Try telling Lucia McLain that she should wear a helmet when she hops on her bike for a spin to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, where she volunteers twice each month. “I have one,” says McLain, who’s 93. But, it is stuffed in the back of a closet at the senior assisted-living home, which is home base for her busy lifestyle.
(Photo courtesy of Sun Star)
Workers at the family-owned Peer Bearing Co. in Waukegan, Ill., broke down in tears after seeing the checks given to them as year end bonuses.
Thanksgiving turkeys were passed out continuing an annual tradition, but this year each of the 230 employees also received an envelope with a special holiday bonus, along with a handwritten thank-you card from the Spungen family addressed, “to our extended family”. One employee took home $100,000, based on his years of service… (Read more from AP via MSNBC – or watch the inspiring video below)
Stuck on a highway with flat tire or overheated engine? You might get some help from Thomas Weller, who patrols the highways to make sure anyone in need is quickly on their way again. In return, he asks only that they perform a good deed for someone else. Steve Hartman reports on the man who sows seeds of kindness in San Diego.
(YouTube)
A Lithuanian team became the Latin sport dance world champions again after three years. The Klaipeda University formation team, Zuvedra (“Seagull”), regained its world championship title with their six-minute James Bond medley in the world class competition. It is the team’s sixth title.
They beat the German club which eventually took second place in the Austria event. 24 clubs participated, including England, Austria, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Check Republic, Russia, Holland, Belorussia, and Serbia.
(WATCH the video below w/ German announcers – the finale is very impressive)
The US holiday shopping season got off to an encouraging start, with sales on the day after Thanksgiving up 3% from last year. “Under these circumstances, to start off the season in this fashion is truly amazing and is a testament to the resiliency of the American consumer, and undeniably proves a willingness to spend,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. (Read details in BBC News)
In other economic news, Wall Street climbed again Friday, wrapping up its biggest five-day rally in more than 75 years. It was the first time the Dow rose for five consecutive sessions since July 2007, and the biggest five-day percentage gain over five sessions since 8 August 1932. (AP story at KansasCityStar)
I have a 7 year old son and we don’t watch TV, listen to the news, or read newspapers because so much of it is negative and full of pain and hate — things his little body does not need. I am SO thrilled to be able to show him stories on your Website and talk to him about the positive, Good work that is occurring here on Earth. You have given me a safe place where I can allow my son to browse and follow the stories that interest him. Thank you! – Esther Colwell
While sitting in front of his computer in Georgia, B.J. Elliott read a blog post by Maureen Forbes about her desire to make 100 handmade teddy bears and cookies for children impacted by AIDS in her town of Wilderness, South Africa. Forbes only had enough fabric to make 20 bears. Elliott offered to help her raise enough money to make 1,000 teddy bears. Word spread and a group decided to launch Operation Teddy Bear Care at www.teddybearcare.org.
A monarch butterfly with injured wing has been mended by a New York couple in time to complete its famed migration south, “thanks to some tiny cardboard splints, a bit of contact cement and a trucker from Alabama”. (Read the full AP story on MSNBC)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has launched a new global anti-whaling campaign on Thursday, along with other high-profile supporters like Pierce Brosnan. The campaign seeks to ban whale hunting worldwide.
(READ the story from Reuters)
Canada’s biggest supermarket chain, said on Thursday that it will start charging customers a fee for every plastic shopping bag they use. Loblaw, with more than 1,000 grocery stores across Canada, said it would begin charging customers 5 Canadian cents a bag on April 22, 2009, which is Earth Day. More moves in Canada point to a coming reduction in use of the environmentally hazardous plastic bags. (Read the Reuters story on Canada.com)
With just a click of your mouse, Let’s Say Thanks sends personalized cards to servicemen and women overseas. Choose one of the designs created by the Boys and Girls Clubs, write a personal note to be printed on the card, and Xerox and it’s corporate sponsors will send the card, along with a care package of personal items to soldiers serving in the US Armed Forces. The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, will be mailed in care packages by the military support organization Give2TheTroops. (The card design, right, is by Adrielle, 12, of Conesus, NY)
Take a minute to send a card at LetsSayThanks.com.
31 years have passed since the moment — one of the greatest in Israeli lives.
When I told this to Anwar Sadat, he laughed: “The moment the door of your airplane opened, all Israelis held their breath. I live on a main street in Tel Aviv, and at that moment I looked out at the street below. It was totally empty. Nothing moved, except one cat which was probably hurrying home to the television.”
(White House photo: Nobel Peace Prize winners Sadat and Begin, at Camp David w/ President Carter)
The notorious Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas is the most dangerous and heavily militarized border in the world. It is also a strip of land containing almost every type of ecosystem you can imagine, home to migrating flocks of rare cranes and some of the last wild bears and leopards in the region. Now, there is a call to preserve this transnational monument to war as a nature park – which could also be a step toward peace between the two Koreas. (Christian Science Monitor)
What can we be thankful for in the midst of doom and gloomy news of the economy? Here are 7 items from the news for which we can ALL be grateful this holiday season…
What can we be thankful for?
Buying gas for $1.89 a gallon is now a reality for much of the country as crude prices dropped under $50.00 a barrel for the first time in 3 years — REAL relief, just in time for the holiday season, when families fill cars with presents and travel on highways to visit loved ones.
2) Traveling will likely be safer this season – whether by car or airplane.The U.S. traffic death toll in 2008— according to a mid-year study— could reach its lowest level in almost 50 years. Traffic deaths last year dropped to the lowest level since 1994, and deaths per 100 million miles traveled are the lowest on record, the government said in August.
2007 was also one of the safest years in modern aviation history, with the lowest number of crashes worldwide since 1963, 28 fewer than in 2006, even while the number of airplanes in the sky increased.
Historically, looking at the trends over 40 years, charitable giving overall has not declined much during hard economic times…
What can we be thankful for in the midst of doom and gloomy news of the economy? Here are 7 items from the news for which we can ALL be grateful this holiday season…
What can we be thankful for?
Buying gas for $1.89 a gallon is now a reality for much of the country as crude prices dropped under $50.00 a barrel for the first time in 3 years — REAL relief, just in time for the holiday season, when families fill cars with presents and travel on highways to visit loved ones.
2) Traveling will likely be safer this season – whether by car or airplane.The U.S. traffic death toll in 2008— according to a mid-year study— could reach its lowest level in almost 50 years. Traffic deaths last year dropped to the lowest level since 1994, and deaths per 100 million miles traveled are the lowest on record, the government said in August.
2007 was also one of the safest years in modern aviation history, with the lowest number of crashes worldwide since 1963, 28 fewer than in 2006, even while the number of airplanes in the sky increased.
Historically, looking at the trends over 40 years, charitable giving overall has not declined much during hard economic times…
A resounding majority of Iraqi parliament members Thursday approved a security pact that calls for an end to the U.S. occupation by 2012, giving the measure a mandate of national unity that was considered critical for its long-term success, reports the McClatchy News Service.
The U.S. yesterday passed an important milestone in the fight against cancer: For the first time the recorded rate of new cancer cases has fallen for both men and women. At the same time, the number of cancer deaths has continued to decline within an impressive 15-year trend that translates to people living longer after they are diagnosed. The decline of new cases holds across racial groups, black, white, hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islanders. (Read more in the Chicago Tribune)
(Photo courtesy of Sun Star)
Kevin Walters is not only known for his business savvy and love for art and music, he has a deep appreciation for the Harlem community and the many nonprofit groups serving the disadvantaged residents there. So the restaurant owner decided this year that he would open his doors to the community and host a Thanksgiving banquet for the areas neediest residents free of charge.
“With the election of President-Elect Barack Obama and the current economic state of our nation it is truly the best and worst of times,” said Kevin Walters, Owner, Creole Restaurant and Music Supper Club. “It is in times like these that we must join forces, lock arms together and to take care of our community.”
Some of the first to respond were Congressman Charles Rangel, Hope Community, Inc, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, the NYC Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Dave and Bob Acosta, owners of El Barrio Hardware Store, NYC Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, The Coalition for the Development of the Black Family, Stroehmans Bread, NYPD Inspector Montgomery, the 25th and 28th Police Precincts. 
Together they plan to attract more of the area businesses and leaders to join forces this afternoon in providing a complete traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all of the trimmings for 500 families in their community.
EVENT: FREE COMMUNITY PRE-THANKSGIVING BANQUET
WHEN: TODAY, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 26, 2008 12:30 P.M. TO 3:30 P.M.
WHERE: CREOLE Restaurant & Music Supper Club
2167 Third Avenue @ 118th Street New York, New York 10035
Operation Smile in Russia organized its first medical mission to the Republic of Chechnya in September. A team of medical professionals representing six countries traveled to Grozny where they provided free physical examinations to 202 children, and surgeries for 49.
This mission was truly an example of medical diplomacy and helping to heal the scars of war. The republic is still recovering from two civil wars in the 1990’s. “This mission,” said Gianluca Biavati, Operation Smile’s Regional Vice President, “bridged political and cultural barriers and represented the desire of the Government of Chechnya to open the season of reconstruction and of hope.”
J.P. Hayes is the personification of ‘a good sport’. The latest candidate for most honest athlete in America is a 43-year-old golfer who hasn’t won a PGA tournament in six years. He had one last chance in November to do just that, and gain a spot on next year’s PGA Tour, but he turned himself in to officials for accidentally using an unsanctioned ball in tournament play.
No one knew but him, yet he reported the incident to PGA officials. So because Hayes decided to be honest, he will not be able to participate in next year’s PGA Tour, losing out on the chance to earn a substantial income.
But Hayes says it was important to tell the truth…
(ESPN has the story and video)
