A 9-year-old girl who was chosen to throw out the first pitch at a baseball game brought tears to every eye in the stadium when she found out the catcher was actually her father, a soldier home from Afghanistan, in disguise.
Alayna Adams, who thought she was being honored because her father was serving overseas, walked to the mound after seeing a taped message from her father on the big screen at the Tampa Bay field.
Every Friday morning 17-year-old Sarel Ramphele puts on his gold-trimmed suit, grabs his trumpet and walks the 6 kilometers to the neighboring village. Under a makeshift iron roof in the yard of an unused house he meets with scores of other young people to rehearse for what has become an improbable musical success story in one of South Africa’s poorest regions, according to The Good News, South Africa website.
Based in Limpopo, Bezzi’s Youth Brass Band is one local woman’s answer to a distinct lack of youth engagement in the area.
“There are absolutely no entertainment facilities for young people around here,” says Janet Bezuidenhout, 42, who set up the band just under three years ago. “The teenagers are just idling around.”
A Cincinnati high school’s waste has been cut dramatically thanks to the teens who have picked up the reins of a nascent recycling program there.
“It’s awesome – it just keeps unfolding and growing,” said the teacher who offered the students a chance to lead. “I had no idea this would blossom and grow the life of its own that it has.”
Loveland High School is now only producing two bags of trash and the goal is to one day be a zero-waste school.
12,000 people have signed up to ride their bicycle to work Friday in the Washington, D.C. area in celebration of the 57th annual Bike To Work Day. The nation’s capitol ranks sixth on a new list of the Ten Most Bikable Cities.
America is way behind much of the rest of the world in urban cycling opportunities. In fact, Montreal is the only city in North America to make a list of top 20 biking cities globally, but there are some bright spots.
The group’s name may not catch on, but the idea certainly has.
SPPRAK (Special People Performing Random Acts of Kindness) began in an Indiana school district as a way to get students, teachers and staff to show more kindness to each other.
To help change the culture in the schools they began urging everyone to jot down the acts of kindness they experienced or performed throughout their day on colorful sticky notes.
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie’s auction house raised $38.8 million through a charity art auction, Christie’s said on Tuesday, with proceeds to benefit environmental and conservation causes.
The sale of 33 art works that DiCaprio had persuaded artists to donate or create especially for the 11th Hour Action raised $31.7 million on the night, blowing away all the pre-sale estimates and setting 13 new price records for artists at auction.
Music industry icons Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre (Andre Young), already known as forward-thinking entrepreneurs, are giving $70 million to USC to foster innovation among under graduates.
The duo’s gift will establish the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation for students whose interests span fields such as marketing, business, computer science, audio/visual design, and the arts. The program will prepare them to become a new generation of inspired visionaries.
James Cleaveland decided to devote himself to helping drivers in the city of Keene, New Hampshire, avoid the disgust of finding a parking ticket on their car.
Cleaveland and a group of friends took to the streets with pocketfuls of change and began shadowing the city’s three parking enforcement officers, stuffing coins in expired meters before they could issue $5 tickets.
They call their practice “Robin Hooding,” and in just over four months, the group claims to have spared motorists more than 2,000 tickets in the city of some 23,000.
(READ the Reuters story in the International Herald Tribune)
The University of Portland gave a standing ovation this month to one of their own, Sam Bridgman, a finance major who was forced into a wheelchair by a condition known as Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), a rare, degenerative disorder that causes progressive loss of muscle strength.
It was graduation day and Sam was determined to walk across the stage to get his diploma. When he did, the entire arena lifted him up with prolonged cheers.
“You’ve never met anyone that smiles bigger and more often,” Laurie C. Kelley, associate vice president of university relations and chief marketing officer, told The Oregonian. “His smile just lights up your day.”
(WATCH the inspiring clip below)
The Canadian commander of the International Space Station used his down-time in orbit to create a music video that has attracted 10 million views on YouTube with its rendition of the famous astronaut pop tune, David Bowie’s Space Oddity.
“Ground control to Major Tom” is the renown opening line of the song that was written and performed by Bowie in 1969, the release of which coincided with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The Department of Agriculture said Friday it will extend its scrutiny of controversial proposed biotech crops developed by Dow Chemical and Monsanto after receiving an onslaught of opposition to the companies’ plans.
USDA said it will conduct two separate environmental impact statements ‘to better inform decision-making’ on the approvals sought by Dow and Monsanto for new seed products that are genetically altered to tolerate treatments of their latest herbicide mixture.
Something strange is happening at Beaumont Juvenile Correctional Center. Residents are so eager to get into a Russian literature class led by the University of Virginia that prison officials use it as a reward.
The youths are clamoring to read thick books like “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy, a moral thinker and non-violent pacifist who was said to have had a profound impact on Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Staff members at Beaumont see a marked change in students’ behavior,” according to the Washington Post article.
(READ the story in the Washington Post)
“I am the man I am today because of you,” he said at the start of a video. “So I just want to thank you.”
For years, she worked every day, seven days a week, starting at 5 or 6 in the morning preparing food for her neighborhood market. And in 2002 she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Through much pain and suffering, she persevered to eventually become a ten-year survivor.
But something she worked so hard for was lost with so many medical bills in the midst of an economic downturn. Living in Las Vegas, one of the worst hit areas, she ended up losing her home.
44-year-old Dale Buettner shed nearly half his body weight — 280 pounds. He had been overweight since the first grade, where his mom had to custom-make Little League uniforms for him.
In 2010, at more than 400 pounds, he joined Weight Watchers with his wife and started dealing with the underlying emotional issues that caused him to overeat.
One year later he had lost 100 pounds and with renewed hope started walking regularly.
A high school physics teach became well known in Louisville, Ky., for his exploding antics in the classroom and letting kids ride hover boards they make in class.
But Jeffrey Wright’s most influential lecture comes annually without the use of props. The talk teaches about the life-lessons learned via Mr. Wright’s son, who has a developmental disorder. Through this story, he explains the reason why things work, and the purpose of life.
The story has been documented in an award-winning short film called “Wright’s Law” by Zack Conkle
(WATCH the video below)
Wright’s Law from Zack Conkle on Vimeo.
Scotland has become a Fair Trade Nation after achieving its target of having all six cities and 18 of its 32 councils garnering fair trade status.
It follows Wales in becoming one of the first nations to earn the accolade.
Fair Trade products are about knowing where the products are produced and offering a better deal to workers who produce those goods in developing countries.
– WATCH the video below
– READ the story from the BBC (Feb. 25)
In an ecologically approved “green burial,” loved ones are laid to rest without caskets on plots surrounded by trees in places like the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery.
Green burial options have become a small but growing trend in the U.S. funeral industry, with an increasing number of funeral homes offering eco-friendly services and about 30 green cemeteries across the country.
President Obama welcomed to the White House Saturday the winners of the TOP COPS award for law enforcement who have shown extraordinary bravery and valor in the line of duty.
The 2013 group named by the National Association of Police Organizations includes Lieutenant Brian Murphy, who was the first officer on the scene in response to the shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin last year, and who attended the State of the Union speech in February as a guest of the First Lady.
“He fought back until help arrived and ordered his fellow officers, who are here today, to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside — even though he was lying there bleeding from 12 bullet wounds,” President Obama said. “When he was asked how he did it, he said, ‘That’s just the way we’re made.'”
In closing, the President spoke to the public, “I’d ask all Americans — everybody who is watching all across the country — when you see a police officer, let them know how much you appreciate it.”
(WATCH the ceremony below, READ full transcript at Whitehouse.gov)
On Sunday morning, a dog that had been lost for days was spotted atop a 75 foot cliff near a waterfall in Elma, New York.
The Elma Dog Control Officer, Spring Brook Volunteer Fire Department and Erie County Sheriff’s Office sprang into action.
“We hoisted volunteer fireman D.J. Thompson about 10 to 15 feet up a rock face, where he was able to grab onto some trees and get his hands on the dog,” a fire official said.
Greater Cincinnati is on the leading edge of the green movement – maybe not in showy ways like curbside composting or light rail, but in all the green you don’t see.
Cincinnati is the largest city in the country to get all of its electricity from alternative energy sources, and it has the third-most homes certified under the U.S. Green Business Council’s Leadership in Engineering and Design standards. The region is also a leader in LEED-certified schools.
