After Meals on Wheels volunteers noticed a growing number of clients giving their food away to their furry friends, they started working with shelters and other pet groups to add free pet food to their meal deliveries.
Now, thanks to partnerships between the program for low-income seniors and pet groups across the country, fewer people and pets are going hungry.
(READ the story from AARP)
In families with children, giving thanks is no longer something enforced only with thank you notes after Christmas.
Researchers studying gratitude in kids say the early findings indicate that concrete benefits come to kids who literally count their blessings.
Even more, those who are less grateful gain the most from a concerted effort because gratitude works like a muscle. If you take time to recognize good fortune, feelings of appreciation will increase.
(READ the featured story from Wall Street Journal)
Las Vegas cab driver Gerardo Gamboa found $300,000 of someone’s poker winnings left in a paper bag in his taxi Monday, but made sure every penny was returned to the rightful owner.
“I don’t care from $10 to higher. My dignity is not for sale, and that’s the way I am,” he told KVVU news.
Now, Gamboa is winning honors for honesty with his company naming him Driver of the Year and rewarded him with $1,000 and a dinner for two at a restaurant.
People from around the world have come together to save the life of an Iraq War veteran’s dog.
Molly, a 3-year-old Australian shepherd, had four broken legs after being hit by a snow plow. Her veterinarian said it’s a miracle she even survived.
(READ the story from KGO at ABC News)
David Dyer used to score crack cocaine by day and sleep in a train depot by night.
Now, he has a family, a home and a job — helping homeless veterans get off the streets, like he did.
Dyer is part of a team of veterans, some formerly homeless themselves, that the state of Massachusetts has hired to get veterans off the streets in the Boston area.
(READ the AP story at PBS.org)
This photo posted on Facebook shows an El Paso Police Officer helping out a homeless man in need during a recent snowstorm.
According to the sender: The homeless man just wanted a place to keep warm. He stayed inside the Lowe’s Home Improvement store, where employees raised money for food and found an open shelter for the man.
They called El Paso police to transport the man to the shelter, but when Officer Jose Flores noticed that he needed shoes, he went into the store and bought him a brand new pair of snow boots, socks, and gloves.
Sam Bashor with “Fort Human Peoples” delivered holiday care packages to homeless men and women. They gave out new backpacks full of gifts.
Some of the homeless men so appreciated the backpack on its own, even without the notebooks, snacks and personal care products inside.
(WATCH the video below)
Those looking to get the timing just right for setting out the milk and cookies have a few tools to make sure everything is ship-shape when Santa makes his way down your chimney.
Continuing multiyear traditions, both Google and NORAD have launched their Santa trackers so that parents can answer persistent questions from their kids on Christmas Eve, according to the Washington Post.
The First Lady Michelle Obama was even there at NORAD talking to kids who were calling in with questions. For the fourth consecutive year, she took time from her holiday schedule to personally answer phone calls on Santa’s journey as part of the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
25 year-old Abiola Ogungbenle moved from Nigeria to Hanover, Pennsylvania in 2013 to be with his wife, and has been eagerly awaiting his first winter snowfall ever since.
When snow began to fall in early December, Abiola was enjoying the sight of his whitened street when he saw Joseph Fryer, a photographer and owner of Digital Lightbox, shooting photos and asked him to take a picture of him to share with African relatives.
After Fryer posted on Facebook the photo of the African native uplifting his face with joy, it went viral.
(WATCH the video below from Fox-43)
Lifeboat crews have rescued a Labrador dog that was believed to have drowned off the Norfolk coast in eastern England, after she was swept away on Sunday morning.
The dog’s owner had enlisted the help of two kayakers to try to find her, but when they failed he had gone home to break the bad news to his wife.
(WATCH the video or READ the story at BBC, here)
A San Francisco reporter spoke with a homeless man in early December who was rummaging for valuables in Oakland.
The man, who identified himself as Marcus Malone, told Stanley that he was a landscaper and a music composer. He also said he once played percussion with the original Santana blues band.
The news team at KRON confirmed the claim and helped arrange a touching reunion between the superstar Carlos Santana and his one-time bandmate, who hadn’t been seen for 40 years.
Now Carlos is helping Malone to create a better life for himself.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from KRON-4)
David Schmitz knew his wife loved him, but she confirmed the depth of her affection and fondness for him and their children with a surprise gift this Christmas — two years after she died from cancer.
The Iowa father of four received the gift after being called into a Des Moines radio station as a guest for a decades-old program that grants Christmas wishes to listeners.
2016 UPDATE: Once upon a time, there was a phone number for kids to use to call Santa Claus and talk directly to the North Pole. Sadly, it is discontinued now. Read about the annual kindness, and the man behind it, below…
Did you know there was a phone number for kids to use to call Santa Claus and talk directly to him?
John Dickson, a local Californian who runs the website www.santabarbara.com, organized the project, called Accidental Santa, in 2006 because he received so many phone calls from children who mistakenly dialed his new toll-free number, which was one digit away from 1-800-SANTACLAUS.
Instead of getting a new number, Dickson, who also writes a restaurant column, decided to field the calls himself, in the persona of Santa. He listens to the children’s wish list and answers all their questions. He needed help, too, and placed an ad asking for volunteer elves.
GREAT SANTA: Autistic, Deaf, or Tired, Santa Proves To Be Perfect Lap For Any Child
Some of the volunteers bring their kids to the call center to answer the phones as Santa’s elves.
The reward for all his effort?
One volunteer, 61 year-old writer-artist Harley Hahn, told the Good News Network that being Santa Claus is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. “The kids who call are at the age where they can see the magic in the world that everyone else has forgotten.”
WATCH: Kids Tell Santa They Just Want Their Military Dad Home, Then He Appears!
It was because of the Accidental Santa that 50-year-old Dickson met his wife. Hahn says she became Mrs. Claus and they are the happiest couple you will ever meet.
“These kids are amazing to talk to. They’re so full of love and hope,” John Dickson (pictured left) told the Santa Barbara News-Press. “Once you talk to a couple of kids, you just can’t put the phone down.”
“The real story is that one person with good intentions, can create so much happiness, and dozens of volunteers could make it happen,” says Hahn.
According to the Accidental Santa website, the phone line is open during the one week before Christmas, December 20-24, every day from 2pm until 8pm Pacific Time (Eastern: 3pm-11pm).
Hahn said he sometimes asks the children, ‘Do they have a secret wish’. Many times they want a relative, like a grandpa or a sibling, to get well.
“Sometimes I’ll ask them if they have a favorite Christmas song, and whether they want to sing it,” Hahn said. “They always ask about the elves and Mrs. Claus.”
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers on Sunday announced a program in which taxi drivers will make sure both you and your car get home safely if you’ve had too many drinks.
Under the program, two taxi drivers are dispatched to the passenger’s location after a night of drinking. One of the drivers will drive the passenger’s car home, while the other will follow in a taxi.
(READ the story from CBS News)
After a Greensboro woman had her Christmas decorations stolen, strangers replaced them, giving her home more Christmas cheer than ever.
Marta Force said she had her Christmas decorations stolen off her fence less than a day after she put them up.
“I just couldn’t believe anybody in Greensboro would steal,” she said. “There’s so many charities, so many wonderful people in Guilford County.
(READ the story from Fox-8)
A boy in Victoria, B.C., celebrated his 11th birthday this weekend by dishing out chicken curry and rice pilaf to hundreds of people in need.
“I always get parties but so many other people don’t get as much,” Armaan Sohi told CBC News.
Sohi said he was inspired by the memory of his older sister, Subha, who died last year at age 20 and who always wanted to do something like this.
(READ the story from CBC)
Some Walmart shoppers got more than they bargained for when Beyoncé turned up for a surprise visit.
The superstar stopped by a Tewksbury, Mass., Walmart on Friday night, where she greeted fans and did a little holiday shopping.
Best of all, Queen Bey got on the store’s loudspeaker and offered to pay the first $50 of every customer’s holiday shopping.
(READ the story from USA Today)
RELATED: Beyonce Delights Blind Girl With Tear-jerking Duet From Stage
ALSO RELATED: Beyonce Concerts Double as Food Drives
A group of Central Kentucky men never thought it would get this big. Starting with a notion to raise a few thousand dollars to buy Christmas presents for needy kids in their area, the Edmonson County friends in nine years have bought $270,000 worth of holiday happiness for others.
They call themselves Santa’s Secret Hands and they raise money all year to buy the gifts that have touched the lives of 2000 children.
“It’s not a formal organization, it’s just guys that have full time jobs, and they do this in their extra time, in their off time, and they’re doing all the work.”
(WATCH the video below or READ the story at WBKO.com)
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday struck down provisions of the state’s Oil and Gas Act that stripped municipalities of the power to determine where natural gas drilling activity could occur within their boundaries.
The long-awaited decision is a blow to a 2012 law promoted by Gov. Corbett and the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry as a means to create a uniform statewide standard for gas development.
By a 4-2 vote, the court ruled that taking away the right of localities to limit fracking is unconstitutional.
“With this ruling, municipal governments will once again have the ability to determine when and where fracking occurs in their locality,” said a local environmental group. “This is crucial for protecting public health, our environment and our communities.”
(READ the story in Phily.com)
The success of a 10-year initiative to end long-term homelessness could mean the closure of homeless shelters in Utah.
The state has reduced its rate of chronic homelessness by 69 percent since 2006, moving 2000 people off the street and into apartments.
Last winter, there were excess beds available each night in a Salt Lake City area emergency shelter, which officials attribute to the success of the rehousing program that places homeless families and individuals into permanent supportive housing.
Once they settle into housing, they can begin work on the issues that have contributed to their homelessness, according to the Deseret News.
(READ the story in The Independent)
[Editor Updated the link to replace with more recent article.]
