It started with an impassioned letter from a Parkland, Fla., teenager to Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker. It ended with a dream come true.
Matthew Walzer told Parker he has cerebral palsy, that at birth doctors told his parents their son would never walk.
Now he is readying for college and, inspired by the Nike slogan, ‘If you have a body, you are an athlete, he needed a pair of shoes that he could easily get on his feet.
On the face of it, 2012 revealed the worst of the society’s ills — toxic partisan politics, horrific shootings and devastating natural disasters. But many positive trends, some blooming through social media and the internet, also cheered our souls. Here is the Good News Network’s year in review: the top ten stories of hope and achievement.
We began the year with January 12 marking a milestone in the march for children’s health as India celebrated one year without a recorded case of new polio infection.
10) India Hails its First Polio-Free Year$1 billion and 23 years of volunteer work donated by Rotary club members worldwide made the dream a reality. The incidence of infection plunged during that time from 350,000 cases in 1988 to fewer than 1,000 cases in 2010. Tens of millions of dollars was also donated to the cause by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who declared, “Children in India are now protected against this debilitating, but preventable disease.”
In May, Scott Shaver and Katie Buell were crowned prom king and queen at Westview High School in San Diego. Katie is an all-American girl, class president, champion in girls basketball, and an absolute sweetheart, according to her teachers. Yet, it seems every student, no matter their ability, is accepted and treasured. Scotty, as the kids call him, is a HUGE personality at the school, brought out of his shell over four years by the nurturing attention given, not only by specialized staff who have tutored him as a special needs student with autism, but by the accepting student body. The senior class nominated Scotty to the ballot not as a joke, said Scott Wild, a teacher and student advisor at the school, “but as a sincere tribute to him because they love him, respect him, and appreciate him.” (Read more)
8) Aung San Suu Kyi ‘Wins Landslide Landmark Election’ as Burma RejoicesThe Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, along with other leaders in the National League for Democracy claimed a landslide victory in a series of election contests in April, after spending much of the last two decades under arrest. They were freed in 2010 in a surprise move by Myanmar officials, and benefitted from a series of political reforms, which ended that country’s isolation. President Obama visited the country, formerly known as Burma, in November, to help sustain the momentum toward change.
Even though pit bulls are known to attack and maim, they can also be wonderful pets — and often, heroes. In May, a bull named Lilly pulled her unconscious owner from the path of a freight train, and was severely hurt in the process.
But another story, in March, truly revealed an instinct of this breed to protect, even if the person is a stranger. A Florida woman was leaving a playground with her toddler in Port Charlotte when a man approached her in the parking lot and threatened her at knife point. Suddenly a Pit Bull who had been wandering the area charged the man, growling and barking until the attacker fled in surrender. The dog had never met the woman or child before, yet defended them as their guardian angel.
Swimmer Michael Phelps won 4 gold and 2 silver medals in the London games — his 18th career gold medal and 22nd overall — becoming the most decorated Olympian ever. Other stories of athletic achievement also warmed our hearts for two weeks in August. The Games of the XXX Olympiad were also the greenest Olympics ever, planned with an emphasis on sustainability.
The most precious and unexpected result of the London Olympics, though, was the mood of national confidence and enthusiasm they generated in Great Britain. “Hosting the Olympics has boosted national morale more than any single event in most people’s living memory,” reported the Independent. “The capital and the country have been transformed.” British audiences applauded even victorious rivals, and displayed special affection toward those who came in last.
— Three independent studies have now shown that our understanding of the physical makeup of cancer tumors may have been based on a myth. Researchers have identified “cancer stem cells” to be responsible for causing a tumor to grow and develop.
— A new breakthrough that provides early detection for the most lethal form of cancer was created by a 15-year-old Maryland teen, after his mom drove him to Johns Hopkins University every night after school to test his theory in a lab. Jack Andraka won the top prize at the Intel Science Fair for his new and simple dip-stick method to detect pancreatic, lung and ovarian cancer, which is 90% accurate and 28 times less expensive.
— Stanford researchers identified an antibody that was found to dramatically shrink or eradicate human cancer tumors that were transplanted into laboratory mice, no matter which type of cancer created the tumor. The research is unique because seven different types of cancer responded to the antibody.
When so many examples of bullying were in the news this year, it is heartening to hear of several uplifting outcomes. A tiny farming town in Michigan rallied around a 16-year-old girl in September who became humiliated when her high school voted to elevate her to the homecoming court as a joke and then laughed at her in the hallways. In an inspiring turnaround, Whitney Kropp’s embarrassment gained her thousands of friends and supporters who helped make her night unforgettable.
Also in the Midwest, a high school football captain seeing classmates taunted on Twitter decided that online bullying should not be a spectator sport for his Minnesota town. So the 17-year-old, Kevin Curwick, quietly set up a Twitter account, @OsseoNiceThings, to praise students in need of a social facelift. Since then, Twitter posts attacking his classmates have disappeared — and other towns are copying his uplifting actions. (See more inspiring stories about anti-bully heroes here, and here.)
Curiosity, the largest and most advanced spacecraft ever sent to another planet, stuck an extraordinary landing in triumphant and flawless fashion on August 5. NASA’s $2.5-billion mission involved the work of more than 5,000 people from 37 states, some of whom had labored for 10 years to hear the two words, “Touchdown confirmed.” Inside mission control, engineers who had been chewing the insides of their cheeks and bouncing their legs nervously leapt to their feet, embracing, high-fiving and, in some cases, weeping with joy, wrote Scott Gold in the LA Times. (Watch the video of scientists cheering)
A former bus driver, who in her senior years works as a bus monitor, sat patiently through ten minutes of relentless and brutal bullying by middle school kids on her route, while a video camera recorded the sorry scene. The video went viral and an online social media community so sympathized with her that they raised money to send her on a vacation — to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The woman, Karen Huff Klein, now retired, started a foundation with some of the money.
The goal of reducing by half the number of people without access to safe drinking water has been achieved well ahead of the 2015 deadline for reaching the globally agreed target. Over two billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources between 1990 and 2010, the United Nations said in March.
“Today we recognize a great achievement for the people of the world,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said upon the release of the report. “The successful efforts to provide greater access to drinking water are a testament to all who see the Millennium Development Goals not as a dream, but as a vital tool for improving the lives of millions of those in extreme poverty.”
As the world’s fastest animals, the big cats can run up to 65 mph and need to get up to speed to burn off metabolic compounds. But the two who live at the Houston Zoo don’t have much opportunity to do that. Until now.
In early November, an entourage of 10 people took a pair of 5-year-old cheetah brothers to the Sam Houston Race Park.
As the world’s fastest animals, the big cats can run up to 65 mph and need to get up to speed to burn off metabolic compounds. But the two who live at the Houston Zoo don’t have much opportunity to do that. Until now.
In early November, an entourage of 10 people took a pair of 5-year-old cheetah brothers to the Sam Houston Race Park.
In October, oystermen on the Chesapeake Bay began to experience the best year in decades with officials estimating the harvest to double over last year.
2012’s dry weather encouraged high water salinities this season, playing a big part in oyster growth.
It’s been a “blessing” for watermen, who have endured a gradual reduction in past seasons.
Thousands of bus drivers around Britain are being given special training so they can help passengers with dementia.
It’s part of an initiative by the Prime Minister which is trying to encourage everyone to be more aware of the needs of older people who have dementia, to help them in their daily lives.
The briefing includes details about how different forms of dementia affect the brain. This leads into a discussion about how drivers can help confused passengers.
The first evidence of empathy-driven helping behavior in rodents has been observed in laboratory rats that repeatedly free companions from a restraint, according to a new study by University of Chicago neuroscientists.
The observation, published today in Science, places the origin of pro-social helping behavior earlier in the evolutionary tree than previously thought.
A mysterious package arrived last week at the University of Chicago addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr., which looked like it had been postmarked in Egypt. Admissions officials had no clue who Jones was, but a student “snapped out of his finals-tired haze” realizing who Dr. Jones was: the fabled archeology professor, Indiana Jones.
The mystery grew deeper when they realized the postage was faked and inside was an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from the film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A mysterious package arrived last week at the University of Chicago addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr., which looked like it had been postmarked in Egypt. Admissions officials had no clue who Jones was, but a student “snapped out of his finals-tired haze” realizing who Dr. Jones was: the fabled archeology professor, Indiana Jones.
The mystery grew deeper when they realized the postage was faked and inside was an incredibly detailed replica of “University of Chicago Professor” Abner Ravenwood’s journal from the film, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A surprise gift during an Eastman School of Music concert drew a standing ovation and prompted the conductor to say it was the best moment he’d ever witnessed.
Tara Fayazi, a tuba player, works really hard to afford classes at the conservatory but she’s never been able to own her own instrument. 11 months ago, her friends began organizing fundraisers to help pay for one.
But, recently, the parents of a student who had died heard about the effort and donated their son’s beloved Mirafone tuba, worth $8,000. Her colleagues surprised her while she was in the midst of a solo during a school concert, which was videotaped.
(WATCH the video below)
Are you tired of misplacing your keys, remote control or iPad? A clever invention called Stick-N-Find can help you find anything within 100 feet using your smart phone and Bluetooth. The application uses small tokens that you can affix to anything — a device, a child or an animal — for instant location using your Apple or Android phone.
The Stick-N-Find is small and thin, the size of a quarter and looks like a black Necco Wafer. The stickers have a buzzer and light, so that you can also find stuff in the dark. More than 4,500 people on the internet were impressed enough with the device that they’ve funded the project to the tune of $340,000.
In the midst of unspeakable tragedy in Connecticut , all kinds of offers of help have been pouring in from around the world, including assistance of the four-legged variety.
A group of Golden Retrievers arrived on the scene to bring the kind of comfort that, one little girl says, “help you get over how sad it is.”
Researchers in the United States have developed a robotic arm controlled directly by thought with a level of agility closer than ever to a normal human limb.
Jan Scheuermann, 53, from Pittsburgh, who is paralyzed from the neck down, has been able to feed herself chocolate and move everyday items using a robotic arm directly controlled by her mind.
“It’s so cool,” said Scheuermann during a news conference. “I’m moving things. I have not moved things for about 10 years.”
(WATCH the video below, or READ the Reuters story at Fox News)
The number of New York City homicide deaths this year, already plummeting to historic lows, is actually lower than police statistics show.
That’s because of the way older killings are counted.
Removing four of those older cases further reduces the homicide count to 388 through Wednesday; compared with 493 during the same period in 2011.
Six-year-old Noah Pozner’s family wanted letters from his friends and relatives buried with him, and now thanks to social media and the compassion displayed by one airline, their wish will be granted –and some family members who live far away will feel closer.
On Sunday, Noah’s aunt, who lives in Seattle, tweeted to Delta and JetBlue asking for help getting notes from her and the boy’s 5-year-old cousin to Connecticut in time for today’s funeral.
JetBlue immediately sprang into action and got the letters onto the red-eye flight from Seattle to New York.
In response, Noah’s aunt, Victoria Heller (@VDog) tweeted, “Deepest thanks to @JetBlue flight attendant Craig Myers for carrying the notes from Seattle (and) Trisha & Heather @JFK for helping receive them”.
Six-year-old Noah Pozner’s family wanted letters from his friends and relatives buried with him, and now thanks to social media and the compassion displayed by one airline, their wish will be granted — and some family members living far away will feel closer.
On Sunday, Noah’s aunt, who lives in Seattle, tweeted to Delta and JetBlue asking for help getting notes from her and the boy’s 5-year-old cousin to Connecticut in time for today’s funeral.
More than 1,700 children and spouses of American soldiers killed in action were treated to an all-expense-paid visit to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the seventh annual Snowball Express – a five day event to honor their sacrifice and bring joy and new memories to the families during the holidays.
Snowball Express is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization established in 2006. Their partners, American Airlines, donated nine chartered aircraft to bring families from 54 cities in the US, and Puerto Rico and Guam.
American’s CEO, Tom Horton called it a privilege. “Especially for our hundreds of volunteers, to once again bring these families to Dallas/Fort Worth – our hometown – for a few days of fun and the opportunity to find new friendships and memories.”
Upon arrival at the airport near Dallas, Snowball Express families were greeted by cheering crowds at “American Candy Land”, which featured decorated gates, holiday crafts, appearances by Santa and Mrs. Claus, and colorful treats.
This year’s weekend events included a visit to the AT&T Performing Arts Center for the annual tree-lighting celebration; participation in the Dallas Children’s Parade; a trip to Six Flags Over Texas; and a private concert by Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band at Billy Bob’s, the famed Texas honkytonk in the Fort Worth Stockyards.
To learn more about Snowball Express sponsorship opportunities, or to view a complete list of corporate and nonprofit sponsors, visit SnowballExpress.org.
(WATCH the video below, or READ the article from NBC Dallas)
More than 1,700 children and spouses of American soldiers killed in action were treated to an all-expense-paid visit to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for the seventh annual Snowball Express – a five day event to honor their sacrifice and bring joy and new memories to the families during the holidays.
Snowball Express is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization established in 2006. Their partners, American Airlines, donated nine chartered aircraft to bring families from 54 cities in the US, and Puerto Rico and Guam.
Every now and then, during this era of heated partisanship, an event emerges that brings both sides together in the U.S. Congress. When news broke yesterday, tributes began pouring in for a beloved member and war hero, Hawaiian Senator Daniel Inouye, who died yesterday at the age of 88.
He served more than five decades in Congress, representing Hawaii since 1959, when the islands achieved statehood. As the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, he was third in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency, behind Vice President Biden and House Speaker John Boehner.
Vice President Joe Biden, who also served with Inouye as a Democrat in the Senate, said, “He was one of the most honorable men I ever met in my life.”
Across the aisle, Republican Senator John McCain, who regularly fought with Inouye over appropriation matters said, “No one — no one — ever, ever accused Dan Inouye of partisanship or unfairness.” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) called Inouye “a true role model, not only for his acts of valor as a hero in World War II… but also for his humility and graciousness.”
“He was a counselor to younger members like me, a great listener, and a Senator who always put his nation and the people of Hawaii ahead of partisan politics and his own ambition,” Portman said.
While many Japanese-Americans were being in internment camps based on their race, Inouye, who was of Japanese heritage, gave up his pre-medical studies at a university to enlist in the US Army. His battalion, made up of Japanese-Americans, was the most decorated unit of the war.
He was leading an assault on the last and most unyielding line of German defense in Italy. As he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions just 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach; ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and fire from his Thompson submachine gun. After being informed of the severity of his wound by his platoon sergeant, he refused treatment and rallied his men for an attack on the second machine gun position, which he also successfully destroyed.
As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, eventually drawing within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade into the fighting position, a German inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade that struck him on the right elbow, severing most of his arm and leaving his own primed grenade reflexively “clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore”. He ordered his comrades to stay back, while he pried the live grenade from his right hand and used his left to toss the grenade into the bunker destroying it.
Due to the loss of his arm, Inouye abandoned his plans to become a surgeon, and returned to college to study political science under the G.I. Bill.
In a statement, President Obama praised his record of service and spirit of bipartisanship in Congress calling him, “someone revered by all of us lucky enough to know him.”
Fellow Hawaiian Senator Daniel Akaka said, “Every child born in Hawaii will learn of Dan Inouye, a man who changed the islands forever.”
Zynga Inc., the provider of some of Facebook’s most popular games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has partnered with Water.org to raise money for a resource precious to both FarmVille 2 farmers and actual communities all over the world – water.
Last year FarmVille players could receive a an item for their online game world with a contribution of $5 or more to the World Food Programme in a promotion sponsored by Pizza Hut. This month players can make donations when they buy certain items, because Zynga is donating 100 percent of the proceeds to Water.org.
