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Study Promises New Hope for Children with Autism

Mom holds toddler- by D Sharon Pruitt

Mom holds toddler- by D Sharon PruittAn alternative and non-invasive treatment for autism has led to significant reductions in maladaptive behaviors in children, according to a new study published in the January issue of the peer-reviewed journal, EXPLORE: The Journal of Science and Healing.

Robert Weiner, the author and lead researcher of the multi-site study, calls the novel NeuroModulation Technique a “promising intervention for autism.”

Weiner, a Dallas, Texas behavioral medicine psychologist who has been in private practice since 1987, told the Good News Network, “I started using NMT, a gentle consciousness-based therapy, in my practice in 2004 and observed remarkable results, particularly with allergies.”

After 27 Years a Janitor, Man Becomes School’s Principal

Principal was once janitor-CBSvid

Principal was once janitor-CBSvidThe school principal at Port Barre Elementary in Louisiana is a living example of perseverance.

Gabe Sonnier worked as the school’s janitor in 1985 when then-Principal Westley Jones pulled him aside and said, “I’d rather see you grading papers than picking them up.”

It was a turning point in Gabe’s life. After that, he began studying for his teaching degree.

“Isn’t that something?” Mr. Sonnier asked reporter Steve Hartman.

Yes, it is.

(WATCH the video or READ the full story from CBS News)

Pete Seeger: Optimism is Key to the Future

Pete Seeger 250px 07 Photo by Anthony Pepitone
2007, by Anthony Pepitone, CC license

“The key to the future of the world is finding optimistic stories and letting them be known.”
-Pete Seeger (1919 – 2014)

Breakthrough Bionic Hand Restores Amputee’s Sense of Touch

bionic hand team-EPFL

bionic hand team-EPFLNine years after an accident caused the loss of his left hand, Dennis Aabo Sørensen from Denmark became the first amputee in the world to feel – in real-time – with a sensory-enhanced prosthetic hand that was surgically wired to nerves in his upper arm.

The team at EPFL Center for Neuroprosthetics in Italy developed the revolutionary sensory feedback that allowed Sørensen to feel the difference between an orange and a baseball when handling the objects.

“The sensory feedback was incredible,” reports the 36 year-old amputee from Denmark. “I could feel things that I hadn’t been able to feel in over nine years.”

Poor Teen With $14 Becomes Paper Bag King of Africa

paper bag king of Uganda-Andrew Mupuya - CNN

paper bag king of Uganda-Andrew Mupuya - CNNIn 2008, 16-year-old Andrew Mupuya was looking for opportunities because he had no way to pay for his schooling.

Suddenly, Ugandan officials announced they were considering a ban on plastic bags which had become a major source of pollution, so Mupuya, who was still in secondary school, immediately wondered if it made sense to launch a paper bag production company.

“I conducted a feasibility study, market research around retail shops, kiosks, supermarkets around Kampala and discovered there is need and potential market for paper bags.”

Fan Wins $25,000 Super Bowl Bet For 2nd Time, Donates It All

football end zone-Bills-CC-Flickr-Chess REO

football end zone-Bills-CC-Flickr-Chess REOJona Rechnitz, who won $50,000 on the 2012 Superbowl just did it again … by placing the same exact bet.

He bet last year that the Giants, and this year, the Seahawks, would score first as a result of a two-point safety.

Both times the NYC real estate mogul donated the winnings to charity — $75,000 in total.

(READ the story from TMZ)

Helped by TV Show ‘House’, Doctor Diagnoses Rare Condition

Hugh Laurie 2009 - CC photo by Kristin Dos Santos

Hugh Laurie 2009 - CC photo by Kristin Dos SantosA German man with severe heart failure and a puzzling mix of symptoms including fever, blindness, deafness and enlarged lymph nodes that baffled doctors for months, finally was diagnosed when he was referred to a fan of the U.S. television medical drama, ‘House’.

“After five minutes, I knew what was wrong,” said Dr. Juergen Schaefer, who works at the Center for Undiagnosed Diseases in Marburg, north of Frankfurt.

He said the man’s symptoms matched up almost perfectly with a patient on an episode.

(READ the story in the Calgary Herald)

Thanks to Joel Arellano for submitting the link on our Facebook Page!
CC photo of actor Hugh Laurie – by Kristin Dos Santos

Clint Eastwood Jumps Into Action, Saves Choking Man

Clint Eastwood-2010-CC-Flickr-gdcgraphics

Clint Eastwood-2010-CC-Flickr-gdcgraphicsThe executive director of Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament now has a great story to tell his grandchildren: “Clint Eastwood saved my life,” said Steve John, after he was rescued from choking at a party honoring tournament volunteers.

John, 50, was eating hors d’oeuvres Wednesday when a piece of cheese became lodged in his throat. Eastwood, the 83-year-old Oscar-winning actor and director, was in attendance and quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver.

“I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their eyes,” Eastwood told The Carmel Pine Cone newspaper. “It looked bad.”

(READ the story at TODAY)

Photo via Flickr user gdcgraphics – 2010, CC

Store Manager Gives Man a Trailer After Fire Destroys Home

burned out Trailer-FB-500px

burned out Trailer-FB-500pxIn the blink of an eye, William Berkshire lost his home and everything in it after his travel trailer went up in flames outside of Roy’s General Store in Traverse City, Michigan on Sunday night.

The store’s manager felt so bad for the now homeless guy known as Mountain Man, he gave him a rarely used camper trailer so he would have somewhere to live.

“I look at this disaster … and that could be any of us, it really could,” Rob Hentschel told UpNorthLive.com. “We’re all human beings, we’re all neighbors. I had something that I could live without, and he needed a place.”

Mr. Hentschel had been a Good Samaritan in the past for Mountain Man, who usually lives in the woods, away from society. When Berkshire first pulled his trailer onto the store’s property, instead of asking him to leave, like so many other businesses did, Hentschel invited him out to dinner and said he was welcome to keep the vehicle, which had run low on gas, in their parking lot.

Hentschel posted the news about the fire on Roy’s General Store Facebook Page and asked others to donate items of clothing if they could. Within two days, Mountain Man had clothes, bedding and boots and dishes. American Waste also donated a dumpster for him to use as he cleans up the rubble.

WATCH the Video below from UpNorthLive or READ their report)

Tunisia Basks in Praise Over its New Constitution

Flag of Tunisia

Flag of TunisiaAs recently as December, the outlook for Tunisia remained grim. However, on Friday, French President Francois Hollande and other world leaders attended a ceremony for the formal adoption of a document being praised as one of the most progressive constitutions in an Arab nation.

What a turnaround.

After overthrowing their dictator in 2011 and launching what became known as the Arab Spring, Tunisians brought a moderate Islamist party into power allied with two other secular parties.

“By adopting the constitution, Tunisia celebrated a triple victory — over dictatorship, over terrorism that seeks to spread chaos and block our path to democracy and over our own divisions,” said President Moncef Marzouki in an address before Tunisia’s parliament.

(READ the AP story in the Montreal Gazette)


Much Needed Rain, Snow Comes to California

snow-laden-fir-trees

snow-laden-fir-treesDrought-stricken California got some help Thursday from the weather — a prelude to a bigger storm for parts of the state over the weekend that could dump as much as two feet of snow in the northern Sierra and six inches of rain on Bay Area mountains.

The state has been suffering from one of the worst drought and fire seasons in history.

 

(READ the full story from the AP in The Examiner)

Measle Deaths Down 78 Percent

Deaths from measles have dropped 78 percent since 2000 as global vaccination campaigns curb outbreaks of the pneumonia-causing disease, according to the World Health Organization. (Bloomberg)

Photographer Captures the Spirit of Ill and Elderly Pets

elderly dog-Joy Session photo

elderly dog-Joy Session photoFor weeks, Lisa Urness went to the Wisconsin Humane Society in Milwaukee on her lunch break to search for the right dog. One day, a 6-month-old Husky and Shepherd mix who had been found on the streets caught her eye.

“I got to my car door and I couldn’t leave,” she says. “I walked back in and I said to the people at the desk, ‘That’s my dog.’”

That was 14 years ago, and the two have been inseparable ever since.

“I don’t know how to explain him, but he’s like my ‘heart dog,’” she says, choking up. “I’ve often used the expression that he’s like my familiar. He and I are just one.”

So when Tanner started having trouble with his legs in 2012, it was “very hard to watch,” she says. Urness didn’t know how much more time he had when she turned to photographer Sarah Beth Ernhart to schedule a Joy Session.

Houston-area Mentor Pays Delinquent Lunch Accounts for More Than 60 Kids

Man pays lunch tab for poor students-KPRC

Man pays lunch tab for poor students-KPRCIn his 10 years as a mentor and tutor, Kenny Thompson has always done his best to meet the needs of the students in his life.

That’s exactly what he did when he heard last week that dozens of Utah students, whose accounts were delinquent, had their lunches taken and thrown away.

He not only inquired about it, Thompson learned that the parents of many of his students couldn’t afford the meals that cost just 40 cents a day. He took $465 of his own money and zeroed out the delinquent accounts of more than 60 kids.

(WATCH the video or READ the story from KPRC)

Thanks to Megan Schnitzler for submitting the link!

10-Year-old Boy Running Charity for Homeless

Jonas Corona-Love In The Mirror Photo

Jonas Corona-Love In The Mirror PhotoTen year old Jonas Corona is on a mission to give back to his community.

Four years ago he started a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization called Love In The Mirror.

“It’s not right for kids and adults to be on the streets having nothing,” the young boy tells NBC’s TODAY.

The group provides basic necessities such as food, clothing, school supplies, and books to kids and families living on Skid Row in LA.

Follow the group on Facebook.com/LoveintheMirror

(WATCH the video below from TODAY)

Israeli Doctors Aid Syrians, Humanity Trumps Geopolitics

soldier-walks-w-child

soldier-walks-w-childThe 9-year-old Syrian boy with no legs wheeled himself down a bright hospital corridor, stopping to accept a pain pill from one nurse and a high-five from another.

He has been here for a month, ever since a bomb hit their house and the boy’s grandmother took him and other injured family members to the Golan Heights border half an hour away and asked the Israeli soldiers on the other side for help.

Since the effort was launched by the Israeli army, Israel has been quietly providing aid to upwards of 700 Syrians at medical centers in Israel or at a field hospital operated by medics along the heavily fortified border.

(READ the story from the LA Times)

Photo: US soldier walks with boy

How Much Longer Can One Man Feed Millions?

farmer John Garrett Share The Harvest

farmer John Garrett Share The Harvest

A second-generation rice farmer from Danbury, a tiny Texas town of 1700, is a local legend.

He’s a legend thanks to the almost six million pounds of rice he’s donated to the Houston Foodbank, and the millions upon millions of free meals created from that rice. 

It was in 1984 that John “Jacko” Garrett, age 70, first began donating a portion of his harvest each year to charity.

In the late 1990’s he set up a non-profit called Share the Harvest to provide a means for rice farmers like himself in Texas to easily feed the hungry.security camera screenshot TiresTiresLtd

In a “Bad Neighborhood” Surprising Honesty Wins the Day

 

“Their donations have been vital,” according to the Houston Foodbank. “They provide over 11 million servings of rice each year in 18 counties around Houston.”

Garrett has also run the charity himself, and with his daughter, for a time. He is worried today that he might not have time or energy to carry on much longer.

READ the story in the Houstonian Magazine

Watch a video below from the food bank

SHARE the story about this Inspiring Farmer, below… / Story tip from Angela Reed

Tip of a Lifetime: Three Lucky Waitresses Get $5,000 Checks

Restaurant-Boone County Family-Rockford Illinois

Restaurant-Boone County Family-Rockford IllinoisThe Boone County Family Restaurant in Rockford, Illinois has some very happy workers today.

Three waitresses there, each in their 20’s, “stared in disbelief Saturday as a blond-haired woman inexplicably handed them three $5,000 checks.”

Despite their protestations, the generous diner, whose identity is being kept a secret, insisted that she and the other waitresses take it.

“I want you girls to take these to help with school and everything else in life,” the woman said firmly. “You put that in your pocket. God sent me here to help you.”

(READ the story from the Rockford Register Star)

Thanks to Julia Frerichs, LMT and Steve G. for the story tip!

Goodwill Worker Finds $43,000 in Donated Clothing

Goodwill worker Tyler Gedelia-WWJvid

Goodwill worker Tyler Gedelia-WWJvidA manager of the Goodwill thrift store in Monroe, Michigan was cleaning out the pockets of some donated clothing this week when he found a bright blue envelope containing bundles of hundred-dollar bills.

Tyler Gedelian didn’t even count it before turning over the cash to police. He told WWJ-TV in Detroit that he never even considered keeping any of the money.

Share What You Have With Little Effort

elderly-banana-smiles

elderly-banana-smilesA man stands at his local super market checkout. For once, he is confident to have enough money, after years of being broke as a single parent.

He hears an elderly couple behind him saying they forgot their wallet. Turning around, he says he can pay for their food, feeling rich for the first time in years.