For years, all 4-year-old Sophia White has dreamed about was building a snowman, like the princess in her favorite film, Frozen.
But her neighborhood outside Baltimore has stayed green, no matter how much snow has been dumped upon cities just north of her in New England.
Finally, her grandfather in Rhode Island had an idea. He would bring the snow to her.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story, w/ photos, at CBS)
Story tip from Megan Kelty
Rowan Hansen, 11, has always loved reading comics and watching superheroes on TV and films. But she has always been bothered by the lack of female superheroes.
Last month, the Champaign, Illinois, fifth-grader wrote a letter to DC Comics — whose characters include Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman — to express her frustrations. “I love your comics,” she wrote, “but I would love them a lot more if there were more girls.”
She get a pair of tweets back from the company, saying they were “working hard to create more superhero fun for girls,” and there was a Wonder Woman movie and Supergirl TV show “in the works, with more exciting girl power announcements” coming soon.
They also surprised her with an original piece of art featuring Rowan as a superhero, wearing glasses and all.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story, w/ photos from TODAY)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
“If you live in Portland, your lights may now be partly powered by your drinking water. An ingenious new system captures energy as water flows through the city’s pipes, creating hydropower without the negative environmental effects of something like a dam.”
Fast CoExist reports, “Small turbines in the pipes spin in the flowing water, and send that energy into a generator.”
(READ the story from Fast CoExist)
“In the last two days, since a fire destroyed three structures at the York-area animal shelter and adoption center, killing 16 dogs, countless visitors, donors and volunteers have called and offered help to help Richardson Rescue get back to normal.”
South Carolinians have offered money, toys, blankets, food, medicine and their time to try to fix what the fire took away, which included thousands of dollars in medication, microchip equipment, and office supplies.
(READ the story from the Herald Online)
Story tip from S. Ghent
After an arduous three-and-a-half-years building it in her California backyard, Kendall Ronzano is donating the excellent “tiny home” she started at age 16.
Last week, it was pulled on its portable trailer to Austin, Texas where it will provide shelter to a homeless person or family in a cooperative housing community there, a twenty-seven acre transitional homeless community called Community First.
Now a 20-year-old Dartmouth College sophomore, Ronzano solicited public donations of cash in materials amounting to nearly $16,000 from more than 200 people.
“My parents have always encouraged me to dream big, and one idea that really stuck with me is that I want to learn to build a house from the ground up,” she wrote on her construction blog, Nerd Girl Homes. ” I’ve always loved building things. When I was little I created contraptions and structures out of Knex, Legos, Playmobile, and much more. I’ve learned to weld, use plasma cutters, power tools and to light the wood stove with a blow torch!”
(READ the story, w/ more photos, from the Monterey Herald)
Photos via FB, Flickr / Story tip from Mike McGinley
Last May, an adorable boy with red curly hair told his mom that when he was a teenager he wanted to dress up like a superhero and bring food and clothes to homeless people in Detroit.
His mom told seven year-old Ewan Drum that he didn’t have to wait. Why not start now?
That was the beginning of a Super Ewan, Inc, a non-profit dedicated to super adventures of helping the homeless.
Every month on the fourth Saturday, Ewan pulls a red cape over his jacket and takes cases of water and nutritious lunches, along with bags of winter clothes to Roosevelt Park in Detroit.
The beautiful charity effort now involves others in the community, like the Boy Scouts, who have collected food, and families who want to help pass out the goodies.
“Ewan has always had a big heart,” said his mother, Angela Drum, who operates the non-profit, organizes donations and volunteers, and also cares for Ewan’s two younger siblings.
When he’s not saving the world or sorting donations, Ewan enjoys playing video games, writing stories, practicing his trumpet and riding his mini bike around his hometown of New Haven.
Ewan says doing it makes him feel happy. The strangers who meet him in the park say Ewan makes them happy.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from Detroit Free Press)
SHARE this Sweet Story, and Multiply the Good!
A 27-year-old PhD student at Dalhousie University in Halifax is developing a topical cream that he says will make tattoo ink eventually fade away.
His initial research in the pathology department has shown great result.
“When comparing it to laser-based tattoo removal, in which you see the burns, the scarring, the blisters, you won’t see a lot of inflammation,” said Alec Falkenham. “In fact, based on the process that we’re actually using, we don’t think there will be any inflammation at all and it would actually be anti-inflammatory.”
(READ the story from the CBC)
Photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert (CC license) / Story tip by Mike McGinley
Asia said goodbye to the Year of the Horse yesterday and rang in the New Year on Thursday with parades and fireworks celebrating the Year of the Sheep (or Goat or Ram).
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, February 19, 2015, begins the celebration of the animal considered to be a general symbol of plenitude and good fortune and emblematic of kindness.
If you have never encountered sheep, the animals are complex creatures with qualities that make them good CEOs. They also can remember your face for up to two years, especially if you are smiling. Here are a few little known facts about sheep from the Farm Sanctuary, which operates three shelters in New York and California that provide lifelong care for nearly 1,000 rescued farm animals.
1) Sheep are famously friendly
Sheep wag their tails like dogs, they know their names, and they form strong bonds with other sheep, goats, and with people.
2) Sheep experience emotion similarly to humans
A study published in Animal Welfare showed that sheep experience emotion in ways similar to humans. The authors concluded that “sheep are able to experience emotions such as fear, anger, rage, despair, boredom, disgust, and happiness, because they use the same checks involved in such emotions as humans.
3) Sheep have panoramic vision
Thanks to their cool rectangular pupils, sheep can see almost 360 degrees, including directly behind themselves!
4) Sheep know how you feel
Another study from Cambridge University found that sheep — like humans and some primates — can pick up emotional cues in both humans and other sheep. Not surprisingly, they strongly preferred smiling and relaxed expressions over angry ones.
5) Sheep never forget a face
Researchers in the United Kingdom, writing for Nature, found that sheep have the same “specialized neural mechanisms for visual recognition” that humans do, which allows them to remember the faces of at least 50 individual humans and other sheep for more than two years, “and that the specialized neural circuits involved maintain selective encoding of individual sheep and human faces even after long periods of separation.”
6) Sheep are the CEOs of the barnyard
Sheep can learn how to solve puzzles, remember what they’ve learned, and adapt to changed circumstances — all much more quickly than monkeys. The researchers note what they call the “impressive cognitive abilities of sheep” and find that “sheep can perform ‘executive’ cognitive tasks that are an important part of the primate behavioral repertoire, but that have never been shown previously to exist in any other large animal” other than humans and some other primates.
Starting in April, 500,000 Wal-Mart employees will be getting a pay raise. Full and part-time workers will earn at least $9.00 an hour — $1.75 above today’s federal minimum wage.
“The retailer says wages will jump to at least $10.00 one year from now,” reports NPR News
(READ the full story from NPR)
Story tip from S. Ghent
A vegan family, Michelle Carrera, and her 4-year-old son Ollie, realized the city’s soup kitchen meals all contained meat, so the two started bringing their warm homemade vegan chili to those in need, calling it ‘Chili on Wheels’.
They raised $2,600 to buy more equipment and start a non-profit so they can do it every week for people in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
(READ more from AM New York)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
Before leaving office, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber is freeing a young prisoner, Sang Dao, a move that has enormous support from prosecutors, police, a judge, and correctional staff who’ve applauded his remarkable transformation.
Dao will be freed in March, his sentence cut short by at least 3 ½ years.
“To say that I was impressed with Sang would be such an understatement,” said the judge who sentenced the boy in 2008. “I am so proud of the young adult that he has become and I am inspired by his accomplishments. He is emotionally and spiritually grounded; he is fiercely bright; he has tremendous potential to accomplish his educational and professional goals.”
(READ more from The Oregonian)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
Some of the finest ‘boys in blue’ from two Arizona police departments escorted the daughter of fallen Chandler Police Officer Bryant Holmes to her Father-Daughter school dance last week.
These photos posted by Gilbert Police showed officers from both departments making sure young Miss Holmes would have plenty of dance partners twirling her on the floor.
Her father, Officer Holmes was killed in a traffic accident on his way to work last October when another motorist sped through a red light.
Photos via Gilbert Police FB Page
The American yogurt culture, so to speak, has greatly benefited from the overwhelming trend toward healthier Greek brands in the past decade. But, if you are still eating the more commercial sweetened types of yogurt, there is a bit of good news for you.
General Mills announced yesterday they are reformulating their Yoplait Original to contain 25 percent less sugar.
The lower sugar recipe cuts the calories from 170 to 150 per cup, with 18 grams of sugar overall, rather than 26.
Another benefit of the reformulation is a higher protein count.
More milk will also increase the fat content from 1 to 2 grams per container. The changes will be evident in products next month.
The sugar reduction is the latest in Yoplait makeovers. Two years ago, the brand removed high fructose corn syrup.
The company says it stopped using milk from cows treated with the rBGH growth hormone in 2009, and, earlier than that, had reduced sugar in three kids’ yogurts – Yoplait Go-Gurt, Yoplait Trix and Yoplait Kids – “by nearly 25 percent.”
(READ more from TwinCities.com)
Story tip from Michelle
Imagine taking your little girl to the dentist on Wednesday morning for a routine cleaning and having it lead directly to a 9-hour major medical surgery the following Friday. The surgery saved 11-year-old Journee’s life and it was due to the diligence of dental hygienist Rachel Stroble, who was concerned because the whites of the her eyes seemed yellow.
“We took her to the doctor for blood tests and an ultrasound, which then lead to both a CAT Scan and MRI,” said the Oklahoma girl’s mother, Anna Woodard. “The doctors found a grapefruit-sized tumor on her liver and pancreas.”
ABC News reports the tumor wasn’t cancerous, but doctors said it would have ruptured had they not caught it. “Had this happened while Journee was sleeping, she could have gone septic and never woken up, Woodard said. And it could have happened while Journee, who plays basketball, was on the court.”
(READ the story from ABC Good Morning America)
Photo courtesy of Woodward Family / Story tip from Erika Arreola
“After showing herself to be in the elite class of female runners at the Austin Marathon, Kenyan Hyvon Ngetich hit the wall — hard. She didn’t win, despite leading for most of the day. But the way Ngetich finished the race is being celebrated, because she did it by crawling, refusing to quit.”
Her fortitude paid off: After refusing the wheelchair offered to her and inching to the finish line on her knees, Ngetich finished third.
(WATCH the video above or READ the story from NPR)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
“Magical” was the word of the week as 85 elders from Signature HealthCARE were transported back to their childhoods during an all-expenses-paid dream vacation to Walt Disney World.
“It’s a dream come true to come here,” said one giddy senior.
This is the fourth consecutive year Signature has raised money to take groups of nursing home residents on the vacations of their dreams.
“I didn’t know nursing homes did things like this,” said one gentleman in the video below. “I just thought they played bingo and things like that.”
“I wanted to ride Splash Mountain, which they said I probably couldn’t do, but I did,” said a resident, who has this picture to prove it. “It feels wonderful… I broke down crying.”
(WATCH the sweet video below) Story tip from Heather Finney
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A hopeful 20-year-old Haitian immigrant was brought to the United States in 2000 by his father, a taxi driver in Philadelphia. But with no English skills the young man had no better luck here finding a job than in his impoverished homeland.
One day, when nearly all hope was lost, his father told a passenger about Ricardeau’s difficulty finding employment.
The stranger told the cab driver to have his son meet him outside the Saladworks restaurant, where he knew the owner. When Ricardeau Scutt showed up, the kind stranger walked him inside and introduced him, and he was given a job as a dishwasher.
Through studious hard work at the restaurant and in ESL English courses at the Community College of Philadelphia, the young man progressed quickly toward success in his adopted country. At Saladworks, Ricardeau advanced within three years to become the general manager. He also became a proud U.S. citizen while supporting his family both in Philadelphia and back in Haiti.
His hard work really paid off in November after Saladworks executives entered him in a Food Network hidden camera reality show and he won. Without even knowing he was being judged, he was rewarded with his own Saladworks franchise in the Andorra section of Philadelphia.
In the end, it was through his own hard work that Ricardeau earned success, but he holds a debt of gratitude for the kind man in the taxi who went out of his way to do a favor for a stranger.
(READ more about Ricardeau in the Philadelphia Daily News)
After being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor a year ago, a Wyoming husband made secret arrangements with a local florist so that his wife will always be remembered on Valentine’s Day.
Shelly Golay received a delivery of mixed roses Thursday with a card from her late husband, Jim — the first of an annual promise of bouquets that will grace her Valentine’s Day until the year she dies.
“Happy Valentine’s Day Honey
Stay Strong!
Yours Forever,
Love Jim”
She learned of his loving scheme after calling Nick’s Florist in Casper to find out more about the flowers.
(WATCH the video above or READ the story from KCWY)
A dog, out for a walk yesterday with its owner, is lucky to be alive today. The 18-pound animal bolted into the bushes after a squirrel and slid off the precipice of a giant cliff in Santa Monica.
Luckily it became wedged in a crevice half way down and firefighters were able to perform a rescue by ladder truck.
The scene was caught on camera from the NBC news helicopter.
(WATCH the video below from NBCLosAngeles.com)
The sometimes troubled pop star Justin Bieber had an encounter with New York City police officers recently, and it created a headline he’d be proud to tell his mother about.
Bieber was eating at the Comfort Diner on Friday night, reports TMZ, and when it came time to pay for his meal, he said he wanted to cover their tab — around $200.
He posted this picture on his Shots photo sharing account.
(Source: TMZ)
