When 15-year-old Henry Stratman, who has Down Syndrome, found out that his house had been broken into and his beloved iPad taken, he was devastated.
Within hours, commenters posting to an online news website in Humboldt County, California self-organized an effort to replace it.
(READ the story from Lost Coast Outpost)
Story tip from Mike Dronkers – Image credit: Lost Coast Communications
Going into the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, the young soccer star, Mesut Ozil, didn’t know if his German team would make the finals. But he knew he wanted to help the children of the host country, Brazil.
He supported the surgery of eleven needy Brazilian children through the football charity Big Shoe, which began in Germany during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, after citizens in Wangen collected money for a boy with a cleft lip, on behalf of the Togo national team. He chose to help eleven kids to honor the number of players on a soccer pitch, and as a reminder that the only way to win was to work as one.
On Sunday, 25-year-old Ozil and his teammates proved themselves to be the world’s best team and won the coveted gold cup. Inspired by a bonus of $300,000 given to every German player following their 1-0 victory over Argentina, Ozil announced on his Facebook page yesterday that he wanted to help even more children:
“I will now raise the number to 23 (one for each member of Germany’s 23-man squad). This is my personal thank-you for the hospitality of the people of Brazil.”
His name and face on the charity this week ensures that even more children will get needed surgeries in Brazil and elsewhere, thanks to the good work of “Sommermärchen” (Big Shoe).
(WATCH his video promotion for Big Shoe below)
A record 14% fall in the last 12 months has taken crime levels in England and Wales to their lowest level for 33 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Crime has fallen across most types of offenses, according to the authoritative crime survey of England and Wales with the largest falls including a 20% drop in violent crime, a 17% fall in criminal damage and a 10% fall in theft.
In fact, the fall in crime has meant fewer police officers needed on the street and a total cut in the police force of 15,825 since 2010.
(READ the story from the Guardian)
Photo by Alistair Ross via CC license
A 48-year-old single mother of four in Canada has been struggling for ten years with systemic scleroderma, a disorder that was slowly killing her. Doctors said she’d likely die within a year.
Her only hope was to travel to Chicago for an innovative stem cell transplant treatment by a pioneering U.S. doctor. The process would give her an 80 percent chance for a cure, but it costs $125,000 (US).
She and her family started raising funds two months ago, but had collected just $13,000.
Inside was a bank draft for $128,000.
(READ the story from the Ottawa Citizen – Photo by Michael Toy via CC license – Story tip: Mike Chartrand
Divers off the coast of Mexico saved a sea turtle that likely had been entangled in rope for many months.
Colin Sutton & Cameron Dietrich freed the turtle and used a GoPro camera to record the rescue.
The turtle, once freed, started to swim away, using only his healthy flipper, but then turned around to come back and say thanks.
WATCH the video below…
Michael Sulsona, who lost both his legs after stepping on a land mine as a soldier in Vietnam, was lucky to be in his neighborhood Lowe’s hardware store recently when his wheelchair broke down.
Three employees stayed an hour past the store’s closing time to fix the old wheelchair, and did so without any charge to the Marine veteran.
Sulsona sent a letter to the local newspaper, along a photo, to thank the three workers, named David, Marcus and Souleyman, who told him, “we’re not leaving here until the wheelchair is fixed.”
“Someone needed help and they felt privileged to be given the opportunity,” concluded his letter to the Staten Island Advance.
Even better news came, after word of the July 7 incident began spreading on the internet. The US Veteran’s Administration sent him a brand new wheelchair which arrived at his home on Tuesday (photo below).
Photos from Michael Sulsona via SILive – Story tip from Judy Ritchie
Boeing received federal approval on a comprehensive wetlands mitigation plan to preserve 4,000 acres of land in South Carolina, including more than 2,000 acres of wetlands, near the Francis Marion National Forest.
Boeing worked in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state and local agencies and conservation organizations to identify the tracts for preservation, which the company said results in a substantial increase in public lands, public access, and protections of water quality and several threatened and endangered wildlife species.
“Together, these acquisitions represent one of the largest private conservation investments in the Francis Marion National Forest and surrounding region.”
(LEARN more from GreenvilleOnline)
A man requested help via strangers on social media for someone to Photoshop his daughter’s photo after she passed away. The infant had never left the hospital and always had tubes going into her body and medical devices nearby.
Nathen Steffel posted the above photo of his daughter Sophia. The image below was just one of the photoshopped pictures given to him with condolences.
(READ the story, w/ all the retouched photos, from CBC)
Story tips from Sarah Owen and Jenn
Dr. Carey Andrew-Jaja, an obstetrician at Magee Womens Hospital in Pittsburgh, has delivered many thousands of babies, but to him each one is special. He welcomes each of them into the world by singing a hearty song in their honor. “Happy Birthday,” is one of his favorites.
Another favorite is, “It’s a Wonderful World.” Whatever the song, Andrew-Jaja delights in the tradition he inherited from his now-retired mentor, who used to sing to every newborn.
He spends the extra time and energy because he believes each one is “a future important person,” and needs to be treated as such.
WATCH the video from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center – Story tip from Kate Q. Sibole
Fewer Americans are having strokes and those who do have a lower risk of dying from them finds a new study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins.
The study found a 24 percent overall decline in first-time strokes in each of the last two decades, especially among people 65 and older. A dramatic 20 percent overall drop in deaths after stroke was recorded each decade, primarily among those younger than age 65. Mortality rates held firm in older people.
The results were similar across race and gender, a finding that researchers were heartened to discover since a previous study suggested African-American stroke rates were not improving.
“We can congratulate ourselves that we are doing well, but stroke is still the No. 4 cause of death in the United States,” says study co-author Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The decrease in stroke incidence and mortality is partly due to more successful control of risk factors such as blood pressure, smoking cessation and the wide use of statin medications for controlling cholesterol, according to the researchers. However, an increase in diabetes likely acted in the opposite direction, pushing up stroke rates, though to a lesser extent.
For their analysis, researchers used results from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study, which used 15,792 residents of four U.S. communities who were between the ages of 45 and 64 when the study began in the late 1980s.
Nearly 800,000 Americans suffer strokes each year; of those, about 600,000 are first-time strokes. “Stroke is not only one of the main causes of death, but a leading cause of long-term disability in adults. Therefore, prevention is the best strategy,” says study leader Silvia Koton, PhD, MOccH, a visiting faculty member at the Bloomberg School and incoming nursing department chair at Tel Aviv University.
A report on the results is published in the July 16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Learn more about the study from Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
An exquisitely feathered fossil unearthed in northeastern China shows a new dinosaur, named Changyuraptor yangi, which measures more than 4 feet long and — like the Microraptor, which is less than half its size –flies with four wings.
(READ the story from IB Times)
While her hometown is under constant missile attack from the direction of Gaza, pediatric intensive care unit nurse Irena Nosel cares for critically ill Gazans in an Israeli hospital.
Over the past couple weeks Nosel and her family have scrambled for shelter when the air raid sirens warn of incoming missiles, yet she hasn’t missed a day of work as head nurse at Wolfson Medical Center.
“Children are children. They are not our enemies,” she tells ISRAEL21c.
The personal political leanings of the hospital staff run the full spectrum from right to left, but have no bearing on their work.
(READ the full story at Israel21)
Every year for 30 years, she was taken on a date to Red Lobster, her favorite restaurant, by her husband for their anniversary.
This year would be different, according to their daughter, a Reddit user who posted the story on the website.
“He passed away in March from cancer, and today, on what would be their anniversary, my sister took mom to keep the tradition alive,” wrote ‘Coppin-it-washin-it’ on Thursday.
“We are sorry to hear about your husband’s passing, but we appreciate your loyalty in spending 31 years of your anniversary with us. For your appreciation your meal is on us! We look forward to spending your next anniversary with us! Sincerely, Red Lobster + your server, Taylor.”
(READ the full story at TODAY)
Photo posted on Imgur by Coppin-it-washin-it via Reddit
Germany’s World football champions have arrived back home in Berlin after landing their fourth World Cup title.
Hundreds of thousands of fans welcomed Germany’s World Cup-winning players as they paraded the trophy through Berlin to the Brandenburg Gate on Tuesday.
“Nobody deserved it as much as we did,” Coach Joachim Low said about an hour after Sunday’s 1-0 win over Argentina.
(WATCH the ESPN videos below)
Eight years ago, the people of a small conservative town in South Carolina voted overwhelmingly for a state amendment banning gay marriage.
Today, residents of Latta are rallying to the defense of their sheriff, Crystal Moore, after she was fired and condemned by the mayor because her lifestyle was “questionable.”
After two decades of service in law enforcement, they said her dedication to the town mattered more than her sexual orientation.
(READ the AP story via the Vancouver Sun)
Story tip from Craig Withers
“The number of new cases of dementia has been declining in recent decades in the United States, Germany and other developed countries, a trio of new studies shows.”
“In one U.S. study, researchers found that compared with the late 1970s, the rate of dementia diagnosis was 44 percent lower in recent years. The sharpest decline was seen among people in their 60s.”
“Improved heart health may be one reason for decline seen in some developed countries.”
(READ the story from HealthDay.com)
Photo credit: KatinkaBille on Flickr with CC license
Explore the beauty and bustle of Wales from the eye of an aerial camera operated by the folks at Mighty Sky.
Follow surfers and skateboarders, visit castles and industrial sites, all with renewed interest because the images are captured on video from the sky.
(Thanks to Michael Hamilton for submitting his photo. You can upload yours here, and it might be named the Photo of the Day.)
With consumers shopping online at more than five times the rate of a decade ago, and total e-commerce sales around $1.5 trillion this year, the number of boxes and packages used for shipping is also exploding.
UK-based designer Yu-Chang Chou hopes to help stem the flow of single-use packages through a new design that can be reused 200 times. He calls it the Repack bag. Once the package is emptied, it can be folded and tossed in a nearby mailbox to return to the post office for someone else to buy and use.
(READ the story, w. photos, from Fast Co-exist)
You are sourced and fueled and funded by a renewable source within you. It never runs out!
So says this uplifting video and song by Rev. Michael Bernard Beckwith founder of the Agape Institute in California.
Dr. Beckwith is the originator of the Life Visioning Process, which he teaches throughout the country along with meditation, scientific prayer, and the spiritual benefits of selfless service. He facilitates retreats, workshops and seminars. His books include: Inspirations Of The Heart
“Adventure in Paradise” is the first of nine tracks on TranscenDance, Michael’s musical album which may be downloaded at itunes.apple.com.
“Love and Joy is everywhere! … Take a holy breath right here.”
(WATCH the video above – Note: the song gets better so keep watching)
Trees are the lungs of our planet. The more trees we plant, the cleaner our air for generations to come. Instead of cutting down trees to make way for more cemeteries, instead of burying our loved ones using poisonous embalming fluid, a growing number of people with environmental concerns are choosing green burials, which could instead increase the number of trees and fertilize the land.
As a general rule, green burials avoid the use of embalming fluid and cement burial vaults, and can be considerably less costly than traditional burials, ensuring that grieving loved ones are not pressured into high-priced caskets they can’t afford.
The top part of the Bios Urn is especially designed to allow the seed to sprout. Before you bury the urn, you will need to mix the components with some dirt from where you want your tree to grow. The components will naturally facilitate germination of the seed when mixed with soil.
The urn’s structure keeps the seed separate from the ashes, until the urn itself begins to degrade. The lower capsule is where you store the ashes, while the tree grows in the upper compartment. The entire urn becomes part of the sub-soil and a fertilizer for the tree.
The upper capsule is a sealed unit to ensure the good condition of the seed until it begins to sprout. There is no expire date as long as it is kept in a cool dry place.
PreventDisease.com offers a choice of Pine, Ginko, Maple, Oak, Ash, Beech, or Cypress, for $159.99 with free shipping for both North America and Europe.
“Sales have been ongoing for a year and going very well,” says Susan McHilley of the non profit PreventDisease.com, which is selling the green urns.
For more information and to purchase, visit preventdisease.com
