high school graduate confirmed to be enrolled into Harvard University? Joe Feghali answers the question with a word only an Ivy Leaguer would use. "I'm incredulous." The standout Stockdale High School valedictorian in August will start at Harvard, whose admittance level is among the lowest in the nation -- only 7 percent of the more than 30,000 students who applied are admitted.
Real heroes, such as subway savior Wesley Autrey, don't do it for the glory
(Michael Daly, New York Daily News) After he risked horrific death by leaping onto the subway tracks to save a total stranger, Wesley Autrey began just to amble off without giving his name. "He was just walking away," recalls a fire lieutenant who was on the scene that day in 2007. "He was looking for nothing." One of the cops who had responded to the W. 135th St. subway station then called out. "Hey, you ain't going nowhere! Come here." By the time the cop had taken down Autrey's name and particulars for the paperwork, the press began to arrive. Autrey was soon world-famous.
Vietnamese orphans find family in land they fled 35 years ago
(Sam Hodges, Dallas Morning News) Ty Cope, born Thang Nguyen, stood Thursday in an un-air-conditioned hotel lobby in this picturesque but sweltering coastal city. He leaned into his cellphone. "I am inquiring to find out," the Baptist pastor from College Station said, "if you are my father." Confusion ensued, and Cope handed the phone to Thomas Ho of Mesquite, a fellow Vietnamese-American who still speaks Vietnamese. Thirty-five years ago, Ho and Cope left South Vietnam with the entire Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage, a war-forced evacuation that would bring them all, improbably, to Buckner Children's Home in Dallas.
Australian 'angel' saves lives at suicide spot
(Kristen Gelineau, AP) In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. "Why don't you come and have a cup of tea?" the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation. For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia's most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, the man widely regarded as a guardian angel has shepherded countless people away from the edge.
How to Live: Follow Your Heart, Risk Be Damned
(CBS News) As the college class of 2010 heads out into the world, take a moment to hear the advice of our contributor Ben Stein: It is graduation time for you young people. That means time to make some decisions and take some action about your lives. I would like to offer you some deep thoughts at this season. A few days ago, I asked my shrink, a super-smart guy, how he would generally divide up the people who were happy in life from those who were not. He answered like a shot.
Girl raises thousands of dollars for Gulf birds
(MSNBC.com) Olivia Bouler doesn’t have time for anything else these days except to draw and paint. But that’s OK for the artistic fifth-grader, because everything she does is for the birds. The Islip, N.Y., girl, who turns 11 on Friday, has raised an estimated $80,000 by sending her sketches and paintings of birds to people who donate to organizations helping with relief efforts in the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster.
Traumatic wreck sends a young woman in pursuit of her dreams
(Paul LaTour, Chicago Tribune) The photographs were taken a few hours apart on June 30, 2002. The first one shows the promise of two young lives. In it, 19-year-old Megan Fisher stands in front of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. Her best friend, Sara Jackson, drapes her left arm over Fisher's shoulders. They both smile against the bright sunlight, their shadows stretching in front of them. The next shows the devastation of that promise. In it, an overturned Toyota RAV4 lies in the ditch along Interstate Highway 90 west of the Corn Palace, the vehicle's belongings strewn about.
Little boy’s wish: build a castle
(Janine Zúñiga, San Diego Union-Tribune) Maybe it was a dream that could come true only in Imperial Beach, involving as it did a beach near the municipal pier, a champion sand-castle-building team and sailors on a fitness run. Five-year-old Braden Van Eperen traveled from his Bennet, Neb., hometown to build sand castles on the beach Friday in a trip sponsored by the nonprofit Make-A-Wish Foundation. The foundation helps children with life-threatening illnesses realize their special dreams. Braden’s other wish was to go to Saturn.
Journalist Launched SF's First Suicide Hotline
(Kate Kelly, CBS5) San Francisco Suicide Prevention is the oldest community-based telephone crisis center in the country. When founder Bernard Mayes and two volunteers rented their first office in 1962, the landlord wanted to know what they were up to. "It's to help people in trouble," Bernard remembers telling the man. "These volunteers are going to come here and help people who are thinking of killing themselves. 'Oh,' he said, and he put his arms out and said, 'You mean like this?' And there were two scars across both his wrists and I thought that's an omen. You are not alone. And he said, 'You can have it for free.'"
Star struck lovers, born on the same day in the same hospital, will marry June 12
(Tony Nauroth, Lehigh Valley Express-Times) Amy Singley met Steven Smith on the first day of their lives. Little did they know that they had become betrothed at birth. Sort of. Jacqueline Smith and Janis Singley, quite by accident, found themselves in the same hospital room on April 17, 1986. Steve was born about 9:30 a.m., minutes behind his twin "older" brother Scott. Amy was born five minutes after her mother arrived at St. Luke’s Hospital in Fountain Hill. Of course, Smith didn’t propose to Singley on that day. That didn’t come until 23 years later. "We were roommates," Janis Singley said while sitting in the kitchen of their Sexton Road home near Jacobsburg Park.
Partially Blind Woman Achieves Dream of Climbing Mount Everest
(Mary-Rose Abraham, ABC News) She's scuba dived in Iceland and Indonesia, gone on safari in Africa and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. So when Cindy Abbott saw a television special on Mount Everest, she knew that would be her next adventure. Abbott, 51, contacted a high-altitude guide about how to train for the climb. But five months later, she suddenly lost the vision in her left eye.
After 52 years of fixing smiles in the South Shore, activist dentist retires
(Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune) For the last 15 years, Dr. Edward Schaaf has started his workday by riding his recumbent bike from his home in the South Shore neighborhood to his dental practice a half-mile away. Most mornings you can find the diminutive 78-year-old, dressed in his neon green jacket, cycling down a route carefully chosen because it has fewer cars and longer green lights. But now Schaaf is turning his bike and his life in a different direction.
Up, up and away! Adventurer uses helium balloons to cross the English channel
(AP) In a goofy yet mesmerizing stunt, an American adventurer crossed the English Channel on Friday carried by a bundle of helium balloons, ending a quiet and serene flight by touching down in a French cabbage patch. Jonathan Trappe, 36, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was strapped in a specially equipped chair below a bright cluster of balloons when he lifted off early Friday from Kent, in southeast England. About five hours later, he lowered himself into a French field by cutting some of the balloons away.
Intertwined Love Story: Twins Who Married Twins
(NPR) As teenagers in 1946, identical twin sisters Hunny and Bunny Feller landed summer jobs as waitresses at the Laurel Park Hotel in New York's Catskill Mountains. There, they met another set of identical twins, musicians Elliot and Danny Reiken. And so began a love story — or twin love stories — that included a double marriage. Recently, Hunny and Elliot Reiken remembered what happened when the twins met the twins. "When we met, you and your sister couldn't tell us apart, and we couldn't tell you two apart," Elliot says.
Man Ditches Job for 3,000-Mile Walk Across U.S.
(AP) In these uncertain times, most of us cling to the things that make us feel secure. Those who have jobs give thanks. We hug our children a little tighter. We wait - and hope - for better times. So when someone like Matt Green comes along, we shake our heads a little and wonder. Who is this young man, bearded and weather-worn, pushing a cart down a country road, mile after mile? And why would he abandon a solid career as a civil engineer - a roadway designer, ironically - to walk all the way across America? "Good question," he concedes to those who frequently ask about his motives.
No talking! Atlanta man relies only on social media for cancer fund raiser
(Alexis Stevens, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) He hasn't spoken a word in May. But it's not because he doesn't have plenty to say. While his mother was still battling cancer, Clark Harris worked diligently to raise money for research. She died last year. But lately, getting the word out has meant relying strictly on social media. "What better challenge for a guy who never shuts up than to not talk for a month?" Harris asks on his Web site. Harris wants to "silence" cancer. For the month of May, 29-year-old Harris has vowed to give up speaking, and he hopes people will pledge $5 to support his efforts.
Man wrongfully imprisoned for decades happy to start relearning life
(Rich Phillips, CNN) Meeting 54-year-old James Bain, the one thing that stands out is that the smile never seems to leave his face. He appears happy and positive, and the bitterness that might be buried inside a man who was wrongly sent to prison for 35 years is nowhere to be found. "I kind of see myself as a man of God and being like Joseph," he said. "In a sense, I feel like a bear, coming out of hibernation. Like, they come out to eat, mine would be coming out to enjoy what I have missed."
Long Island lovebirds celebrate 60-year anniversary at Waldorf Astoria - and at 1950's prices!
(Christina Boyle, New York Daily News) It was a memento of their first night as man and wife: a receipt for $26.72 from the Waldorf-Astoria, where Edith and Robert Scalise began their life of wedded bliss. Exactly 60 years later, the 85-year-old lovebirds checked into the famed Park Ave. hotel for the second time in their lives - and paid not a penny more. In honor of the Long Island couple's long and happy life together, the hotel offered them a suite to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and honored the same price they paid in 1950.
Brighton couple provides a stable home to a little boy
(Chris Swingle, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) On a December day in 2006, Jen Wolfley stood in the blowing snow in Rochester talking to a drug-addicted prostitute, one of many she helped as an outreach worker. Wolfley remembers the sun shone brilliantly even through the storm as the woman said she was likely pregnant. Wolfley had known her for seven years. She'd seen her high on the street and in jail, where Wolfley led a support group for women. &She said, 'I want you to take the baby.'" There were plenty of reasons to say no. The woman admitted she drank, smoked cigarettes and used drugs, each known to harm babies. Wolfley and her husband, Ted, were expecting the next stage in their lives to be an empty nest, not starting over with a new baby.
Homeless Student Defies Odds, Becomes Valedictorian
(Greg Groogan, MyFoxHouston.com) By all accounts, he's the best kind of kid, the kind with plenty of reasons not to be. "Those things that you experience, that you live through, that you witness, I think they shape the character you become," Victor Cardenas says. Cardenas is a film student at Houston's Furr High school who picked up a camera last year and crafted a haunting story. The tale he told was his own. "We never had money, we never had food. My mother didn't care that she had four kids," Cardenas tells his own camera in the film he dubbed "Being Victor".
Penn Medical School graduate's passion spans globe
(Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer) Of the 154 men and women who graduated Sunday from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, one had journeyed particularly far to get her degree. Aura Obando covered 7,700 miles from Teule Hospital in Muheza, Tanzania, in three days to join her classmates for a ceremony at the Kimmel Center. Obando, 29, a Colombian native who grew up in West Hartford, Conn., is passionate about practicing medicine in the developing world. That passion already has taken her to Africa, Paraguay, Peru - and to the Spanish-speaking immigrant community in South Philadelphia. In Tanzania, she did a seven-week rotation in obstetrics, gynecology, and AIDS treatment. To her, the Hippocratic oath is a call to public service.
Super Senior: California Woman Earns College Diploma at Age 94
(AP) It's never too late to earn your college degree. Just ask 94-year-old Hazel Soares. The San Leandro woman was one of about 500 students to pick up diplomas Saturday during a commencement ceremony at Mills College, an Oakland liberal arts college for women that also offers coed graduate programs. "It's taken me quite a long time because I've had a busy life," said Soares. "I'm finally achieving it, and it makes me feel really good."
Food, glorious food: US soldier in Afghanistan does his duty, but his calling is food
(AP) The oldest soldier in Alpha Company has lived hard. He shuttled through foster homes in San Francisco as a child, busted his nose and scraped his knuckles in street brawls as a young man, deployed as a U.S. military medic in Iraq and campaigned against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. What has lifted this soldier through the hard times is a love of food. U.S. Army Sgt. Abel Aceituno, 42, relies on the memories of food he has eaten in the past, and the dream of opening a restaurant in the future. It's his way of burrowing into private yearnings when comforts and safety are scarce. For Aceituno, eating is more than refueling. He talks about food as both fun and sacred. Taste buds quiver.
Butler inherits New York fortune
(MSNBC.com) The beloved butler for a prominent New York family, who grew up in a mud hut in Nepal, has joined the city's elite by inheriting more than $8 million, including two units at the legendary Dakota apartment building off Central Park. Indra B. Tamang had served as a butler, cook and caretaker to Ruth Ford, an stage and screne actress, and her husband Zachary Scott, a Hollywood star, for more than three decades, the Wall Street Journal reported.
HOW TO: Land Your Dream Job Using Google AdWords
(Lauren Indvik, Mashable) By now, landing a job via social media is nothing new; we’ve perused the how-to guides and heard dozens of great success stories. There are, however, still plenty of creative opportunities for securing a job with a bit of clever online marketing. Meet Alec Brownstein, senior copywriter at creative advertising shop Young & Rubicam (Y&R) New York. Last summer, Alec was just another tired, 28-year-old copywriter at a large international ad agency who wanted nothing more than to work at "a really creative shop for really creative [creative directors]."
'Surfing makes me feel like I'm flying'
(Erika Clarke, CNN) Dana Cummings survived two tours of combat duty as a Marine in the first Gulf War without injury. But 10 years later, he lost a leg in a car crash. A divorced father of three, Cummings said he was abandoned by his girlfriend and denied physical rehabilitation by his insurance. Realizing he needed to be strong for himself and his children, he began an intense workout regimen in the hospital -- then found his own brand of rehab in an unlikely place: a surfboard. "I wanted to prove that I was whole, and one of the ways to do that was to learn to surf," Cummings said.
Homeless to Berkeley-bound
(Jorge Barrientos, Bakersfield Californian) Perseverance -- It's how friends and family explain how Shawn Newsom came to be. At age 38, he's been in foster care, kicked out of the military, in and out of juvenile hall and prison, homeless, crippled with a broken back and addicted to methamphetamine. On Friday, the father of three will graduate from Bakersfield College with honors, a full-ride to UC Berkeley and with friends and family watching who have helped him reach his goals -- including his wife, the student body president.
Warren Buffett's son preaches values as wealth
(Christine Kearney, Reuters) The son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett has an old-world spiritual message for today's money-rich parents: teach your children values and do not give them everything they want. Musician and now author Peter Buffett preaches the message in his new book "Life is What You Make it: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment". Recently released in the United States, it describes how he wound up a "normal, happy" person instead of a spoiled child to one of the world's richest people.
Notre Dame gets first black valedictorian
(Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune) Earlier this spring, Katie Washington was one of three finalists vying to become the University of Notre Dame's senior class valedictorian. When it was her turn to be interviewed by the selection committee, she told members that the honor wasn't on her radar four years ago when she arrived on campus. "I let them know that I came to Notre Dame with the hope of pushing myself to my fullest potential," said Washington, 21. "I just wanted to do well on every assignment and every exam. I wanted to be the best I could be every day because I'd been given a great opportunity to be here." Her hard work has paid off.
Injured Buffalo Wrestler Graduates As Inspiration
(Anna Pawlaczyk, WGRZ) Without a wheelchair or a walker, University at Buffalo senior wrestler Dan Bishop confidently walked across the red carpet during the school's commencement ceremony just as he had vowed to do two months ago after sustaining a life-threatening spinal cord injury. Bishop called it an emotional experience and everything that he had envisioned as he was joined by his parents, teammates, and friends on Sunday. "Today's one of the best days of my life," Bishop said.
Suburban mom, West Dallas brothers form special bond
(Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News) Darius and Deandre Jones call her MaMelissa and Stepmom and Lady M. Different words but one feeling: love for Melissa Hill, the quietly busy woman who, along with her husband, Trey, is raising four children along with these teen brothers. With the consent of their biological parents, the brothers moved to the Hills' home in West Dallas. They left behind a crowded apartment where seven people, including their older brother's two kids, had squeezed into one bedroom. The arrangement with the Hills was supposed to last two weeks. Two and half years later, they're still there and thriving.
No limits for teen without limbs
(Abby Haight, AP) Kiera Brinkley doesn't mind curious children, and mostly brushes off the stares of adults. Every once in awhile, someone will ask the 16-year-old about what happened to her legs and arms. She'll explain: doctors had to amputate them or a bacterial infection that raged in her blood would have killed her. She was two at the time. Sometimes, she'll get a rude stare or a harsh question and her normally sunny mood shifts.
Solar Project Sheds Light On Desperate Conditions
(Kate Kelly, CBS 5) When Dr. Laura Stachel packs her bags to travel these days, it's not about the clothes. Her 30-pound, hardcover suitcase can mean the difference between life and death. Laura is an Ob/Gyn from Berkeley. While doing research for her doctorate in public health, she took a trip to northern Nigeria to learn why 1 in 18 women there dies in childbirth. "I felt so upset seeing the conditions in which these women are giving birth on the other side of the world," Laura remembers. "I felt powerless... like my clinical skills weren't going to help yet in that situation."
Red Hook author brings world of the projects to life
(Helen Klein, Courier-Life) Growing up in the gritty world of the Red Hook projects, the last thing on Torrey Maldonado’s mind was becoming an author and becoming a role model. But Maldonado, a teacher at Park Slope’s IS 88, has become exactly that — in the classroom and through his first novel, "Secret Saturdays," a story of adolescent male friendship against an inner city backdrop that is familiar in its violence, braggadocio and high stakes. Maldonado paints from life. The story of Justin and Sean — half-black and half-Puerto Rican pals — draws from his own early life in South Brooklyn, creating what he called a "poignant narrative, that shows the more tender side and the other side of males."
Folsom 12-year-old with liver disease trains for cross-country bike race
(Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee) Heading to the foothills in the pre-dawn chill, Connor Ellison slouches in the back of the family's packed Toyota Sequoia. Once they reach Plymouth, dread and inertia keep him lingering there. Ahead is a 65-mile bike ride on some of the area's most beautifully brutal country roads, with names as ominous as Slug Gulch, Volcano and Ram's Horn. All told, it's a 5,000-foot elevation gain, 11 miles of quad-straining uphill work. Snow coats the roadside on this mid-February day as other cyclists on Team Donate Life, training for the 3,000- mile Race Across America in June, unload bikes, add layers and gird for today's ride.
Dad walking cross-country to help wounded troops' families
(Patty Lane, CNN) Inspired by his West Point cadet son, a California man set out on a cross-country trek to raise money for an organization that supports wounded troops and their families. John Conte of San Diego began his walk at Camp Pendleton on the West Coast and expects to wrap up at Fort Benning, Georgia, sometime in July. His goal is to raise $50,000 for Fisher House to help it build more "comfort homes." Such homes provide housing for injured soldiers' families near a hospital where their loved one is recovering.
She's a champion for heroes in uniform
(Lindsay Wise, Houston Chronicle) At age 7, Meredith Iler opened a lemonade stand in her grandparents' River Oaks neighborhood. "The first day, only one person came and they gave me 50 cents," Iler recalled. "I wanted to buy a bike and I was going to be open 20 days. This was not going to work." Iler's solution: Go door to door selling laminated "passes" for all-you-can-drink lemonade to her grandparents' well-heeled neighbors. She made $768. “I bought my bike for like $30,” Iler said. "And then I bought Disney stock." These days, the 43-year-old descendant of multimillionaire Houston real estate entrepreneurs is focusing her talent for fundraising on another cause: building handicapped-accessible homes for severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Postal worker saves Chamblee couple from house fire
(Christian Boone, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Thank God it's Monday. It's typically the busiest day of Ellenwood postman Donald Wortham's week. "If it had been Tuesday, I probably would've already passed the house before the fire started," Wortham, 54, told the AJC. Around noon Monday, Wortham noticed smoke coming from a house in the 3000 block of Janice Court in Chamblee. Upon closer inspection, he observed a fire spreading from a truck parked in the carport. He called 911.
Quadriplegic Builds His Dream Truck, Business
(Erika Celeste, NPR) In economically hard-pressed northeast Indiana, a small automotive miracle is taking place. A double twist of fate has led to an opportunity to fill a niche market for disabled drivers who'd like to be driving something a little flashier than a modified minivan. Every year in the United States, there are 10,000 new spinal cord injuries, according to the National Institutes of Health. Steve Kitchin never expected to be one of those statistics. But a decade ago, a friend offered him a ride in his new Cadillac. "Basically what happened is, he was showing off a little bit on the way home and lost control of the car and we hit a tree, and here I am injured," Kitchin says.
Aspiring opera singer finds racial harmony at Suitland High
(J. Freedom du Lac, Washington Post) Back when Joey Baker was a freshman trying to find his way at Suitland High School, it was not uncommon for the aspiring opera singer to hear catcalls as he walked between classes. Students at the overwhelmingly black school in Prince George's County would teasingly call their white classmate "Justin Timberlake" or "Robin Thicke." Or, in the ultimate indignity, they'd liken Baker to hip-hop punch line Vanilla Ice, chanting, "Ice, ice, baby," as he tried to slip into math class. After four years, he can finally laugh about it. He still walks those same halls, but the song does not remain the same.
A fine and delicate balance
(Monica Yant Kinney, Philadelphia Inquirer) Six months ago, Carson Atlas' entire piano repertoire consisted of "Amazing Grace," a song he taught himself noodling around on his family's Baldwin. On May 8, the 8-year-old third grader from Haverford will put on a tiny tuxedo and take the stage at the Annenberg Center for the finals of a hard-fought national "Classical Music Idol" competition in which the newcomer has outplayed performers twice his age who've been studying longer than he's been alive.
Selah teens impressed by generosity amid poverty on Mexico mission
(Denise Keller, Selah Independent) In the countryside around Tijuana, Mexico where it’s common for homes to be smaller than most Americans’ garages, living conditions for two families have dramatically improved thanks to a group from Selah Covenant Church. The church sends a team to the area each year to build houses for impoverished families. This year’s delegation, made up of 19 adults and 33 students from Selah and neighboring communities, traveled March 26 through April 3. Working through Amor Ministries, the group spent three days building 230-square-foot additions on two homes. The expansions doubled the size of each house. Youth pastor Bob Nass says the scale of the construction projects was smaller than in years past, but was the right size for the area.
Wheelchair tale ramps up kindness
(Bill Johnson, Denver Post) Sometimes you stumble into a happy ending. This one goes like this. One week ago, Molly Tyler arranged herself in her chair, collected her two children, Trinity Jo, 5, and Jacob, 4, and made her way out the door and down the front ramp of her Gunnison home. It had been months since she had been outside. It seemed forever since it was with the kids. When they reached the park just up the street, Trinity Jo took her brother's hand, and they ran off to play. Molly Tyler for a time just sat and watched them. And then, she cried. People here are unselfish. I do not know if the ink had fully dried on this column a few weeks ago when the first donations came through the door.
Sole surviving quadruple amputee Iraq veteran to get new home courtesy of his community
(Stephanie Gaskell, New York Daily News) Welcome home, soldier. A Staten Island veteran who lost both of his arms and legs in Iraq is coming back home - and he'll move into a brand new house courtesy of his community. The Stephen Siller Children's Foundation and Building Homes for Heroes are teaming up to build a state-of-the-art, wheelchair accessible home near Wolf's Pond Lake for Spec. Brendan Marrocco. "I don't think I could ever really thank them," said the humble 23-year-old vet from Huguenot.
Meet Austin's yarn bomber
(Marques Harper, Austin American-Statesman) Skeins of yarn of various colors covered the floor in the living room of Magda Sayeg's house in South Austin. Large plastic bags and piles of knitted pieces were scattered through the room. In the middle of all of this, Sayeg, 36, was perched on the sofa in front of one of the three hand-cranked looms on her coffee table. Her white bulldog Stella roamed the room, while the faint trace of world music was heard from the nearby kitchen. Sayeg, a wife, mother of three, cafe co-owner and bookstore co-owner, was on deadline. In the art world, she's the queen of knit graffiti, a movement she is widely credited with having started five years ago.
The `awesome’ blog is a huge hit: 40,000 Internet visits a day
(Nancy J. White, Toronto Star) At 8 a.m. in a downtown Tim Hortons, Neil Pasricha is already busy at his laptop, writing blog entry No. 535, describing how stretching as you wake up is awesome. The little joys in life — and we do mean little: bakery air, popping bubble wrap, a really cold glass of water on a hot day — have preoccupied Pasricha, a Harvard MBA and former comedy writer, since he started the blog 1000awesomethings.com in 2008 to cheer himself up during a bleak period.
Mary Hutton frees Asia's endangered bears from lives of torment
(Tibor Krausz, Christian Science Monitor) James and his sister Rose were discovered hog-tied and half-starved in a wildlife trafficker's truck. Both Asiatic black bear cubs would lose a paw to injuries inflicted by poachers' snares. Archie and Emily were brought from Battambang in northwest Cambodia, where they were confiscated by a wildlife rescue team from a man who was "milking" the bears for their bile in his garage. Kong was kept as a pet in a bar, his sight permanently damaged from the meager diet of leftovers and beer. Holly was rescued from a restaurant just as the nine-month-old cub was about to be used as ingredients for a local delicacy – bear paw soup. At Mary Hutton's bear sanctuary in Phnom Tamao, 25 miles south of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, all the furry residents were once destined for a life of misery or an early death.
Antique watch collector given time of his life
(Allan Turner, Houston Chronicle) The old pocket watch didn't look like much, and when Jimmy Butler wound it up, it ticked for all of 15 seconds before the mainspring self-destructed. Butler was unfazed. Most of the watches the Plantersville man collects — many from a Montgomery pawnshop — long since have ticked their last tocks. Butler, 44 and disabled by diabetes, likes to take the watches apart. Sometimes he fixes them, but as often he just revels in the beauty of their disassembled works.
Gum Wrapper Prom Dress
(Natalie Tendall, KIMT-TV) High School Junior Elizabeth Rasmuson and her boyfriend Jordan Weaver are getting ready for Garner's prom next weekend. They already have one main part down...the outfits. Elizabeth said, "I heard about somebody making a dress out of duct tape or something one time so I just was like what's something cool and I've always liked the colors of the 'Five' gum."
Girl found after 5 days in swamp
(MSNBC.com) An 11-year-old girl missing for five days in an alligator-infested Florida swamp was found alive by search crews overnight and carried out Tuesday morning, police announced. Nadia Bloom, who is thought to have a mild form of autism, was said to be in good shape, but was tired, hungry and covered in mosquito bites. She made two comments upon being rescued, Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle told reporters: "Glad you guys found me" and "can't believe you rescued me."
Recovering skinhead tries to open eyes of closed minds
(Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune) Over the last two decades, Frank Meeink, 35, has undergone quite a metamorphosis. In 1997, he spent a year having a five-inch swastika tattoo removed from his neck and the words "skin" and "head" lasered off his knuckles. Other racist and offensive tattoos, including a portrait of Nazi leader Joseph Goebbels that was on his chest, gradually were colored over and incorporated into more benign images. Why this former skinhead gang leader decided to disavow the white supremacy ideology of hate and violence and preach racial harmony (to children, no less) is a tale of transformation that goes way deeper than Meeink's physical appearance and into territory even he couldn't have imagined when he was terrorizing non-whites and gays.
Would You Tell This Man Your Life's Story For $10?
(NPR) It's a safe bet that the last thing you'd do after losing your job is give away money. Reed Sandridge was laid off last year as a director of a nonprofit group in Washington, D.C. The 36-year-old came up with a pet project to keep him busy while he looked for work. He calls it the "Year of Giving." Every day, Sandridge walks up to a stranger and gives away $10. So far, he's handed out close to $1,200. He also interviews the recipients about their lives and posts their stories on his blog. Think of it as Studs Terkel meets Santa Claus.
Teen mover and shaker leads hip-hop troupe World Class Dancers with passion
(Clem Richardson, New York Daily News) To hear Juan Zapata tell it, for a while he had two left feet. If they weren't there when he was born in Medellin, Colombia, 19 years ago, they suddenly materialized the first time he tried to pass himself off as a dancer with a hip-hop dance group based in a Queens church. "I was terrible," recalled Zapata, a physical therapy major at Fiorello LaGuardia Community College. "I practiced the routine, then as soon as I got in front of the audience, I froze. I could not move. I could hear the other dancers complaining about how I was messing up." Yet hip hop and hard work saved Zapata.
Local cardiologist inspired by Haiti mission
(Steven Mayer, Bakersfield Californian) Bakersfield cardiologist Dr. Vinod Kumar knew he would be affected by the devastation and poverty he witnessed during his trip to Haiti last month. But the director of The Heart Center didn't know it would change his life for the better. "I got so much more in Haiti than what I gave," he said. "It was an amazing experience." What he gave was a full week of physically exhausting yet spiritually uplifting medical care to dozens of sick and injured residents of Haiti's earthquake-damaged capital, Port-au-Prince.
Murray woman saved life of neighbor with organ donation
(Josh Smith, Deseret News) In December 2009, Julie Reeve's body was shutting down. Two months later the 45-year-old mother of two was a new woman, thanks to her Cedar Hills neighbor who donated a lifesaving kidney. Reeve fought diabetes and cancer for years, but even after rounds of chemotherapy, her kidneys were barely functioning. Family and friends lined up to find out if they could donate, but restrictions narrowed the eligible field. Reeves said she contemplated going door-to-door asking for help. "I thought there was no way I would get a transplant," she tearfully told an audience at the Intermountain Medical Center Transplant Patient Conference Monday. But in the end, Reeve had to look no farther than down the street, as her neighbor of 10 years was a perfect match.
And now to blow out that 110th candle …
(Paige Hewitt, Houston Chronicle) Like any bright-eyed birthday girl, Louvenia Posey welcomes the attention. She's certainly experienced in such celebration — the soft-spoken country girl who grew up picking cotton in Central Texas turns 110 today. As the oldest ward ever of Harris County's guardianship program, Posey will celebrate today with a party, attended by her caseworker, friends and staff at the Windsong Village Convalescent Center in Pearland. She's outlived virtually everyone else in her long life — siblings, cousins and three husbands, one of whom fought in World War 1. "I was born April 5, in the year 1900," Posey said, emphasizing the year. "I'm not bragging, but I have lived a clean life."
Girl With Special Needs Will Get Perfect Prom
(Lara Salahi, ABC News) Ask any teen girl in high school and she will probably list prom among the many high school events to which she looks forward. Dani Wilkening, 18, of Spring, Texas, is no different. But for Dani, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 6 months, the dream of playing dress-up for the evening and dancing the night away with her classmates seemed almost impossible to her mother. "The night that Dani was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, I woke up in the middle of the night and I cried. I said, 'My baby's never going to prom,'" said Dani's mom, Vicki Goodnight. "That was significant to me that she wasn't going to get all the milestones in life."
Facebook plea for kidney donor gets a response in 20 minutes
(Eric Schwartzberg, Dayton Daily News) Five years ago, Phyllis Frederick’s chances of finding a match for a kidney transplant would have been reduced. That’s because five years ago, Facebook, the popular online social network, did not exist. Thanks to a posting on her daughter’s Facebook page, Frederick quickly found a donor and recently received a kidney transplant. Frederick has been under medical care for her kidneys since 1998. In June 2007, her doctor told her treatments were no longer working and that dialysis would be necessary. Later, she was told she would have to be put on waiting lists for a new kidney and should work to get people to donate for her.
106-year-old Jupiter resident throws out first pitch at Roger Dean stadium
(Bill DiPaolo, Palm Beach Post) On her 106th birthday, Maude Newkirk kept her pitching streak alive Thursday at Roger Dean Stadium. Wearing white sneakers, a Dontrelle Willis No. 35 Florida Marlins jersey and a determined look, the Jupiter resident stood halfway between the mound and home plate. The crowd gave her a standing ovation, and she tossed the ball about a dozen feet toward Marlins catcher John Baker. "The ball got stuck in my hand," she told family members as she basked in the crowd's cheers.
13-year-old finds way to Morehouse
(Rosalind Bentley, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) In a navy pinstripe suit too big for his small frame, 13-year-old Stephen Stafford II sat in the last row of a packed auditorium at Clark Atlanta University. He devoted his full attention to his handheld video game. Next to him his mother, Michelle, watched the stage so he wouldn’t miss his cue. The occasion was a college prep seminar. Stephen, a student at Morehouse College, was to be the special guest speaker. In the audience were about 200 African American high school students, full of hopes for college but in some cases low on money and grades. The session’s message was urgent, repeated like the hook of a pop tune: Bad grades kill college plans faster than low bank accounts. Buckle down, don’t give up.
Teaching others how to give money
(Paul Van Slambrouck, Christian Science Monitor) Marion Rockefeller Weber makes many of her philanthropic decisions accompanied by the music of two singing finches, the becalming presence of her Blue Heeler dog, and a cat named Hermione. Not exactly the office décor of most philanthropic institutions. Then again, Ms. Weber is not your standard philanthropist. Her minor menagerie is housed in her home office, a cottage on a wooded hillside overlooking the Pacific north of San Francisco. Her journey here has been one of personal transformation. In the process, she has established a kind of outpost on the frontiers of philanthropic giving, one that puts a premium on intuition, relationships, trust, and discovery.
Commuter dating! The couple who found love on the 5:33
(Alison Smith Squire, Daily Mail) Every night on the hour-long train journey home, Georgina Merriman would spend her time looking for love. The 41-year-old City marketing executive visited dating websites and texted potential suitors from far and wide. What she didn't realise was that for almost a year, Mr Right had been sitting in the row behind her of Carriage D on the 5.33 from King's Cross. Eventually her eyes met Mark Ford's as they both made their way to their regular seats.
Grocery customer donates kidney to favorite cashier
(Julie Deardorff, Chicago Tribune) A month ago, Dan Coyne knew just two things about a cheerful cashier who worked at Jewel-Osco in Evanston: her first name and her need for a new kidney. On Friday, however, their lives became inextricably linked after Coyne donated one of his healthy kidneys to Myra de la Vega, of Evanston, a Filipino immigrant and single mother of two teenagers. The daylong organ transplantation took place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's Kovlar Organ Transplantation Center, which performs about 170 living-donor transplants a year and is one of the busiest programs in the country.
Trailblazing paratrooper broke color barrier in secret
(Larry Shaughnessy, CNN) Thurgood Marshall, Hattie McDaniel, the Tuskegee Airmen and Walter Morris -- all African-Americans who made history breaking the color barrier. But while America's first black Supreme Court justice, the first African-American Oscar winner and the U.S. military's first African-American pilots are well known, you may never have heard of Walter Morris or his role in American history. The War Department, as the Defense Department used to be called, wanted it that way. On Thursday, a ceremony at the Pentagon will undo that.
Dallas hospital's organ donation a good match for keyboard prodigy
(Sam Hodges, Dallas Morning News) Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas may have made hospital history Monday, managing an organ transplant without doctors or nurses. All right, it was an electronic organ of the kind familiar in small churches, and the transplant was from the hospital's auditorium to a Wylie home for use by a gifted young keyboard player, 16-year-old Roderick Demmings.
Who says you can’t quit? Woman gives up smoking after nearly 67 years
(Jason Kotowski, Bakersfield Californian) It took a little help from above for Juanita Myers to quit smoking. Myers, 80, started smoking at age 13 and tried to stop several times over the years. Last year, she asked God for some assistance and quit cold turkey March 13, 2009. "I picked that day because it was Friday the 13th and I knew I’d never forget it," Myers said.Her brothers and friends all smoked as they were growing up in Mississippi and Myers picked up the habit too, she said. Her brand was Misty Menthol and she would smoke up to a pack and a half a day.
Dancing Star Shows Kids Steps to Success
(Manuel Gallegus, CBS News) When Jacques d'Amboise gives an order, kids like Alex Shmizu listen. "Even if he's yelling at you or encouraging you, it's all just to make you better," Shmizu said. In 1976, d'Amboise created the National Dance Institute with $3,000 of his own money. His goal was simple: to make sure dancing would always be a part of a child's education. "You are taking control of how you move, and it's just a metaphor for taking control of your life," d'Amboise said.
Gardens provide peace of mind to soldiers at war
(Dean Fosdick, AP) Gardening can be comforting, even therapeutic, for troops trying to shake the stresses of war. There is a long history of soldiers growing plants in the extreme conditions of a war zone. "Trench Gardens" produced needed food as well as healing diversion for soldiers mired in the muck on both sides of the Western Front in World War I. American prisoners of war cultivated "barbed wire gardens" to augment starvation rations and provide some mental escape during World War II. Most recently, such "defiant gardens" have cropped up at isolated combat outposts in Iraq and Afghanistan, much as they did around GI Quonset huts in the Vietnam of four decades ago.
Bilingual from the first baby babblings
(Carolyn Bánfalvi, Christian Science Monitor) Life in our bilingual household must look unintelligible to outsiders, but to us it’s perfectly coherent. I am an American who speaks mediocre Hungarian, my husband is a Hungarian who speaks English like a native, and we live in Budapest where we are raising our two little girls to be bilingual. Anna, age 4, is a chatterbox who speaks both languages fluently and proudly. Among her huge collection of teddy bears, some speak English, some speak Hungarian, and some speak “bear talk.” She translates between them, and they all seem happy.
Going From Ex-Con To Lifesaver, For A Friend
(NPR) Felix Aponte and Rob Sanchez both served time at New York's Sing Sing penitentiary. They met after they were released — and quickly became friends. Then Sanchez was diagnosed with an aggressive form of kidney disease. Recently, the two natives of New York City met to talk about the early days of their friendship — and how it led Aponte to make a sacrifice that saved Sanchez's life.
Ex-street fighter, 60, turned into a fanatical artist by a brain hemorrhage that physically altered his mind
(Daily Mail) These are the latest creations of extraordinary artist Tommy McHugh - a former builder and youth offender who can't stop painting since he emerged from a coma. Mr McHugh, 60, nearly died after two blood vessels burst in the back of his head. But after a week in a coma, he awoke with an uncontrollable urge to create and began writing poetry, painting the interior of his home, sculpting and carving. Doctors believe the sudden artistic drive is the result of damage to his brain. Changes to his temporal lobes - responsible for understanding meaning - could be what has changed him from a jack of all trades handyman into a passionate artist.
Letters To Haiti Provide A Different Kind Of Help
(Mandalit del Barco, NPR) When they heard I was going to report in Haiti after the massive earthquake, fifth-graders from Amylynn Robinson's class asked if I could deliver some messages to any children I'd meet. Their letters included drawings of flowers, hearts and rainbows. And they began simply: "Hello Haiti, nice to meet you." "Dear Buddy ... " "Hi there, I'm a child as well." "Dear friend, I am your friend. I wrote this letter to tell you I care about you." The children wrote about their school, Balboa Magnet Elementary, a public school in Northridge, Calif., in Northern Los Angeles County, which was the epicenter of a magnitude 6.7 earthquake in 1994. Although these 10-year-olds were not alive then, many say they've heard stories about the damage in California. So they were sympathetic to kids coping with the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.
How boyfriend proposed to his sweetheart... by inviting her to home-made film at cinema
(Daily Mail) A love-struck boyfriend popped the question to his other half at the cinema - using a home-made film he had made starring all her friends and family. Bryan Hughes, 35, lured Kerrie Richardson to the movies on the pretext of watching a Hollywood blockbuster. So Kerrie was stunned when the film rolled to see it was Bryan starring in a pop video with all her nearest and dearest singing lines from Lou Reed's Perfect Day. Then Bryan - who had made an excuse to pop out to the toilet - reappeared at the front of the cinema to get down on one knee and pop the question with an engagement ring.
Father Martin: The Priest Who Prays for Stephen Colbert
(David Van Biema, Time) Father Jim Martin did not seek the title of Stephen Colbert's TV priest. All he was doing was waiting in the wings for his third appearance on the comedian's show, on which the ebullient, bespectacled cleric was scheduled to be quizzed on poverty — why Martin embraces it when its allure escapes so many other Americans. Then the priest suddenly heard his host direct the audience to welcome "The Colbert Report chaplain." "I remember being surprised and delighted," says Martin. He shouldn't have been too shocked.
Packing 400 lunches - and love - to serve the homeless
(David Conrads, Christian Science Monitor) For years, Marcia Merrick began her day making lunches for her two children. Her kids are grown up now, but Ms. Merrick still makes lunches every morning – 400 of them. Each decorated paper bag contains a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich or a bean burrito, chips, fruit, and two homemade cookies. She also includes a note of encouragement – and then distributes them to the homeless of Kansas City, Mo. Dubbed the "mother of the streets," Merrick starts every day (Christmas and other holidays included) at 4:30 a.m. so she can finish her preparations and make the 15-minute drive to downtown Kansas City by 6 a.m., the time when most homeless shelters close and their overnight guests are turned out.
Local heroes honored at ceremony
(Steven Mayer, Bakersfield Californian) Marcie Farmer was no stranger to the Kern River. The Bodfish resident had been on river rafting trips before, but last July's ride down the Lickety-Split run north of Kernville was the first time she had ridden an inner tube down the river. As it turned out, it was nearly the last trip she would ever take -- anywhere. Farmer, her boyfriend, her son and some friends were near the end of the run when Farmer dangled her feet down through the center of the tube. Suddenly her shoe was caught fast on something on the river bottom, later believed to be a piece of steel rebar.
Haiti quake sparks interest in 'voluntourism'
(Jim Kavanagh, CNN) When the going gets tough, the compassionate get going. The January earthquake in Haiti prompted a spike in interest in service vacations, sometimes called "voluntourism," several organizations report. "We've seen a tremendous uptick with groups interested in coming to Haiti," said Brett Curtis, chief operating officer of Youth With a Mission San Diego-Baja, a Christian organization that organizes service trips for young people. "We haven't turned any away yet. We're telling them we'll have some information in the next few weeks about how they'll be deployed." Projects-Abroad.org reported it received 46 percent more applications than expected since the earthquake.
Truth and Soul still bringing positive change
(Rex W. Huppke, Chicago Tribune) The view of the world looking out the front windows of Truth and Soul Black Stars barbershop is narrow and uninspiring, nothing but traffic rumbling past on East 87th Street and the glow of a dry cleaner's neon sign. But that has never limited the worldview of the shop's proprietor, Elhajji Elshabazz. For four decades, the world either has come to him — in the form of celebrities ranging from Sammy Davis Jr. to R. Kelly — or he has launched himself upon the world, globetrotting to places he dreamed of while flipping pages of National Geographic magazines in the library of a West Side grammar school.
Amazing Grace: Lake Forest secret millionaire donates fortune to college
(John Keilman, Chicago Tribune) Like many people who lived through the Great Depression, Grace Groner was exceptionally restrained with her money. She got her clothes from rummage sales. She walked everywhere rather than buy a car. And her one-bedroom house in Lake Forest held little more than a few plain pieces of furniture, some mismatched dishes and a hulking TV set that appeared left over from the Johnson administration. Her one splurge was a small scholarship program she had created for Lake Forest College, her alma mater. She planned to contribute more upon her death, and when she passed away in January, at the age of 100, her attorney informed the college president what that gift added up to.
South Bay's Own 'Robin Hood' Helps Families
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) He's Dr. Keith Fraker... sometimes known around the South Bay as "Robin Hood." "Robin Hood thing started as a joke," Keith says with a laugh. Keith, a retired radiologist, helped launch Robin Hood Ministries more than six years ago. As a family shelter volunteer, he and some friends delivered used furniture to a family who'd just moved out of the shelter but couldn't afford to furnish the apartment. "One of the days we were delivering, we thought, 'We're stealing from the rich and giving to the poor! So this is Robin Hood!' And so the idea took," Keith explains.
Program helps heal hurt lives
(Mary Adamski, Honolulu Star Bulletin) Salvation Army Maj. Moses Reyes described his organization's work yesterday at an Iwilei luncheon meeting reminiscent of a business touting its success to others in the same line of work. Of the 86 men who went through the Adult Rehabilitation Center in the past year, 90 percent obtained jobs, and 10 percent returned to their families, Reyes told the 50 invited guests. "We restore people to productive living within the community one person at a time," he said. "It works."
Journey of a Lifetime
Dafna Michaelson spent 2009 traveling around the U.S. documenting the various ways ordinary people are making a positive difference in their communities. She interviewed 500 people and has posted their stories on her 50 in 52 Journey website. (Photo courtesy www.50in52Journey.com)
(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) What would you do if you won the lottery? The answer Dafna Michaelson gave to that question almost two years ago surprised even her at the time, and led her on a transformative odyssey that spanned 50 states over the course of a year and launched her on a new mission.
In May, 2008, when Dafna’s then boyfriend (now fiancé) Michael Jenet bought a ticket for a $400+ million lottery, he asked her "What are we going to do when we win?" The first thing she did, she admits, was design the Porsche Cayenne hybrid she was going to buy, right down to the color leather. As they continued their daydream, Michael asked if she was going to travel at all after she won; her response surprised her. "Yeah, I’m going to travel. I’m going to go to all 50 states and I’m going to meet every single governor, and I’m going to ask them how they’re engaging their citizens in solving community problems," she recalls saying at the time. "Seriously," she says, "that’s exactly how it came out of my mouth."
Rolling up a mission of mercy: Ravenna church volunteers help treat injured overseas
(Brian Albrecht, Cleveland Plain Dealer) The fabric of caring is being pressed, ripped, plucked, stitched and rolled, unraveling from a small church basement to reach all the way to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. On one side of the basement, tables sag under bagged mountains of old sheets. At the other end of the room, rows of rolled cloth bandages are packed like cotton sardines in shipping boxes. And in between, a chorus of production mingled with murmured conversation during a recent gathering of the Ravenna Church of the Nazarene Bandage Rollers. This concerto of kindness included the soft hiss of an iron, the loud scriiiiiitch of linens being torn into strips, the rapid thunka thunka thunka of sewing machines and the regular knocka-knocka knocking of hand-cranked spools wrapping strips of cloth into tight rolls.
Rollicking at the rink
(Kevin Joy, Columbus Dispatch) With matching T-shirts and hair and makeup befitting an upscale evening out, the women of the Originators took to the wooden floor with suitable swagger. As funky tunes by George Clinton and Zapp thumped on the stereo, they glided and swayed gracefully, a fluid queue of arms and hips grooving in uniform time. They looked good. And they knew it. Sure, showing off is part of the roller-rink scene. But the ladies, all of whom have laced up roller skates since childhood, weren't seeking the spotlight. "We live and breathe this," said Slyvella Davis, a 34-year-old North Side resident who frequents Skate Zone 71 off Morse Road at least once a week with her friends. "If I don't skate, I'm not whole."
Kid's Speech Motivates Hockey Team
(Jeff Glor, CBS News) When 5-year-old Josh Sacco came to the Vancouver Olympics, he was more than just a fan. He's an inspiration thanks to a YouTube video shot by his dad. In the video, Josh reenacts of a scene from the movie "Miracle." In the movie, actor Kurt Russell plays famed hockey coach Herb Brooks, who pumps up his team before the U.S. beat the Soviets in 1980 Olympics. In the video, Josh hits every word, every gesture, from memory. "If we played 'em 10 times, they might win nine," Josh said in thev ideo. "But not this game. Tonight we skate with them. Tonight we stay with them, and we shut them down, because we can!"
After fire, leap of faith - to Haiti
(Daniel Edward Rosen, New York Daily News) This Queens man lost his business, but not his heart. Just days after seeing his office consumed by a fire that destroyed several Jackson Heights stores on Feb. 13, Herman Mendoza traveled to Haiti on Sunday to deliver life-saving supplies to children in need. "I am dumbfounded and I am still in shock," Mendoza, 39, said of losing his store. "But what keeps me going is my faith in God and my mission in Haiti."
Football coach with ALS to get ‘Extreme Makover' home
(Larry Hartstein and Ty Tagami, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Inspiring high school football coach Jeremy Williams and his family just got a pleasant surprise. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will team up with volunteers, including NFL player Michael Oher, to build them a new house this week, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Monday. Williams is the coach who led Greenville High to the second round of the state playoffs while battling ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Greenville is a school of 380 students in Meriweather County. Oher is the football player whose story is told in the film "The Blind Side."
Spoken word poetry key to unlock student potential
(Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune) Many of the talented teenagers who join Peter Kahn's Spoken Word Club at Oak Park and River Forest High School do so because they have pressing needs — a need to be heard, to create, to express themselves and their struggles in rhythm and rhyme. But what's most unique about Kahn's club is that once his students graduate, many of them return because they have another pressing need: to pay it forward. That's why seven of Kahn's former students (along with two current ones) gathered recently in one of the high school's auditoriums for his second annual Motivational Mentorship panel.
The Power of A Dream
Jake Van Meter is hoping to move out of the nursing home where he has lived since 2001 and into the Jacob Brewer Home, a planned community for adults with severe physical disabilities and normal cognitive function
(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) Jake Van Meter is a freedom seeker. And he is not letting the minor details of his cerebral palsy, his confinement to a wheelchair, or any of the other challenges he faces on a daily basis hinder his quest. The limitations of his body have not impaired his mind, which he is actively using to dream about a better tomorrow. The power of this dream has helped transform him from an angry young man who felt hemmed in by limitations imposed upon him by his physical disabilities, and "the system" that supports his care, to one who is actively participating in its realization.
Now That's Devotion -- Secrets of Happy Couples Married for 50 Years
(Emily Tan, LemonDrop.com) New relationships are always exciting. From the first kiss to the first time you go away together, everything he does always feels sweet and new – but the "honeymoon phase" can only last so long, right? Not always! That's why we sought out advice from five couples who've definitely kept the flame alive. On Feb. 12, Brooklyn celebrated New York City couples who have been married 50 years or more, and I dropped by the El Caribe restaurant, where the luncheon was held, to ask the celebrated sweethearts how they breathed life into a relationship after all these years.
Doctor Learns A Lesson In Care From 6-Year-Old
(NPR) Dr. Pedro "Joe" Greer has been practicing medicine for more than 25 years. He's devoted most of that time to helping Miami's homeless and poor — many of whom know him as simply "Dr. Joe." As he recently told his wife, Janus, Greer's career headed in that direction early, when he was serving his internship and working in the intensive care unit of a Miami hospital. One patient was dying of tuberculosis. "He had a little wristband that had his name, and it said 'no address,' " Greer remembers. "I knew that this man had, at the very least, parents — maybe siblings, a spouse. And we went out to try and find his family."
Volunteer Delivers For Contra Costa's Hungry
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) Day or night, rain or shine, you'll find George Conlow loading food donations into his van. Local grocery stores know him well: he comes around often, picking up store donations to give to the hungry. As president of Share Food Pantry in Concord, he helps feed more than 1400 people a month in Central Contra Costa County. He was on a task force of church members who founded the all-volunteer organization in 1987.
Lilburn raises the roof for couple, centennial
(Shane Blatt, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Gregory Jacquet was driving along Main Street in Lilburn last month when he spotted 80-year-old Katron Sosebee nailing a large tarp to an old roof. Flagged down by Sosebee's wife, Jacquet pulled into the driveway. "You need to make him come down off the roof," Christy Sosebee said, hoping Jacquet could talk some sense into her husband. A city code enforcement officer, Jacquet gripped the ladder firmly as the longtime Lilburn resident slowly climbed down. But he didn't stop there.
Support pours in for legally blind street musician
(Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune) By the time Juan Hernandez, a blind street musician, set up at his spot on the Blue Line to perform last Wednesday, people all over the city had read of his plight in that morning's Tribune — his guitar had recently been stolen for the second time. Their reaction that day and over the past week stunned and gratified him. Strangers hugged him and wished him well. Others expressed concern for his well-being. Some leaned in close to press dollar bills into his hand. At home, phone calls from friends and family came in "like raindrops," he said.
Ski bum has never acted her age, young or old
(Mike Harden, Columbus Dispatch) After more than 90 years, Joan Woodruff knows that you have to start while you're young if you want to make people understand that age has little to do with ability. "I was driving a car when I was about 12," Woodruff said Monday from her residence at Westminster-Thurber Community in Columbus. Her second-cousin Cher Oerbaugh noted, "At 16, she and her best friend joined a dance troupe that cruised the Great Lakes in the summertime. In her later life, she hooked up with a guy who was a big-band trumpet player. She played keyboards. She was in her 80s, and they were still gigging." Although Woodruff broke a hip a year ago and is now a client of Senior Independence Hospice because of congestive heart failure, her zest for adventure is undimmed.
Iron Man of Shafter still just a nice guy
(Lou Gomez, Bakersfield Californian) Once in a while you meet someone who somehow seems very special. Maybe it's looks, personality, attitude, work ethic, experience or success. The City of Shafter is lucky to have a person who has all of those qualities and more. Daniel Escalante (everyone calls him "Danny") is a handsome young man of almost 83 years. He has a smile that says you're his friend the minute you meet him. "When Danny is your friend, you have a good friend for life," says Bill Prout, a retired Highway Patrolman and one of Danny's best friends.
Super volunteers globetrot for Olympics
(A. Pawlowski, CNN) Living just miles from Florida's Daytona Beach, Ernie Peterson had never seen a hockey game in his life when he volunteered for his first Winter Olympics. By his third games, now under way in Vancouver, British Columbia, skating rinks and snowy mountains are as familiar to him as palm trees and the roar of the ocean. Call Peterson a super volunteer -- part of an elite group of enthusiasts who love the Olympic experience so much that they travel across the country and the world to do it over and over.
A match made in medicine
(Eric Berger, Houston Chronicle) The story of how Wadih met Renata and fell in love needs only a good screenwriter to become a guy-meets-girl romance on the silver screen. Except that Wadih Arap and Renata Pasqualini are scientists, and Hollywood typically casts scientists as brilliant but wild-haired, half-crazed social misfits. Although definitely brilliant, the couple is neither unkempt, crazed nor bent on taking over the world. Rather, they're outgoing, humorous people who seek to cure cancer and end obesity. The only crazy thing about them is they just might succeed.
'McHuggin' Squeezes His Way To A Record
(Heather Christie, Sky News Online) A hugging fanatic has broken a world hugging record by squeezing 7,777 cuddles into 24 hours, to raise funds for heart research. Jeff Ondash, 51, who calls himself 'Teddy McHuggin' worked the Las Vegas Strip outside the Paris Hotel-Casino for an entire day, sporting a red Nascar-style suit and a wrestling championship style-belt, getting cozy with passers by. He shared the love at a rate of 324 hugs an hour - about 5 and a half per minute, beating the previous record holder, Dublin's Siobhan O'Connor, by a full two hugs per minute.
She's from Venezuela. He's from India. They're in love.
(Tara Bahrampour, Washington Post) They were an unlikely couple from the start, as friends and relatives of Yesica Suarez and Akshaan Arora kept reminding them. She's from Venezuela; he's from India. She's a devout Catholic; he's a Hindu-turned-atheist. She grew up speaking Spanish and watching telenovelas; he grew up speaking Hindi and watching Bollywood musicals. Even at George Mason University -- where Suarez and Arora met and where immigrants and international students make the campus of 30,000 feel like the United Nations -- their melting-pot romance prompted friends to ask whether they knew what they were doing.
Woman gets help rebuilding life after stroke shatters it
(Mary McCarty, Dayton Daily News) Last April, Verdell Sims stumbled upon a crew of volunteers fixing up a home in her Cornell Heights neighborhood. "Would you mind if I helped?" she asked, and threw herself wholeheartedly into the Rebuilding Together Dayton’s annual Rebuilding Day. She lopped tree limbs, planted flowers, raked up debris. "I worked for five hours without getting tired," she said. Recalled house captain Roger Cox of Englewood. "By the end of the day, Verdell was having such a good time, she told us, ‘Be sure you tell me when you’re doing this next year.’ She wanted to be part of it." Sims will indeed be part of Rebuilding Together Dayton’s annual rehabbing event, but not in the way she expected or hoped.
Obstetrician helped deliver baby only hours after giving birth herself
(Heidi Evans, New York Daily News) No one knows better how crazy it gets at Maimonides Medical Center than Diana Roth, an obstetrician who delivers babies at the hospital and had her four kids there, too. Because once, she did both on the same day. "I had given birth just four hours before when my beeper went off and it was one of my patients in active labor," said Roth, 37, remembering the night in August 2005 when her third child, Josh, was born. "I had gone through her pregnancy with her and felt obligated to help. Plus, I was already there."
Community Center Becomes Heart Of SF Neighborhood
(Kate Kelly, CBS5) The hallways of the Bayview Hunters Point YMCA have long been familiar to Gina Fromer. She was once a student there, back when it was her neighborhood elementary school. Today she's in charge of it: a 40,000-square-foot facility. "Half the kids that go to this branch, I know some of their parents or their families," Gina says. That's why Gina takes her job so personally. "Our mission is to build strong kids, strong families, strong communities," she explains. "The word 'build' means that we're sort of responsible to that mission."
Blind Chicago street musician undeterred by recent theft
(Annie Sweeney, Chicago Tribune) Some 40 feet below Dearborn Street, somewhere near Washington Street, Juan Hernandez had just finished his day's work along the Blue Line platform, the stage where he picks, strums and sings for commuters. Hernandez, who is legally blind, began to pack up as he always does — by touch. He put his guitar in its case and rested it against a pillar. Then he felt his way along the dark cables that connect his guitar and amplifier to gather them up. He figures he had turned away from his guitar for just a few seconds that afternoon. But when he reached back, he felt nothing there. Hernandez, assuming he had knocked it over, felt around the back of his amplifier and walked around it, hoping he'd feel the guitar. Again, nothing.
Bronx doctors from Montefiore hospital changed forever by Haitian relief trip
(Mike Jaccarino, New York Daily News) A medical team from Montefiore Medical Center was back in the Bronx from earthquake-ravaged Haiti last week, with tales of grief and suffering, of the miraculous and the extraordinary. And the team members returned as changed people. The group of two doctors, a nurse and a technician took an American Airlines flight from New York to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and then a helicopter to the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. They landed in front of the U.S. Embassy and traveled across the city to Clinique Lambert.
Carly's ‘bucket list' gets big boost
(Jennifer Latson, Houston Chronicle) A hastily arranged benefit for a Fulshear teen with terminal cancer raised more than $21,000 over the weekend to offset travel expenses for what her classmates are calling "Carly's Great Adventure." Carly Davis, 16, plans to start with a volcano tour in Hawaii before jet-setting to Europe with her family. Along the way, she's hoping for art, cello and horseback-riding lessons. "We'll be able to get going on Hawaii towards the end of February," her mother, LeeAnn Clement, said Sunday. "When we get back we'll be planning the trip to Europe. Time is of the essence."
Woman runs for brother who died in Olympic marathon trials
(Pam LeBlanc, Austin American-Statesman) When Sarah Shay runs the Austin Marathon on Feb. 14, she'll be thinking of her brother. Ryan Shay collapsed and died Nov. 3, 2007, at mile 5.5 of the U.S. Men's Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City. An elite athlete, he was just 28 years old and newly married, but he had an undiagnosed enlarged heart and an irregular heartbeat. Now Sarah Shay wants to honor his memory and help injured military veterans. Since September, the 33-year-old single mom has been logging miles around Lady Bird Lake in preparation for the 26.2-mile race. She's been running by herself, but she hasn't been alone. Ryan's spirit is carrying her.
Exonerated man, accuser forge rare bond
(Stephanie Chen, CNN) For 16 years, Loretta Zilinger loathed Dean Cage for what she believed he did to her when she was 15 years old. Dressed in her immaculate Catholic school uniform, she was on her way to class in October 1994. She heard footsteps coming up behind her. By then, it was too late. A tall man attacked her, hauled her into an empty building and threatened to kill her. She kept her eyes open as he performed sex acts on her. She used her hands to touch his face; her fingers traced his nose, his eyes and his lips. She wanted to remember him.
Man to run Surf City marathon at age 81
(Lori Basheda, Orange County Register) George Border has hearing aids that work overtime, a hearty laugh that makes his eyes tear up, a smile that won't quit and a shoe box full of medals. Why did you start running? I shout. "I was fat." Why were you fat? "Because I sat down for 35 years," he tells me, explaining that he used to drive a city bus for a living. He also drank a lot of milk and ate a lot of meat. OK. So how old were you the first time you ran? "Sixty-two. It took me one hour to do three miles through the neighborhood. And I was wringing wet."
Pleasanton husband and wife have spent the past decade seeing the country on their feet
(Robert Jordan, Contra Costa Times) When Ken and Marcia Powers retired 11 years ago, they figured their golden years would be spent seeing the country. That plan didn't include a bulky RV. Instead, the married couple of 42 years opened the front door and went for a walk. More than a decade later, they're still walking. Ken Powers, a retired database analyst for Chevron, and Marcia, a retired flute instructor, have logged 17,000 miles through 32 states, including an eight-month, 4,900-mile cross-country hike from Cape Henlopen, Del., to Point Reyes Station in 2005. "We flew out east and decided to walk home," Ken Powers said of the trip.
Customer donating kidney to grocery store clerk
(Julie Deardorff, Chicago Tribune) Dan Coyne had the surprise all planned out: Near the end of Myra dela Vega's Friday night shift as a cashier at Jewel-Osco in Evanston, his children would buy some groceries and hand her a card. Inside would be the unexpected news that Coyne could donate one of his kidneys to dela Vega, who is suffering from renal failure. But dela Vega, 49, who looked puzzled by the card, didn't open it. Instead, Coyne emerged from hiding and blurted out the news himself. "Oh! Oh!" dela Vega said, covering her mouth as her knees started to buckle. Her eyes filled with tears.
105-year-old retirement-home resident can still sing
(John Carpenter, Chicago Tribune) Mostly nowadays she hums, occasionally remembering a few words in German. But her neighbors, to a person, still love Lillian Krockerberger's singing. "Oh, what a beautiful soprano!" said Alice Karel, 83. "Just beautiful." "We hear her singing to herself, and she sings for us at parties," said Fran Pelegrino, an administrator at Concord Place Retirement and Assisted Living Community, where Krockerberger lives. She doesn't sing at as many parties as she did when she arrived at Concord Place 20 years ago, Pelegrino said. After all, she was only 85 then.
At 80, Lewisville ISD teacher still helps shape minds, futures
(Wendy Hundley, Dallas Morning News) Dale Swall is bucking the trend. At a time when school districts struggle to retain teachers, he has been a classroom teacher for more than half a century and has no plans to quit anytime soon. "I'll stay as long as the school will let me," said Swall, a fourth-grade teacher at Hebron Valley Elementary School in Carrollton, where colleagues threw him a surprise party Wednesday to celebrate his 80th birthday.
Star athlete a classroom superstar at Proviso East
(John Keilman, Chicago Tribune) The eyes of a sports-mad nation were on the stars of high school football Wednesday, as the best officially declared which college scholarship they had decided to accept. The spotlight passed over athletes like Darvis PridGeon, an all-conference defensive back from Proviso East High School in Maywood. His college will be paid for, too, but not because of anything he has done on the field. PridGeon, 17, is ranked first in his class with a straight-A average and a slew of honors courses to his credit. His academic record has brought him scholarship offers from several schools, and he is in the hunt for numerous privately funded awards.
UAA student helps Tonga gain a library
(Debra McKinney, Anchorage Daily News) For Kato Ha'unga, too many books is not enough. The woman's a little obsessed. She has books piled in a bin outside her cubicle at work. She has books stacked in boxes under her desk. She has heaps of books in her apartment and bundles of books in her car. She has boxes and boxes and more boxes of books stacked in a corner of a friend's office. Children's books, history books, computer books, science books, memoirs, biographies, fiction, non-fiction. From math to romance. Ha'unga can't say no to a book.
Man gives 601 pints of blood - here's why
(Ellyn Pak, Orange County Register) Lewie Pulley kicks back in the chair and offers his scarred, left arm like he has done so many other mornings. A needle wedged in the crook of Pulley’s elbow slowly transfers blood into two bags. The blood fills up one pint, then another in 78 minutes. Unlike other days, when he brings a box of doughnuts for other donors and volunteers, and donates a few pints at the American Red Cross’ blood bank in Fountain Valley, the group of people in the waiting area are there for Pulley. His wife Karen and some friends have come to celebrate the 600th and 601st pints of donated Pulley blood.
2 CJ seniors inspired to make a difference for girl in Belize
(Meredith Moss, Dayton Daily News) An impoverished young girl from Belize has captured the hearts of two local teens who are determined to help provide the education that will keep 14-year-old Senida Bo from following in her mother’s footsteps. "When Senida’s mother was 14, she had to drop out of school, get married and have a child," said Kayla Shelly, who along with her classmate, Annie Stoddard, traveled to Punta Gorda, Belize, last summer on a mission trip organized by Chaminade Julienne High School. The trip – initially envisioned as a fun adventure – turned out to be life-altering for the CJ seniors.
A celebration of 80 years of marriage
(Jane M. Von Bergen, Philadelphia Inquirer) About a month ago, James Jones, 46, dropped over to his grandparents' home a few blocks away in West Philadelphia. That's when he saw his grandfather, Mitchell Atkins, bend over and kiss his wife, Mattie Atkins. "I cried," said Jones, who has two grown children of his own. "I didn't let them know, but it brought a tear to my eye. He gave her a kiss on the lips and called her darling." Now there's nothing remarkable about a man kissing his wife. In most happy marriages, that's an everyday occurrence. But Mitchell and Mattie's marriage has been happy longer than most - partly because they've lived longer than most.
An act of kindness lives on 80 years later
(K.S. Clark, Tallahassee Democrat) It was the year 1928, just after Christmas, and it would soon be my birthday. On Jan. 5, I would be 4 years old, and Mother had promised me a new dress. We were going to the store in downtown Tallahassee to buy the material. I guess this sounds a little funny today, but many of my clothes were made from scraps or feed sacks, and feed sacks were the best. Mother made sure that Daddy picked out the prettiest feed sacks when he went to town to buy chicken feed so she could make shirts, blouses, skirts, aprons and such from them.
How NASCAR Came to the Rescue of Haiti Orphans
(Steve Goldberg, Time) When the earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, Abbey McArthur, 26, was half-way through her year-long commitment to teach kids at the Angel House orphanage in Port-au-Prince. "It felt like God had picked up the earth and was just shaking it back and forth," the Indiana native said. She was less than a mile away, exercising at another school when it happened. In the nightmarish aftermath of those destructive 15 seconds, as she headed back to look for her students, as she crawled over rubble and heard the locals mourning in the streets, the last thing she probably could have imagined was that NASCAR would have something to do with rescuing her and her wards.
Smyrna firefighters shave heads to honor comrade
(Alexis Stevens, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) After battling cancer the past two months, a 26-year veteran of the Smyrna fire department said he needed a boost. He was asked to stop by and visit his co-workers Friday morning. When he got there, he couldn't believe what he saw. "I was going to go in and spend a few minutes with them and brighten my spirits," Richard Conley of Woodstock said. When he arrived to greet his fellow firefighters, he was greeted by dozens of his co-workers. And their bald heads.
Fayetteville teen's novel becomes a reality
(Nedra Rhone, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) The wall above Noni Carter's childhood bed is plastered with scraps of paper containing handwritten quotes such as "This too shall pass," "Know thyself," and "Just do it." As if by osmosis from merely laying her head on the pillow each night, the 18-year-old seems to have internalized each one. Her young life already filled with accomplishments, Carter recently learned what it means to see a dream fulfilled. Early this month, her debut novel "Good Fortune," (Simon & Schuster, $16.99) was published after six years of labor. Now, the Harvard University freshman is adjusting to having her work read and critiqued by the public, while hoping her message resonates with young readers 12 and up.
What Could You Live Without?
(Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times) It all began with a stop at a red light. Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other. “Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
Teacher, 100, gets degree a day before dying
(AP) It was Harriet Richardson Ames' dream to earn her bachelor's degree in education. She finally reached that milestone, nearly three weeks after achieving another: her 100th birthday. On Saturday, the day after receiving her diploma at her bedside, the retired schoolteacher died, pleased that she had accomplished her goal, her daughter said. Ames had been in hospice care. "She had what I call a 'bucket list,' and that was the last thing on it," Marjorie Carpenter said Tuesday.
Nurses 4 Haiti ready to help
(Cindy George, Houston Chronicle) Medical supplies block the winding staircase in a Third Ward home, where cases of water are stacked against the wall in another room and a sunny sitting area is cluttered with towers of brown boxes. Amid the chaos, Sherry Sterling giggled. Here, she sees blessings that will restore order to earthquake-wrecked lives in Haiti. When the nurse heard about the tremor, she thought of her frequent flier miles as a way to get her to the disaster. Then, she started recruiting other professionals to go with her — bringing life to a new group called Nurses 4 Haiti.
Betsy Sathers' emotional journey ends with tears of joy
(Kyle Porter, KARE) Two Haitian toddlers who survived the earthquake are home in Minnesota. The two-year-old twins were granted humanitarian parole earlier in the week. Ross and Alyse arrived at Twin Cities International with their new mother, Betsy Sathers. The moments of anticipation wrapped around the rest of the family, who were waiting outside a Delta Airlines terminal. "Yep, I'm nervous," said a friend who came for support. "Too excited, way too excited for her." "These little guys have been through an earthquake and tremors the past week," Bob Ross said, Betsy's father. "Their orphanage was destroyed." The twins not only survived the earthquake, but battled through several days of no food, water and shelter.
South Bay Musician's Mission to Help Others
(Sharon Chin, CBS5) You'll rarely find George Garcia Gange without a 14-stringed Filipino folk instrument in his arms. Dubbed the "Music Man With a Mission," he makes music to make others feel good, from veterans in Palo Alto, to seniors in nursing homes. "Like my wife says and my parents, who have the same passion, I like to help people who cannot pay me back," George explains. George, a retired U.S. Navy air traffic controller, founded his musical group in 1998 with other Filipino American veterans. They're called the Fil-Am Vets Rondalla. The group wanted to share with the Filipino community the rondalla introduced by Spain that's become part of the Filipino folk tradition.
Chicago parents welcome Haitian adoptees
(Chicago Tribune) After an excruciating, nine-day wait, the new Chicago-area parents of five Haitian children raced onto a tarmac in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Thursday night to embrace the adopted additions to their families. The climactic moment — at the end of a chartered flight that was delayed four hours — came after the parents had spent more than a week searching for a way to evacuate the orphans from Haiti's chaos. "It's amazing, it's a miracle and I don't believe in miracles," said Dr. Elaine Morgan of Skokie, holding 4-year-old Djoude, an HIV-positive girl that she had been trying to adopt for more than two years. "I am on cloud nine," Morgan said.
Artist devoted to 'guerrilla' coffee shop portraits
(Ricardo Gándara, Austin American-Statesman) Lavanna Martin is afraid her work will turn out badly. She's afraid that her subjects will catch her painting them. She's afraid others will notice her and interrupt. "Each and every time, there is this fear impulse when I walk into a place. Am I going to be good that day?" she asks. "I know; it's a neurosis." She's even fearful of how this article will portray her. "Are you kidding? I told my husband, 'I don't think he (the reporter) gets me.'" But when she paints in Austin coffee shops, once the first stroke of a brush adds color to a canvas, the fear lessens.
Haitian Orphans Arrive In Pittsburgh After Long Journey
(WTAE) Dozens of Haitian orphans who survived last week's earthquake arrived in Pittsburgh Tuesday morning, thanks to the persistence of two young Pittsburgh women who begged for help to make the long journey home from the ravaged country. Jamie, 30, and Ali McMutrie, 22, from the northern Ben Avon suburb, moved away to care for children at the BRESNA orphanage in Port-au-Prince four years ago. Following the deadly earthquake, the sisters contacted family back home and a groundswell of Internet support began to spread the word of their desperate situation with the children, many of whom were in the process of being adopted by U.S. families.
Wedding Ring Returned to Hill Air Force Base Widow
(AP) A tragedy that claimed the life of a 28-year-old Hill Air Force Base F-16 pilot ultimately ended with a miracle. On June 22, 2009, Capt. George "Ice" Houghton, originally from Candler, N.C., died when his jet crashed at the Utah Test and Training Range, about 35 miles southwest of Wendover, Nev., during a night training mission. Assigned to the 388th Fighter Wing's 421st Fighter Squadron at Hill, Houghton's jet went down in a remote area of the UTTR commonly referred to as Baker's Strong Point. Debris spread for miles from the crash site. Air Force officials combed through the site, investigating the accident and gathering Houghton's personal items. Devastated by the loss of her husband, Houghton's widow Josie wanted only one thing from the crash site: the pilot's titanium wedding band.
Mother's 'faith in human nature restored' after Facebook campaign raises £64,000 to help airlift paralysed Briton out of Colombia
(Caroline Graham, Daily Mail) The mother of a British man critically injured in a diving accident in Colombia last night told how a campaign to raise funds to bring him back to the UK has ‘restored my faith in human nature’. Daniel Eley, 32, from Godalming, Surrey, was left paralysed from the neck down after hitting a rock while diving into a shallow river in the Amazon jungle on New Year’s Day. His mother Carolyn, 64, speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, said that her heartbreak had been eased by the ‘overwhelming’ kindness of strangers.
Oakland Baseball Coach Leads College Tours
(Kate Kelly, CBS5) Fifteen-year-old Randall Jackson throws a mean fastball on Oakland's Babe Ruth Baseball team. But thanks to coach Chester Livingston, that's just one of many lessons his team will learn. Chester has been a volunteer coach for ten years. He's also vice president of the Oakland Babe Ruth League. That's of course in his free time. His day job is in sales and service with PG&E. "Giving back is very important," Chester explains. "Somebody helped me when I was like these kids and I'm helping them." Chester says baseball meant everything to him while he was growing up in Oakland, where he played alongside the likes of Ricky Henderson and Dave Stewart.
Haiti orphanage founded by Ohio couple survives quake, children reportedly safe
(Steve Bennish, Dayton Daily News) An orphanage housing 126 children in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, founded 10 years ago by an Ohio couple has survived Tuesday’s massive earthquake and the children are now sleeping outdoors for their safety. Miriam Rardin of Lima, mother of orphanage founder Hal Nungester, said Wednesday night, Jan. 13, that a report from an Illinois supporter indicates the children are uninjured and safe. The supporter relayed the information to her Tuesday following a quick conversation with Rardin’s son just before the cell phone network went down, Miriam Rardin said.
'A few minutes' with Andy Rooney becomes 91 years
(Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY) Ask Andy Rooney, who turns 91 today, about retiring, and he responds with his own question: "Retire? From what? Life?" No, just his job as TV's longest-running essayist/curmudgeon. "I suppose the time may come," Rooney says. It has been 31 years since he first appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes— as a summer replacement. "I think I'll know when I can't do this anymore. I think I'd quit before anyone tells me to." And if he does, who might replace him? With a straight face, he suggests another CBS legend, Charles Kuralt, who died in 1997.
Maria Teresa Leal helps women stitch together a way out of poverty
(Andrew Downie, Christian Science Monitor) Maria Teresa Leal lives in two worlds. In one, she leads the women of a sewing cooperative in Rocinha, a sprawling hillside shantytown of more than 100,000 people in Rio de Janeiro. In another, she goes to Paris, New York, and Brasília, Brazil’s capital, to meet with international sponsors, fashion designers, and government and media elites. She is equally at home in both. But wherever she goes, the purpose is always the same: to improve the lives of her seamstresses.
Can great hair help the homeless?
(Teryl Zarnow, Orange County Register) Lisa Batson relaxes in the chair and watches as her hair is cut and colored and styled to a shiny perfection. It's an ordinary moment of pampering delivered under extraordinary circumstances. In this place where lives are rescued, a haircut is not the only transformation taking place. Lisa can't afford to spend $150 to color her hair. For more than a year, Lisa couldn't afford a haircut. Almost a year ago, Lisa and her son moved into the Village of Hope in Tustin. The transitional housing program, part of the Orange County Rescue Mission, shelters 192 men, women and children on a 5-acre campus.
Mixing Art and Technology, and Finding Empowerment
(Jennifer 8. Lee, New York Times) In March Nazaury Delgado shyly showed his iPod Touch to an art teacher, flicking his finger across the images he had created with Photoshop on his home computer. The teacher, Cornelius Van Wright, asked if he could print them out. After he had looked at them again, Mr. Van Wright hurriedly summoned the rest of the teachers at the Fred Dolan Art Academy, a Saturday arts program that works with at-risk teenagers in the Bronx. "We couldn’t believe it," said Neil Waldman, an illustrator who founded the arts program, and who was stunned by the carefully manipulated overlays of faces and colorful textures.
Wedding bliss on aisle five
(Brian Haas, South Florida Sun-Sentinel) It was a chance meeting, like so many love stories begin. For Jack Frankel and Fina Nikolos, it began May 17 at the Whole Foods Market store in Coral Springs. Frankel, 75, waiting for a break in the rain after shopping, noticed a beautiful woman pass by. And more than once. A few minutes later, she came back with an umbrella and offered to walk him to his car. He later thanked Nikolos, 67, by taking her out to lunch. On Saturday, the couple returned to where they first met, this time to wed in a small ceremony in the Whole Foods Market's café.
Solar Girl Helps Families Go Green For Free
(Sharon Chin, CBS5) "It's not even four dollars a month!" exclaims Espanola Jackson, holding up her electric bill. In fact, Espanola's bill dropped nearly $200 to $3.54, and she thanks Leah Pimentel, the Outreach Coordinator for the nonprofit GRID Alternatives. "I call it the magic box," Espanola says with a laugh, indicating her solar system controller. "It's a magic box." It's Leah's job to get energy-saving solar systems installed in Bayview Hunters Point and Potrero Hill.
Finding Happiness in Helping Those Who Have Less
(Jennifer Mascia, New York Times) Six years ago, Sheila Salmon, a retired educator and librarian, picked up The New York Times and read a Neediest Cases article about a retired bank executive who volunteered at a senior center. “After I finished the story, I said, ‘That’s for me,’ ” Ms. Salmon, now 76, recalled. She had just retired from New Visions for Public Schools, where she was a project director. Before that, she spent 10 years helping to establish libraries in impoverished public schools — and she wasn’t about to spend her retirement twiddling her thumbs.
Act of Kindness: Delivering Smiles
(Monifa Thomas, Chicago Sun-Times) Conetta Stephens likes to make sure that babies born at Mount Sinai Hospital go home looking even cuter than when they came into the world. For 21 years, Stephens, a nurse's aide in the mother-baby unit at the Lawndale hospital, has been buying clothes, hair accessories and blankets for newborns there so they'll look their best when Mom takes them home for the first time. She also gets some of the newborns special Christmas outfits for the holidays. "I just want to beautify all the babies before they go to the mom," Stephens says. "It's something that makes me happy, to put a smile on a mom's face."
The couple who fell in love after surviving Miracle on the Hudson plane crash
(Liz Hazelton, Daily Mail) It was one of the most miraculous escapes in aviation history. But for Ben Bostic and Laura Zych, surviving a plane crash into the Hudson River in New York was also the beginning of an extraordinary love story. The pair both boarded doomed flight US Airways 1549 at the city's LaGuardia Airport on January 15 last year. Ben, 39, remembers catching a glimpse of his future girlfriend and hoping that she would sit by him. Instead, she had a reservation several rows away. 'I would have totally forgotten about it,' Ben said. 'If it weren't for the things that happened.'
Volunteer Dan Davenport refurbishes computers to help kids and adults succeed
(Chuck Yarborough, Cleveland Plain Dealer) Dan Davenport kind of looks like James Earl Jones' character in "Field of Dreams," although at 83, Davenport has a few years on the fictional Terry Mann. But few have anything on Davenport when it comes to idealism and zeal. For more than 10 years, the retired postal worker has been refurbishing computers as a volunteer with Computers Assisting People (capinc.org), which has aided more than 400 organizations, from the AARP to Zion Baptist Church.
D.C. man finds blessings in mission to help homeless
(Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post) The digital bank clock across from Capitol Hill United Methodist Church reads 7:25 a.m. and 27 degrees when Rob Farley, congregant, lawyer and aspiring Christian, jogs up to the church's icy front landing. Waiting for him in the chilly rain are the people who have transformed his life. Jonathan George, a joke-telling handyman from the Bronx, is stuffing into plastic trash bags the sleeping bag, two blankets and cardboard he uses for a bed. Howard James, 51, and his "lady friend," Mercedes Dessaso, 61, are just showing up after a frigid, wet night wandering near Union Station.
Professor enlists aid of teddy bears
(AP) A common ally of childhood - the teddy bear - is helping Mark Elliott battle an all-too-real foe of adulthood. Three months ago, Elliott, a former Wagnerian opera singer and current Coe College voice professor, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Doctors told him that the malignant cells were growing rapidly and that the five-year survival rate is around 5 percent. Elliott refused to let the battle raging inside him stifle his inner child. Three months of chemo treatments and many tests later, Elliott has enlisted an army of teddy bears to help with the fight.
Ex-homeless student now has room to call his own
(Petula Dvorak, Washington Post) When the weather is especially cold, homeless folks have some tricks to survive if they don't get to a shelter. They wrap plastic bags around their feet, before they put them in the shoes. They barter with one another for the hypothermia blankets that the city issues, draping them around their shoulders in layers until they look like gray, woolen buffaloes. Or they create an igloo with a plastic tarp tented over a park bench, the edges held down by rocks. But Ronnell Wilson doesn't have to do any of that now.
It's a wonderful life: A simple act of kindness
(Mark DiIonno, NJ.com) I wanted to write a story about hope and optimism today on this, the second day of a new year, but wasn’t in the mood. The economy lags, terrorism looms, politicians snipe. Still. Right from the start, 2010 looks very much like 2009 and 2008 and 2007. Recession. Depression. The waning days of the empire. Call it what you will, but there’s a gloomy hangover in America, and especially in New Jersey, we can’t seem to shake. And then came the call from reader Mary Marino. "I have a wonderful story to tell you."
Brooklyn woman on brink of death thrives after five transplants to replace disease-ravaged organs
(Erin Durkin, New York Daily News) Just eight months ago, Kristin Molini was a bone-thin 74 pounds, spending 13 hours a day hooked up to an IV for the nutrition she needed to survive. The young Brooklyn woman's skin was bright yellow with jaundice. She was in constant pain and could barely leave the house. But in a stunning turnaround, when the ball drops tonight, the 22-year-old Gravesend resident will be out celebrating with friends - and with five new organs transplanted in a rare and complex surgery.
Anonymous donor leaves 200 pounds of cat food on Lakemore cat rescuer's porch
(Donna J. Miller, Cleveland Plain Dealer) Eric Schickendantz arrived at his shop yesterday evening and found 200 pounds of cat food on the porch. The 10, 20-pound bags were likely left by someone who read the story in the Sunday Plain Dealer about Schickendantz's rescue of 101 cats from a foreclosed house in Lakemore, just south of Akron. Schickendantz, 62 and dubbed Katmandu Rescue, spent more than four months catching and taming the cats.
102 and she just retired
(Lauren R. Harrison, Chicago Tribune) She sits on a brown suede couch, one leg folded under the other, one tiny canvas Oxford shoe dangling above the wood floor. Hunched over a spiral-bound notebook, nose nearly touching the paper, she looks for the 22nd page of her story. Raising a large black-rimmed magnifying glass -- a trusted reading companion the last decade -- she moves it over each word, enlarging the cursive lettering by five times. At times squinting her eyes, more gray than blue, Merle Garton Phillips reads aloud the newest passage of "Beautiful Pebbles," her book in progress.
Kid's art touches garbage men's hearts
(Greg Hardesty, Orange County Register) Peyton Espley-Jones was getting ready for school, just before Christmas break, when the garbage men pulled up to her house on Bayshore Drive. Her mother, Pat, slipped a $10 bill into a Christmas card and gave it to the men to thank them for their hard work. As the men continued to collect trash in one of Orange County's most exclusive neighborhoods, Peyton, a sixth-grader at Mariner's Christian School in Costa Mesa, headed off to school. One of the men tore open the envelope. It wasn't the $10 inside that card that grabbed him, but what the card said. He told his partner to pull over and stop the truck. The two talked for a while. Then, after a few minutes, they returned to Peyton's house. They had something for her.
Married 70 years and still 'giving in a lot'
(Rosemary Shinohara, Anchorage Daily News) He's 95. She's 90. Roy and Marcia Zahrobsky met when he walked into her dad's grocery store in Hampton, Iowa, back in the '30s to get some lunch. Then one day he came up and asked her if she was going to the dance. "She was a cute little girl," he says. Before you know it, a depression, a world war and a few decades later, here they are, celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary in a nursing home in Muldoon -- still together.
How angry young man turned his life around
(Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune) For better and worse, Sam Vega couldn't stop looking back. Let down by a mother with destructive habits, a father he never knew and the grandmother who moved him to Chicago, Vega struck out on his own at age 18. But bitter memories of neglect combined with concern for his four siblings kept him from moving on. His failure to forgive undercut his will to succeed, as did a fear that he was echoing the mistakes of his elders by walking away. "A lot has happened in my life," he said.
Student abandoned as newborn thanks pair who found her
(Michael E. Ruane, Washington Post) Mia Fleming walked down the curving staircase to the foyer of her father's house in Northern Virginia. She stood nervously for a few moments by the front door, and then, to the jingling of the holiday bells on the doorknob, greeted the two people who had once saved her life. Chris Astle, 35, entered first and gave her a hug, something he said he's been wanting to do ever since he found her as an infant, wrapped in orange towels and left on a doorstep in Fairfax County 20 years ago. Behind him was Emily Yanich-Fithian, 35, who had been with Chris that Wednesday in 1989 and who had cradled Mia and managed to quiet her crying. Emily, carrying her purse and camera, was overcome as they embraced. "Sorry," she said, waving away her tears.
Wendy McGhee-Jones plays fairy godmother to local girls
(Roxanne Washington, Cleveland Plain Dealer) About nine years ago, Wendy McGhee-Jones read an article in People magazine about a couple of women who collected gently worn gowns for prom-bound girls unable to afford new dresses. Such a program, she thought, could benefit girls in Greater Cleveland, easing the financial burden of prom season. After applying for nonprofit status to receive donations, My Fairy Godmother was on a mission to "help every Cinderella make it to the ball."
Former homeless man known as 'mayor of Boxville' finds job, home and a smile
(Kim Horner, Dallas Morning News) How life has changed for Mack Choice. On Thursday, he was decked out in a tuxedo, his dreadlocks cut, helping serve 500 homeless people at an annual downtown Christmas party. Last year, he was on the other side, one of the guests. His home was underneath a freeway bridge. Life changed for the 52-year-old man when he started working last spring for the SoupMobile, a charity that threw Thursday's fifth annual Christmas Angel Project at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion.
The unexpected power of $10 to $20
(Jim Kavanagh, CNN) Gary Ribble would not be able to read this story if not for people like you. Ribble, who has chronic lymphocytic leukemia in addition to severe diabetes and impaired hearing, needed new eyeglasses last spring but couldn't afford them after losing a job he'd held for more than 40 years. Then he found out about the Modest Needs Foundation. The grass-roots charity pools thousands of small donations to help people get through short-term financial crises. Donors direct their dollars to the requests they want to fund.
For a dead guy, he throws a great party
(Jessica Brown, Cincinnati Enquirer) Jack Greenberg, of Symmes Township, throws himself one heck of a birthday party every year: lunch and limousine service for 37 friends and their guests, a nice speech about himself, group photographs, and gifts of $1,500 for each invitee. Jack Greenberg, of Symmes Township, throws himself one heck of a birthday party every year: lunch and limousine service for 37 friends and their guests, a nice speech about himself, group photographs, and gifts of $1,500 for each invitee.
Under the tree, a pair of surprise siblings
(Evan S. Benn, St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Twins Kaitlyn and Brittany Gotthardt went right for the big box sitting next to their Christmas tree Friday, not knowing that what was inside had traveled 1,200 miles and would soon have the girls crying tears of joy. Out of the box jumped Anthony and Cat Fosher, the twins' older siblings, who were raised separately and live in New Hampshire. The four hadn't seen each other since their birth mother's funeral in February, and before that five years had passed since the last visit. Wendy and Craig Gotthardt, who adopted the twins, now 17, at birth, made it their mission to bring Anthony, 19, and Cat, 18, to their home for Christmas.
A Christmas Day bride and her 75th happy anniversary
(Claire Ellicott, Daily Mail) It is Jim Phillips's proud boast that he has never forgotten his wedding anniversary in 75 years. Then again, he wouldn't have much of an excuse because it falls on Christmas Day. Mr Phillips, 98, yesterday celebrated three quarters of a century of wedded bliss with May, 97. They chose Christmas Day for their wedding because they were desperately hard up and decided that combining the two celebrations would save money. Their romance began at a 1928 St Patrick's Day dance when they were teenagers in North-West London. 'She was the best - and most beautiful - dancer I'd ever seen in my life,' said Mr Phillips. 'And though she went to the dance with one fellow, I made sure it was me who dropped her home.'
Former fugitive credits social worker for steering him toward a restored life
(Nicole Saidi and Christina Zdanowicz, CNN) He fled a "nightmare" childhood for the uncertainty of foster care, maneuvered through several years behind bars and a jail break that turned him into a fugitive, and steeped much of his free time in alcohol. Mike Stouffer is now sober and involved in restorative justice programs that help teenage offenders. He has exchanged letters with President Obama and received a personal response. Stories of charity and goodwill are commonplace during the holidays, but less often do you hear what it's like to receive those good deeds.
The best gift I ever gave my son -- and it cost nothing
(George Gilbert Lynch, Bakersfield Californian) It was early December 1958, and we had recently lost our 1-year-old son, Sammy, to an illness he fought his entire short life. We were forced to declare bankruptcy because of the enormous medical and hospital bills. It seemed as though we had lost about everything except our 4-year-old son, Little George. He was now our only child and making him happy was our first priority in life -- and nothing would make him happier than a pedal-car racer for Christmas. But we had no money.
Champaign husband, wife are ultra-frugal so they can help charities
(Sara Olkon, Chicago Tribune) Suja Thomas, who wears socks with holes, isn't giving her husband anything for Christmas. Likewise, when Scott Bahr proposed to Thomas in spring 2008, he offered her a red plastic heart in place of an engagement ring. The Champaign couple's intense frugality is by design. Their idea is to save as much as possible in order to give more money to others in need. This Christmas, the pair raised the stakes. Thomas and Bahr have pledged to give up to $50,000 of their own money to five charities by matching donations from others.
Fremont Teen Links Generations With Technology
(Kate Kelly, CBS5) Veteran Juan Rodriguez may have navigated his way through the Korean War, but navigating on the internet is another thing. "Today I am learning how to do the email," Juan says, looking over the Yahoo! screen before him. He's doing it with the help of high school students from Mission San Jose in Fremont, the idea of 17-year-old Ethan Jose, who calls his program "Internetting Family." "It's something they need," Ethan explains.
Volunteer from home in the comfort of your P.J.’s!
(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) Mike Bright is asking you to help change the world with just a few minutes of your time. You don’t have to leave the house. You can even stay in your p.j.’s if you want. His website, Help From Home, provides a list of over 500 microvolunteering opportunities that take less than 30 minutes of your time, with most taking just a fraction of that.
Years after an act of kindness, it's returned and doubled
(Julie Muhlstein, Everett Daily Herald) One generous act often begets another, but it’s rarely a case of instant karma. At one Everett dental office, more than a decade passed between a forgiveness of debt and this season’s holiday surprise. In early December, a woman walked into Dr. Bruce Nixon’s office. She brought with her three $100 bills. "She said she wanted to pay this back," Nixon said last week. Nixon and his wife, Louise, a dental assistant who has worked at her husband’s Colby Avenue practice for more than 20 years, immediately remembered their former patient.
Hundreds of carolers gather to support woman with cancer
(Justin McClelland, Dayton Daily News) Their cheeks were red and their noses were nearly frozen, but the people who filled the front yard of Kathy and Mike Alienello’s house were warm by something far more powerful than the tiny candles they held in their hands. Close to 400 people huddled Wednesday, Dec. 17, in the Alienello’s yard and spilled out onto their curvy street in the Countryside subdivision to support the ailing family with a joyous round of Christmas carols that could be heard from blocks away.
Napa Dentist Volunteers For Patients In Need
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) Break a tooth? Dr. Adrian Fenderson's patients know who to call. He's been rooted in Napa Valley for nearly 40 years. But he's just as well known outside of the office for sinking his teeth into volunteer projects here at home and around the world. "It's my passion. I love it. You do things that make you feel good," Dr. Fenderson explains. For nearly three decades, Dr. Fenderson has offered free dental care during dozens of humanitarian missions to Mexico and Central America, with the Flying Doctors group.
She’s only 8—and a magnet for holiday generosity
(Deidre Williams, Buffalo News) The spirit of giving—not receiving — keeps growing for Madison Scott, and she is only 8. Tuesday marked the end of the second annual toy drive she created for The News Neediest Fund. For the last two years, around the holidays, the third-grader has collected gifts and money for the program. With some of the money, she goes shopping for additional gifts. The rest she donates to the Food Bank of Western New York. The idea for the campaign originated last year when Madison approached her parents and told them that she wanted to donate half of her Christmas presents to deserving kids who had less than she.
Ellie’s Christmas card
(B.G. Kelley, Christian Science Monitor) I wasn’t fond of Christmas cards, whether receiving or sending them. Then one day, just before a certain 1966 Christmas, a card arrived for me at home, depicting a snowy landscape with a tawny kitten, red ribbon around its neck, snuggled in a window in the cast of a candle’s glow. It changed my life. When I opened the envelope to see who had sent the card, I was surprised. It was a girl from my college days; in fact, I even remembered the first time we had met.
Good wishes envelop sick boy, family
(Holly Zachariah, Columbus Dispatch) Postal carrier Katy Handley rolled up to the Elfrink house in West Jefferson yesterday and dropped off the family's Christmas cards -- all 4,000 of them. That was on top of the thousands she delivered Saturday, the thousands on Friday, the thousands ... well, you get the picture. The cards are mostly from strangers, people responding to a ubiquitous online message and e-mail request that said 7-year-old Nate Elfrink, a brain-cancer patient now in hospice care, wanted to receive 1 million Christmas cards. When the cards started rolling in last week, Dode McVey quickly realized a simple online message she wrote updating her son's condition and suggesting that he would appreciate cards had somehow gotten out of hand.
The proven power of giving, not getting
(Jessica Ravitz, CNN) Kevin Garibo hasn't known life outside a hospital. Born three months ago with respiratory issues, he needed a procedure to breathe on his own. Nurses prod at him, medical machines hum around him and tubes are more present than teddy bears. But in the arms of Chris Haack, who strokes his cheek and speaks in a soft whisper while rocking him in a chair, little Kevin is one blissed-out baby. Haack, a retired nurse from Roswell, Georgia, is a trained volunteer with "Baby Buddies," a program in the neonatal intensive care unit at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
Home renovation gift goes beyond her wildest dreams
(Korie Wilkins, Detroit Free Press) When Derinda Roberts rolled into her Lathrup Village home on Friday, all she was expecting to see was a new shower in her bathroom. But she got so much more: refinished floors, a ramp into her sunroom, a fully stocked refrigerator and a kitchen prep area where she can cook for her family. It all started with three friends who wanted to help someone during the holidays. Roberts, injured in a 1983 shooting, has paraplegia and has lived in the one-story home since March. But it isn't handicap accessible, she said. "I'm extremely overwhelmed," said Roberts, 47.
The gift of giving
(Reid Forgrave, Des Moines Register) It's almost suppertime at the Crawmer household in Urbandale. The glow of Christmas lights outlines their home in a tidy subdivision just west of Interstate Highway 35/80. Inside, 8-year-old Justin scoops out handfuls of Reese's Puffs cereal. Now wait just a minute, Mom says - you'll spoil dinner. The doorbell rings. Mom - Cheryl Crawmer - pulls Justin and 5-year-old Madi away from "Wizards of Waverly Place" on television and answers the door. "Are you guys hungry?" asks Crawmer's neighbor Mary Greig, as she brings in a homemade version of Maid-Rite sandwiches.
Outpouring of support greets homeless at Wentzville motels
(Jessica Bock, St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Near the small indoor pool surrounded by rooms at the Budget Inn, there's a new Christmas tree with ornaments decorated by children who call the motel home. The tree and its decorations are a symbol of the outpouring of support since a Post-Dispatch story about motels that have become home to the homeless. Paul Kruse, founder of First Step Back Home, says readers have donated about $30,000 to his agency in the last two weeks. Amy Curran Piglowski, 35, of Wentzville, said she was shocked when she learned of the problem. She and her husband, Todd, went to the Budget Inn, spoke with those living there and brought them $200 worth of food.
Couple's Kindness Helps Man Turn Life Around
(KPTV) For Robert Bouder, a patch of grass next to the Hawthorne Bridge evokes memories. "This was my spot. This 10 square feet of land was mine," he said. "I would roll out my sleeping bag and had my backpack with me. And this was my home." For much of his life, Bouder said he struggled to stay afloat, but he hit an all-time low last year with the economy in crisis. He lost his job and was left to live on the streets of Portland. "Once I got laid off, it just went too quick and I found myself out here," he said.
Lemon Lady Feeds East Bay Families In Need
(Kate Kelly, CBS 5) It started with lemons. Anna Chan saw a lot of lemons in front yard trees as she drove her colicky daughter around the neighborhood. And while the driving got little Ava to sleep, it got Anna to thinking. "I thought, 'Gosh it's all going to waste!'" Anna remembers. "Why would you let it go to waste? Hundreds of trees, I counted dozens in my neighborhood within five miles of my house." So Anna starting knocking on doors, asking homeowners if she could pick their surplus fruit to give away.
On a slushy street in Providence, a random act of kindness renews faith in mankind
(Bob Kerr, Providence Journal) Traffic was moving slowly in the morning snow Wednesday, and it got even slower on North Main Street in Providence as one person stopped to help another. "I thought possibly an accident had occurred or someone had slid on the icy roads," said Steve Ormerod, who lives in the Rumford section of East Providence and is vice president of Navigant Credit Union. "What I witnessed, as we slowly approached, was extraordinary and I am glad that my sons got to see it."
Selflessness of one can touch many
(Mike Hendricks, Kansas City Star) Every now and then I hear plainspoken wisdom that strikes me as profound. A 27-year-old medical student named Emily Broxterman delivered such a line the other day while we were discussing an upcoming event. “There’s no gift that you give that is insignificant,” she said. She wasn’t talking about presents under the tree. She meant giving of oneself to a cause or in the service of others. Which is pretty much what Emily Broxterman has been all about since sixth grade, when she won an American Cancer Society essay contest.
He's the Santa he never had
(Cliff Radel, Cincinnati Enquirer) This is the story of a one-legged Santa. He can teach everybody an important lesson for the holidays: Something may be missing from your Christmas list - or your life or your anatomy. But, you can still be happy. And spread good cheer. "I am one of the best Santas money cannot buy," Harold Neumeister joked as he struggled to don his red velvet apparel. "Money would interfere with what I get from the kids," he added. "The smiles on their faces is my payment. No amount of money in the world can match it."
50 years later, donor's largesse to help students
(John Johnston, Cincinnati Enquirer) Everybody's looking for the perfect gift. Lloyd Bernstein believes he's found it. He'll give it to a deserving young person. To many deserving young people. The 67-year-old Oakley resident doesn't know who they are. Some have yet to be born. The gift is a scholarship and even though the first recipient won't be notified until spring it's good to tell the story now, when giving is on so many people's minds.
Christian blogger raises $60k for kindergartens
(Christopher Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Jonathan Acuff, the Christian blogger from Alpharetta who raised $30,000 in 18 hours last month to build a kindergarten in Vietnam, has gone the second mile. He raised another $30,000, which will build a second school. The money for the first kindergarten poured in so fast after he wrote on his satirical blog "Stuff Christians Like" about his dream to build the school that he wanted to try again. The fund-raising continued until Thursday when an anonymous donor pitched in the final $6,023.
4-year-old survives being hit by train
(Megan Matteucci, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Doctors call this 4-year-old Atlanta boy Superman. He either has to be made of steel or truly is blessed to have survived getting hit by a train, doctors told the boy’s mom. Elijah Anderson was playing outside his northwest Atlanta home on Nov. 5 when his dog Poochy ran off. Elijah chased after the Jack Russell Terrier as it ran behind his Lamar Avenue home toward the train tracks on Wilson Boulevard. Like most 4-year-olds, the boy was more focused on the dog than his surroundings and didn’t see the train coming, his mom Shantinerri Anderson said.
Cookies are their dough-main
(Jeffrey Sheban, Columbus Dispatch) Count Spatula and Princess Buttercup. By virtue of their divine inventions (namely, many heavenly treats), Bill Barrett of New Albany and Mary Douridas of Blacklick are hereby crowned central Ohio's holiday-cookie king and queen. Seeking to bestow the honorary title, The Dispatch several weeks ago asked readers to help us identify the best amateur baker in central Ohio. The solicitation yielded 85 nominations, many of them worthy of serious consideration. Yet two of those -- Barrett, a 53-year-old employee-benefits consultant, and Douridas, 87, a retiree and great-grandmother -- rose above the rest.
The Power of Two
(Susannah Meadows, Newsweek) This story beats love at first sight. Two people longed for each other, though they may have never met. They felt connected though they may never have touched. They'd even been given the same first names, though their families were strangers. By the time Meredith Grace Rittenhouse and Meredith Ellen Harrington were finally introduced, love was almost beside the point. Their bond was more mysterious, more fundamental. The Merediths are Chinese fraternal twins who were adopted by two different American families. The girls found each other almost six years ago, when they were 4, and haven't let go since.
Hartford Parent Becomes A Big Volunteer At School
(Steven Goode, Hartford Courant) It's 7:15 a.m. and Sylvia Garcia is starting the school bus. But she doesn't need keys for the ignition or gasoline in the tank, because this bus is foot-powered. Garcia operates what is called a "walking school bus" to and from McDonough Elementary School. Her route is short, less than a half-mile from her Park Terrace home to the school on Hillside Avenue. But it provides peace of mind to parents as a safer alternative to having students walking alone and unsupervised through neighborhoods and across busy intersections.
SF Woman Leads Field Trips For City Kids
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) Sister Stephanie Hughes hosts dinner and a movie for dozens of kids in the Bayview - one of San Francisco's toughest neighborhoods. "That is big to a child. Just spending time with them," she explains. Sister Stephanie, who's lived in the Bayview most of her life, has organized activities for kids in the Alice Griffith public housing development since 2005. Her program started after a spiritual awakening. She says she broke a 25-year drug addiction that forced her to give up her five children to foster care.
Young man finds place for himself after incarceration
(Rita Price, Columbus Dispatch) He bathes the turkey in fresh garlic, herbs and olive oil, rubbing marinade into poultry the way a masseur works a knotted-up shoulder. Chris Peterson could just plop the bird in the oven and leave it at that, but he won't, because now he knows the joy that comes from doing a job well. "Cook something good, and it makes people happy," he said. The 20-year-old aims to shine, whether he's making daily fare or holiday meals for patients, staff members and visitors at Regency Hospital on S. High Street. It's the first job he's had.
Eminent doctor chooses service over retirement
(Alice C. Chen, San Francisco Chronicle) The farther Dr. Arthur Ammann and his team of medical workers bounce along in their ambulance through rebel-held northern Congo to visit health clinics, the more uneasy he gets. The muddy roads are increasingly filled with men carrying automatic weapons, fleeing women and children, and bodies smoldering in the streets. In the midst of everything, Ammann encounters a smiling health worker sitting at a wooden desk who has been waiting two hours for Ammann and his team to bring HIV medications to her barren clinic.
Wrong Number Miracle
(Eric S. Page, NBC San Diego) Virginia Saenz could hear the desperation in the voice of the telephone message. It was 5 a.m. on the day before Thanksgiving, and the caller, Lucy Crutchfield, was trying to tell her daughter that she'd send money for groceries -- but she'd have to miss a mortgage payment to do it. But Crutchfield dialed the wrong number. Instead of getting her daughter, she got Saenz, a real estate agent from the San Diego suburb of Tierrasanta. "I know right now we are all struggling," Saenz said. "Lisa on the phone, she sounded so desperate for her daughter, it broke my heart." Saenz did the only thing she could think of -- she called Crutchfield back and said not to worry.
Child brings love to two families
(John Johnston, Cincinnati Enquirer) Gabby Fishel, a month shy of her sixth birthday, eagerly opens the scrapbook that tells her adoption story in words and pictures. "That's my mommy and daddy," she says, pointing to a photo of Chris and Kevin Fishel, the Sharonville couple who have raised her since she was 3 days old. "That's Melissa and Albert," she says, her finger on a picture of her birth parents. "I love them so much." This is the season for giving thanks and for cherishing precious gifts. So we introduce you to four parents.
Saginaw Township 'Blanket Lady' covers area with generosity
(Tom Gilchrist, Saginaw News) If you wonder whether Eleanor J. Finger warms hearts by sewing and giving away fleece blankets, consider Sue Williams’ preschool class at Peace Lutheran School in Saginaw Township. Finger, who lives in Saginaw Township, estimates she has donated 2,111 fleece blankets to children, youths and adults since she began the outreach in 2004. On Tuesday, 3-year-old Jonathan Stellmach jumped up and down, saying "Thank you! Thank you!" as Finger gave him a blanket at the school, 3161 Lawndale. He is the son of William and Andrea Stellmach of Saginaw Township. Kelly Laux, 3, another preschooler, was equally jubilant. "I love my blankie!" exclaimed the daughter of Matt and Carol Laux of Saginaw Township.
'Get Off Your Knees!' Living Without Arms and Legs
(Matthew Nojiri, ABC News) After a day of work at WMHT, a local public broadcasting TV station in Albany, N.Y., John Robinson does the things that countless dads do: Sitting at the kitchen table, he asks his children about their days at school and decides with his wife who will pick up 12-year-old daughter, Ariel, from swim practice. But Robinson's story is unlike any other. Robinson, 40, was born without elbows, forearms, wrists, hands, knees or thighs. He's currently featured in a PBS documentary called "Get Off Your Knees" and has just published an autobiography of the same name, which describes his remarkable journey toward independence, a family and a career.
Adoptive parents thankful for five siblings
(Gracie Bonds Staples, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) John Bradley has learned that life is about moments. And this one, he said staring into a bank of television cameras, felt like the Super Bowl. He was flanked by his wife, Tamera, and five children, including Daniel who sat smiling on his lap. It was official. They were family, the Bradley bunch as he and Tamera put it — the kind of team that love builds. Five days before Thanksgiving, the 48-year-old U.S. Army veteran finally had the five children he said wanted when he married his bride 15 years ago. Every time he started to speak about the gifts he’d been given, the tears came.
For American and Iraqi, a friendship forged in war
(Claire Osborn, Austin American-Statesman) They met in Iraq in March 2008. Mike Yonan, born to a Catholic family in Iraq, was an interpreter for the U.S. Army. Maj. George Davis was on his third tour of duty, assigned to a U.S. Army military transition team. Almost immediately, they said, they knew they could trust each other. Yonan was assigned to interpret for Davis and rode in Davis' armored vehicle in an area of northern Iraq. Davis said he can't identify the area for security reasons. After a year of working together, Davis, 38, returned to Round Rock when his tour of duty ended in March. Davis said he was sad to leave Yonan behind and worried about the interpreter's safety. "I told him, 'If you come to the Austin-Round Rock area, I will do everything I can to help you live the American dream. ... I will not let you fail,'" Davis said.
Shoe box filled with gifts changed Romanian girl's life
(Christopher Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Livia Satterfield, born Livia Navare, never received a Christmas gift until she was 12. She grew up in a Romanian orphanage, and that first gift, a shoe box full of inexpensive items with hair barrettes sitting notably on top – she had always longed for such a set – changed her life. Connie Satterfield from Newnan put the box in Livia's hands 10 years ago while volunteering with Operation Christmas Child. Franklin Graham, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, runs Operation Christmas Child through his North Carolina, faith-based nonprofit Samaritan's Purse.
Gift Boxes Help Those Battling Cancer
(Jorge Estevez, CBS 4) Imagine being in the fight of your life and still taking the time to help other families. That is exactly what a South Florida family is doing. Their 10-year-old son is battling cancer, and they have all started a non-profit charity to help other families who are also battling cancer. "The topping and the sweet potato goes in this box," said Dawn George as she packed boxes with her children. They are full of Thanksgiving food for other South Florida families.
Homeless woman bent on giving
(Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times) The woman didn't want to be known, and yet, no one can forget her. It's not just because she looked "otherworldly," as someone put it. Like a Halloween witch: stooped, with a gaunt face and wiry gray hair. The receptionist at Jewish Family Services (JFS) in Seattle struggled to piece together the woman's broken English, made more impenetrable by her heavy Eastern European accent. Other staffers tried to help. It became clear that, despite the fact that she had limped in off the street last month, carting everything she owned, the woman didn't want a thing; none of the housing assistance or health care that JFS has been providing for years.
Family living in storage unit moves into motel
(Bonnie Miller Rubin, Chicago Tribune) Life is infinitely more comfortable for the family that lived in a Streamwood storage facility, thanks to the generosity of friends, family and a wide swath of Chicago Tribune readers who stretched from around the block to around the world. Maria Maior, her fiance Shane Palmer and her 12-year-old son Brandon were featured in an Oct. 28 story on the spike in homeless families and students. Their plight sparked an outpouring of donations, from dog food to cash, allowing the family to move out of the cold 10-by-24-foot unit and into an Itasca motel. "I never dreamed that so many people would care," said the 39-year-old mother. "They didn't even know us, and yet they were willing to help us out."
A lesson in giving starts with one act of kindness and a chance meeting at a funeral in Hillsboro
(Margie Boule, The Oregonian) There are the folks whose names you see all the time, on the lists of big donors to charities. They give of their time, their influence, their money. They are generous; everybody knows their names. And then there's Tom Eggers. Tom died of a massive heart attack on March 14, at his home in Hillsboro. He was only 56. There was no story in the newspaper; his family purchased a paid obituary. A few days later, a viewing was held for Tom at Fir Lawn Memorial Park in Hillsboro. Laura Payne, who worked at Fir Lawn, saw Tom's friends and family arrive. Later, "I noticed the family had just left," Laura says, "and I saw this homeless person going into the chapel."
A friend's good deed saves a friend in need
(Renee C. Lee, Houston Chronicle) Best friends Travis McGullion and Daun Wade made a pact in middle school: If they had not found someone after high school, they would find each other and get married. It didn't seem far-fetched. The eighth-graders at Bammel Middle School sat next to each other in class, ate lunch at the same table and hung out after school every day. He was a defensive tackle on the football team, and she was a cheerleader. But in the ninth grade, McGullion's family moved, and the friends lost touch. The childhood promise didn't materialize, but 35 years later, a lifesaving one did.
Hells Angel Finds God at the Bottom of Bottle of Booze
(Lauren Green, Fox News) For most of his years, Richie Kane struggled through a living hell of physical and sexual abuse, alcoholism and membership in one of the most notorious gangs in the country. But now this former Hells Angel is empowered with a new force. Kane has chronicled his journey to a better life in a self-published book called "The Bronx Street Kid: Into 12-Step Recovery." He sees it as a way for him to pass on the hope he has now embraced. "God has been so kind to me," he says, "allowed me the strength to come back."
Empowering Immigrants to Be New Entrepreneurs
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) Adela Orucuta has gone from a housekeeping job to starting her own home daycare within a year. And she credits the nonprofit C.E.O. Women (Creating Economic Opportunities for Women) and its founder Farhana Huq. Farhana explains, "I started C.E.O. Women because I was passionate about seeing women stand on their own two feet." C.E.O. Women in Oakland trains immigrant women as entrepreneurs in six months. Adela improved her English, learned leadership skills, and developed a business plan. She received $2500 in seed money and other help, including a volunteer business coach.
Beautiful bright lights shine for dying boy
(Nicole Saidi, CNN) On a crisp Halloween night, icicle lights and Santa Clauses mingled with ghosts and jack-o'-lanterns in a Washington, Illinois, neighborhood. The community is helping a family squeeze in a little extra holiday cheer with their young son. Doctors say 2-year-old Dax Locke is losing his fight with acute myeloid leukemia and may only have weeks to live, so parents Julie and Austin Locke put Christmas lights up outside their home for the little boy, who loves glowing things. Dax opens presents each day under a tree that's already been up for several weeks. "We don't have much time left with Dax, don't know if he will make it to Christmas, so we wanted to have Christmas early," Julie Locke told local news station WMBD.
Still in love after 80 years: The couple who met aged five that have been together ever since
(Daily Mail) They met as five-year-old schoolchildren in 1929 and have been together almost constantly ever since. But in a union that has spanned nine decades and survived the Second World War, Jim Hadwin and his wife Moira have managed to stay the distance. Retired firefighter Jim, 85, said: "We have been rock-solid since the very first day, we always knew it was going to last. We have spent our lives together but I wouldn't change a thing. We still make each other laugh and we are still grateful to have spent our lives together."
Girl grants elderly people their dying wishes
(Lori Basheda, Orange County Register) Thoughtful? Check. Pleasant? Check. Well spoken? Check. Grants elderly people's dying wishes? Check. Am I on Candid Camera? I'm sitting in the Laguna Beach home of Helen Kronberg on a Sunday evening. Helen is under the covers, in bed with lung cancer at the age of 89. And nearby, serving her a gourmet Chinese meal is thoughtful, pleasant, well-spoken Caitlin Crommett, who just turned 16. "Here's your first course," she tells Helen, smiling politely as she hands her a bowl. "I have soup for you." "It's marvelous," says Helen, propped up on pillows. "You hear about all the bad things kids are doing and never the good things."
Triumph of a Dreamer
(Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times) Any time anyone tells you that a dream is impossible, any time you’re discouraged by impossible challenges, just mutter this mantra: Tererai Trent. Of all the people earning university degrees this year, perhaps the most remarkable story belongs to Tererai (pronounced TEH-reh-rye), a middle-aged woman who is one of my heroes. She is celebrating a personal triumph, but she’s also a monument to the aid organizations and individuals who helped her. When you hear that foreign-aid groups just squander money or build dependency, remember that by all odds Tererai should be an illiterate, battered cattle-herd in Zimbabwe and instead — ah, but I’m getting ahead of my story.
Volunteers Build Home For Wounded Marine In N.J.
(Cindy Hsu, WCBSTV.com) A U.S. Marine received a 21-gun salute and a hero's welcome as he made his way to his new house in Hillsdale, built by the non-profit group "Homes for our Troops." Corporal Visnu Gonzales was paralyzed from the chest down. He was shot by a sniper in Iraq five years ago, and dreamed of being a Marine since he was a child in the Dominican Republic. "All my family have been military, not here in the states, but I wanted to further the challenge a little bit more, so I decided to join the Marines," said Gonzalez.
Career Guidance Helps College Students Aim High
(Kate Kelly, CBS 5) Students Autumn Andrews and Dante Dixson will graduate from U.C. Berkeley this year. Both have career ambitions and a clear vision of where they are going. But it wasn't always that way. "I don't have anyone in my family who is a professional or works in an office," Autumn explains. "I come from a working class background, so I don't know, what does it look like to be in a professional setting, to be a leader in that sense?"
War's 'Lost Boy' grows up to graduate from college
(Mark Bixler, CNN) Kuol Dut was six when the swirling chaos of war churned through his village. He recalls playing in a field as neighbors raced toward him, screaming about militias attacking their homes. Even a boy of Kuol's age knew that militias and soldiers slaughtered men, women and children in the vast, flat expanse of southern Sudan. So he ran, too. That attack separated Kuol from his mother and father and cast him into a childhood of desolation.
Espousing the joy of just-wakened love
(Daniel Rubin, Philadelphia Inquirer) It was a terrible marriage, says Jerry Samuels. Loveless, passionless. For 13 years, he and Bobbie were partners only on paper. They kept separate bedrooms, separate bank accounts. They shopped alone, cooked alone, ate apart. "A disaster," she says, "from the beginning." Their cruise to Bermuda in September 1996 was no honeymoon, either. "He slept during the day and then spent the nights in the lounge at the piano," Bobbie says. "I stayed by the pool."
Lifting Patients' Spirits
(Jorge Estevez, CBS4) One South Florida woman is helping lift the spirits of cancer patients; she has gotten hundreds of complete strangers to join her on her journey. "I brought you a little something because I know you are dealing with a lot of stuff here," said Bryan Power, a man who signed up to be a part of Spirit Jump. The group is designed to send cards and small gifts to cancer patients such as Christopher George, a 10-year-old boy diagnosed with Lymphoma.
Teanne Harris, bride jilted at altar, turns Halloween-themed wedding into party for senior citizens
(Corky Siemaszko, New York Daily News) A jilted bride turned her heartache into a Happy Halloween for hundreds of senior citizens. Teanne Harris, who lives outside of Chicago, was supposed to walk down the aisle Saturday when her fiance suddenly got cold feet. And when Harris and her mom went to retrieve their deposit from the suburban catering hall where the reception was to be held, they were told it was too late. Sitting in the parking lot sad and depressed, Harris was commiserating with her mom, Bari, when they glanced over at the Asbury Court Retirement Community across the street - and a light bulb went off in their heads.
Designer Guides Young Artists To Creative Careers
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) "The simpler, the better," Maurice Woods tells his sixth, seventh, and eighth grade design students as they tackle an assignment to draw a symbol. "I want my students to come into class and get a sense of what designers do," Maurice explains. Maurice introduces kids to graphic design with free classes through a program he designed called the Inneract Project. "It's really about you guys coming up with something creative in a short time," he tells the kids. And that's how his program started. The six-foot-ten Richmond native played basketball for international teams, but realized he wouldn't make it into the NBA.
How five minutes changed everything for the Hudson River pilot
(Will Pavia, Times Online) Having spent "a lifetime being anonymous," five minutes changed everything for Captain Chesley Sullenberger. "It happened at a time when people were desperately seeking good news," he said yesterday. "They wanted to feel hopeful again ... I say we [the passengers and crew] were chosen by circumstance ... but if my children could have wished it away, they would have, and I would not choose to put my passengers and crew through that." Before Flight 1549 he had been a private man, at times feeling "somewhat of an outsider in my own family." At dinner parties, everyone remembered his wife.
A good deed, a good dog - neither is forgotten
(John Tevlin, Minneapolis Star-Tribune) Twenty years later, Dr. Joel Locketz can still remember the woman and girl with the sick puppy. They came into his Animal Medical Clinic on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis holding Boots, a spaniel mutt that their neighbor was planning to take to the pound. Boots was stricken with the parvovirus, which was almost an epidemic at the time. She had been vomiting and was dehydrated and, if left untreated, would certainly die. But the woman, Elaine Franczak, had very little money. The medication cost $500, far more than Franczak could afford. Locketz looked at Elaine and her daughter, 10-year-old Alisha, and the little dog, Boots. Don't worry about it, he said, we'll pay for the medicine.
Minds Matter helps 19-year-old make tough 'rite of passage'
(Suzanne Pardington, The Oregonian) Even now, as a freshman in the honors college at the University of Oregon, Mimi Gomalo sometimes regrets defying God to get there. Every Saturday, she would get home from a college prep program at about the same time her father came home from the family's Seventh-day Adventist church. Without fail, she recalls, he would ask the same questions: Where have you been? Why weren't you in church? Then he'd lecture her -- sometimes for two minutes, sometimes for three hours -- about why she should leave school behind for one day a week to focus on God. Gomalo was torn between her faith and her academic goals throughout the three years she participated in Minds Matter, an academic mentoring program that helps high-achieving low-income students go to college.
A doctor gives homeless a healthy chance
(Monica Yant Kinney, Philadelphia Inquirer) Any good coach knows the off-season matters. That's why Dr. Wilbur "Billy" Oaks has no plans to let his players slack off until spring. The men of the Body and Soul Soccer Team at St. John's Hospice may be homeless, but they must stay focused just like the pros. "I want them running with Back on My Feet" (www.backonmyfeet.org), the homeless jogging club, Oaks says. "And we'll be doing some recruiting. I hope to get new members through Sister Mary Scullion and Jon Bon Jovi." While the nun and the rock star erect houses for the homeless, Oaks - a celebrity in his own right - rebuilds his players from the inside out.
Lose a job, follow a dream
(Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com) For millions of job seekers, unemployment is a painful position they must endure until another opportunity comes along. But for some, it's the impetus to do something great. When Masoud Modarres lost his job, he saw an opportunity to make big changes. Modarres, 51, was the president of a small publishing company in New York that went out of business last year. But instead of panicking and then hunting for a similar position, Modarres decided it was time to follow his dream of helping people.
One Million Acts of Kindness
(Sumaiya Malik, Good News Gazette) One million acts of kindness in a lifetime. That’s Bob Votruba’s mission, his own personal kindness movement that he is taking out into the world. He wants to encourage others to commit one million acts of kindness in their lifetimes and has gone on the road to promote his powerful message.
In late August Votruba, a 54-year-old Cleveland native, and his Boston terrier Bogart kicked off an odyssey to spread the word of kindness throughout the U.S aboard a converted school bus that is their home on the road. All because Bob firmly believes in the transformative power of kindness – the thoughtful, considerate, compassionate things we do for one another, big and small, that express our humanity – to make the world a better place.
Volunteers' TLC spruces up home of Willow Glen widow, 94
(Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News) Just when she really needed them, about 40 pairs of hands — and strong arms and sturdy backs — arrived Saturday to help Inez Gibino clean up her San Jose home. Perfect strangers made a party out of whitewashing the aluminum-sided house, the first coat of exterior paint that the Vine Street home has gotten in 50 years. The energetic army rebuilt fences, weeded the yard and trimmed bushes. Volunteers made the bathroom accessible to Gibino and also constructed a wheelchair lift outside. It was just one of 34 locations targeted this weekend for home repairs and improvements by Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley.
Landlord donates kidney to her tenant
(Amanda Marrazzo, Chicago Tribune) The subject of James Love's precarious health came up one day last winter when his landlord was chatting with Love's wife about a leaky faucet. Barbara Thomas, who rents a home to the couple and their six children in Sleepy Hollow, asked Shira Love what her husband needed to avoid kidney dialysis. Born with sickle cell anemia, he had endured years of excruciating pain and renal failure. Shira Love told Thomas that he desperately needed a kidney but that it was hard to find a match because of his O-positive blood type.
San Francisco Man Mentors Community Kids
(Sharon Chin, CBS 5) Tracy Dixson distributes food from San Francisco's Food Bank to more than a hundred families a week. It's part of his paying job at the Heritage Homes affordable housing complex. But from 35 years experience working in the high risk Visitacion Valley neighborhood, he sees many who need even more help. "As Resident Services Coordinator, I was dealing with helping folks stay out of eviction, so you know the struggles they're going through," he says. So, besides food bank donations, some people receive hot food from Tracy himself. He cooks more than 250 free meals a week for cash-strapped families using profits from his weekend catering business, Dixson Delights.
Garfield freshman's charity begins at school
(Kristi Heim, Seattle Times) Jessica Markowitz runs a charity that sends 22 poor girls in Rwanda to school. She has raised nearly $40,000, taken several trips to rural villages there, formed a partnership with a local girls school and worked this past summer teaching Rwandan kids to read in English. The amazing part is that Markowitz is only 14. In sixth grade she learned about Rwandan children who had lost their parents to genocide and war and could not afford school. She felt compelled to help, so she organized some classmates at Seattle Girls School, and they pooled money to support girls in Rwanda.
Acts Of Kindness And Love
(John Pless, NewsChannel9.com) A couple of ladies in Dayton have created what you might call a "fabric of life" that is providing comfort for so many people. "It's nice when people do something for someone else and get satisfaction," Teresa Clanton said. It all came from a heart-felt need to comfort someone who is living their last days. BJ Harvey-Tilley was just 38-years-old when her body could no longer fight the affects of diabetes. So her mother, Ruth Harvey, and her friend and neighbor Ms. Clanton started knitting blankets and afghans.
Hugs Help Reporter Embrace A New Beat
(Pam Fessler, NPR) The first time I noticed it was at the end of an interview with a shy teenage boy in Baltimore. His name was Cortasz Steele and he was from one of the city's toughest high schools. He was telling me how much he liked working as a volunteer with other kids at the city's teen court. "Everybody needs somebody to talk to. We go through a lot when we go home and then come to teen court — and, like, they just needed somebody to talk to," he said.
Avon Lake man photographs wildlife in little piece of paradise
(Michael Sangiacomo, Cleveland Plain Dealer) David Dibbell crouched in the woods near his home on a recent morning with his sights set on an 11-point buck. Dibbell takes aim -- click. He just bagged another one. The 67-year-old retiree spends his days stalking through a 162-acre patch of paradise near his home, photographing forest creatures who have become family to him. He has come to know them so well that he's given them names. For 32 years, Dibbell had worldwide responsibilities for a major battery manufacturer. Now, he walks the paths of the Kopf Family Reservation -- a swath of green in the heart of suburbia. Along the way, he captures photos of the wild creatures he considers more than just anonymous animals.
Delta Flight Attendant Serves Up Journals for American Troops
(Sarah Netter, ABC News) In between keeping her passengers safe and comfortable, Delta flight attendant Robin Schmidt tends to another mid-air mission -- passing journals among the rows so passengers can help her thank American troops. Over the last five years, Schmidt has filled hundreds of passenger-written journals and sent them to the troops she "adopts" in Afghanistan and Iraq. Not connected in any way to the military, Schmidt said, "This is just part of who I am. This is what I do."
Cancer survivor, 9, funds support dog for 2-year-old
(Kirk Mitchell, Denver Post) After two years of surgery, chemotherapy and treatment for a brain tumor, 9-year-old Allison Winn wanted other kids with cancer to have a companion like her dog, Coco. "She made me feel better," Allison said. So when she regained her strength at the end of spring, Allison embarked on a fundraising campaign of her own invention to pay for feeding and training companion dogs for kids like her. On Tuesday, in the lobby of the women's prison where Coco and the new dog were trained, she watched quietly, but intently, as 2-year-old cancer survivor Krysta Hubbard caressed the nose of Lucky Bug, a gentle black Labrador.
In Afghanistan, Army cook transforms rations into a mean burrito
(Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor) The anticipation is palpable on Mexican night at this tiny US base in the mountains of Paktika Province in eastern Afghanistan. Every Thursday, soldiers start lining up an hour early as Spc. Jose Flores hand-rolls more than 200 made-to-order burritos for the base. The creative cook has earned something of a cult following in his unit for his ability to transform military rations into tasty meals. More anomalous than the appetizing military food though, is the fact that the chef behind it is an Army cook.
Portal Links Volunteers With Global Projects
(Kate Kelly, CBS 5) Pamela Hawley is busy these days building her business, which is no simple task considering her business is changing the world. "What my motive is: to create a world where giving and volunteering are a natural part of everyone's everyday life," Pamela explains. So to help get people started, she's created a web site, a kind of non-profit marketplace called Universal Giving. With the click of a button, the Universal Giving website connects people with vetted programs around the globe where you can volunteer or donate money.
Couple's love beats HIV
(Helena Oliviero, Atlanta Journal-Constitution) As a teenager, Robby Astrove quickly accepted his illness. He didn’t want to dwell on what he couldn’t change. So he focused on his passions — playing the drums, cooking and planting trees. As the years passed, he found himself wanting someone to dance to his drumbeat, someone to inspire his ethnic cuisine, someone to lie by his side and lounge in the shade of all those trees. On a misty Valentine’s Day, as Robby sat on a Florida beach with a college classmate named Danielle Arellano, he sensed he’d found the perfect partner.
Readers donate money to single mother who ran afoul of Charter One
(Teresa Dixon Murray, Cleveland Plain Dealer) Dominique Montero broke into tears and couldn't talk for nearly two minutes. On Saturday, a Plain Dealer personal finance column summarized a problem the single mother from South Euclid had with a local bank. The bank unexpectedly withdrew $690 from her account, leaving her without enough money to pay her mortgage. This week, several readers reached out to Montero, donating a combined $900 to a stranger in need.
The Doctor Who Replaced Self-Pity With Promise
(NPR) When Andrew DeVries was recovering from a serious accident in 2002, he met a doctor who helped him navigate his way back to health — and to make a new friend for life. The wreck — DeVries was struck by a car while riding his motorcycle — shattered his leg. And the damage was so pervasive that surgeons began to prepare DeVries for the likely chance that his leg would be amputated. Speaking recently with his friend Karyl DeBruyn, DeVries recalled, "As everybody was making plans for my life without a leg, a young hospitalist came up to me and said, 'Andy, what kind of golf ball do you play?'"
Behind the music, a will to live
(Oscar Avila, Chicago Tribune) Juan Manuel Pineda has found his voice. It ultimately took four reconstructive surgeries, the generosity of an army of newfound friends and enough tragedy for a dozen Chicago bluesmen. Born in El Salvador with his mouth caved in from a cleft palate, Pineda once sang only in muffled, nasal tones. He lost both legs at age 2 after a fire, and his worn-down prosthetic legs made it painful just to stand, much less stride onto a stage. Pineda now walks expertly on new prostheses. A series of donated facial surgeries have let his soulful croon emerge.
People Making A Difference: Chrissie Lam
(Jina Moore, Christian Science Monitor) When Chrissie Lam started writing down the stories of the children of Gisimba Orphanage, she thought it might help them find foreign sponsors. It was August 2008, her first day in Rwanda, and she didn't yet realize that those stories would so eerily echo the stories of other Rwandan children – those who didn't survive. She hadn't yet made the pilgrimage made by the thousands of tourists, business people, aid workers, and diplomats who pass through this tiny East African country each year. Inevitably, they visit Gisozi.
12-year-old fights friend's cancer on the streets
(Greg Clary, CNN) People in big cities walk past them every day -- street performers, or buskers. Some are talented, some are not, and most aren't performing for a cause greater than themselves. But on Monday, 12-year-old Abby Miller was. She was performing outside Washington's Union Station to help her 4-year-old friend, Taylor Love, who is suffering from cancer. Abby sat in front of the station with a couple of her friends, singing songs and strumming a guitar. Passers-by seemed to notice the girl's singing talent, stopping to listen in the chilly weather, with a few putting money in a bucket at Abby's feet. Abby said the money will help support Taylor's family.
Everyday crusaders heed a call in philanthropy
(Jessie Halladay, USA Today) When JayRon Grevious was in first grade, he had some trouble reading. But once a week for four years, Janet Rink came to JayRon's elementary school to sit with him and help him figure out the words he didn't know through a program called Every1Reads. Without Rink's help, JayRon, now a 12-year-old sixth-grader, says there are hundreds of words he might not have learned. "She's loyal," JayRon said of Rink. "She's a good friend. To me, she's like a grandmother."
‘Dr. Joe’ treats uninsured patients with dignity
(AP) Dr. Pedro Jose Greer stands in a cool, dim operating room at Miami's Mercy Hospital, looking at a glowing image of a patient's digestive system on a flat-screen TV. Greer is a gastroenterologist, and the patient lying on the treatment table has a potentially dangerous cauliflower-like growth on the lining of her colon. The patient's name is Nora Turcios, a 45-year-old woman with a family history of cancer.
The boy aged two with Einstein's IQ: Why little Oscar is Britain's youngest boy to be accepted into Mensa
(Julie Moult And Tamara Cohen, Daily Mail) While other two-year-olds are discovering the joy of playgrounds, Oscar Wrigley would rather be learning about wildlife or the history of Ancient Rome. He has recently taken to conducting classical music as he listens in the back of the car and identifies the different instruments. So his parents were not surprised when, at the ripe old age of two years, five months and 11 days, he became the youngest boy in Britain to be accepted by Mensa. With an IQ of at least 160, he has the same score as the likes of Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
Adoptees, former foster children honor 140th anniversary of NY Foundling
(Ben Chapman, New York Daily News) It was a family reunion of sorts. Adoptees, former foster children and those who cared for them came to midtown Saturday for the 140th anniversary of the New York Foundling, one of the city's oldest and largest child-welfare organizations. "I have goose bumps just being here," said Susan Kolb, 65, a retired medical aide from Long Island, who cared for foster children at the Foundling in 1962. "All the love I gave to the children came back to me tenfold."
Britain's oldest newly-weds have combined age of 181
(Telegraph) Les Atwell and his girlfriend of four years Sheila Walsh married in front of friends and family to become Britain's oldest newly-weds. The couple, from Paignton, Devon, met after Mr Atwell's cleaner turned matchmaker and suggested he meet her friend Miss Walsh. They then arranged a first date at a café in a branch of Tesco and four years later Mr Atwell took her back to the same supermarket – to propose. They are now Britain's oldest couple to marry – beating the previous record of a combined age of 179 years.
The art of kindness: Whatever Happened To .... Andre Campbell?
(David Rowell, Washington Post) Last December, the Magazine published an article about legally blind artist Andre Campbell and his determination to make it as a comic book author and illustrator. Afterward, Campbell heard from readers who were moved to help his cause. Some wanted to buy his comics, and a few donated money to help him purchase equipment that would make drawing easier. In a scene in the story, Campbell gets to try out a closed-circuit television system that magnifies and projects printed material onto a monitor. Campbell, who had mostly stopped reading more than 25 years ago, was mesmerized, but the CCTV was out of his price range. After reading the story, a couple from Virginia offered to buy him the system, which cost about $2,500. They delivered it the day after Christmas.
Teacher still making a difference 23 years after instructing student
(Hayley Cox, Plainview Daily Herald) As a teacher, Cindy Belt has had the chance to touch numerous lives. She got the chance Saturday to encourage a student she hadn’t seen in 23 years. When Cindy Belt started her first year of teaching in Lockney in 1986, she had a student named Soyla in class. Soyla went on to marry fellow Lockney native Jerry Reyna. She now has three sons and lives in Kerrville. After more than two decades, Reyna recently found Belt on Facebook, and the two began to correspond.
Jack LaLanne puts a reporter through her paces
(Carolyne Zinko, San Francisco Chronicle) Guess what Jack LaLanne, the nation's first fitness guru, has to say about exercise? "I hate to work out," he confided, "but I like the results, so I do it." The man who hosted the longest-running TV exercise show in history ("The Jack LaLanne Show," 1951-1985) came to San Francisco this week for his 95th birthday celebration with 100 family members and friends at John's Grill, where a seafood salad has been named for him since the 1970s. He also agreed to do an unusual thing: work out with a reporter, even though he never works out with anyone, even his wife.
Rachel's Challenge: Columbine victim's ethics still reverberate throughout Chicago area
(Amanda Marrazzo, Chicago Tribune) People may not be familiar with the name Rachel Scott, but most people know the circumstances around her untimely death. Scott, 17, was the first of 13 killed at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, when two fellow students tore through the hallways shooting at students and teachers before turning the guns on themselves. About a month before she was killed, Scott wrote an essay, titled "My Ethics, My Code of Life," about being kind and compassionate. Her friends and family used the essay and Scott's diary to launch an effort known as Rachel's Challenge.
Oakland man turns 111 -- insists it's no big deal
(Angela Hill, Oakland Tribune) All the news coverage and birthday parties and fawning attention are great, but when they're just because of the notably numerous times you've been around the sun, it can get a little old. So says Oakland's Andrew Hatch, who, by the way, has made the trip 111 times as of today. Not that potentially being the oldest man in the state and nearly the oldest person in the nation (that's currently Walter Breuning, 113, of Montana) is a big deal or anything. "I'm tired of the parties. I feel pretty good for a youngster, and that's about all there is to it," Hatch said with a sly wink earlier this week.
Georgia bone marrow donor meets recipient in Illinois
(Atlanta Journal-Constitution) It was an emotional moment when Illinois cancer survivor Rosalind Beard met the Georgia man who donated his bone marrow to help her fight Hodgkin's lymphoma. Beard, a 37-year-old mother of four from Melrose Park, and Tim Crawford, 40, of Adairsville, Ga., cried and embraced Sunday when they met for the first time at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, a Chicago suburb.
People making a difference: Gunnar Swanson
(David Conrads, Christian Science Monitor) What would impel someone to leave a good job and a great life in the Florida Keys and move to rural Minnesota in a snowstorm in February? For Gunnar Swanson, it all started six years ago, when he was serving in Iraq with the 957 Multi Role Bridge Company of the North Dakota Army National Guard. One afternoon in 2003 he found himself aiming his M-16 rifle at a young Iraqi boy, warning the child, in a strong, nonverbal way, not to come any closer. The boy froze in his tracks, a puzzled look on his face, then ran off.
Boy Lifts Book; Librarian Changes Boy's Life
(NPR) Olly Neal grew up in Arkansas during the 1950s. He didn't care much for high school. One day during his senior year, he cut class — and wandered into the school library. As he told his daughter, Karama, recently, he stumbled onto a book written by African-American author Frank Yerby. And the discovery changed the life of a teenage boy who was, in Neal's memory, "a rather troubled high school senior." The book was The Treasure of Pleasant Valley — and it had an alluring cover, especially for a teenage boy.
Final wish takes flight for man in sunset of life
(Jeb Phillips, Columbus Dispatch) There's not much time left for Harold Coey. In his 84 years, he repaired and tested planes for the Navy during World War II. He held down at least two jobs for decades to raise his three boys and pay for his chronically ill wife's care. Once, when his sons were little and playing football outside their home in Whitehall, he told them he would kick their butts if they broke a window. Then he started playing with them and broke a window himself. He stood laughing while the boys did their best to reach his behind with their feet. He knew he deserved it. He still laughs all the time.
Acts of generosity inspire others in Dixie Hollins GED class
(Emily Nipps, St. Petersburg Times) Peg Roberts had just returned from summer vacation when one of her GED graduates walked into her classroom. Derek Wilson, a 37-year-old late bloomer who recently passed the GED test and immediately enrolled at St. Petersburg College, wanted to thank her. He handed her $70. Roberts started to refuse. Teachers can't take money from students. No, Wilson told Roberts. It's a donation for a student who can't afford the $70 GED fee. Roberts wanted to cry.
Palestinian teen gets a leg up from Washingtonians
(Sharon Hong, SeattlePI.com) It's been six years since 15-year-old Sobhi Subeh stood on two legs. Six years ago at his home in war-torn Gaza, Sobhi, at the age of 9, was severely injured when a bomb landed on his family's farm field where he was helping his parents work. Three days passed before Sobhi awoke to find himself in a hospital with only half a left leg. Weeks passed before he got out of bed and started a new life on crutches. But on Thursday afternoon in a Federal Way clinic, the Palestinian teen with a 100-watt smile stood on two feet again, thanks to a team of Seattle area residents who donated their time and money to bring him to Washington and get him a prosthetic leg.
Bronx good Samaritan proposes to girlfriend on 'Good Morning America' day after saving boy from fire
(Edgar Sandoval and Larry Mcshane, New York Daily News) Fire sirens one day. Wedding bells the next. Hours after lugging a semiconscious 4-year-old boy from a burning Bronx building, Horia Cretan proposed Thursday to his girlfriend - on national television, no less. The good Samaritan's good luck continued: She said yes as the rescued boy, recovering in a Bronx hospital, greeted his ecstatic parents with kisses.
Postal worker whose legs were amputated after accident feels the love of his customers
(Laura Maggi, New Orleans Times-Picayune) In the Uptown neighborhood where Roy Rondeno Sr. delivered the mail, it seems nearly everybody knows his name and remembers his smile. After he was struck by a car on Saturday in an accident that cost him both legs below the knee, neighbors this week banded together to raise money for him during his recovery and support his family, asking for donations and planning a block party.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Helps Girl Find Success
(NewsChannel5.com) A teenager said she was heading towards a life of crime that ultimately would land her behind bars. With the help of a mentor, she said she's gotten herself on the right track. The meeting of the two women can be described in no other way than a blessing. The sisterhood happened by chance when Big Brothers Big Sisters did a presentation at Shatika White's church. "I signed up and I got a phone call," said Shatika. The phone call changed the life and direction of Nakkia, who was already on probation.
A Retirement Trip Detoured by Love
(Hamil R. Harris, Washington Post) When Samuel Stewart retired as building manager for the Defense Department in 1996, he purchased a camper and made plans to travel across the country with his wife, Mildred, who had retired seven years earlier. On Tuesday at their Mitchellville home, surrounded by two cribs, a playpen, a pint-size swing and five of the more than 40 foster children they have taken in over the years, the Stewarts acknowledged that their retirement has been a bit different from what they had planned. There have been no cross-country trips.
92-year-old sky diver still finding adventure
(Kathy McCormack, AP) Taking a 13,000-foot plunge from an airplane will earn most jumpers a certificate. Instructor Paul Peckham Jr. knew that wouldn't be enough for 92-year-old Jane Bockstruck. Peckham, a former Air Force combat controller, cut the parachutist wings he had sewn 30 years ago on his own helmet bag and gave them to Bockstruck -- who celebrated her birthday this month with a flawless, 120-mph free fall in front of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Workers thriving at 70, 80, and even 100
(Jason Hanna, CNN) Jack Borden would like you to consider working well past retirement age. As a 101-year-old attorney, he has the credibility to encourage it. Borden, who has been practicing law for the better part of 70 years, still spends about 40 hours a week at his office in Weatherford, Texas, handling estate planning, probate and real estate matters. Retire? Not while he's able to help folks. "As long as you are capable, you ought to use what God gave you. He left me here for a reason, and with enough of a mind to do what it is I'm supposed to be doing," said Borden, who also has been a district attorney and Weatherford's mayor.
No Cash, No Credit, Only Karma
(Josh Landis, CBS News) Philip Kiracofe believes what goes around comes around. He just doesn't want to wait around. Kiracofe is running what may be the world's first "Karma auction" to inspire people to help others. He's selling computers worth hundreds of dollars, but he's not accepting money — the only bids accepted are acts of kindness.
Cutting your hair for a cause
(Claudia Grisales, Austin American-Statesman) A few years ago, elementary school student Kember Campbell caught an Oprah Winfrey show featuring a woman who was cutting and donating her hair to charity. Kember, now 10, says it changed the way she looked at her own long locks of wavy red hair. "I said, 'Mama, I want to cut my hair and donate it,' " Kember recalls. "My long hair will grow back, and there's some kids whose hair doesn't." Campbell's mother, Laura, initially bristled at the idea of Kember going in for a cut. Then she agreed. "You can't say no," Laura Campbell says.
Oldest man offers diet advice for long life
(Sydne George, Great Falls Tribune) So what does the world's oldest man eat? The answer is not much, at least not too much. Walter Breuning, who turned 113 on Monday, eats just two meals a day and has done so for the past 35 years. "I think you should push back from the table when you're still hungry," Breuning said. At 5 foot 8, ("I shrunk a little," he admitted) and 125 pounds, Breuning limits himself to a big breakfast and lunch every day and no supper.
Woman gives kidney to man she once babysat
(Jaimee Lynn Fletcher, Orange County Register) Lisa Williams wouldn't have guessed that her neighborhood babysitting job 28 years ago would present an opportunity to save a life. But looking back today, she said she believes taking that job was part of a plan. Fate, she calls it. Williams, 42, of Fountain Valley, recently donated a kidney to one of the first children she cared for, Dana Bryan, 28, of Fountain Valley.
Columbine victim's goal of kindness inspires area students
(Peggy Mishoe, Myrtle Beach Sun News) Conway middle and high schoolers were challenged Tuesday to create positive culture changes in their schools by starting a chain reaction of kindness and compassion. The urging was part of a national program that its organizer said has helped prevent hundreds of suicides and seven school shootings. Rachel's Challenge is a program inspired by the life and writings of Rachel Joy Scott, a high school junior and the first killed in the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. Twelve students and a teacher were killed in the massacre, and 27 others were wounded before shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed themselves.
Cyclists' 3,000-mile journey through rural Africa an awakening
(Nancy Bartley, Seattle Times) The dust from the miles of dirt trails through Africa still clings to his well-worn bike, which leans against the wall in his Green Lake apartment. For Aaron Bodansky, it was his vehicle for a journey to change Americans' views of Africa and its people. Bodansky and a friend, Eric Silverman, were studying in Capetown, South Africa, and quickly came to realize that the Africa they knew from occasional travels around the continent was a safer and friendlier place than most Americans realize. So the two created a nonprofit called Cycle for Understanding, raised several thousand dollars and planned to spend 70 days cycling from South Africa to Kenya.
You two look like brothers: How siblings separated at birth were reunited 35 years later when they began working together
(Daily Mail) Two long-lost brothers were reunited 35 years after they were separated through adoption when they began working together. Furniture delivery worker Gary Nisbet was stunned how much he looked like new recruit Randy Joubert. Customers, noticing they both have fair hair, wear glasses, have stocky builds and sport goatee beards, also regularly asked if they were siblings. Their curved brimmed baseball caps added to their similar appearance. But only after a little investigation did they each realise they had more than just a job in common.
Doctor practices what his faith preaches
(Carla Hall, Los Angeles Times) On his medical missions to Africa, Dr. Lawrence Czer has dealt with poverty, lack of electricity, bad accommodations -- and military checkpoints. In Sierra Leone, Czer and his team were sometimes stopped by rifle-toting soldiers who simply wouldn't let them through. "They'll just have you stand there and you'll see other people going through," Czer said. The medical team refused to give the soldiers any money. All they could do was try to cajole them.
Looking up now
(Karen Auge, Denver Post) A slow-motion ballet is unfolding on a gym mat in the family room of Dominic King's Englewood home. Cradled in the arms of physical therapist Kelly Leid, 10-year-old Dominic rolls gracefully, stretches, pushes, bends, holds — to the accompaniment of his friend, Harrison Spiers, in the next room cheering on the Rockies in his best stadium voice. The moves may look rhythmic and effortless, but they are hard, tiring work — work that would have been harder, if not impossible, three months ago. Dominic, like Harrison, has cerebral palsy.
An Iwo Jima Relic Binds Generations
(Lizette Alvarez, New York Times) For many of his 85 years, Franklin W. Hobbs III has managed to distill good fortune from bad luck. Orphaned at 10, he wound up in the care of loving — and wealthy — grandparents. After World War II snatched him from Harvard, the G. I. Bill sent him back for a master’s in business administration. Rocky moments in his career often led to lucrative, fulfilling opportunities. And so it was on Iwo Jima in the winter of 1945.
Morcom Rose Garden grateful for Deadheads' help
(Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle) Long before Jerry Garcia picked his first 20-minute guitar solo, "deadhead" was something you did to wilting roses. So when gardeners at Oakland's Morcom Rose Garden put out the call for volunteer deadhead-ers, they got a bevy of rose enthusiasts, but they also got an eager tribe of pruner-wielding Deadheads. "There was a bit of confusion, but it turned out great," said city of Oakland gardener Tora Rocha, who oversees the city-owned 8-acre park off Grand Avenue. "We ended up getting tons of volunteers."
People making a difference: Aryeh Sufrin
(Aidan Jones, Christian Science Monitor) Picking his way through the smoke-filled London Underground and beyond the mangled subway car, Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin was unsure of what had just happened. Only later, when the news bulletins revealed that the explosion had been caused by a suicide bomber, did he begin to understand. It was July 7, 2005, the day that four Muslim extremists detonated backpacks filled with explosives on London's public transit system, indiscriminately killing 52 commuters.
A family of 10, surviving on faith
(Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune) Behind the doors of a modest Rogers Park frame house, Pete and Patty Mueller are acting out their own reality show of "Pete and Patty Plus 8." Home-schooling all eight of their children and surviving on one income, the Muellers have not sought the reality show spotlight that helped pop culture icons Jon and Kate Gosselin raise their brood and eventually broadcast the end of their marriage.
Lost limbs don't hold him back
(Mark Curnutte, Cincinnati Enquirer) Alcohol cost Cameron Clapp both legs and his right arm eight years ago but it could not prevent him from dancing in front of students in a St. Ursula Academy classroom Thursday. The 23-year-old California native, in Cincinnati to mentor other double-leg amputees at University and Shriners hospitals, delivered a heart-felt and unflinching presentation to two sophomore health classes at the East Walnut Hills high school. "Impossible is an opinion, not a fact," said Clapp, wearing blue shorts and a short-sleeved golf shirt to reveal his prosthetic legs and arm.
Life Lesson: Teacher Donates Kidney To Student
(Sean Hennessey, WCBS) It was a life-saving lesson for a student and teacher on Long Island. The teacher donated a kidney to her pupil after a classroom challenge. Kevin O'Brien has every reason to smile, thanks to his teacher, who taught a life lesson that may have saved his own. "It's just like a new lease on life," O'Brien said. Their story began in a summer school classroom three years ago. Teacher Jennifer Peretti showed students a clip from the movie "Pay It Forward," hoping to prod her students to a higher level of thinking.
A nice story that began too soon
(Sam McManis, Sacramento Bee) Sometimes, if it's been a particularly rough day in the neonatal intensive care unit, Mercy San Juan Medical Center nurse Brie Simmons will pull aside a distraught parent of a premature infant with whom she feels a certain connection. Perhaps it will be a young mother, a teenager, standing alone because the baby's father is "out of the picture," as they say. Perhaps the mother wears a stricken look, just this side of terrified, as she gazes on her tiny child enmeshed in tubes inside an incubator.
House and hope rebuilt
(Mike Baird, Corpus Christi Caller-Times) For the first time Tuesday, Pam Lundmark pressed her palms against a new bedroom wall in her home. "It’s back," she said. The old wall caved in when her neighbor’s house on Greenbay Drive exploded June 18. The blast also charred her exterior walls, collapsed her roof in two other rooms and blew the front storm door out. Police determined the explosion, which killed three people, was intentional. Lundmark, 61, received about $40,000 of reconstruction provided by dozens of people.
Round Rock man plans 70 flights in a month
(Claire Osborn, Austin American-Statesman) If you see a man asleep in an airport wearing a Hula Hut or Salt Lick T-shirt, try not to wake him. You might not want to get too close, either, because Brendan Ross, 29, of Round Rock is probably going to need a shower. Dubbed the "terminal man," he is spending the night on chairs and carpets inside airports across the country while he spends 30 straight days flying on JetBlue flights. Ross posted an ad on Craigslist on Aug. 17 asking that someone buy him a $599 pass to fly on JetBlue for a month.
People making a difference: Robert Quinn
(Marilyn Jones, Christian Science Monitor) Robert Quinn has a plane to catch. He also has to write a speech for a conference in the Netherlands. But first he has to help a student from Azerbaijan get to a safe place. Because that's what Mr. Quinn does: He saves scholars from danger. "I just help the people who are helping other people," says Quinn. As founder and executive director of Scholars at Risk (SAR), Quinn and his small staff match scholars with a network of more than 200 universities and colleges in 26 countries.
Racer finds her passion behind the wheel
(Ricardo Gandara, Austin American-Statesman) We all reach a time in our lives when we figure it out. We wander, and stumble, chasing this or that. Then something happens to make us snap to attention. Aha! That's what I was meant to do. It happened to Brianne Corn, 40, five years ago when she was driving up a narrow mountain road in Italy with a pack of racers on her bumper. She sped up. Pure exhilaration followed. Her purpose in life became clear: She had to become a race-car driver.
Team visits a hit with seniors
(Cliff Mehrtens, Charlotte Observer) Madelyn Beatty and her Butler High volleyball teammates were a bit hesitant on the first visit. Now, they can't wait to return. The Bulldogs make weekly volunteer visits to Elmcroft Assisted Living & Memory Care Center, and connect with elderly residents by playing games, talking and listening. "At first, we didn't know if they would be nice or grumpy," said Beatty, a junior hitter. "But we walked in and loved it. They're so much fun. They don't care about their age or our age. They love when we visit, and they've touched our hearts."
Vacationing girl's message in bottle follows her home
(Jason Hanna, CNN) A few days after Meagan Bilodeau dropped a bottled message into the Atlantic Ocean during a cruise near Bermuda, the girl was home in Massachusetts. A month after that, the bottle nearly came home, too. The 8-year-old recently learned the message she dropped from a cruise ship roughly 600 miles off North Carolina's coast on June 18 was found in late July by a girl whose family was boating in Massachusetts' Vineyard Sound, Meagan's family says. The spot was perhaps 15 to 20 miles from Meagan's home near Falmouth.
Chicago police: Cop hospitalized in Denver area adopted by officers there
(Kevin Beese, Chicago Tribune) Densey Cole II lay paralyzed almost 1,000 miles from where he works as a Chicago cop and had a visitor -- the police chief of Denver. "He didn't just visit me, he saluted me," Cole said of Gerald Whitman. "That's the class act he is." Officers in and around Englewood, Colo., where Cole has been treated since July for a spinal cord injury, think he is the class act and have adopted him and his wife, giving them tickets to concerts and sports contests and lending an old police cruiser.
Ex-con tells story of prison lessons and second chances
(Stephanie Chen, CNN) Thirty minutes on a dark December night in 1996 left R. Dwayne Betts irrevocably changed. It was the first time Betts, known as a smart, straight-edge and funny guy, had ever held a gun. The pistol fit snugly into the hands of the 16-year-old, who tapped gently on the window of a dark green Pontiac Grand Prix. The noise startled the middle-aged man sleeping in the car.
A wild life: Exuberance bubbles over in a Bhutan classroom
(Carolyn Hamer-Smith, Christian Science Monitor) My class is in chaos. But this is not unusual. "Miss, Miss, there is a centipede on your desk, Miss!" The girls are standing on chairs and the boys are running around madly like wild creatures of the night, swinging their books at this poor thing and trying to fling it out the door. "Class 3, would you please sit down!" No, they would not actually.
Empathy is his superpower
(Jina Moore, Christian Science Monitor) Geoffrey Canada still remembers the saddest day in his first nine years on earth. Back then, Mr. Canada clung to superheroes – and to Superman especially. He liked the guy, but he especially liked the idea he symbolized: immediate and dramatic salvation. In his earliest days, Superman was a social-justice hero, saving a man from a lynch mob, fighting fires, stopping robberies – rescuing people from the same kinds of dangers that seemed to lurk, in the 1960s, in Canada's rough South Bronx neighborhood.
Taking the homeless beyond shelters
(Jina Moore, Christian Science Monitor) Rosanne Haggerty didn't intend to start a crusade against homelessness. Taking a year off before law school, or so she thought, to volunteer at a shelter for runaway youths in Times Square in 1983, she learned the lesson that became her calling. "It [had] never occurred to me there was a missing piece between availability of housing [and] everything else they needed to be able to lead a purposeful life: a job, finishing their education, decent health," Ms. Haggerty says. "How could you begin to address that if people were wandering the streets or going from couch to couch?"
This guardian angel flies by her gut
(Nicole Brodeur, Seattle Times) The elderly woman was in a wheelchair, so she struggled to pass the envelope over the counter. Carrie Smith opened it to find $4,000 in cash. The woman had taken the money from her savings to send to someone who had called, saying her daughter was in trouble and needed money — fast. "You don't want to do this," Smith told the woman, who had taken the bus to the Walmart in Renton to wire the money off.
At 19, heart transplant recipient Jack Kachmarik is figuring out how to make a difference with his life
(Harlan Spector, Plain Dealer Reporter) The doctors at University Hospitals have never seen a patient like Jack Kachmarik. He arrived by helicopter the night of Sunday, May 31. It was unusual enough to see a 19-year-old having a major stroke. But for Jack to say his name and lift his right arm within minutes after blood clots were cleared from his cerebral arteries, that was remarkable. Doctors told Jack's mother that his recovery was like a miracle. Nancy Kachmarik thought how lucky they were to dodge catastrophe. Had they not fished out the clots, Jack would be dead or paralyzed.
Contest finalist from Berea wants to win $20,000 so she can give Cleveland students access to arts supplies
(Margaret Bernstein, Cleveland Plain Dealer) Ann Albert, a 52-year-old Berea mother of two who's clearly unaccustomed to the spotlight, just might see a wish of hers come true. That is, if she can get enough fairy godmothers to vote online for her before Sept. 15. As one of 10 finalists selected for the "Refresh Your Life" contest for people over 45, she could be the lucky baby boomer who wins $20,000 to pursue a dream.
Pittsford doctor’s efforts help Muslim women worldwide
(Denise-Marie Santiago, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle) Dr. Sarwat Malik of Pittsford is trying to change the world one Muslim woman at time. The retired internist was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, in New York City earlier in the week, in Malaysia this summer, traveling to build support for a newly launched global fund to help Muslim women through education and economic empowerment.
Brother and friend help Brad Hart, who is nearly blind, climb almost to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro
(Janice Crompton, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) They prepared for months, working out verbal cues while scaling the Rocky Mountains in Denver and flying up and down the 36 flights of steps at the University of Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning with 40-pound packs strapped on their backs. They had the best of intentions too: Helping Brad Hart see the sunrise over Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania before he becomes blind.
Muhammad Ali visits ancestral home in Ireland
(CNN) Legendary American boxer Muhammad Ali has visited the birth place of his ancestors in Ireland, prompting thousands of well-wishers to line the streets of the town. The scenes were reminiscent of a presidential visit as the 67-year-old former three-times world heavyweight champion traveled to Ennis, County Clare to see the hometown of his forebear.
For a shy Colombian nun, caring for the elderly is the only honor she needs
(Roy Appleton, Dallas Morning News) She arrived in a place called Dallas as another summer was setting in. She was a stranger in a flat, hot land – uprooted from her native Colombia. "They told me, 'Get ready, you are going to Dallas.' I asked where was that," says Sister Adelaide Bocanegra, recalling the superiors who sent her into the world to help some old folks in some faraway home. "I said, 'I don't speak English.' They said, 'You will learn.'" Half a century later, the physical, emotional and spiritual care of seniors continues at St. Joseph's Residence in Oak Cliff.
Librarians help kids beat reading goals
(Leigh Remizowski, New York Daily News) Motivating youngsters to read in the summer months, when the beach beckons, can be a challenge. But several Queens librarians are up to the task. Susan Scatena, librarian at the Whitestone branch of the Queens Library, has found that subjecting herself to a bit of good-humored public humiliation can spur interest in reading. In 2006, she rewarded readers by sitting in a wading pool filled with Jell-O and allowing three audience members to dye her hair purple. Last year, the prize was a chance to spray her with Silly String. "This year, we upped the ante," Scatena said.
