He’s a battle-tested, decorated army sergeant who risked his life to protect our country.
But it’s a more personal risk he took that’s getting a lot of attention.
In the midst of Staff Sgt. Jesse Knott’s lowest moment in Afghanistan, following a suicide bombing, a feral cat climbed into his lap and restored his faith and his humanity.
Jeremy Affeldt makes $6 million a year pitching for the San Francisco Giants, but he gave a half-million back after a clerical error was discovered, despite already receiving the money back in 2010.
Affeldt got three opinions saying the contract was ironclad and he could keep the extra $500,000, from the Players Association, agent Michael Moye and even Giants assistant general manager Bobby Evans, according to the SF Chronicle.
Tuesday was an ordinary day at the Humane Society of Durham when an ordinary-looking man arrived at the animal shelter.
The man, who looked to be in his early twenties, said he’d like to make a donation and handed over a plain white envelope.
The worker at the front desk didn’t look in the envelope.
“I asked him if he wanted a tax receipt and he said there was no need for that,” she said.
He left and that’s when she saw the bank draft for $25,000.
“I was dumbfounded, just looking at it. My mouth fell open and I let out this scream and instantly burst into tears.”
(READ the story from Canada’s Metro News)
Glamorous gowns and high heels took the place of Hurricane Sandy’s damage and destruction for teens at East Rockaway High School in New York who are getting the chance to have their dream prom after winning a contest held by internet company Rent The Runway.
Students arrived at their renovated gym for a style party and found walls of formal attire and shoes from which they got to pick a free outfit. Hair and makeup stylists were on hand to help plan their big night.
Rent The Runway co-founders Jenny Fleiss and Jenn Hyman said they created the contest as a way to continue the giving spirit that started in their office after the storm.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from NY Daily News)
There is nothing like fresh produce from your own garden, but, did you know that there are veggies that you can grow in the kitchen from scraps?
“I always have a mason jar of green onions regrowing above my kitchen sink. The technique is quite simple,” writes the Mrs. Happy Homemaker blog.
Once you have used the original onion, simply place the root end in a jar of water & it will begin to regrow within just a few days.
Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is planning to push an amendment to the upcoming farm bill that would repeal the secret provision known as the Monsanto Protection Act, a rider attached anonymously to a spending bill that sailed through Congress in March.
An outcry resulted once the public learned that the provision, inserted without debate, allowed Monsanto and other companies to continue selling genetically engineered seeds, even if a court has blocked them from doing so. Merkley will press for a floor vote on his repeal amendment when the farm bill is taken up next week, a Merkley aide told HuffPost.
In the hard-hit city of Philadelphia, a former art curator Barbara Chandler Allen was disgusted by cutbacks to arts funding for students, especially because it so disadvantages the poorest schools where kids are most in need of positive outlets.
Lucky for the kids, Barbara stumbled onto a big idea after enlarging some of their art and realizing it was in high demand for the walls in office buildings.
She thought she could donate the art in exchange for hundreds of dollars that could be poured into art departments across the city.
(WATCH the video below or READ the story from Jane Pauley)
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.
