After Sarah Mervosh’s grandpa died at the age of 90, she was amazed to see 500 people crowd in to his memorial service.
He always had made her feel good, but what did he do that made all these people adore him.
It was simple friendliness and thoughtfulness, in the end, that mattered.
“I hadn’t known about the phone calls, or about what Pap Pap meant to people like Justin and Claudia,” she writes in a feature for the Dallas News. “I was still getting to know him even after his death… (learning) a retrospective lesson on how one man had managed to make a difference over the course of his lifetime.”
The YouTube collaboration known as Whatever, while in New York City handing out sweatshirts, hats and gloves to the homeless before winter, happened to meet a middle-aged man from the Czech Republic who really needed a friend.
The man had come to the United States to work in a hotel in Florida. After losing his job, he traveled to New York with a thousand dollars to look for work there. He was robbed of everything he owned while sleeping in a bus station. After that, he slept in homeless shelters and lived on the streets for months — all while not speaking a word of English.
The YouTube crew had a member that spoke Russian and that is how they learned Jaroslav’s story. All he wanted in the world now, was to simply go home to see his family.
“One of the things I found most inspiring, is he didn’t EVER ask us for anything – despite his situation,” explained Scout, who recorded the events on video. “He was honestly one of the most strong and stoic man I’ve ever had the opportunity of meeting.”
Eventually, after buying the man a haircut, shave, a hotel room and hot pizza, with the help of their friends at threadsociety.com, they bought him a one-way ticket home.
At the airport, after showing Jaroslav where to go and giving him cash to buy food and ground transportation on his long trip back to Europe, they said goodbye.
WATCH the tears flow when he realizes he is going home…
Jodi DiPiazza was lucky enough to get into one of the few schools available to help children with autism to reach their potential.
Loud temper tantrums often flared up during those pre-kindergarten years, but during many hours of therapy, Jodi found a talent that truly grounded her — music.
“We were afraid she would never speak. Never dreaming she would sing, or even be able to understand,” said her father in the video below. “I’ve taken off the idea that there is some limit on her, as she continually proves that that’s not true.”
Near Bridgewater, Mass., a band of brothers from a football team heard about their “water boy” getting teased. The small 6-year-old boy who has some speech impediments was being teased for wearing tweed suits with ties every day.
WCVB in Boston says the team of fifth-graders played great defense and showed their fiercely-loved assistant some solid support.
A Buffalo, New York bus driver who talked a depressed woman off of a bridge is scheduled to appear on celebrity chef Rachael Ray’s “Thanks for Giving” episode airing Monday in the US.
Darnell Barton’s story is one of four to be highlighted on the he cooking show, which will feature an audience full of people who’ve been hailed as heroes.
Meals on Wheels can deliver a hot meal. A doctor can prescribe pills. A personal support worker can help with dressing, or a bath. They’re all important, but what many old people need most is a whole lot harder to come by.
A friend.
Researchers say the impact on health of being lonely is comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Lonely elders are more likely to die of a heart attack and are at a higher risk for dementia, depression and anxiety.
More than 1,000 Quebec seniors are now matched with younger volunteers, with the idea of creating a real and ongoing friendship. Armand Marquiset, who founded the group Les Petits Freres, in 1936, believes that loneliness is as great a problem as hunger.
Andrew Hales has discovered that his popular YouTube channel, which usually posts prankster videos, can score millions of hits when he displays random acts of kindness.
In September, we shared a video called “The Tip Fairies” in which Hales surprises waitresses with $200 each and then records their reaction with a hidden camera.
A new hidden camera video shows people with wallets at the ready to pay hundreds of dollars for Thanksgiving groceries, when suddenly the cashier tells them it’s all going to be free.
A commercial energy drink sponsor, GungHo, paid for the groceries. The company’s founders told Hales they had been doing this every year for more than 20 years.
Now that their generosity is captured on video, the world can share the priceless reactions of the unsuspecting shoppers.
Give Back Films joined the effort, doing all the recording in the grocery store. (Stay tuned to the Good News Network for more from this group in the coming weeks.)
(WATCH the video below… GNN is not responsible for ad content herein.)
Leonardo DiCaprio at 2019 Cannes film festival by Georges Biard (CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikipedia)
Leonardo DiCaprio at 2019 Cannes film festival by Georges Biard (CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikipedia)
On the third anniversary of the historic Global Tiger Summit, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, for a bold initiative to help Nepal double its wild tiger numbers by 2022 – the next Chinese Year of the Tiger.
Previous support from the Hollywood superstar and his Foundation is already showing major results, growing the number of tigers in the Terai’s Bardia National Park from an estimated 18 to 50 tigers.
The grant represents the first funds awarded from the successful Christie’s 11th Hour Charity Auction in May, created by DiCaprio, which raised a record $38.8 million for conservation in a single night.
DiCaprio has long been a passionate advocate for the environment and joined forces with WWF beginning in 2010 to launch Save Tigers Now, a global campaign to raise political, financial and public support to save tigers in the wild.
The grant will bolster WWF’s work with the government of Nepal and local communities in Nepal’s Terai Arc landscape to strengthen anti-poaching patrols, protect core areas for tiger breeding, restore critical habitat corridors, and continuously monitor tiger populations.
“Time is running out for the world’s remaining 3,200 tigers, largely the result of habitat destruction and escalating illegal poaching,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, a WWF Board Member. “WWF, the government of Nepal and local communities are on the front lines of this battle and I am hopeful this grant will help them exceed the goal of doubling the number of these noble creatures in the wild.”
“Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation is all about delivering real results for conservation on the ground and empowering local communities; nowhere is that more evident than in Nepal,” said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US. “The numbers speak for themselves and we are grateful for our partnership.”
Nepal is on target to become one of the first tiger range countries to achieve the 2010 Global Tiger Summit’s goal of doubling wild tigers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022. The Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal, where the grant will be used, is 9,000 square miles and includes protected areas that are critical tiger, rhino and elephant habitat. The densely populated region is also home to nearly seven million people who depend on its natural resources for their livelihoods.
The grant will allow park rangers to use sophisticated monitoring tools in conjunction with community policing and intelligence-gathering to tackle poaching. Basic park infrastructure, such as guard posts, will also be expanded and corridors between parks will be strengthened to give key species the freedom to roam and help grow new tiger populations across the Terai.
“Protecting a top predator like the tiger helps keep forests and grasslands intact, and ensures that other species like rhinos and elephants can thrive.” said Justin Winters, the Executive Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. “The most impressive part of this project – and the key to its success so far – is the true collaboration between WWF, the Nepal government and the local communities. Finding solutions that protect tigers and benefit local people is the only way to ensure long term success.”
WWF and its partners will also use the grant to help local communities benefit from conservation by creating income-generating activities through tourism, handicrafts and organic vegetable production. The grant will also support insurance funds to help families cope with the loss of livestock to predators.
Photo credits: Top, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation; Left, WWF
Most of the women and girls had never seen the ocean before.
They live in the West Bank, which is landlocked, and Israel does not allow them to freely travel. They risked criminal prosecution, along with the dozen Israeli women who took them to the beach. And that, in fact, was part of the point: to protest what they and their hosts consider unjust laws.
Such beach visits began a year ago as the idea of one Israeli, and have blossomed into a small, determined movement of civil disobedience.
Substantive negotiations with Iran involving the US, UK, Germany France, Russia and China have led to an interim agreement signed last night that achieves a first step toward diplomatic agreement regarding its nuclear program.
The agreement will halt progress of Iran’s nuclear program and even roll back parts of it. In return, Iran will get a temporary easing of some sanctions.
“It achieves a great deal,” said President Obama. “For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back.”
Two programs underway aim to bring holiday cheer to seniors who may not otherwise receive Christmas gifts.
In the last nine years, the Be a Santa to a Senior program hosted by Home Instead Senior Care has provided holiday gifts to more than 4,400 seniors, said Brad Cannon, franchise owner of Home Instead.
They have identified 800 seniors in one region in Kentucky to be part of the program.
A touching story unfolds today as one Illinois high school football team and its fans help their rivals for the State championship after the town of Washington was devastated by a tornado.
According to a story on NPR’s Weekend Edition, the coach and players for Springfield’s Sacred Heart Griffin High School say that although they’ll do all they can to beat Washington, they’re also trying to help the team.
Moms of the Springfield players have spent all week arranging to get food for Washington players. They’re also sending six buses to Washington to pick up Panthers fans who may have lost their cars in the storm.
John and Ann Betar eloped on Nov. 25, 1932, fleeing their close-knit Syrian neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and driving as fast as they could to Harrison, New York, to avoid Ann’s father’s plans to marry her off to a man 20 years older.
Now, as their 81st wedding anniversary approaches on Monday, the pair, named as the “longest married couple” in America, can only laugh as they look back on the commotion they caused.
“Everyone was hopping mad, and my wife’s aunt consoled my father-in-law by telling him not to worry, the marriage won’t last,” chuckled John Betar, now 102 and still driving “though not quite as fast as the day we got married.”
Thursday night, New York artist Jamison Ernest made the surprise announcement that he would be extending his gallery show an additional week so that he could give a gift to seven lucky visitors: $77,777 worth of diamonds.
Starting on Saturday, he’ll hide a single 177-faceted stone each day in a candlelit maze. “I hope a man who wants to get engaged but can’t afford a diamond finds one,” he told Yahoo News.
300 turkeys meant for struggling families were stolen from a homeless shelter in Fairfield, CA.
Hearing the sad news from his hometown, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker James-Michael Johnson stepped up to help replace the thousands of dollars worth of poultry.
Mission Solano had planned to collect nearly 1,000 turkeys to serve the homeless in the area.
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Historian David McCullough reminded the gathered crowd in Boston’s JFK Library what was important about the young Kennedy: “He knew words matter.” … “His words changed lives. His words changed history,” he told NBC News. “Like Lincoln did.”
Already revered by many, his premature death sealed his status as an iconic of world politics, reports Esquire magazine. A charismatic, thoughtful and powerful public speaker, his quotes have become some of the western world’s most enduring.
He has hunted and fished in the Minnesota lake for decades and though you might thing this means Jeff Slygh has no compassion for animals, you would be wrong.
He turned from hunter into rescuer Sunday morning when a neighbor told him a deer fell through the ice and was stuck out in the middle of Nichols Lake.
“She was tired and she was shaking,” explained Slygh, who, after some dawdling, decided to haul his canoe to his truck and go try to help.
Google India plans to get 50 million women in India using the Internet within one year through a new initiative that aims to bridge the gender digital divide by providing women with easier access to technology, the company said.
Of the more than 200 million online users in India, only one-third are women.
The “Helping women get online” initiative involves setting up easy Internet access points for women across the country and a toll-free helpline, 1-800-419-9977, to guide new users. The project’s website, www.hwgo.com, also provides step-by-step information – in both Hindi and English – on the basics of how to use a computer and access the Web.
Of course, the tutorials feature Google properties like YouTube, its Chrome browser and the search engine.
The Navy released this photo of U.S. Petty Officer 2nd Class Marcus Harris meeting his baby daughter for the first time during a homecoming celebration in Norfolk, Virginia. He returned home on the USS Barry, after a nine-month deployment November 8.
In the photo, a woman holds a sign reading “I’ve waited all my life to meet you Daddy.”
The grant will allow park rangers to use sophisticated monitoring tools in conjunction with community policing and intelligence-gathering to tackle poaching. Basic park infrastructure, such as guard posts, will also be expanded and corridors between parks will be strengthened to give key species the freedom to roam and help grow new tiger populations across the Terai.
