Sliver of Hope

[SubGod22]

There's nothing wrong with some feel good stories to make one have a little more faith in humanity.

Here's one that gives us hope for the future.

WSU - Local grade schooler donates birthday money to sponsor WSU GoBabyGo vehicle for child with disabilities

With the $700 he received from family, Finn will see his dream become a reality this weekend as he helps the team of WSU engineering and physical therapy students he sponsored through his donation deliver a modified car to Jackson, a 2-year-old with Osteo Imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease.

“Finn loves to build with tools and repair broken items, and he’s been wanting to help build for some time,” said Corcoran, who coordinates GoBabyGo. “He was around 4 years old when we started this program and comes to the lab often with me.”

GoBabyGo has delivered custom-modified ride-on toy cars to over 125 children since its beginning in spring 2016.

[SubGod22]

Big Brothers Big Sisters Receives $122 Million Donation From Mackenzie Scott

The charity Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has accelerated into the fast lane toward transforming youth mentorship in the U.S. with Tuesday’s$122.6 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

The 118-year-old nonprofit will use the record-breaking gift to further its mission to ensure every young person has access to powerful one-on-one mentoring relationships that empower them for success in school, career, and life.

Currently BBBSA operates 230 local offices serving more than 5,000 communities across all 50 states. Scott’s funding will support expanding the organization’s staff and training–and assist them in closing the gap on the estimated one in three youth who lack a positive, sustained role model.

Ms. Scott has given $8B to charity over the last couple of years. To have the ability to do that, and to do it, is something to be commended.

[SubGod22]

I love this story. Miracles do happen.

7-Year-old With Incurable Condition Amazes Doctors: Now Walking, Talking, And Top of Her Class

A blind girl has amazed doctors after she regained her sight and ‘cured herself’ of a usually life-long brain condition.
.....
The pressure inside her head was 32 times the normal level, and doctors warned while they could help relieve the pain and build up, the damage to her brain was done. The continued pressure meant her sight was gone forever, and she’d likely never learn to walk and talk.

Against all the odds, not only did her sight return when she was a toddler; Evie-Mae Geurts also learned to walk and talk.
.....
When doctors took out the shunts Evie-Mae no longer needed, they had to shave her hair back to do the procedure.

At the hair salon afterwards, the stylists told the little girl how brave she’d been to go through so much. She answered, “Just like Eugene cuts Rapunzel’s hair to save her in Tangled, the doctors cut my hair off to save me.”

[SubGod22]

This one probably isn't quite as unique as one would hope, but I haven't seen much on St. Jude outside of the ads you see on TV. This is the story of a local family, and little girl, who give you a glimpse into what St. Jude provides to those in need and how they are, at least in this case, the very last option available for those who desperately need help.

KSN - Wichita girl winning fight against rare cancer at St. Jude

The cancer is Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor (ATRT). Melissa said only about 20 new cases are diagnosed worldwide every year, and the survival rate for children under the age of three is about 10%.

Doctors in St. Louis performed brain surgery. Adele then underwent almost a year of treatment, including chemo and proton radiation.

But an MRI eventually showed the tumor was changing, and Adele was having a relapse.

“At that point, Children’s Mercy said, you know, there’s nothing else. We have nothing here. There’s nothing else anywhere except for St. Jude,” Melissa said.

“Peter and I looked at each other, and we’re like, OK, we’re going to get to Memphis, like whatever we need to do, we’re gonna get there.”

[SubGod22]

I wish I came across more of these stories. There's so much negativity in the world and the news just feeds us bad after bad after bad, because it sells. I might start watching the news again if I knew I was going to get some of the good stuff too. There's a lot more out there than we're ever told.

Guy Returns Lost Ring to Honeymoon Couple With LEGO Metal Detector Toy

He says he took off his ring to go swimming, and put it by his shoe. Unfortunately, as a newlywed he wasn’t used to owning such an item—and forgot to put it back on. It was only when he got back to the car that he realized it was missing.

The couple traveled back to their hotel and told a porter who immediately contacted local metal detectorist Steve Andrews. Still, they thought the ring had been lost forever.

For Steve, it took only ten minutes to find the lost item.

Simple actions have huge impacts. And it sounds like Steve does this whenever asked and doesn't hesitate.

[SubGod22]

Woman About to be Evicted Was Saved By Neighbors Who Bought the Home For Her

After being threatened with eviction, a retiree was able to buy the house she had rented for two decades after a quarter-million dollars was raised by the community on her behalf.

Known for having a heart of gold and a pair of green thumbs, Linda Taylor was a beloved neighbor in her Minneapolis community.

After arriving in the area 19 years ago as a volunteer to help the homeless and needy, she began renting a small house on 10th avenue and East 36th street in the Powderhorn Park district. There, the 70-year-old retiree became a “bright star” of the neighborhood.

I truly believe at our core, most of us on this planet are good people. Love this story about a neighborhood of good people helping one of their own, who had apparently been nothing but good for two decades while living there. And at a time when inflation is kicking the asses of a lot of people and making life hard, enough people were still able to step up and pull this off.

[SubGod22]

Boy opens lemonade stand so his big sister with cancer can accomplish her bucket list

The article is full of mistakes by some "journalist", but the message and story still matter.

PEORIA, Ill. (CNN Newsource) - A 10-year-old Illinois boy is helping his sister, who has stage four cancer, complete her bucket wish. And he's doing it one lemonade at a time.

Most kids who open lemonade stands spend their summers saving the money to boy a new toy, but not Payton Wilkey.

"It’s for my sister," Payton said, "We're just doing all we can for her."

His 22-year-old sister has stomach cancer, and the money he earns is going toward his sister's bucket list wish: a family trip to New York.

Hope the little guy raises all the money he can and that this family can have what sounds like one last trip together and make some beautiful memories to remember this young woman by.

[SubGod22]

Stranger Finds Phone in a River and Tracks Down Owner to Return Sentimental Photos

Instead, Pachaco, imagining there would be memories and important information on the phone, took it home, took it apart, and thoroughly dried every component out using an airline and compressor, and an airing cupboard.

In the morning, he attached it to a charger and boom, it turned on to reveal a homepage image of a beautiful couple and a date marked more than 10 months ago.

Pachaco shared pictures of the phone, and the screensaver on a Facebook group for Cinderford, the town that the river passes through—they were shared more than 4,000 times.

Eventually, friends of Davies, who by then had moved to Edinburgh with his fiancé, saw the photos and alerted him.

Spotting the phone seems difficult enough. But to then take the time to delicately dry it out and get it working again is something else. Honestly, if I found a phone in that situation I don't know what I would do. I wouldn't know that anything could be done. If I picked it up I may have just disposed of it thinking there was no hope of it being restored or anything.

Though knowing that there are so many photos on our phones these days, so many memories, maybe I reconsider after reading something like this. I can only imagine how I would feel thinking I lost some of those memories, be they of my friends, family or dogs (which are family). Even the landscape photos I take when traveling/hiking that spark memories and in some cases important ones.

Props to this man for having a kind heart and the ability to see this through.

[SubGod22]

Scottish Islanders Save Couple's Wedding Across the Ocean After Nightmare Airport Saga Lost Their Luggage

A community that comes together to save a special day for complete strangers. I like it.

A wedding nightmare wound up turning into a Celtic dream when, after a plane-load of problems, the local community on the majestic Isle of Skye decided to lend a hand to the visiting betrothed.

Planning to leave a solid, four-day cushion between their flight and their big day on Skye, in the Scottish Hebrides, Florida’s Amanda and Paul Riesel suffered every problem in the airline company playbook—including several delays, a cancelation or two, and lost luggage.

Their trip that was supposed to be from Orlando to the UK ended up being rerouted to Philadelphia, and then out of Heathrow, to Inverness and onto Skye; they finally arrived at 11:00 pm on the island the night before their wedding, having spent a full 72 hours aboard planes, or trapped in airports.

Enter Rosie Woodhouse, the wedding photographer. Getting word of their difficulties, and that without everything but their rings, they were close to giving up on their long-planned Skye wedding, she felt she had to do something.

“I told them I was sure I could make this work, and Skye is an amazing place,” Woodhouse told the BBC. Rosie posted an appeal to a social media community and even before breakfast, local islanders had responded brilliantly. “We had a full kilt set for Paul and a beautiful wedding dress for Amanda,” she said.

[pinstripers]

Woulda been better if they wuz both transgenders

[SubGod22]

You have a strange obsession with negativity at times

[Kung Wu]

When we think about the "Millennial" generation we think about their entitled, welfare, something-for-nothing, sit-at-home-and-smoke-pot attitude.

Well, my kid is Gen Z and he couldn't wait until he was 14 so he can apply for a job. His two best friends, also just turned 14, are both taking private driving lessons and applying for jobs and will enter the workforce immediately. LOT'S of kids in that generation are getting off their asses and working. In fact, my good buddy's daughters (15 year old twins) both just got jobs at different places. One of the employers commented how impressed they are that the daughter is very punctual and willing to work hard.

There's hope in Gen Z!

[SubGod22]

Here's a feel good story.

Retired Kindergarten Teacher's Class Return a Decade Later to Surprise Her on Graduation Day: 'A teacher's dream!'

When her last class of Kindergarten students were all grown up and ready to graduate cap-and-gown, Hamilton’s daughter Kim organized for them to throw a surprise that racked up 3.2 million views on TikTok.

“Hey! Congratulations. That’s cool,” the teacher said when she spotted a former student from her porch. “What’s going on?”

The one student quickly became a dozen, as they emerged from bushes, behind obstacles, and all approached their first school teacher.

“Oh my gosh. Did you know this was happening?” she asked her daughter, who was recording. “Oh my gosh, I love you all. Oh my gosh, you’re all just gorgeous.”

The video touched the hearts of teachers tuning in, with one person writing “proof they never stop being our kids after they leave us.”

I've had some shitty teachers, but I have some that I'll never forget and have lasting impressions on me. Heck, years ago I was at an event at a school with a girlfriend at the time, and we were there for her little brother. Some strange lady stopped me in the hall all excited and I couldn't place her and her name didn't ring a bell. She'd been divorced and no longer had the name I knew her by, but she was also never my teacher but taught some of my classmates. I felt bad for not recognizing her 20 years later but was surprised by her reaction to me.

I've also had teachers that any time I'm around them you just feel good. You have good memories and they definitely impacted you on some level. Some more than others, and some you grew up around so it's a little different in the small town of mine. I grew up across the street from one of my middle school teachers and played with his oldest daughter for years, mostly basketball or Paperboy on the NES. But he's also a great teacher. Science has never been my thing. I respect it. I love hearing about things but putting it all together myself just never was something I was good at. He changed that to some degree and made it fun.

There are plenty of good teachers out there doing it for the right reasons and making positive impacts. Sometimes we forget this because of certain philosophical ideals and the few agenda driven teachers out there that make headlines. But I don't want this thread getting political and want to keep it positive. This was a beautiful moment amongst a group of kids and their very first educator. A truly wonderful gift.

[SubGod22]

Good people doing good

"Britain's Kindest Plumber" Hailed as Modern-Day-Hero for Charity Work that Has Helped over 52,000 Families

Over the last six years Anderson and his team based in Burnley have helped more than 52,000 families—around two million people across the country.

“[W]hat we try to do is help people realize there is somebody out there who will help them,” said Anderson.

A father of six and grandfather of 4, Anderson has been called “Britain’s kindest plumber,” and an example of that went viral early last week.

“Today I was asked to help a 78-year-old lady, her card was refused because she only had £6.97 in her bank, the ENERGY COMPANY TOOK £765.89 out this morning,” James tweeted.

DEPHER stepped in and not only covered the elderly woman’s shopping costs but got the energy company to issue her a full refund.

Anderson got the idea to launch his catch all social enterprise when he went on a job one day to a gentleman’s house in his hometown of Burnley, in Lancashire. The man had asked James to take a look at his boiler after receiving a £5,500 quote from another company.

“This company had tried to scam this guy for thousands of pounds he didn’t have, for work that he certainly did not need,” Anderson recounts. “This guy was elderly and bed-bound— he was in an extremely vulnerable position. We stepped in and dealt with the company and gave the guy a £1,000 free boiler.”

“I just remember thinking something needs to be done about this,” admitted James. “This happens to so many people, and I thought if I could help just one at a time, I would be doing some good.”

It's good to know, or be reminded, that there are people and groups like this out there. Offering help and services to the most vulnerable and/or in need amongst us. Proof that there are a lot of good people out there who will step up and volunteer their time or money when needed and to help those in their community who truly need it.

[SubGod22]

Not going to lie, this one hit me in the feels a bit. I think having a number of niece's and a nephew I've seen how things like this can impact a child and that it really doesn't take a great effort to do some good at times. Right person, right place, right time.

Airline Captain Writes Note to Tooth Fairy For Girl Who Lost Tooth on Plane

Lena and Laura Larmon were at the tail end of a long travel period, with a return leg from Norway to Greenville-Spartanburg Int. Airport, South Carolina, interrupted in New York with a 36-hour delay. Finally stepping off the plane must have felt like bliss, until at the baggage claim, when 6-year-old Lena realized she had lost a tooth.

“We tried to walk back to the airplane, but security was closed. It was 2 a.m.,” mom Laura told Good Morning America, adding that Lena was “crying and very emotional,” when she realized that, without the tooth to place under her pillow, there would be no corresponding visit from the Tooth Fairy.

That’s when United Airlines Captain Josh Duchow, seeing Lena’s distress, stepped in to help. With his captain’s bearing, and official uniform, there would be no doubt that a quick written explanation from “Captain Josh” would be an acceptable receipt for the Tooth Fairy’s records.

“Dear Tooth Fairy, Lena had a tooth fall out on her flight to Greenville,” wrote Duchow, who piloted the flight. “Please take this note in place of her tooth.”