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Trying to Stop the Epidemic of Veteran Suicides, Plant Medicine Company Builds Mental Wellness Value Chain

By
Andy Corbley
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As GNN and others have reported, the effectiveness of plant medicines like cannabis and psilocybin to treat chronic anxiety, treatment-resistant depression, and PTSD is no longer deniable.

Now a Canadian former-hospital administrator has pounced on that evidence, founding a company that specializes in utilizing plant medicines to give veterans, police, paramedics, ambulance staff, and firefighters the treatment they need to get back on the path to mental health and wellness.

Allied Corporation is utilizing the legalized state of cannabis in Canada, and in 14 U.S. states, to get quality-tested cannabis and CBD products for mental health and wellness into the hands of these heroes who are, tragically, some of the most commonly afflicted cohorts in society.

According to reports from the American Psychiatric Association, depression causes a $200 billion loss in workplace productivity every year, while the CDC finds 200 million work days are lost to mental health-related sick days. The statistic that Callum Hughes, CEO of Allied, is interested in, however, is 17 suicides a day according to the Canadian Department of Veterans Affairs.

Hughes calls it 22—which may include Canadian veteran suicides in addition to those from south of the border. Call it 17 or call it 22, it’s between 17 and 22 too many in Hughes’ opinion.

Hughes had 10 years within the administrative and QA centers of hospital infrastructure when he came to learn about cannabis for treating things like PTSD in the run-up to the country’s eventual legalization of the drug.

“Myself and the Chief Operating Officer, he’s a Canadian veteran, we really started to realize along with some of the peer positions that I was in contact with that cannabis was very effective for chronic pain and getting off medication like morphine, oxycodone—drugs like this—but also for trauma survivors in the veteran cohort,” Hughes told GNN. 

In founding Allied Corp, Hughes looked to create a total supply-chain, from wide-scale production and quality testing, to bringing different products to market through vendors selling direct to veterans or first responders, to cutting-edge research in Israel and Austria looking to expand the field of applied plant medicine even further.

“We’re right in the corner for commercial scale-up, so it’s a real exciting time for the company’s journey,” Hughes explained.

Colombia’s green hills

Allied Corp

Allied’s primary production occurs in a country one would never associate with wide-scale legalized production of cannabis due to its traumatic history with other drugs: Colombia.

Why there? “The special nature of the temperate climate in Colombia, the strains that we have registered… and the cannabinoid profile tested as higher in the Colombian climate as opposed to in North America,” said Hughes.

Allied’s production in Colombia is vast and cost-effective—producing 10 psychoactive strains and 10 non-psychoactive at around ten cents per gram.

“We traveled to Colombia in 2019 and acquired a large-scale farm down there. We entered out genetics to the Ministry of Agriculture and proceeded in what they called ‘seed evaluation,'” he continued. “[It was] the first time ever, as it was communicated to us, that a company presented to the Ministry… passed all 20 out of 20 strains that were submitted.”

This has allowed the company to launch a line of several CBD-infused products in addition to their pharmaceuticals.

“Tactical Relief is a CBD-infused tincture targeted at the veteran cohort,” explains Hughes, adding that the CBD content in the Colombian-grown cannabis is much higher than equivalent strains in the U.S. “Equilibrium Bio is an athlete-focused brand, we have an electrolyte rehydration drink as well as a tincture and athletic rub… all infused with CBD.”

Changing times

Allied Corp

Allied also does a variety of charity events to help veterans, police, and first responders get on the path back to mental health and wellness, including regular healing retreats that offer traditional therapy, and also supplementary activities like meditation and yoga.

Oms, colorful cushions, and breathing exercises maybe aren’t what people associate with veterans, but Allied’s website is smattered with hyperlinks to studies proving the effectiveness of things like meditation for helping recovery from trauma.

“One of our brand ambassadors was a 17-year Green Beret and United States veteran who has really overcome his story with PTSD, so it’s an authentic message brought to market by authentic people,” explains Hughes.

MORE: Cannabis Compound Inhibits COVID-19 Replication in Human Lung Cells, Study Says

Now a publicly traded company on various stock exchanges, Allied’s waves of success crests during a period where the mental health and wellness of many in the United States has perhaps never been poorer.

As government-mandated travel restrictions and business closures continues to spike mental health problems across the country, like gold in a recession, demand in plant medicine is trending the opposite direction.

“We’ve seen an increase in demand on the people level. And if you look around the whole COVID thing, people’s mental health was generally affected by that,” said Hughes. “The increase in cannabis and CBD sales has been reported to us from our distributor partners from the U.S.”

RELATED: Georgia Lab Experiments Shows CBD Reduces Plaque And Improves Cognition in Early Onset Alzheimer’s

Recently, GNN reported the success of another cannabis and psilocybin-based corporation. It’s a growing field, and the advantage of having access to public funding is that companies like Allied Corp allow the average person’s interest and belief in plant medicines to be channeled into investments.

Featured image: Kat Geb, CC license

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11-Year-Old Boy Stumbles Upon 2,500-Year-Old Fertility Amulet In Israel

By
Judy Cole
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Facebook/Israel Antiquities Authority

That kids love rock collecting is a given. Finding an unusual stone is every junior geologist’s dream. But turning up an ancient relic? Now, that’s pretty amazing.

Facebook/Israel Antiquities Authority

Zvi Ben-David was on a family hike near Israel’s Besor River when something out of the ordinary caught his eye. When the 11-year-old snapped the artifact up, he likely had no idea he was in for an Indiana Jones moment.

The small object he’d unearthed was in fact a 2,500-year-old fertility amulet. “The figurine that Zvi discovered is so rare that only one such example exists in the National Treasures collection,” the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) posted on their Facebook page.

Worn smooth over centuries, the diminutive statuette depicting a bare-breasted woman is just 2.75 inches tall and 2.36 inches wide (7 centimeters by 6 centimeters).

MORE: Ancient Biblical Scrolls and Rare Coins of ‘Immeasurable Worth for Mankind’ Discovered in Desert Cave

Considered a good-luck icon during the late First Temple Period (the era between the time King Solomon’s Temple was built circa 957 BCE and destroyed circa 587 BCE), such amulets were thought to bring prosperity and protection.

Facebook/Israel Antiquities Authority

Though a small country in area, Israel is home to 37 registered archaeological sites. Thanks to its being the location of the Bronze Age settlement of Tel Gamma, as well as its mention in The Book of Samuel, Nahal Besor is steeped in both historic and biblical meaning. For decades, archeologists have steadily striven to uncover the region’s hidden secrets.

Ben-David’s mom, Miriam, is a professional tour guide. Immediately realizing the item’s historic significance, she alerted the IAA to her son’s discovery. The organization was delighted by the find and the finder as well.

RELATED: When 8-Year-old ‘Queen’ Finds Authentic Ancient Sword in a Lake, Her Fans Rally to Forge Her a Replica

“The exemplary citizenship of young Zvi Ben-David will enable us to improve our understanding of cultic practices in biblical times, and man’s inherent need for material human personifications,” the IAA stated on Facebook. “The whole Ben-David family deserves a huge shoutout. Don’t you agree?”

Facebook/Israel Antiquities Authority

Indeed, we do. “Mazel tov!”

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Growing Mushrooms at Home is Everyone’s New Pandemic Hobby

By
Andy Corbley
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Oyster muhsrooms grown in coffee grounds, phạm Lộc

Home-grown mushroom kits are seeing an explosion in demand, giving people something to do, watch, and cheer on while they’re stuck at home.

Oyster muhsrooms grown in coffee grounds, phạm Lộc

Lockdown and travel restrictions has led to a resurgence in the popularity of crafts, gardening, baking, and other at-home hobbies. Remarkably, half of Canadians grew their own food to some degree last year—17% of whom did so for the first time.

For many of these beginner horticulturalists, mushrooms represented a super-easy way to start things off with, especially if they didn’t have any soil to utilize. The Guardian reports that some companies are seeing 300%-400% increases in sales of starter kits for genera like oyster mushrooms, a beautiful gilled fungi that grows horizontally on logs, trees, and hills in nature.

People like Willoughby Arevalo, a mycologist from Vancouver, have noted the stratospheric rise in mushroom kits sales. Author of DIY Mushroom Cultivation, he credits their fast daily growth, compared to the slow plodding of windowsill herbs, as one of their strongest appeals.

MORE: Stanford Designer is Making Bricks Out of Fast-Growing Mushrooms That Are Stronger than Concrete

“It’s relatively low-barrier. They’re more expensive than making your own once you have the system set up to do so, but they’re not that expensive,” said Arevalo to the National Post (starter kits typically range from $25-$35). “And it can really bring a sense of amazement to be able to share space with these mushrooms as they fruit.”

Some have taken it farther than simply something to marvel at. The Guardian reports on one Australian man and his wife using the pandemic time to transform their laundry room into an environment for growing almost $500 worth of blue, tan, white, and Queensland oyster mushrooms every few months.

“Sharing them is such a nice thing, and we’ve been swapping them with people for backyard eggs or sourdough bread,” George Clipp from Melbourne told the Guardian. “They’re like an alternative currency, which is pretty cool.”

RELATED: Dutch Man Invents Coffin That Turns Bodies Into Mushrooms: ‘We are nutrients, not waste’

Fears of food shortages, as found in Canadian home growers, drove on the cultivation of produce for some during the pandemic, so Clipp’s remark about currency isn’t far off the mark. If the pandemic were worse, and supply chains were impossible to maintain, having so many pieces of food, rich in various minerals and B vitamins, becomes far more than just a home-hobby.

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“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist, but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Photo: Istanbul, Turkey, by ZEKERIYA SEN

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

Georgia Lab Experiments Shows CBD Reduces Plaque And Improves Cognition in Early Onset Alzheimer’s

By
Good News Network
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Bret Kavanaugh

A two-week course of high doses of CBD helped restore the function of two proteins key to reducing the accumulation of beta-amyloid plaque, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, and improved cognition in an experimental model of early onset familial Alzheimer’s—a form of Alzheimer’s that doctors know for certain is linked to genes—investigators report.

The proteins TREM2 and IL-33 are important to the ability of the brain’s immune cells to literally consume dead cells and other debris like the beta-amyloid plaque that piles up in patients’ brains—and levels of both are decreased in Alzheimer’s.

The researchers report for the first time that CBD normalizes levels and function, improving cognition by more than seven-fold as it reduces levels of the immune protein IL-6 in mice, which is associated with the high inflammation levels found in Alzheimer’s, says Dr. Babak Baban, immunologist and associate dean for research in the Dental College of Georgia and the study’s corresponding author.

He joined colleagues at the Medical College of Georgia, writing in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

“Right now we have two classes of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s,” says Dr. John Morgan, neurologist and director of the Movement and Memory Disorder Programs in the MCG Department of Neurology. One class increases levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which also are decreased in Alzheimer’s, and another works through the NMDA receptors involved in communication between neurons and important to memory.

“But we have nothing that gets to the pathophysiology of the disease,” wrote the coauthor.

The DCG and MCG investigators decided to look at CBD’s ability to address some of the key brain systems that go awry in Alzheimer’s.

CHECK OUT: Archive of GNN Stories on Cannabis, Here

They found CBD appears to normalize levels of IL-33, a protein whose highest expression in humans is normally in the brain, where it helps sound the alarm that there is an invader like the beta-amyloid accumulation. There is emerging evidence of its role as a regulatory protein as well, whose function of either turning up or down the immune response depends on the environment, Baban says.

In Alzheimer’s, that includes turning down inflammation and trying to restore balance to the immune system. That up and down expression in health and disease could make IL-33 both a good biomarker and treatment target for disease, the investigators say.

RELATED: Cannabis Compound Inhibits COVID-19 Replication in Human Lung Cells, Study Says

CBD also improved expression of triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2, or TREM2, which is found on the cell surface where it combines with another protein to transmit signals that activate cells, including immune cells. In the brain, its expression is on the microglial cells, a special population of immune cells found only in the brain where they are key to eliminating invaders like a virus and irrevocably damaged neurons.

Low levels of TREM2 and rare variations in TREM2 are associated with Alzheimer’s, and in their mouse experiments, supported by the National Institutes of Health, TREM2 and IL-33 were both low.

Increasing Helpful Proteins By 7 and 10 Fold

They found CBD treatment increased levels of IL-33 and TREM2—sevenfold and tenfold, respectively.

MORE: New Alzheimer’s Treatment Shows Real Promise in Slowing Cognition Decline Using Antibody in Human Trials

Both are essential to a natural, ongoing housekeeping process in the brain called phagocytosis, in which microglial cells regularly consume beta amyloid, which is regularly produced in the brain, the result of the breakdown of amyloid-beta precursor protein, which is important to the synapses, or connection points, between neurons, and which the plaque interrupts.

CBD’s impact on brain function in the mouse model of early onset Alzheimer’s was assessed by methods like the ability to differentiate between a familiar item and a new one, as well as observing the rodents’ movement.

People with Alzheimer’s may experience movement problems like stiffness and an impaired gait, says Dr. Hesam Khodadadi, a graduate student working in Baban’s lab. Mice with the disease run in an endless tight circle, behavior which stopped with CBD treatment, says Khodadadi, the study’s first author.

ALSO: New Study Says Infrared Lasers Destroy Harmful Plaques in Alzheimer’s Brains

Next steps include determining optimal doses and giving CBD earlier in the disease process. The compound was given in the late stages for the published study, and now the investigators are using it at the first signs of cognitive decline, Khodadadi says. They also are exploring delivery systems including the use of an inhaler that should help deliver the CBD more directly to the brain. For the published studies, CBD was put into the belly of the mice every other day for two weeks.

A company has developed both animal and human inhalers for the investigators who also have been exploring CBD’s effect on adult respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS, a buildup of fluid in the lungs that is a major and deadly complication of COVID-19, as well as other serious illnesses like sepsis and major trauma. The CBD doses used for the Alzheimer’s study were the same the investigators successfully used to reduce the “cytokine storm” of ARDS, which can irrevocably damage the lungs.

Familial disease is an inherited version of Alzheimer’s in which symptoms typically surface in the 30s and 40s and occurs in about 10-15% of patients.

ALL NATURAL: Possible Breakthrough in Alzheimer’s Research: ‘Love Drug’ Oxytocin Found to Reverse Damage in Mice Brains

CBD should be at least equally effective in the more common, nonfamilial type Alzheimer’s, which likely have more targets for CBD, Baban notes. They already are looking at its potential in a model of this more common type and moving forward to establish a clinical trial.

Plaques as well as neurofibrillary tangles, a collection of the protein tau inside neurons, are the main components of Alzheimer’s, Morgan says. Beta-amyloid generally appears in the brain 15-20 years or more before dementia, he says, and the appearance of tau tangles, which can occur up to 10 years afterward, correlates with the onset of dementia. There is some interplay between beta amyloid and tau that decrease the dysfunction of each, Morgan notes.

The Food and Drug Administration is scheduled to make a ruling by early June on a new drug aducanumab, which would be the first to attack and help clear beta amyloid, Morgan says.

(Source: Augusta University media)

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Dr. Patch Adams Known For Wearing a Clown Nose Has a Foot Amputated—And He Says He’s Thrilled—Watch

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Good News Network
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Facebook

For those unfamiliar with the iconic physician Patch Adams, he has for the last 50 years devoted his life to giving free medical care to thousands of patients.

Robin Williams was chosen to play him in the movie Patch Adams, which was perfect for a doctor who often wears a clown nose and jokes relentlessly when he meets with patients, because he knows the healing power of laughter.

This week, the doctor himself was wearing a hospital gown when he made a video announcing that he had his lower leg amputated—and was thrilled with the idea that he could have a new nickname, ‘Stumpy.’

The founder of a healthcare center, Gesundheit! Institute in West Virginia, he was stricken six months ago with a nasty recurring case of MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus). After three operations on his foot, he realized “it was time to amputate.”

“With the MRSA in there, I would not have a foot healthy enough to dance or to clown, which are two of my favorite things.”

The 75-year-old cheerfully described the miracle of today’s prosthetics, which allow people to run and do anything that anyone else does. Plus, he now has a new prop in his comedy toolkit.

Facebook

“What’s beautiful is, it looks like a little TV screen on the end,” he said, describing his new shorter leg. “And, I’ve been thinking of all kinds of opportunities for clowning.”

“I can have hiding little characters that sit on that screen… like a nice ‘mooning’ picture.”

He realized, “there’s all this “negativity” around amputation,” so he has already begun joking with the hospital staff, calling his new schtick ‘Fun With Amputation’.

In a way, this has been his message for health care providers all along: lighten the mood and you will lighten the struggle.

WATCH his engaging and inspiring message below….

If you’d like to write to him, his address is PO BOX 307, URBANA, IL 61803 — and check out his Facebook page to follow his weekly videos about his joyous recovery. If you want to donate to his hospital you can do so on his website, www.patchadams.org.

DON’T Clown Around – Share His Uplifting Message About ‘Ability’ on Social Media…

Vitamin D Supplements Protect Black Population Against COVID-19, According to New Research

By
Good News Network
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Michele Blackwell

Having higher levels of ‘the sunshine vitamin’ was shown to reduce the risk of infection in the Black population, a new study has revealed.

Michele Blackwell

Almost half of Americans are vitamin D deficient, according to David O. Meltzer, MD, PhD, the chief of hospital medicine at University of Chicago Medicine. But more than three quarters of people with darker skin have low levels of this crucial nutrient.

He was inspired to examine the data on Covid-19 cases, after seeing an article more than a year ago reporting that people taking vitamin D supplements had much lower rates of viral respiratory infections.

The study analyzed over 3,000 patients in the city who had had their vitamin D measured within two weeks of a Covid-19 test.

Levels of at least 30 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) are usually considered “sufficient”, but black participants with that level of vitamin D had more than two and half times greater risk of catching Covid than those who had 40 ng/ml or more.

RELATED: Anyone in These States Can Get a Covid-19 Vaccine, Thanks to Several Native Tribes

They had a 7.2 percent chance of testing positive for the virus—2.64 times higher than the general population.

Vitamin D can be obtained through eating egg yolks, salmon, or meat or taking supplements, but it is also produced naturally by the body when skin is exposed to to sunlight.

People with darker skin, are more often deficient because having more melanin in their skin reduces their ability to synthesize vitamin D from the sun.

The findings published in JAMA Open Network build on an earlier trial suggesting less than 20 ng/ml of vitamin D raise the risk of Covid.

Another recent study showed over eight in ten coronavirus patients were vitamin D deficient.

“This supports arguments for designing clinical trials that can test whether or not vitamin D may be a viable intervention to lower the risk of the disease, especially in persons of color,” said Dr Meltzer, the study’s lead author.

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The supplements are relatively safe to take—and currently, the adult recommended dietary allowance for vitamin D is 600 to 800 IUs per day (15 to 20 micrograms). The NHS in Britain recommends taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D every day in the winter—the equivalent of one salmon fillet—to keep bones and muscles healthy.

But they have updated their advice since lockdowns are driving Britons indoors.

“The National Academy of Medicine has said that taking up to 4,000 IUs per day is safe for the vast majority of people,” adds Meltzer.

MORE: The Ultimate Guide to Flu Prevention: 4 Micronutrients You Should Eat This Winter to Stay Healthy

One of the challenges of the current study is it is difficult to determine exactly how vitamin D may be supporting immune function.

Dr Meltzer said: “This is an observational study. We can see there is an association between vitamin D levels and likelihood of a Covid-19 diagnosis.

“But we don’t know exactly why that is, or whether these results are due to the vitamin D directly or other related biological factors.”

Prompted by the fresh evidence, the researchers are now conducting two studies to learn if taking a daily supplement can help prevent Covid-19 or decrease the severity of its symptoms—and British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reversed his previous beliefs and asked Public Health England to “re-review the existing evidence on the link between Covid-19 and Vitamin D.”

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“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” – Dalai Lama

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” – Dalai Lama

Photo by: Illiya Vjestica

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

Island Overrun With Rats Completely Recovers in Only 11 Years After Ecosystem Had Been Decimated

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Good News Network
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Hawadax Island in the Aleutian archipelago. USFW

Formerly known as ‘Rat Island’, this beautiful spot in the Aleutian islands has become a new example of how ecosystems can fully recover to their natural state in little more than a decade.

USFW

Along the western edge of the Alaskan archipelago, the land had inadvertently become populated with rodents, leading to the ignominious name Rat Islands. The non-native invaders were accidentally introduced to these islands following shipwrecks dating back to the 1700s and World War II occupation.

Known to be among the most damaging invasive animals, the resilient rodents adapted and thrived in the new setting, overwhelming the island ecosystems, disrupting the natural ecological order and driving out native species.

But a coordinated conservation effort removed the rats on the renamed Hawadax Island and a new study led by a University of California San Diego researcher has documented the remarkable recovery.

“We were surprised that the level of recovery unfolded so quickly—we thought it could be longer,” said Carolyn Kurle, an associate professor in the UC San Diego Division of Biological Sciences Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution and lead author of the study in published in Scientific Reports.

Kurle, along with researchers from UC Santa Cruz, conducted surveys on Hawadax in 2008 when the invasive rodents dominated the island ecosystem, finding that the rats unleashed a cascade of disruption for the island’s food chain.

RELATED: First Cloned Endangered Species in U.S. From Genes Frozen 30 Years Ago Gives Hope For Black-footed Ferret

Rats preyed upon shore bird eggs and chicks, nearly wiping out the island’s breeding shorebird population. Without birds consuming herbivorous seashore invertebrates such as snails and limpets, the island’s intertidal plant-eaters flourished, significantly driving down the abundance of the marine kelp.

Rats preyed upon shore birds such as these black oystercatchers. Credit: Rory Stansbury

To reverse these effects, a coordinated conservation strategy to save the native species on Hawadax removed the rats with poison in 2008, and presented a rare case in which researchers were able to compare the ecosystem after five years and, later found a fully recovered system after 11 years.

LOOK: He Thought it was a Kitten Lost in the Snow – But it was One of The Most Endangered Mammals in Europe

“Sometimes it’s hard to say that a conservation action had any sort of impact, but in this particular case we took a conservation action that was expensive and difficult, and we actually demonstrated that it worked,” wrote Kurle. “But we didn’t expect it to be so fast.”

After the rat eradication effort conducted by Island Conservation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and The Nature Conservancy, the seabirds returned and are again consuming the seashore invertebrates, which has allowed the recovery and rebound of the kelp community.

“When the birds returned it led to an entirely different structure in the marine community on this island.”

(See photos and more at UC San Diego)

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This Week’s Inspiring Horoscopes From Rob Brezsny’s ‘Free Will Astrology’

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Good News Network
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Our partner Rob Brezsny provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicated weekly column appearing in over a hundred publications. He is also the author of Pronoia Is the Antidote for Paranoia: How All of Creation Is Conspiring To Shower You with Blessings. (A free preview of the book is available here.)

Here is your weekly horoscope…

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY – Week beginning March 19, 2021
Copyright by Rob Brezsny, FreeWillAstrology.com

ARIES (March 21-April 19):
Poet Ocean Vuong speaks of the Hawaiian word kipuka. It refers to a patch of earth that doesn’t get covered with lava when an active volcano exudes its molten material. “Before the lava descended,” Vuong writes, “that piece of land was insignificant, just another scrap in an endless mass of green.” But now that piece of land is special, having endured. I encourage you to identify your metaphorical equivalent of kipuka, Aries. It’s an excellent time to celebrate the power and luck and resilience that have enabled you to persevere.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
“Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never think to look,” writes Taurus author Jodi Picoult. Luckily for you, Taurus, in the near future you’ll be prone to look in exactly those places—where no one else has thought to look. That means you’ll be extra likely to find useful, interesting, even extraordinary things that have mostly been hidden and unused. You may also discover some boring and worthless things, but the trade-off will be worth your effort. Congratulations in advance on summoning such brave curiosity.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
“When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice,” said Gemini author Saul Bellow. So if you have come here today to read my horoscopes, it’s possible that you’re seeking an accomplice to approve of you making a decision or a move that you have already decided to do. OK. I’ll be your accomplice. But as your accomplice, the first thing I’ll do is try to influence you to make sure your upcoming actions serve not only your own selfish interests (although there’s nothing wrong with that), but also serve the interests of people you care for. The weeks ahead will be a favorable time to blend self-interest and noble idealism.

CANCER (June 21-July 22):
A character in Barbara Kingsolver‘s novel The Lacuna is told to “go rub his soul against life.” Now I’ll advise you to do the same. Why? While it’s true that you have a beautiful soul, you sometimes get in the habit of hiding it away or keeping it secret. You feed it a wealth of dreams and emotions and longings, but may not go far enough in providing it with raw experience out in the messy, chaotic world. In my judgment, now is one of those times when you would benefit from rubbing your soul against life. Please note: I DON’T mean you should go in search of rough, tough downers. Not at all. In fact, there are plenty of pleasurable, safe, educational ways to rub your soul against life.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
If you love the work of self-help author Paulo Coelho, you might be inclined to adopt his motto as your own: “Being vulnerable is the best way to allow my heart to feel true pleasure.” But maybe you wouldn’t want to adopt his motto. After all, what he’s suggesting requires a great deal of courage and daring. Who among us finds it easy and natural to be soft and receptive and inviting? And yet according to my analysis of the astrological omens, this is exactly what your assignment should be for the next two weeks. To help motivate yourself, remember the payoff described by Coelho: the possibility that your heart will feel true pleasure.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):
Virgo author Michael Ondaatje celebrates “the hidden presence of others in us—even those we have known briefly. We contain them for the rest of our lives, at every border we cross.” As you approach your own upcoming border-crossing, dear Virgo, I encourage you to tune into memories about seven specific people who over the course of your life have provided you with the most joy and the most interesting lessons. Close your eyes for 20 minutes and imagine they are all gathered together with you in your favorite sanctuary. Remember in detail the blessings they bestowed on you. Give thanks for their influences, for the gifts they gave that have helped you become your beautiful self.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
“A balance that does not tremble cannot weigh. A person who does not oscillate cannot live.” So wrote biochemist Erwin Chargaff, who did crucial research leading to the discovery of DNA’s double helix structure. Since you’re the zodiac’s expert on balance and oscillation, and because these themes will be especially meaningful for you in the coming days, I’ll ask you to meditate on them with extra focus. Here’s my advice: To be healthy and resilient, you need to be aware of other possibilities besides those that seem obvious and simple and absolutely true. You need to consider the likelihood that the most correct answers are almost certainly those that are paradoxical and complicated and full of nuance.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
In her poem Sandra, Scorpio poet Ariana Reines testifies that she has too many feelings—and that’s not a problem. On the contrary. They are her wealth, she says, her “invisible splendor.” I invite you to regard your own “too many feelings” in the same way, especially in the coming weeks. You will have opportunities to harness your flood of feelings in behalf of transformative insights and holistic decision-making. Your motto: Feelings are healing.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
Historian and author Thomas Berry described “wildness” as the source of our “authentic spontaneities.” He said it’s “the wellspring of creativity” at the root of our lust for life. That’s a different definition from the idea that wildness is about being unruly, rough, and primitive. And Berry’s definition happens to be the one that should be central to your work and play in the coming weeks. Your assignment is to be wild: that is, to cultivate your authentic spontaneities; to home in on and nourish the creative wellspring of your lust for life.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
Some of the great discoveries in the history of physics have been made while the trailblazing physicists are lolling in bed or in the bathtub. They have done the research and carried out the rigorous thinking, and are rewarded with breakthroughs while relaxing. I think that will be your best formula for success in the coming weeks. Important discoveries are looming. Interesting innovations are about to hatch. You’re most likely to gather them in if you work intensely on preparing the way for them, then go off and do something fun and rejuvenating.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
My typical horoscope is an average of 108 words long. In that limited space, I can’t possibly tell you all the themes and threads that will be active for you during the upcoming phase of your cycle. I have to make choices about what to include and what not to include. This time I’ll focus on the fact that you now have an opportunity to deepen your relationship with your sense of smell—and to purposefully nourish your sense of smell. Your homework: Decide on at least five scents with which you will cultivate an intimate, playful, delightful connection in the coming days. (PS: You may be surprised at how this practice will deepen your emotional connection with the world.)

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
No one had ever proven that there was such a thing as electromagnetic waves until Piscean physicist Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) did so in 1886. He was the innovator who first transmitted and received controlled radio waves. Alas, he didn’t think his breakthrough was useful. In 1890, he confessed, “I do not think that the wireless waves I have discovered will have any practical application.” But other scientists were soon capitalizing on his work to communicate long distances. Radio broadcasts were born. I will encourage you not to make a Hertzian-type mistake in the coming months. Always follow through on your initial labors. Have faith that the novelties you dream up will eventually have practical value.

WANT MORE? Listen to Rob’s EXPANDED AUDIO HOROSCOPES, 4-5 minute meditations on the current state of your destiny — or subscribe to his unique daily text message service at: RealAstrology.com

(Zodiac images by Numerologysign.com, CC license)

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Watch What Happens When An Octopus Steals a Tennis Ball From a Border Collie

By
Good News Network
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Border Collies are among the friendliest and most inquisitive dogs around.

But Lucy doesn’t know what to make of the underwater creature that confiscated her tennis ball.

Almar Creighton was exploring the tide pools along the South African coastline with Lucy on her daily outing, when they encountered an octopus who was also very inquisitive.

When Lucy’s ball went into the water and she made her way to retrieve it, suddenly the mollusc emerged from under a rock and took control of the floating ball right in front of her.

“Lucy seemed very confused about how to handle this matter but she let the octopus check out her ball without a complaint,” says Almar, who adopted the pup six years ago.

The octopus seemed to be in the mood for a little mischief and he wrapped his tentacles around the ball and dragged it under the water.

“Lucy looked at us questioningly, as if asking what to do next.”

She staried at the tidal pool for 20 minutes, hoping to see a tennis ball rise up to the surface but no luck.

LOOK: Cuddling in Freezing Temperatures, Newborn Calf and Collie Become Adorable Best Friends

Octopuses are very intelligent sea creatures who can solve puzzles, and presumably was ‘having a ball’ trying to keep the ball submerged under a rock.

WATCH the scene unfold…

 

And, speaking of tennis… this cat named Quincy is practicing to become a table tennis partner for his owner.

Obviously, his reflexes are cat-like. WATCH his prowess at the net…

 

WOW! Penguin Leaps Into a Tour Boat to Avoid Being Eaten By Killer Whales – WATCH

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MIT Scientists Develop the Perfect Breathable Earth-Friendly Fabric Using The Same Material as Single-Use Bags

By
Andy Corbley
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CC. MIT.

A multi-national team at MIT have dispelled the long-standing consensus that the most commonly available plastic, polyethylene, can’t be used for clothing.

CC. MIT.

Their new thread spun with normal machinery circumnavigates the problem that polyethylene traps moisture, opening up an industry-changing material for use in earth-friendly textiles.

The fashion and textile industry is one of the king polluters. As well as contributing millions of tons of landfill waste, manufacturing threads made with nylon or polyester consumes massive amounts of water and generates 5–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions annually—and worst of all, none of the fabrics are recyclable.

Polyethylene itself, the plastic used in food wraps and shopping bags, is anti-wicking, and would normally lock water and sweat onto your body, not drawing it away to be evaporated like most athletic wear.

However the new method developed at MIT has created an “efficient water wicking and fast-drying performance which, combined with their excellent stain resistance, offer promise in reducing energy and water consumption as well as the environmental footprint of textiles in their use phase.”

RELATED: H&M In-Store Recycling Machine Turns Old Clothes into New Threads—A World First

Furthermore, polyethylene yarns can be colored by environmentally-friendly methods, thus eliminating the large amounts of toxic wastewater otherwise created during conventional processes.

“Once someone throws a plastic bag in the ocean, that’s a problem. But those bags could easily be recycled, and if you can make polyethylene into a sneaker or a hoodie, it would make economic sense to pick up these bags and recycle them,” wrote Svetlana Boriskina, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and lead-author of the corresponding paper. 

It was actually during the manufacturing process, taking polyethylene powder and subjecting it to existing industry-standard equipment, that Boriskina and team discovered that when the plastic is stretched into fibers, similar to the way spaghetti is made, the plastic became slightly oxidized.

CHECK OUT: These Sunglasses Are Made From the First Ever Batch of Plastic Waste Recovered by the Ocean Cleanup Project

This oxidization gave the resulting yarn a thirst for water, drawing it away from sweaty armpits like it had never done before.

“Everyone we talked to said polyethylene might keep you cool, but it wouldn’t absorb water and sweat because it rejects water, and because of this, it wouldn’t work as a textile,” Boriskina said.

Once they found that it could in fact wick moisture away, they continued to experiment until they found fibers of the right diameter that allowed the space in between them within the strand of yarn to wick the most amount of water.

READ ALSO: The Fashion Industry Has a Waste Problem: This Non-Profit With 2,000 Volunteers Is Helping Solve It

The base powder can be dyed with natural materials, and once the finished product was subjected to a life-cycle assessment, they found that, remarkably, polyethylene clothing would consume less energy than polyester, but also natural cotton.

Part of that is because nothing sticks to polyethylene, meaning that you could wash it for 10 minutes in a cold cycle and any stains would be gone. The best part is that owing to the natural dye, the clothing is fully recyclable.

Sometimes the best innovations don’t come from new elements, new machines, or new technology, but a simple double-check on already existing infrastructure and materials.

PASS This Game-Changing Breakthrough to Fashionistas on Social Media… 

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

Photo by: Frank Busch

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

Mother of NHL Hockey Star Donates Kidney to Ice Rink Manager Who Kept Her Kids Out of Trouble

By
Judy Cole
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Twitter/St. Louis Blues

To make it in any professional sport takes skill, determination, and practice. Having someone who believes in you and goes out of their way to help can be the difference between living the dream or hanging up your skates.

Throughout the many years that Graham Nesbitt managed the local skating arena in Seaforth, Ontario, he routinely went above and beyond the call of duty—opening the rink early, staying late, and even in the face of snowstorms—to ensure neighborhood kids could get in as many hours on the ice as possible.

No-one is more aware of or as grateful for Nesbitt’s dedication than Bonnie O’Reilly. Her two sons, Ryan and Cal, who skated under Nesbitt’s watchful eye, both went on to play in the NHL.

Ryan captains the Stanley Cup-winning St. Louis Blues. Cal is currently on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms’ roster.

Even though he retired from the Seaforth rink in 2003, when the community learned Nesbitt needed a kidney donation, local folks lined up to be tested to see if they might be a match. One of those people was Bonnie O’Reilly.

MORE: ‘She’s Our Miracle’: This Minnesota Teacher Donated a Kidney to the School’s Custodian

Nesbitt was diagnosed with Berger’s disease nine years ago. A progressive condition that lessens the kidneys’ ability to filter blood, by 2019 the medication keeping his illness under check was no longer working. A kidney transplant became the 65-year-old’s only option for survival.

Once O’Reilly learned she was a match, the only thing left to be done was arrange for the surgery. “She says that ‘What you’ve done for my boys, helping them achieve their goal of playing professional hockey, it’s the least we can do,’” Nesbitt’s son Joe said quoting O’Reilly in a conversation with CBC.

The transplant took place just a couple of weeks ago, on March 3. Both O’Reilly and Nesbitt came through the procedure in good form and were soon on their way to recovery.

Nesbitt’s wife, Pam, deeply touched by O’Reilly’s generosity, posted her thanks on Facebook: “From our family to you and yours Bonnie, thanks for the gift of a lifetime…Your selfless act means more than you’ll ever know.”

“Something my dad’s always taught me is to be kind and helpful and generous to everybody,” Joe Nesbitt told CBC. “It just goes to show that those thoughtful acts and caring for people, it pays off. It truly paid off for my dad and saved his life.”

RELATED: 42-Year-old Zamboni Driver Wins First NHL Game After Being Tapped as Emergency Goalie

So, why is good Karma like an ice rink, you ask? Because what goes around comes around.

PASS ON The Positive Story Of Friendship To Your Friends…

Anyone in These States Can Get a Covid-19 Vaccine, Thanks to Several Native Tribes

By
Andy Corbley
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Chickasaw twitter. Published

The Native American tribes of Oklahoma are steaming ahead of the greater population towards herd immunity—so much so that they’re opening up COVID-19 vaccination for all Oklahomans.

@ChickasawNation/Twitter

Having received tens of thousands of doses from the Indian Health Service, the small tribal leadership in the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Osage, Cherokee, and Potawatomi nations have been able to quickly and effectively utilize their medical infrastructure to distribute the vaccine to the highest and secondary priority tribal members.

Job done, the tribes are beginning to offer vaccinations to anyone in the state who needs one, understanding that their members are enmeshed in the Oklahoma communities, and Oklahomans are enmeshed within tribal communities.

The Chickasaw Nation in particular recently opened a new tribal health facility in the city of Ada, with 16 drive-thru lanes for vaccinations. Oklahoma residents can schedule an appointment online through the tribe’s website.

Dr. John Krueger, chief medical officer for the Chickasaw, said 30,000 doses had been administered in the population of 35,000 tribal members.

“We are a part of these communities, and they are a part of us,” Krueger told CNN. “The faster we can get all of us back to essential protection, the better it is for us and the better it is for everyone.”

Ute can do it

The Mountain Ute Tribe and Navajo of Colorado followed suit, offering several rounds of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines gratis—with the Mountain Ute hosting the vaccine drive at their casino.

“We need to look toward everyone getting vaccinated in the Four Corners region,” said Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Chairman Manuel Heart, according to local news reports. “Kudos to everyone who came out and worked together to make it happen.”

RELATED: Startup Global-PPE Delivers Essential Protective Gear to Native American Reservations

Around 700 doses were made available and tribal membership was not required. 100 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which requires only a single jab, were made available to the homeless community in the Cortez, Colorado area—as the single dose is ideal for transient populations.

The Southcentral Foundation in Alaska is utilizing a patchwork yet effective web of native health centers to also offer vaccines to any Alaskans over the age of 18.

The Indian Health Service has distributed a total of 1.25 million doses, three-fifths of which have already been administered, and the majority of which have gone to New Mexico, California, and Oklahoma.

Share This Story Like The Chickasaw Are Sharing Their Vaccines…

Baboon, Bear, or Bison: Find Out Which Animal Personality Best Matches Yours in a Free Fun Quiz

By
Andy Corbley
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Have you ever wondered what kind of animal best represents your personality?

A 10-question personality quiz has caught fire since appearing on CNN, CBS, and the Los Angeles Times because it can figure out what kind of animal you are most akin to by asking simple behavioral questions—and 23 million people so far have been matched to a species.

Based on novel psychological ideas, the Animal in You quiz was created by the author of The Animal in You and Animal Attraction by Roy Feinson.

Every ecosystem has at least 50 key species that are needed for a web of life to sustain itself, and the same is true of humans.

The test poses questions about your size, aggressiveness, and sociability among other things to gauge where you might end up in the animal kingdom—because the author theorizes that human societies act the same way.

Our communities have space for dominant aggressive types, like tigers, who may work in the military or as a stockbroker, and also for the gentle deer, who may be a florist or preschool teacher.

GNN took the quiz…

Keven Law, CC license

READ ALSO: Dolphins Have Similar Personality Traits to Humans, Study Finds

The test claims it is the “most accurate personality test on the web,” and so Good News Network subjected a number of its staff to it. Geri, the founder, was deemed ‘the playful baboon’—and in her case, it was spot on.

Baboon personalities were well-suited for careers that include journalist and artist, both of which she became: “If journalism is about paying attention to the world, then it makes sense why baboons excel in the field; sharp eyes, sharp mind and sharp tongue in a dynamic package… Sometimes seeing the world from a new perspective is all it takes to create exceptional art—which explains why so many famous artists are baboons.”

CHECK OUT: This Lizard Has His Own Cookbook – and it’s Utterly Adorable

This reporter scored a Vulpes vulpes—the red fox—which by description was a close fit, possessing such characteristics as “choosing subtlety and cunning over brute strength,” and “thriving when running their own businesses,” and who tend to be “hunter personalities… usually in good physical shape and perform well in pastimes that challenge both mind and body.”

Which animal are you? Take the Quiz here, and leave a comment below and let’s compare notes!

Amaze Your Friends By Sharing This Quiz…

Nothing Restores a River or Local Economy Like Removing a Dam

By
Andy Corbley
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David Seibold, CC license

Across the United States, 69 river dams were removed from American rivers in 2020, opening up 624 miles of waterways to flow freely.

The work was undertaken with the guidance of American Rivers, a national non-profit that works to restore rivers to their natural state.

More than 90,000 dams block rivers across the U.S, but while many might not think of this as a problem, the relentless damming of American rivers over the decades has created significant detriments to the environment.

Along with disrupting riverine ecosystems, inland marshes, and wetlands—which are important ecosystems for many birds—dammed rivers can also dry up downstream from where dams are built.

Damming has been happening for centuries in the U.S, as GNN reported last year, piling up legacy sediment and choking rivers. But even more modern dams can be major hazards to rivers and the habitats they fragment while soaking up infrastructure tax dollars.

In 2020, dams were removed in South Carolina, Indiana, Washington, Montana, New Hampshire, and 18 other states—helping connect populations of salmon species like Chinook, coho, and pink, as well as steelhead, cutthroat, and bull trout, Bartram’s bass, greater redhorse, longnose dace, and northern brook lamprey—the latter three of which are threatened or endangered in the U.S.

The removal of one dam a mile upstream from its confluence with the St. Joseph River, the Elkhart River Dam, has helped re-open a key migration route for more than 50 fish and other species moving out of the St. Joseph.

Large contributions to the 2020 dam removal projects were made by Indian nations such as the Nooksack and Lummi.

“We’re salmon people. So the salmon is very sacred and very important to the tribe,” said Merle Jefferson, Director of the Lummi Nation’s natural resources department, in a video.

MORE: Salmon Spawning for the First Time in 80 Years in the Upper Columbia River

A 16-mile stretch of culturally sacred salmon habitat collapsed after a dam was built diverting the Middle Fork Nooksack River near Bellingham, Washington.

Removing that dam not only gave the salmon back their habitat, but the Lummi back their culture. The Tulalip Tribes is another group that recovered their ancestral salmon habitat, this time along the Pilchuck River in Washington state, where two separate dams were completely removed.

In most cases, dams were built long ago to fortify industry, or to supply fresh water and irrigation. As technology and population densities have changed over the decades, a surprising amount of dams are powering or assisting nothing, and instead act as irrelevant tax leeches.

RELATED: Volunteers Remove 9,200-lbs. of Trash From One of the Dirtiest Rivers in the US

Reopening rivers, as American Rivers has shown, also brings back some economic opportunity to communities by increasing recreational fishing and boating, as well as replenishing local fish stocks that can be sold.

Featured image: David Seibold, CC license

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“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks

By
Good News Network
-

Quote of the Day: “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” – Rosa Parks

Photo by: Tabea Damm

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

 

IKEA’s New Cookbook Puts Kitchen Scraps to Good Use With 50 Recipes From Top Chefs

By
Andy Corbley
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IKEA SCRAPSBOOK

IKEA’s recent collaboration with 10 super chefs led to the creation of a new kind of scrapbook—one that contains recipes made from food scraps.

Utilizing the less-loved parts of produce or cheese, the SCRAPSBOOK curates 50 recipes for kitchen scraps that would otherwise be thrown away.

As much as Americans try to pull kale and broccoli into their diets, what happens to the greenish white stems? What about the leaves growing from our favorite carrots, turnips, and radishes? What about those banana peels and apple cores—that no one thinks to use for nutrition? Can one really make great recipes with them?

To answer, let’s listen to what Chef Christa Bruneau-Guenther from Winnipeg’s Feast Cafe Bistro had to say on behalf of her “Banana peel bacon” recipe served with wild rice flapjacks.

“Who knew you could eat a banana peel? Although it is thinner than bacon, it has a balance of sweet, smoky, salty, and heat, plus with the hint of banana it is oh so delicious!”

IKEA

Banana flesh can also be used in pancakes, or frozen to use for smoothies or baking. Try the Banana Peel Chutney, on page 30, that Jason Sheardown serves with shrimp.

Adrian Forte from Ontario and David Gunawan from British Columbia turn radish leaves and kale stems into risotto and pesto, while Bruneau-Guenther contributes again to a pan-baked dish of squash and potato skins with maple syrup and cheese to help people get the most amount of fiber and nutrients out of their starches of choice.

RELATED: IKEA Publishes Meatball Recipe for Devoted Fans in Quarantine Pining After the Store’s Beloved Cafés

IKEA SCRAPSBOOK

“Scrapcooking is about finding the beautiful possibilities in that banana peel, radish top, or even the chicken bones you’re about to toss, and make the most of everything available to you,” explain the authors of the book in the foreword. “It’s little things like these that can add up to make a big difference.”

The epitome of this concept may be Adrian Forte, a celebrity chef heading up the Toronto-based Chef du Jour catering service, and his recipe “Clear-out-the-Crisper-Soup”—the ultimate in tasty recycling.

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“I often save food scraps throughout the week — everything from chicken parts to vegetable trimmings. Usually, these discarded scraps end up in my weekly soup stock,” he writes as an intro.

The 111-page SCRAPSBOOK, downloadable in PDF here, also contains instructions for all kinds of different ways to reuse food scraps, beyond simply composting them—although it has instructions for starting a compost pile, too!

  • How to regrow produce from chopped ends
  • Using ground eggshells as a limescale cleaner
  • How to prepare cucumber leftovers as an insect repellent
  • Tips for how to store different produce that you wouldn’t expect
  • How to clean your finest skillets with leftover food instead of steel wool

It can be a great feeling to know that every taste inherent in a piece of food was turned into talent to make your life more nutritious and closer to Mother Earth.

Recycle This Valuable Scraps-Book With Your Friends!

Town Surprises UPS Driver With $1,000 to Thank Him For Being Essential During Pandemic

By
Judy Cole
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Courtesy Kristie Vogelsong

Every Christmas season, delivery drivers can count on being slammed, but with the pandemic causing huge spikes in online ordering, it seems the holiday season never ends.

A brown-uniformed UPS driver in Dauphin, Pennsylvania, has been meeting this challenge every day with good cheer and a sense of determination, often going out of his way to make sure the packages in his care arrived on time.

To reward Chad Turns for his extraordinary work ethic, citizens all along his route in the tight-knit community pitched-in to produce a special delivery of their own.

“The whole town has had personal experience with Chad,” Dauphin resident Adam Shickley told CNN. “He once thought a package was a gift and there was a picture on the front. My kids were playing outside so he waited until his shift was done and came back to make sure they didn’t see it.”

Shickley’s wife, Jenny, echoed her husband’s sentiments. “On Facebook, another friend mentioned there was a package that needed signing and they weren’t home,” she told TODAY. “Chad was nervous that it was important, so he went to their parents’ house to get it signed for them.”

Photo by Jenny Shickley

To honor his unflagging dedication, Jenny, organized a ‘Thank you, Chad’ fundraiser. Her original goal of $500 quickly required a bigger package when more than $1,000 flowed in.

MORE: Hero Plumber Has Helped 10,000 Vulnerable Families Fix Heating and Plumbing For FREE During Pandemic

She also drafted one of his UPS coworkers in a secret plan involving a fictional end-of-day pickup at a municipal building. When Chad arrived, instead of a package, he found a group of people waving thank-you signs, a big handmade autographed card, and probably a lot of smiles beneath the face masks. Together, they presented him with $1,000.

Courtesy Kristie Vogelsong

Chad was tear-struck by the outpouring of support, saying, “It was very overwhelming. The idea that they even thought of me to do anything… To go above and beyond and do what they did was truly amazing to me.”

POPULAR: Trucker Hero Pulls Over When He Sees ‘Frantic’ Man Running Up Highway After Wreck Flings His Toddler into the Dark

“Celebrations like this really highlight the bond our drivers have with their customer base,” UPS spokesperson Jackie Fajt said in a statement. “Chad is a great UPSer and has been delivering to Dauphin residents for more than a decade.”

Jenny Shickley

Putting the “special” in special delivery is all part and parcel of a day’s work for Chad, and many drivers, who will happily continue delivering one package at a time to keep the world running smoothly.

North Carolina-based writer Judy Cole has a new murder mystery / rom-com debuting on Amazon for Kindle: And Jilly Came Tumbling After (from Red Sky Presents).

DO YOU Have a Special Driver? Organize a Similar Celebration By Sharing on Social Media…

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