Chris Evans used his super-powers for good on Monday, when the Captain America actor surprised 9-year-old Kenny Botting who is battling cancer.
During the visit to Boston, the celebrity gave Kenny gifts, autographs, took pictures, and played with him. They little cancer patient even got to tie up his favorite super hero.
(WATCH the CBS-Boston video below or READ the story from Yahoo)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
The American Cancer Society’s annual cancer statistics report finds that a 22% drop in cancer mortality over two decades led to the avoidance of more than 1.5 million cancer deaths that would have occurred if peak rates had persisted.
Cancer death rates have declined in every state, with the most progress recorded in the Northeast. The steady decline in the death rate for the four major cancer sites — lung, breast, prostate, and colon — is the result of fewer Americans smoking, as well as advances in cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment.
The overall cancer death rate rose during most of the 20th century, peaking in 1991, largely due to lung cancer deaths among men who smoked.
According to the most recent data, lung cancer death rates declined 36% between 1990 and 2011 among males and 11% between 2002 and 2011 among females due to reduced tobacco use.
Death rates for breast cancer (among women) are down more than one-third (35%) from peak rates, while prostate and colorectal cancer death rates are each down by nearly half (47%).
Story tip from Kathryn
In many respects 2014 was a rough year, with Ebola, the Islamic State, and deaths in Ukraine, but it was also one in which social media-inspired kindness, numerous health breakthroughs and positive trends took center stage at the Good News Network.
In Poland, for instance, where a paralyzed man re-grew nerve connections that let him walk again, doctors declared the day had come when spinal cord injuries became repairable. . . Here then, is our countdown of the Top Ten Good News stories of 2014:
First released on November 21, 2013, the Pharrell Williams song, Happy, became a contagious interactive mantra of positivity in 2014. The bubbly song reached #1 in 24 countries and became one of the best selling singles of all time. However, it was the music video that Pharrell made showing people in L.A. dancing and miming to the lyrics that galvanized groups in cities across the world to create their own versions, like these from an elderly home, from engineers in London, and citizens in Belfast. Pharrell partnered with the United Nations to promote their annual International Day of Happiness in March, and by May, more than 1,950 videos from 153 countries had been created with people dancing and proclaiming, “I’m Happy”.
With bitter cold weather and snow hammering the usual northern cities but also places that don’t know how to handle icy roads, the “Polar Vortex” of 2014 brought out the best in businesses and citizens who wanted to help strangers who were stranded. A Pennsylvania pizza shop owner contacted the media to advertise his willingness to make deliveries of prescriptions or food to the elderly and disabled. After 39 inches of snow (100 cm) stranded cars near Tokyo, the driver of a bakery truck decided, since the delivery could not likely be completed by the sell-by date, he would give away all the pastries and breads to those stuck on the roadway. Snow blowing gangs of men in Detroit and a Missouri 12-year-old cleared the way for the elderly and a hero in Illinois was driving around jump-starting cars for free. Sweetest of all, Atlanta residents hearing reports of stranded motorists, brought hot cocoa and sandwiches to stunned drivers.
Scientists and entrepreneurs are transforming the scary idea of drones into a service that can save lives. Aerial drone technology is being used in Europe to create flying ambulance toolkits that can speed a defibrillator to the scene of a cardiac arrest victim within a minute, when it would take an ambulance ten. An Iranian team have put their robotics expertise to work developing a lifeguard drone for use along the Caspian Sea coast, where more than a thousand people drown every year. Humanitarian drones are now delivering medical supplies and lab test specimens over roadless areas in Africa. And, a NASA engineer has created an unmanned vehicle to fly over great expanses of forest in Virginia searching for tiny wildfires before they blow up.
Of the many heartwarming Olympics stories this year, including Bode Miller making history as oldest skiier to ever win a medal, our favorite was the story of American Tracy Barnes who has competed together with her twin sister in world class biathlon events for 15 years. But this year, luck dealt Lanny Barnes a brutal blow as she fell ill and missed the qualifying races that could have earned her a spot on the five-person team. Tracy earned a spot but declined it, giving the chance to her sister.
The ALS ice bucket challenge caused a social media fundraising explosion this summer inspiring donations of $115 million for efforts to cure and treat ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). But because the trend wasted precious water, we liked the #RAKnomination craze that surfaced in February better. Out of a dangerous binge-drinking nomination game on Twitter that claimed the lives of several youth came an adaptation where a person would post a video, not of them drinking, but of doing a random act of kindness (RAK) and then nominate two friends to do the same. The #RAKnominations that inspired youth in Europe and Canada began in South Africa when Brent Lindeque decided to break the drinking game cycle, in favor of something that might show how powerful social media can be if used for good. He gave a huge sandwich, chocolate and a coke to a panhandler on the street. He filmed it, nominated two people and challenged them to do the same within 24 hours.
5) World: Commuters Use People Power to Push Trains and Lift Cars to Free StrangersIn August a commuter whose leg had disappeared into the space between a train and the platform was freed by his fellow passengers in Perth, Australia. Surveillance video shows dozens of passengers as they gathered around and tip the train enough to release his trapped limb. In November, a video from China documented the goodness of strangers when 20 people rushed to the aid of a woman run over by a car following a motorbike crash.
4) Earth: Scientists Confirm Global Victory in Ozone Layer Recovery“It’s a victory for diplomacy and for science,” and for the fact that all the nations in the world worked together, said the Nobel Prize chemist who first forecasted the ozone depletion in 1974. All the 197 nations of the UN pledged in 1987 to ban the chemicals that were destroying the Earth’s protective ozone layer, the first time anything was unanimously adopted by all members of the United Nations.
Communities of tiny houses for the homeless have been popping up around the US. One opened in November in downtown Madison, Wisconsin — built by the very homeless individuals who will benefit, alongside members of Occupy Madison, who became aware of the homeless problem when they were encamped locally during the Occupy Wall Street protests. Six formerly homeless men now live at Second Wind Cottages, a cluster of tiny houses in Ithaca, New York set on property donated by an auto body shop next door. Even a fraternity is getting involved. The young men of Phi Kappa Psi at the University of Alabama have raised thousands of dollars for their initiative to create a communal village of tiny homes somewhere in Huntsville. Other initiatives are popping up in Austin, Syracuse, New Jersey, St. Cloud, and Portland, Oregon.
Raudhatul Jannah was just 4 years old when the catastrophic tsunami roared into the Indonesian town of Aceh and swept her away. In August, the girl, who was by then 14, was reunited with her family after being raised by a fisherman’s elderly mother and spotted in a crowd by her uncle. In the days following media reports of the reunion, a woman recognized the resemblance to a homeless boy, which turned out to be their son Arif, who also rejoined his family after he was washed out to sea at age seven with his sister.
1) Health: Diabetes Breakthrough-Scientists Coax Human Stem Cells Into Making InsulinSince his infant son Sam was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 23 years ago, Harvard scientist Doug Melton has dedicated his career to finding a cure for the disease. On October 9 he announced that he and his colleagues had taken a giant leap forward, for the first time producing massive quantities of human insulin-producing cells. In trials with mice, he said, “We can cure their diabetes right away — in less than 10 days.”
Featured photo by Ken Brown, CC license
We hope you agree that 2014 was a pretty good year. Please SHARE if you think so…
May good bless us even more in 2015.
Veterans of the Vietnam war reconnected a few weeks ago after not having seen each other for almost 50 years. The two old friends lived around the corner from each other for nearly two decades, but didn’t know it.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from ABC-7)
Story tip from Joel Arellano
If there is one thing I’ve learned in life it’s that we need to continue growing in order to experience our fullest potential and happiness! That’s the reason the New Year always pumps me up!
Asserting a resolution for the upcoming year is one way of focusing your life’s path. Unfortunately, even with the best of intentions, many times we have completely dropped our resolution by January 5th.
So, what do you do if you really want to make lasting changes?
For starters, it’s important to understand a few things…
Firstly, I am not a fan of the idea of a New Year’s Resolution. I prefer to have an intention and goals. So for the past several years, I have set my New Year’s intention followed by goals that pertain to certain areas of my life that will build that intention.
Thirdly, we must remember one of my favorite “F” words… Forgiveness! When we step outside our comfort zone, such as having a grapefruit for breakfast every morning instead of the usual McMuffin, once in a while we may slip up and have a McMuffin. How do we stop ourselves from reverting back to a McMuffin everyday? By forgiving ourselves for the one we had and moving forward with our intention and goal.
Understanding these three concepts before setting your intention and goals provide the groundwork for success.
Now here is my system for creating a New Year’s Intention and Goals!
Grab your journal and a pen…
1. What qualities are missing from your life? (Example: peace, intimacy, fun, abundance, success, etc.)
2. Look at those words. Which one gives you a little extra emotional oomph feeling like you need it the most?
3. What do you desire to have happen over the next year in these areas of your life: health, home, work, money, lifestyle, and family?
4. Look at those 6 answers and re-write them with WAY more detail and use the word “will” instead of want or desire. For example your first health answer might be “I want to lose weight” and your detailed answer would be more like “I will lose 15 pounds by April 1st by weight training 3 days per week and following the Belly Blast Bootcamp dietary guidelines.” See the difference? What measureable result do you want to see?
5. Now make it pretty and clear. On a fresh piece of paper, write:
“My 2018 intention is _____________ (your one word from question 2)!”
Underneath that write “I will bring _________ (your one word from question 2) into my life through these Goals:”
Below that write your goals clearly.
6. Keep that paper in your face. Write in in your phone notes and daily reminders. Put the pretty paper next to your bed, on your bathroom mirror, in your car, on your desk, in your pantry, and anywhere else that you will look at regularly. Tell your partner, your best friend, or anyone else that will listen. The more focus and energy your give to these goals and intention, the sooner it will manifest for you!
Viola! You are ready for 2018! And if you are looking to jumpstart your health goals, check out Belly Blast Bootcamp! It is a great reboot for your body that includes tons of love, motivation, and support. You do the work, and I’ll guide the way 🙂
Happy New Year!
Michelle Ploog – [email protected]
www.michelleploog.com
Instagram & Twitter – @michelleploog / facebook.com/michelleploog
A desperate woman was surprised when neighbors she’d never met showed up at her door bringing bags of groceries.
It all started with a cryptic note left in several mailboxes around an Oklahoma City neighborhood. They were slips of paper with a name, an address and a list of food items.
J. D. McCoy didn’t know what to do until she found out that her neighbors also had received the grocery lists.
It turns out that the elderly woman, who had become the recipient of so much kindness, didn’t know that her son, who is dying of cancer, left the notes when his mother didn’t have enough money to buy food for the pair.
J. D. is now also coordinating rides for the woman to her doctor appointments, because her eyesight is failing.
(WATCH the video below from KFOR-News Channel 4)
Story tip from Rose Marie B
A sanitation worker in Colorado returned a Christmas present to a family who accidentally threw it out. And they rewarded his honesty in a way that really touched his life.
“I was just dumping the cart in the back of the truck and seen the card on top of the pile of trash,” garbage man Jimmy James told Fox News. He checked the card by phone to see if it had a balance and found it was brand new.
The family couldn’t believe that someone would take the time to drive back on their own time and personally return the card.
They gave him a cash thank-you worth more than the card.
(WATCH the video below or READ it from Fox 10 Phoenix)
Story tip from Kristen Susie Crumley
An El Paso Police Officer helped out a homeless man in need during a December, 2013 snowstorm. According to the Facebook user who photographed Officer Jose Flores, the homeless man just needed a ride to the shelter but Flores noticed he needed shoes, and went into the store to buy him a brand new pair of snow boots, socks, and gloves.
Jared Hill wanted to take his girlfriend to her senior prom in Manassas, Virginia, but because his immune system was still weak from recent chemotherapy, he was told by his doctors to wear a surgical mask for the entirety of the high school dance. Fortunately, his girlfriend Emily Jarrell has very cool friends.
Frontier Airline Passengers flying from Washington, D.C. to Denver Monday arrived after midnight, five hours late, but most did not complain. While they waited on a tarmac in Wyoming for stormy weather to clear in Denver, a video showed the mood when the Captain ordered pizzas delivered to the plane.
An off-duty bus driver saw a man without shoes on a bus in Surrey, B.C. and witnessed a young stranger deciding to quietly do something about it.
A bed-ridden employee of the Rotterdam Zoo who was dying of cancer asked Netherland’s Ambulance Wish Foundation to help him visit the animals one last time. One giraffe offered a touching goodbye.
During the January Polar Vortex, 10-year-old Jimmy Friel, spent his time shoveling driveways for more than a dozen of his neighbors because many of them are elderly and he didn’t want them slipping and falling. He never asked for or expected any compensation.
An employee from College HUNKS Moving and Hauling service in Florida proved in April that chivalry is not dead. When he became stuck in an elevator with an elderly woman, Cesar Larios turned himself into a human bench for her to sit on.
Officer John Holder and 73-year-old widow Dorothy Shepard have formed an unlikely friendship, after multiple surgeries left her recovering on her own. In this photo snapped by a Walmart shopper on the day before Thanksgiving, the DeSoto, Texas officer helps her shop for groceries.
A student from Rockford, Ohio, who learned that his great-grandmother had not gone to the prom when she was in high school because she couldn’t afford it, asked her to let him escort her to his own high school formal. (Watch the video)
Firefighters in Texas were caught by a neighbor’s camera after they responded to a 911 call when a man had collapsed while mowing the yard. The guys from Baytown’s Engine 4 decided to help out the family in their time of need and returned to finish the lawn chore themselves.
A U.S. veteran, quadruple amputee Taylor Morris, was traveling through McCarran Airport in Las Vegas with his wife, when his prosthetic knee suddenly broke down. His tool kit was out of reach, packed in his luggage, but luckily the lead aircraft mechanic for American Airlines came to the rescue.
After a six-year-old girl in North Dakota mentioned that she was having trouble sleeping at night, a kind pharmacist decided to prescribe the antidote. Watford City pharmacist Jeff Dodds gave the girl a prescription spray bottle that he said would take care of her fears of monsters in the bedroom.
Sarah Thistlethwaite and her husband, Bill, learned half way through the pregnancy that, not only would they be having twins, but rare “mono mono” twins, who would share the same placenta and amniotic sac. The high-risk birth was performed via Caesarean section and those in the Akron Children’s Hospital room witnessed the twin infants born holding hands.
To spare the needy the “shame” of begging, a Saudi man installed a giant refrigerator in front of his house to provide fresh food for the needy. He invited his neighbors in the city of Hail to bring their leftovers for sharing.
A Sumter, South Carolina policeman responded to a call from a 13 year-old boy who said he was tired of fighting with his mom and didn’t want to live at home anymore. When Officer Gaetano Acerra arrived, he noticed the young man was sleeping on the floor and his bedroom didn’t have any furniture at all. The best return on the officer’s investment, he said, is the gift of a new friendship.
A hospital in in Wigan, England granted Sheila Marsh’s dying wish to see her horse one more time. The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary arranged transportation for Marsh’s favorite horse, whom she had looked after during the previous 25 years. Nurses wheeled her bed into the car park so she could say goodbye.
The story behind the hug: @PortlandPolice and 12-year-old boy. http://t.co/iVUDq5qkFz #ferguson pic.twitter.com/XWk4WuZuVm
— The Oregonian (@Oregonian) November 28, 2014During protests against the outcome in the Ferguson police shooting case, an iconic photograph emerged that symbolized hope for race relations in the US. It was called “The Hug felt round the world.” And the back story is wonderful.
A Pennsylvania animal shelter has come up with a brilliant program that pairs kids and cats as reading buddies. More than 20 children in grades 1 to 8 visit the Animal Rescue League in Berks County on a weekly basis, where they read to homeless cats.
Happy New Year and May good bless in 2015! (For photo credits, please use the story links)
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Life is full of everyday Miracles, friends!
My son, Shane (9) was surfing with his dad’s Go Pro on Mothers day (May 2014) at Haskalls, Goleta and it somehow got loose from his board. He was so sad and felt so bad. We had everyone with us in the water looking for it and after an hour or so we gave up and accepted that it got swallowed up into the great big Ocean.
Shane has been talking about it for months and how he so wished he could get Matt another GoPro for Christmas (which did not happen).
I showed the post to Matt and laughed, knowing it was 8 MONTHS later and the chances were 1 in a million. Matt messaged the person who had found it and, surprisingly, it matched his description.
We went by this afternoon and picked it up. When we got home we plugged it in, and HOLY MOLY………the memory card worked, and it is OURS!
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, FRIENDS! Everyday Miracles!!
And there good people in this world.
By: Tara Van Dyk
A medical mystery that had a family believing their toddler might have a brain tumor, or worse, was finally solved by using new technology at Duke University Medical Center.
Best of all, treatment for the child’s loss of muscle control turned out to be in the form of a vitamin.
Just days before starting chemotherapy for a presumed autoimmune disorder, two-year-old Cara Greene was taken to Dr. Vandana Shashi, a geneticist who was able to pinpoint a rare genetic disorder that would effectively respond to high doses of Vitamin B2.
(WATCH the video above or READ the story from CBS *NOTE Auto-playing ads, so adjust your speakers)
Story tip from Kelly Harrington
In his year-end newsletter Bill Gates wants to celebrate some of the good news hidden in this turbulent year. Millions of dollars in grants from the Gates Foundation helped to bend the curb on deadly diseases and child deaths around the world.
“More children are surviving than ever before and we’re making progress against some of the world’s deadliest diseases,” he wrote. “These are some of the most fundamental ways to measure the world’s progress—and by that measure, 2014 was definitely another good year.”
The highlights:
– This year we saw a four-decade trend continue, with child mortality rates falling for those under age five. And it’s falling faster than anyone expected.
– The fight against AIDS hit a big milestone with data this month showing that for the first time more people began receiving treatment for the disease than people becoming infected with HIV. This trend will dramatically reduce the numbers of people that will become infected in the future.
– Tuberculosis is one of the world’s leading causes of death, but earlier this year, scientists announced the successful trials of a new TB treatment — the first in decades. Gates says, “If this new treatment regimen pans out, it could dramatically reduce the time it takes to cure drug-resistant TB and save poor countries billions of dollars in health-care costs.”
– Nigeria is one of only three countries that have never been free from polio (Pakistan and Afghanistan are the other two), but Gates doesn’t think it will be on that list for long. Nigeria has reported only six cases of polio this year, compared to more than 50 last year. The fact that Nigeria is now Ebola free is a great example of its health infrastructure at work.
(READ the more from GatesNotes.com)
Story tip from Aileen Jong LAc
In December, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra trekked for four hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to surprise the great trumpet player Clark Terry. An emergency had landed Terry, who is blind and ailing, in the hospital. The trip was originally planned for visiting his home to celebrate his 94th birthday on December 14, but the band was determined to pay homage under any circumstance.
“Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated (but)…with literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him,” wrote Marsalis on Facebook. “As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards at Jefferson Regional Medical Center, who set aside parking spaces for us, to the administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.”
“CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.”
“As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker'”
After playing, they each went over to his bed and expressed their pure veneration for the man Marsalis called “one of the world’s great Maestros.” Other arrangements were played, ending with Happy Birthday, New Orleans-style. When they brought in the cake and Terry blew out the two candles, “everyone broke down.”
Afterward the band all went back to the Clark home where Gwen had laid out a welcoming spread of fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash. “You know, pure southern soul,” Marsalis said.
(WATCH them play Happy Birthday below – READ the full details on Marsalis’s Facebook Page)
Photos by Frank Stewart via Wynton Marsalis FB page / Story tip from Jerry White
A historic building in New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina is being renovated and is now housing eleven formerly homeless veterans.
On the Friday before Christmas, Darren Dalpiaz, a 48-year-old Army veteran, was one of the chronically homeless vets who moved into what’s being called their “forever home,” in the 1908 Sacred Heart convent and school.
When completed, the building will house 109 low-income families in apartments, with 54 of them set aside for formerly homeless individuals.
Because homelessness is so often linked to mental or physical disability, residents like Dalpiaz will be assigned on-site case managers to assist them with things like medical appointments and reconnecting with family.
Best of all the Sacred Heart Apartments are several blocks from the new VA Medical Center and right next to public transportation.
Evidence shows the hands-on approach works, according to UNITY: All of the previously homeless tenants, even those with challenging disabilities, have remained stably housed since the building opened two years ago.
Dalpiaz’s daughter cried when he called last week to say he was no longer homeless. He is thrilled that his new grandchildren can come to visit their granddaddy.
(WATCH the video below from WGNO or READ the full story from the New Orleans Advocate)
Presidential photographer Pete Souza says he is considering this adorable photo as one of his Top White House Pictures of 2014.
Obama agreed to don a tiara and pose with Girl Scouts from Tulsa, Oklahoma during the annual White House Science Fair. The girls were exhibiting a flood-proof Lego bridge project.
The president, who is the father of two girls, is not afraid to bend gender stereotypes — at least when it comes to toys and sports. He was hailed this week while sorting gifts at a Toys for Tots event. In a video, he started putting sports gifts like a basketball and a t-ball set into the bin marked for girls, saying he was sure there were girls who wanted to play ball. He also placed a toy tool kit in the girls bin.
Photo credit: Pete Souza, White House (Instagram)
Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence made her second annual visit to Kosair Children’s Hospital while in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky for Christmas.
She delighted dozens of families with bedside visits with the children and by posing for photos.
(Story and more photos from E Online)
A Bender’s Tavern tradition started by the Jewish Freiberg family has for decades served Christmas dinner to Christians in need on the one day that the local mission is closed.
Volunteers helping the Greensboro, North Carolina restaurant began their Christmas morning at 2 AM preparing the 700 pounds of turkey, potatoes, and side dishes.
Owner Anna Freiberg continues the tradition started by her parents in the early 1980s, an event that today draws more than 3,000 people.
(READ the story from the News-Record)
Photo from the Community Foundation, which feeds the poor year-round – Story tip from Kelly Harrington
Home and family mean everything to Buddy L. Harrison, but his Southeast Washington, DC neighborhood does not always look like a valued part of the nation’s capitol.
A shooting on Christmas Eve after a robbery at a bus stop was just another moment of contrast for residents on these mean streets.
But Harrison is a community hero and he spread some Christmas cheer among the poor and homeless in the neighborhood where he grew up and raised his family.
Harrison, 54, runs Old School Boxing in nearby Fort Washington, and hopes he can instill pride and morals in the youngsters he coaches so that one day they have the chance to move on to a safer community.
Red Eye Films produced these videos sharing the good feelings of both his Christmas Day charity and a food giveaway on Thanksgiving.
(WATCH the inspiring videos below)
All Neal Shytles wanted for Thanksgiving was a family.
After he posted his ad on a Norfolk, Virginia Facebook page, offers came in from across the country from families wanting to take him for the Thanksgiving holiday.
In fact, so many offers of gifts, –and even jobs– flooded in for Neal causing him to want to help his fellow homeless men at the Union Mission shelter where he lives.
He created a Facebook page to collect Walmart gift cards to buy socks, gloves, hand warmers and candy. He raised more than a thousand dollars and the local TV station that first ran his story, matched that, giving another thousand.
WTKR took Neal to Walmart, where he filled four carts, and also helped him to assemble the gifts back at the station into dozens of brown paper bags.
(WATCH the video below and READ the story from WTKR)
After a local Chicago woman was featured on the news sleeping in a tent in the woods, having given up her dogs to a local animal hospital, the community has rallied around her — and her pets — in a big way.
After losing her home a year ago, Linda Anderson found she couldn’t use the homeless shelter because she has a part-time job working in the middle of the night. She also was heart-broken that she had to give up her two dogs, because she couldn’t take care of them.
But to solve the problem, Linda would still need a home.
In steps the CEO of Zeman Homes, which owns and operates mobile home communities, who decided to give Linda a home.
CEO Jeff Fannon had the residence painted and refurbished and his employees got into the holiday spirit collecting household items, like pots, pans, linens and toiletries, to fill it.
“I am very proud of my team,” said Ed Zeman, Chairman of Zeman Homes. “A lot of our employees are not that well off themselves and they were the ones that, it seems, gave the most.”
(WATCH the video below [a larger version from YouTube is at the bottom] – or READ the story from the WGN)
A high school senior in Paris, Texas personally donated 1200 toys to Toys for Tots this month. She purchased toys at reduced prices throughout the year, just as she has done for the past four years, helping to make Christmas really special for hundreds of other children.
It all began with five scooters purchased on Black Friday four years ago with money that she had saved for Christmas. Last year Mariah Burton bought 240 toys using money she earned while babysitting and doing odd chores.
This year she worked part time at a local department store and started shopping during after-Christmas sales in January, to amass an incredible 1211 quality toys for donation throughout Lamar County.
The pile of toys grew throughout the year to fill a spare bedroom at Burton’s home, and when it was time to move them to the collection site, two trucks were required to carry the haul.
Her mother Amy said, “Her passion for donating toys is contagious and, although I am her biggest fan, I cannot claim any credit for her actions.”
For her dedication, Mariah served as the 2014 Toys for Tots ambassador for Delta and Lamar County, Texas.