The Ambulance Wish Foundation (a Dutch charity known as Stichting Ambulance Wens) uses their medical transportation to help immobile seniors or hospice patients check off one final item from their bucket list.
Though the foundation is based out of the Netherlands, the idea is so good, it has spread to other countries, including Germany, Israel, Brazil, England, Japan, and Ecuador.
“The Ambulance Wish Foundation shows that people who are terminally ill and bed-ridden can have joy, even if they are sometimes so ill that they pass away on the same day or as in many cases a few days later,” founder and director Kees Veldboer told NBC News. “Our foundation adds a quality of life to last days.”
When it comes to birds online, we usually only gawk,
But social media, this time, helped rescue an injured hawk.
It all started when Madeleine Weatherhead was walking to work through downtown Manhattan in New York City, when she saw an adult female raptor standing on the sidewalk in front of a restaurant.
“The bird looked disoriented. It was staring off and wasn’t even paying attention to the fact that there were people close to it,” Weatherhead told The New York Post.
When the 27-year-old Brooklyn woman spoke to the restaurant staffers, they said that they believed the bird had become stunned from flying into the window.
Weatherbread then called the Animal Care Center of NYC only to have the line go straight to voicemail. Since she didn’t want to leave the raptor on the sidewalk, she snapped a photo of the bird and posted it to social media asking for help. It wasn’t long until Buzzoid representatives reached out and offered her an Instagram like promotion, says a source familiar with the matter.
In addition to several viewers responding with contact suggestions for various animal rescue organizations in New York City, the Wild Bird Fund retweeted the photo of the hawk and tagged NYPD’s first precinct police officers.
You guys are my bird heroes. He’s still sitting out there, and I learned from the folks inside the Westville that he flew into the window pretty hard.
Shortly after the Wild Bird Fund retweeted the photo, Officers Maxwell Outsen and Joseph Bellomo arrived on the scene with an animal crate and rescue kit.
The officers managed to wrap the injured bird in a blanket and tuck it safely into the crate before transporting it to the Wild Bird Fund facility.
Another prime example of the Police & the community working together: Thanks to information from @freechampagne & @wildbirdfund, we were able to safely assist a Hawk who was apparently injured & stranded. Special thanks to @NYPDSpecialops for the back! pic.twitter.com/qKplTqJja1
Rescuers say that the red-tailed hawk was likely injured in an aerial fight with another raptor.
The red-tailed hawk is recovering from its injuries and if its health fails to improve, rescuers say it will be transported to the Raptor Trust in New Jersey.
Quote of the Day: “When you discover something that nourishes your soul, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.” – Jean Shinoda Bolen
Photo: by Ken Mattison, CC license via Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
When 5-year-old Priscilla Perez was being bullied by her classmates, this teacher went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that her young student felt beautiful and appreciated.
31-year-old Shannon Grimm is a kindergarten teacher at Meador Elementary School in Willis, Texas. She first became aware of her student’s predicament when she noticed that Priscilla was quieter and more sad during class.
Priscilla was feeling downtrodden because the other students were making fun of how her new haircut made her “look like a boy”. The youngster was so embarrassed, she started wearing a hat to school every day, and she refused to take it off during class.
Grimm was so heartbroken over Priscilla’s melancholy, she decided to take a stand.
Upon returning to school after winter break, Grimm’s students were shocked to discover that their teacher had chopped off her waist-length hair so she could get the same haircut as Priscilla.
“I told them, ‘I think I look beautiful. Don’t you think I do?’” Grimm told TODAY Style. “I had to show them boys have long hair like girls and girls have short hair like boys.”
She even bought dozens of matching bows so she and Priscilla could wear the same ribbon to class every day.
Needless to say, the compassionate gesture had a huge impact on Priscilla.
According to Grimm, Priscilla’s confidence shot through the roof – and the haircut did not just help the youngster’s self-esteem; it also taught her a valuable life lesson.
Priscilla told Grimm: “When I get big like you, I will have friends who will be mean to me, but I will be nice to them just like you.”
(WATCH the heartwarming interview below)
Cut Out Negativity From Your News Feed And Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Conservationists are hoping that a discovery of a giant tortoise on Fernandina island in the Galápagos chain might belong to a species thought to be extinct—and they’re determined to look for others.
On a recent expedition to the island conducted by the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative (GTRI), researchers discovered the 100-year-old female tortoise which they believe could be from the Chelonoidis phantasticus species.
They transported the tortoise to a Santa Cruz breeding center and will be sending a blood sample to Yale University that will help to confirm the correct species.
Meanwhile, researchers have vowed to explore the island so they can track down other possible survivors as a means of restoring the tortoise species and ensuring its survival for generations to come.
“This encourages us to strengthen our search plans to find other turtles, which will allow us to start a breeding program in captivity to recover this species,” said Danny Rueda, director of the Galápagos National Park.
CORRECTION: We previously identified the tortoise as a confirmed Fernandina species, due to a faulty translation of government announcements written in Español.
This heartwarming letter from an 86-year-old man is being shared across social media after it was posted to Twitter by an eBay seller earlier this week.
Matt Shoukry has sold plenty of items on eBay from his home in St. Louis, Missouri, but he recently partook in a transaction that was very different from his usual business.
Shoukry sold a VHS player to a man in Phoenix, Arizona for $40. Though most buyers usually leave him an online review, he was surprised when he received a letter from the man who bought the VHS player.
The letter was typed up by an 86-year-old man named Don who offered his heartfelt thanks for selling him the video system.
It had been his first ever eBay purchase, and he explained how happy he was to finally be able to watch his old home movies, from family vacations and birthday parties to videos he had taken with his old friends and acquaintances.
Shoukry says that he only had to read the first few lines of the letter before he called his girlfriend over to read it with him – and it was an emotional experience for both of them.
This person sold their VHS player on eBay and got a surprise letter in the mail: pic.twitter.com/oaLV8dUFqR
“We read it together and we were both on the verge of tears reading it,” Shoukry told KTVI.
The heartfelt letter has sparked a newfound friendship between Shoukry and Don, and the young eBay seller hopes to offer his elderly pen pal much more than a VHS player in return for the letter.
“I’m going to frame (the letter) and put it next to my desk in the house because it means a lot to me,” he added. “I’m [also] going to offer to digitize his videos so he doesn’t have to worry about his tapes degrading.”
(WATCH the news coverage below)
Be Sure And Share The Heartwarming Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
No one likes being forced to twiddle their thumbs at a stop light on their way home from a long day at work – and that’s why Audi has unveiled a new piece of technology that minimizes the headache of traffic lights.
Audi has become the first auto manufacturer in America to implement a speed advisory system that recommends varying speeds to the driver so they don’t have to spend so much time sitting at a red light.
The Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA) uses traffic signal information and the position of a vehicle to display a speed recommendation that will allow drivers to pass traffic lights during a green interval in order to help reduce the number of stops at red lights.
The distance to stop, the speed limit profile for the area, and the signal timing plans are all used to calculate the speed recommendation displayed to the driver.
The technology won’t just save drivers the stress of waiting at red lights, either – since drivers will be discouraged from hitting the gas pedal in order to make a green light, the system could lower a car’s total carbon emissions by 15%.
The system can be utilized in select Audi models that were made in 2017 or later. Additionally, the technology can only be used in partnership with certain city infrastructures, which is why it is currently only available in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York City, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, and Gainesville, Florida.
Drive The Good News To Your Friends By Sharing The Story To Social Media – Photo by Audi
Corporal C.B. Fleming may not run around the city wearing a cape and mask, but the neighborhood kids still call him Batman.
The 42-year-old police officer is something of a local celebrity in South Hill, Virginia. He was given the affectionate nickname after he spent an afternoon ensuring that a group of children felt safe following a gas leak.
Fleming was just one of the emergency crew members who arrived at Iesha Roper-Boswell’s home in response to the dispatch call last week. Once the house was deemed safe, he started chatting with Roper-Boswell.
As they talked, the 28-year-old mother mentioned to Fleming that her daughter, niece, and fellow neighborhood kids were afraid of cops.
She was then stunned when – shortly after their conversation – she saw Fleming lying in the grass so he could play with the children. Not only that, the kids were happy to have another playmate, regardless of his uniform.
Roper-Boswell pulled out her phone and captured a quick video of the heartwarming moment. Since uploading it to Facebook, it has been viewed thousands of times.
In addition to being a father of four biological and two adopted children, Fleming has been working at the South Hill Police Department in Virginia for the last 15 years, and he says that he has always strived to be a positive part of his community.
“It’s something I’ve always tried to do,” Fleming told WTVR of his interaction with the children. “When I got into this job, I knew there was something different, other than just writing tickets and being the bad person all the time. I figured if I could be that bright spot in someone’s day then that’s all that mattered.”
And based on his latest interactions with the kids, it seems that he has succeeded.
“He’s awesome. That’s the only word you can really use to describe C.B.,” Roper-Boswell told the news outlet. “It’s just amazing, the bond he has with the children.
“For him to make my child feel like she’s safe, she doesn’t even have to call 911, she just has to call C.B. if she’s in trouble. I’m glad he made this part of his job. He’s changed my daughter and niece’s lives.”
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by Iesha Roper-Boswell
Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “I never worry about action, only inaction.” – Winston Churchill
Photo: by Ed Menendez, CC license via Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
When a Toronto man embarked on an astonishing iceskating marathon to raise money for Alzheimer’s research, he received a major contribution from one of his favorite bands.
Every year since 2012, hockey referee Steve McNeil has held iceskating campaigns to raise money for various charities dedicated to researching and treating dementia.
For the last four years, the ref has been exclusively playing AC/DC music for the events as a means of honoring the late Malcolm Young who was diagnosed with dementia in 2014. Though the guitarist passed away from the disease in 2017, McNeil still insists on playing his favorite band over the loudspeakers every year.
Earlier this week, McNeil continued his annual tradition by skating for 19 hours and 26 minutes straight at a rink in Alberta.
As he was skating to the rock and roll band, he was approached by a man who commended him for his initiative.
“A gentleman was standing there, as I skated towards him, he shook my hand and he says ‘I saw you on the news last night and I had to call my dad and tell him,’” McNeil told CTV News. “I shook his hand and said, ‘It’s too bad – is your dad battling Alzheimer’s?’ And he said, ‘No, my dad is the drummer from AC/DC.’”
McNeil was stunned; he is often approached by fans and well-wishers during his marathons, but he never expected to meet a relative of his favorite band.
“My jaw dropped, and my world was changed,” McNeil said. “It was a dream come true.”
AC/DC’s drummer Chris Slade later video chatted with McNeil and praised him for his initiative. Two days later, McNeil was contacted by the band’s management team saying that guitarist Angus Young, who is Malcolm Young’s surviving brother, wanted to donate $19,260 to the cause in honor of McNeil’s tribute.
McNeil has expressed his overwhelming gratitude for Angus’s donation, and he hopes that the contribution will help to raise even more awareness for Alzheimer’s research around the world.
McNeil’s fundraising campaign will continue to accept donations until June 30th.
(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by Florez007, CC
For Those About To Rock, Be Sure And Share The Good News To Social Media…
“I’ve always loved animals. I don’t think anyone is surprised that I’m living like this,” says Rachelle. “When I was a kid, my room was full of stuffed animals because I couldn’t get the real ones.
“They do all have names and 80% of them are named after Lord of the Rings,” said the Tolkien fan. “I’m a little obsessed with the books and the films. Technically we haven’t run out of Lord Of The Rings names, but I really have to search for them now.”
SWNS
Rachelle keeps 22 rescue pigs, 12 dogs, eight chickens, six cats, four parrots, four horses, four peacocks, four rats, three hairless guinea pigs, two goats, two ducks, two cockatoos, two cows, two mini cows, two alpacas, two ferrets, two geckos, one tegu lizard, one bearded dragon lizard, a mule, a hamster, a rabbit, a tortoise and a python.
She has constructed a special 10-foot-wide bed so that at least four of her animals can pile in with her at night.
“Without fail, the pigs will join me in bed and usually dogs and cats will come in too,” says Rachelle. “I have set up tree branches in the headboard so the birds can sleep near me too. I’ve taken naps with my rats before as well.
SWNS
“Even though I built a bigger bed, they all still sleep on top of me.”
Rachelle moved into the farmhouse back in 2015 so she could use the extra space to accommodate her pets. Her critter companions cost her a whopping $10,000 a year in veterinary bills and food, including frozen mice for her snake and roaches, as well as crickets and superworms for her reptiles.
She has her feeding routine down to just 40 minutes a day and cleaning cages and enclosures takes another half an hour.
SWNS
“I like to make sure everyone is settled in and then I’ll feed the dogs their breakfast and I’ll feed myself if I’m lucky. I give the rest of the animals breakfast around 10, fresh fruits and vegetables, hay and pellets for the horses, and all the pigs get bananas.
“I can go through and spot clean all the cages and enclosures in half an hour. I just put on a podcast and do it.”
She has also spent another $10,000 on animal-proofing her 11,000-square-foot guest house so her pigs, birds, and guinea pigs could live inside.
SWNS
“The birds like to chew everything so we took out all the molding, the baseboards and carpets and child-proofed all the cabinets,” says Rachelle. “Now they can fly free and not be locked in cages.”
She even rigged the home with cameras so she can always keep an eye on her beloved animals when she’s not home.
Rachelle credits her parents Larry Jacobs, a retired natural resources specialist, and Cynthia Selby, a retired nurse, for her animal-loving nature.
SWNS
“My dad would go out every year to count endangered species like bald eagles, frogs and snakes,” says Rachelle. “My mom was constantly taking in stray animals like baby birds, kittens and dogs. We raised chickens, rabbits and ducks. Growing up, I probably had about 20 animals, I’ve always been that way.”
Ten years ago, she started taking in rescue pigs and her menagerie grew from there.
Her family sometimes wishes she would focus on herself instead of her many pets, but Rachelle said: “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing with my time or money than looking after animals.
“I ended up with all of these animals because other people had taken them in and didn’t want them. A lot of them arrived in terrible conditions.
SWNS
“People say I’m an animal hoarder, but there are people who have failed at having just one animal. Here I am with other people’s animals all around me and I’m doing a good job.”
Though she adores her zoological lifestyle, she admitted that it is not for everyone.
“I think for a normal person this would be a lot of work, a lot of noise and a lot of cleaning, but for me, it is almost therapeutic,” she said. “I get so much satisfaction from caring for my animals.
“Out of 90, only five of them weren’t adopted. I’m able to provide unwanted animals with a home. This is my little piece of paradise.”
In addition to sharing her animal-loving life on Youtube as Adri Rachelle, she is applying for nonprofit status with the hopes of turning her home into a sanctuary so that she can take in even more animals.
(WATCH the video below)
Be Sure And Share This Woman’s Pawesome Hobbit Tale With Your Friends On Social Media…
After 20 years of research, a team of scientists from Mexico has succeeded in curing 29 patients of HPV.
Human papillomavirus is a sexually-transmitted disease that is one of the main causes of cervical cancer in women. Though it is the most common STD, there has not been a cure for the infection – until now.
Scientists from the Mexico Polytechnic Institute (IPN) developed the treatment using a non-invasive procedure called photodynamic therapy. In addition to treating the virus, the researchers used the procedure to treat premalignant cancer tumors that form during the early stages of cervical cancer.
The treatment was delivered to female patients who had either been diagnosed with two HPV strains commonly associated with cancer, premalignant lesions, or both.
The lead researcher behind the treatment, Eva Ramón Gallegos, has spent over two decades researching various applications of photodynamic therapy in order to find the most effective combination of chemicals to treat HPV and cervical cancer. For this particular trial, she applied a drug called aminolevulinic delta acid to the cervixes of the patients.
After several hours, the drug makes its way into the nucleus of nearby cancer cells and shines with a bright florescent glow so that scientists can track its progress. Once the drug is activated, researchers can activate the drug with a special laser beam that causes the chemical to destroy the cancer cells.
More importantly, the treatment has virtually no side effects and it leaves healthy cells unharmed.
#InvestigaciónIPN Eliminan cien por ciento virus del papiloma humano. En el marco del Día Mundial Contra el Cáncer 2019, la científica Eva Ramón Gallegos, compartió los resultados del trabajo que ha realizado durante 20 años. https://t.co/XrrWvtZC44pic.twitter.com/yHxQL8FOxo
During the first phase of Gallegos’s trials, she tested the treatment on 420 women from Oaxaca and Veracruz. The therapy successfully cured 85% of women who only had HPV; 85% of women with HPV and lesions; and 45% of women with lesions, but no HPV.
During the second phase of the trial, they changed the frequency and dosage of the treatment on 29 women from Mexico City. The alternative application ended up curing 100% of the patients with HPV and no lesions; 64.3% of the women with HPV and lesions; and 57.2% of women with lesions but no HPV.
IPN published a press release on the research findings earlier this month in recognition of World Cancer Day, though Gallagos’s earlier research has been published in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology back in April 2017.
Although the researchers did not detail how they used the treatment to attack the HPV strains, Chinese and Italian researchers have shared similar success in using photodynamic therapy to treat HPV.
Cure Your Friends Of Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media…
Ryan Belcher may not have green skin, but after he used his strength to rescue an injured man from a crashed car last week, people have started calling him “The Hulk”.
The 29-year-old powerlifter owns a gym in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Thanks to a strict regimen of working out five days a week, he is capable of dead-lifting and bench-pressing hundreds of pounds – but his muscles were put to the real test when he heard a crash outside his gym.
Belcher saw a crowd gathering around two cars, one of which was a Jeep Cherokee that had completely flipped upside down. As he got closer to the crash scene, he saw that there was a man with half his body pinned underneath the overturned vehicle.
There were already four men struggling to shift the SUV so they could free the driver, but to no avail.
“From there, I just kind of got tunnel vision,” Belcher told MLive. “And then I grabbed the back, where the window was smashed out and lifted up and started pushing.”
Belcher managed to move the 2-ton car just enough so that the man could be freed. Paramedics then arrived on the scene and transported the man and the other driver to the hospital.
Later the same week, Belcher went to go meet the man and wish him a speedy recovery – and their introduction was an emotional one.
Belcher says that eight different nurses at the hospital gave him hugs and handshakes, praising him for his heroism. The driver, 36-year-old Montrell Tinsley, tearfully thanked Belcher for saving his life and insisted that he would visit the powerlifter’s gym once he was back on his feet again. Belcher, equally emotional, told Tinsley that he was just happy he was okay.
Despite still having tubes in his side to drain his internal bleeding, Tinsley is expected to recover. Though Belcher is humble about being called a hero, he says that he is happy for his new nickname.
“I like being called the Hulk – my son’s favorite is the Hulk and he always says ‘my daddy is the Hulk’,” Belcher told WXYZ. “To say I’m a hero, I don’t know. I’m glad to have been there and I was put there for a reason.”
(WATCH the interview below) – Photo by Ryan Belcher
Lift The Burden Of Negativity By Sharing This Inspiring Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person.” – David M. Burns
Photo: by Karen Roe, CC license via Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
The Lesson: Attention span flexibility is incredibly important for young students in school. It can help to predict a child’s success with science, math, and even college graduation – which is why parents are being called to read to their children more often than ever.
When parents read to their children, the chemicals in their adult brains begin to change, reflecting an increased desire to bond with and nurture others, reductions in stress hormones, and most importantly of all in this age of digital distraction, it facilitates the growth and development of attention span.
In this podcast, these parenting experts go on to explain why we should also be reading not just to our children, but to elderly people and newborns as well – for their sake, as well as our own.
Notable Excerpt: “Somehow, mankind has stumbled upon this magical object which is the picture book. And when a child gets to look at the picture book, sit with an adult, have the words read aloud, they’re getting this multi-dimensional experience. But it’s happening at a speed that they can absorb.”
The Host(s): Christina Hoff Summers is the author of several books including “The War on Boys” and “One Nation Under Therapy”, and she is a scholar and contributor for several major journalistic and scientific publications including The Atlantic, The Journal of Philosophy, TheNew York Times, and TheWall Street Journal.
Danielle Crittenden is the author of four books, including “What Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us”. In addition to serving as a contributing editor for Huff Post, her essays and articles have appeared in such publications as The Daily Telegraph, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal, which has prompted Vanity Fair to describe her as “one of the most important new thinkers about women and family.”
The Guest: Meghan Cox Gurdon is the author of the newly-published book “The Enchanted Hour”, which encapsulates all the science and magic of reading aloud to your children and pleads a convincing case for you to put down the phone, turn off the TV, and open a book.
The Podcast:The Femsplainers is a cheery, open-minded forum of scholarly repute that tackles some of the most compelling and divisive social issues facing women and men today. Whether it’s #MeToo, the Google memo, or the Women’s March, Danielle and Christina give a measured response based on “factual feminism”, regardless of how many cocktails or glasses of wine are consumed in the process. The Femsplainers podcast is available for streaming on Player FM, iTunes, and Spotify.
(LISTEN to the intriguing talk below)
Good Info? SHARE It – Or Check OutMoreOn Our Good Talks Page…
For middle-aged woman suffering through menopause, this new study says that acupuncture may ease its symptoms.
Researchers found that a brief course of acupuncture may help to ease troublesome menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, sweating, mood swings, and disturbed sleep as well as skin and hair problems.
The Danish team from Copenhagen said their findings, which are published in the online journal BMJ Open, show that acupuncture offers “a realistic” treatment option for women who can’t, or don’t want to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
Menopausal symptoms are common and, depending on their severity, can have a major impact on quality of life, health and well-being. Hot flushes are one of the most common symptoms, and can go on for several years. Other common symptoms include heavy sweating, emotional vulnerability, sleep disturbances, fatigue, “fuzzy” brain, joint pain, and reduced sex drive.
Hormonal treatments and other drugs can treat the various symptoms, but they are not without side effects – and according to the Danish researchers, the evidence for other non-pharmacological approaches such as exercise, relaxation, and herbal or dietary remedies, is not very convincing.
Previous studies suggest that acupuncture might be helpful, but the researchers said that design flaws or quality issues have undermined the findings.
For this particular study, the Danish team randomly allocated 70 menopausal women who met their inclusion criteria to either five weeks of standardized Western medical acupuncture, using pre-defined acupuncture points, or no acupuncture until after six weeks.
Each weekly session lasted 15 minutes, and was delivered by Danish family doctors from nine different general practices, who had additionally trained in acupuncture, and had been practicing the treatment for an average of 14 years.
Each participant completed a validated Meno Scores (MSQ) questionnaire designed to measure outcomes from the patient’s perspective before their first session and then again after three, six, eight, eleven, and twenty-six weeks.
At six weeks, most of the women in the acupuncture group (80%) said that they felt that the sessions had helped them. Compared with those who had not been given acupuncture, they were “significantly less troubled” by hot flushes – a difference that was already apparent after three weeks of “treatment”.
Statistically significant differences also emerged between the two groups in the frequency of day and night sweats, general sweating, sleep disturbances, emotional and physical symptoms, and skin and hair problems.
The drop-out rate was low, with just one woman failing to complete all five acupuncture sessions, and no serious side effects were reported.
The researchers said that their findings show that a brief course of acupuncture by suitably trained professionals is “feasible” in routine primary care for both doctors and patients.
Study co-author Dr. Kamma Sundgaard Lund said: “Not all menopausal women need or request treatment, and we believe this acupuncture intervention is most relevant to women who experience moderate-to-severe menopausal symptoms.”
“Acupuncture for menopausal symptoms is a realistic option for women who cannot, or do not wish to use HRT,” she added.
Treat Your Friends To The Good News By Sharing It To Social Media…
If someone is renovating their home, it usually consists of something like redoing their bathroom or installing new kitchen counters – not transforming their house into a wondrous cat playland.
Nevertheless, that is exactly what Peter Cohen did with his home in Santa Barbara, California.
Cohen first discovered his obsession for adopting cats when he bought his home in 1988 and found that two feline occupants were included with the property.
As Cohen quickly became a bona fide “cat person”, he continued to adopt more and more rescue cats until finally, in order to accommodate his furry roommates, he started adding wall fixtures and catwalks to his home.
His home has since been transformed into the House of Nekko, which means “House of Cats” in Japanese. Thanks to Cohen’s background in construction work, every room in his house has been adorned with colorful hiding places, scratching posts, and winding wall-to-wall walkways. He even installed a koi pond.
Cohen is currently the proud parent of 22 rescue cats, many of which he rescued because they were less likely to be adopted based on their fur color or personality.
Not only that, Cohen uses the House of Nikko’s internet fame to run his charity, Zen By Cat. The nonprofit raises money for organizations researching feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), a previously incurable disease that affects a small percentage of newborn kittens.
After researching the disease for 50 years, scientists were finally able to cure 25 cats of FIP within the last few years, one of which was Cohen’s cat Smokey – and it is partially thanks to his dedicated fundraising.
If you would like to help finance FIP research, you can donate to the Zen By Cat website or purchase your own easy-to-install home catwalks from this online store.
(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Houzz
Be Sure And Share This Pawesome Story With Your Friends On Social Media…
Rather than building new homes to help satisfy housing markets, this fascinating new study says that taxing empty homes in developed cities could increase housing affordability for local residents while simultaneously generating income for municipal governments.
Over the course of the last 20 years, housing affordability has decreased substantially in the UK due to a rapid increase in prices relative to earnings. This may be partially due to foreign investors buying out properties in cities such as London, or from British citizens in rural areas buying out second homes in the city, which reduces the availability of affordable housing for local residents.
This means that local citizens who actually live in the city are forced to pay more money for housing in neighborhoods that are filled with homes that are unoccupied for more than half of the year.
In a study that was published last week in the journal Palgrave Communications, researcher Jonathan Bourne at University College London investigated the relationship between the amount of properties which do not have permanent residents (low-use properties), and housing affordability in different parts of England and Wales.
Upon researching the data, which represents about 40% of the population, the researcher was stunned to find that there were over 340,000 low-use properties across the regions.
Analysis revealed that low-use properties were worth £363,000 on average, which is 18.5% more expensive than the average home (£306,000). This was the case for the majority of properties included in the dataset.
“One of the goals of this research was to get an idea of the fraction of the population of England and Wales living in areas where low-use properties are more expensive than homes occupied by full-time residents, which suggests that the most desirable properties are being bought for purposes other than use as a home, for example as investment opportunities or holiday homes,” Bourne explained.
“Some of the most surprising findings were the sheer value and quantity of low-use properties in some areas, amounting to £21 billion in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea alone, and £123 billion in the entire dataset. We estimate that in England and Wales, 39-47% of the population lives in areas where low-use properties are more expensive than permanently-occupied homes.”
Though some municipalities are trying to meet housing demands by building more housing, Bourne suggests that local governments implement an empty homes tax of 1% instead.
“The data shows that low-use properties are very concentrated in small numbers of desirable areas. In such cases simply building more homes is not going to solve the problem, as the issue is intense competition for property, not a lack of places to live,” says Bourne.
“An empty homes tax may be more effective, with the potential to generate a not inconsiderable income for local authorities, whilst taxing people who are typically not eligible to vote in local elections, or encouraging them to rent out their properties.”
Based on these findings and the current council tax base, the author suggests that an empty homes tax of 1% would raise an additional £1.2 billion in taxes, which is equivalent to 11% of the council tax currently collected in the areas included in the dataset.
Vancouver implemented a similar empty home tax in 2017, which was the first of its kind in North America. One year after it went into effect, the city reported a 15% decrease in unoccupied homes, which amounted to 163 properties being rented out to local tenants.
Furthermore, the tax raised more than $38 million in city revenue, all of which was spent on affordable housing programs.
Bourne cautions that the UK empty homes tax would not be evenly distributed due to varying concentrations of low-use properties, but his findings could help to make housing more affordable in cities around the world.
(WATCH the explanatory video below) – File photo by Beyond My Ken, CC
Be Sure And Share The Interesting News With Your Fellow City Dwellers On Social Media…
Watch this beautiful tribute to Gary Sinise, a hero to US veterans across the globe, and a role model for this long parade of celebrities who wanted to say ‘Thanks.’
The 64-year-old actor is most widely known for his iconic role in Forrest Gump as Lieutenant Dan – but to thousands of veterans across the country, he is much more than that.
Ever since the Hollywood star launched the Gary Sinise Foundation in 2011, the charity has spearheaded dozens of initiatives to benefit American veterans and firefighters. The foundation is responsible for building 70 smart homes, hosting 700 benefit concerts, and raising over $30 million every year – all to improve the lives of former servicemen and women.
“These service members and first responders have already done their part,” says Sinise. “They have already given of themselves. And it is our great privilege, through the trust of the American people and the support given to us, to do our part to give something back to them.”
As a thank you for his philanthropy, the foundation recently published a compilation video of celebrities and veterans all thanking Sinise for his compassionate work.
The montage included shoutouts from Robert de Niro, Rob Lowe, Jay Leno, and last, but not least, former co-star Tom Hanks gleefully yelling “Thank you, Lieutenant Dan!”
In a reaction video to the thank-you compilation, Sinise can be seen getting more and more emotional over the slew of heartfelt clips from A-listers and military families alike.
“That made me feel really good,” Sinise said at the end of the video with a teary chuckle.
If you would like to learn more about Sinise’s charity work or career, you can read his recently released memoir “Grateful American”, which was published earlier this month.
(WATCH Sinise’s reaction in the news coverage below)
Be Sure And Share This Figurative Box Of Chocolates With Your Friends On Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “Be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how.” – Paulo Coelho
Photo: by Anoop Kumar, CC license via Flickr
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
