There is a school at one Virginia county juvenile detention center where troubled youths work toward high school diplomas and credit their teachers with saving their lives from ruin.
The jail’s educational program is a little-known entity within Fairfax County Public Schools that offers the students hope for better days ahead.
A tiny farming town in Michigan is rallying around a 16-year-old girl 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 for having so few friends.
In an inspiring turnaround, Whitney Kropp’s embarrassment gained her thousands of new friends.
A campaign was started by an alumni student of the school who is now a mom. She was sick about the bullying prank and started a Facebook page that quickly attracted thousands of compassionate fans donating their support.
Businesses have donated services for her hair, nails, and make up. They have donated her gown, shoes and tiara. Even dinner is “on the house” for her and her escort this Saturday.
Citizens swarmed the football stadium dressed in orange to cheer loudly when school officials announced her name.
(READ the story from NBC News
A tiny farming town in Michigan is rallying around a 16-year-old girl 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 for having so few friends.
In an inspiring turnaround, Whitney Kropp’s embarrassment gained her thousands of new friends.
A campaign was started by an alumni student of the school who is now a mom. She was sick about the bullying prank and started a Facebook page that quickly attracted thousands of compassionate fans donating their support.
An abused Filipino child who lived off a garbage dump has won a prestigious children’s award for the work of his ‘Championing Community Children’ charity, which benefits his fellow street kids.
Cris “Kesz” Valdez, aged 13, was handed this year’s International Children’s Peace Prize at a glittering ceremony in The Hague on Wednesday, where he received a $130,000 prize presented by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
He was severely abused and forced to scavenge at the dumpsite to pay for his father’s drugs and alcohol. He ran away from home at age 4. Trying to survive in the only way he knew how, by scavenging at the landfill, he sustained major burns on his arm and back, falling into a tire fire. But, he found help from a local Christian group, that paid for his medical treatment and took him in. He then transformed his own experiences into a drive to help other street children, inspired on his seventh birthday to give gifts– flip-flops, small toys, and candy –rather than receive more for himself.
Now, with the help of dozens of volunteers, his annual birthday drives deliver clothing, gifts and supplies to the forgotten children living in landfills. He also educates the orphans about hygiene, reads them stories, and treats their wounds. Above all, he gives them hope.
He has already helped more than 10,000 filipino children, a fraction of those who are either living homeless or forced into labor.
“To everyone in the world, please remember that every day, 6,000 children die from diseases associated with poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and we can do something about it!” he says on his Facebook page. “Please join me in helping street children achieve better health and better lives.”
(WATCH the video below, or READ about Kesz’s amazing transformation in VOA News)
An abused Filipino child who lived off a garbage dump has won a prestigious children’s award for the work of his ‘Championing Community Children’ charity, which benefits his fellow street kids.
Cris “Kesz” Valdez, aged 13, was handed this year’s International Children’s Peace Prize at a glittering ceremony in The Hague on Wednesday, where he received a $130,000 prize presented by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
At the Democratic convention in Charlotte recently, a delegate from Rhode Island walked up to Gina Raimondo and said, “You cost me $300,000.”
Raimondo, the state treasurer who had quarterbacked a major pension reform, steeled herself for abuse. Instead, the delegate, a retired schoolteacher and wife of another retired schoolteacher, thanked Raimondo and gave her a big hug.
During each monsoon season in Mumbai, 36,000 children who live on the streets brave the harsh rains. Many fall prey to diseases in the process.
But the lucky among them have rainwear thanks to a dentist and her two helpers who regularly fill their car full of colorful new rain gear to deliver to those in need.
She started her initiative called ‘RAIN – Reaching All In Need’ in June, 2012.
During each monsoon season in Mumbai, 36,000 children who live on the streets brave the harsh rains. Many fall prey to diseases in the process.
But the lucky among them have rainwear thanks to a dentist and her two helpers who regularly fill their car full of colorful new rain gear to deliver to those in need.
She started her initiative called ‘RAIN – Reaching All In Need’ in June, 2012.
Gary Currie was laid out on the ground, presumed dead, when fellow Liverpool supporter Dr. Glyn Phillips spotted him and spent 15 minutes performing CPR, determined that Gary, then just 18, deserved a chance to live.
Now in a moving interview with the Sunday Mirror, Gary reveals how he has struck up a lifetime bond with his saviour, since that day in Sheffield 23 years ago.
(READ the story from the Mirror)
By the very nature of their business, every Los Angeles traffic cop can expect to get at least a few complaints every year — especially from people who are just angry about getting caught speeding.
Which is why the police chief was stunned when he discovered that during the last 20 years — through the last 25,000 traffic stops — Sheriff’s Deputy Elton Simmons has not had one complaint filed against him. Not one.
CBS tagged along on his rounds to figure out how he does it.
“Time after time, ticket after ticket, we saw Officer Simmons melt away a polar ice cap of preconceptions,” says Steve Hartman in his On The Road segment.
(WATCH the video below and read the story from CBS News)
By the very nature of their business, every Los Angeles traffic cop can expect to get at least a few complaints every year — especially from people who are just angry about getting caught speeding.
Which is why the police chief was stunned when he discovered that during the last 20 years — through the last 25,000 traffic stops — Sheriff’s Deputy Elton Simmons has not had one complaint filed against him. Not one.
CBS tagged along on his rounds to figure out how he does it.
Canada and the United States are beefing up an international agreement on water quality in the Great Lakes.
Environment Minister Peter Kent and Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, signed the updated deal in a brief ceremony in Washington, D.C. earlier this month.
Stephen Gustafson says he didn’t think twice about running to rescue his dog when she was dangling from the jaws of an alligator last Friday afternoon in Lake County. Fla.
Gustafson, 66, was trimming branches when he heard his 13-pound terrier let out a “high pitched yelp.”
“I looked up and the gator had her in his mouth and was taking her far out,” he told FoxNews.com. “I knew if I needed to react, it had to be quick.”
Third-year high school student Nico Calabria scored an amazing goal Wednesday for his varsity soccer team — the scissor kick was especially impressive because Nico was born with only one leg.
The Massachusetts athlete has been playing soccer all his life and he chooses to use crutches on the field because he says prosthetics weigh him down.
The goal wasn’t even the most admirable feat in Nico’s young life.
The most renown American surgeon was born 160 years ago today on September 22, 1852. A new film documents the work of the medical genius, who also had a secret life that made his story all the more remarkable.
Surgery in the mid-19th Century consisted of crude and hurried amputations conducted in filthy operating rooms, often followed by horrendous infection. We can thank William Stewart Halsted, the pioneering father of American surgery, for bringing America into the era of safe surgery: sterile procedures, surgical gloves, careful handling of tissues, and local anesthesia.
It was Halsted who introduced a scientific approach to medicine. He also pioneered several new operations, including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer.
But one early set of experiments nearly ended his life and career. The brilliant experiments succeeded, but at a terrible price.
The most renown American surgeon was born 160 years ago today on September 22, 1852. A new film documents the work of the medical genius, who also had a secret life that made his story all the more remarkable.
Surgery in the mid-19th Century consisted of crude and hurried amputations conducted in filthy operating rooms, often followed by horrendous infection. We can thank William Stewart Halsted, the pioneering father of American surgery, for bringing America into the era of safe surgery: sterile procedures, surgical gloves, careful handling of tissues, and local anesthesia.
It was Halsted who introduced a scientific approach to medicine. He also pioneered several new operations, including the radical mastectomy for breast cancer.
But one early set of experiments nearly ended his life and career. The brilliant experiments succeeded, but at a terrible price.
Galvanized by anger over the killing of the popular American ambassador here last week, thousands of Libyans marched through this city on Friday, demanding the disarming of the militias that have refused to disband since overthrowing the country’s dictator, Col. Gadaffi.
In a show of mass frustration at the armed groups, protesters seized control of several militia headquarters on Friday night and handed them over to Libya’s national army in what appeared to be a coordinated sweep.
For their extraordinary efforts to help change the world and better the lives of others, 10 everyday people will receive $50,000 and a chance for much more.
This select group of top 10 CNN Heroes of 2012, revealed yesterday, were nominated by CNN’s global audience after being profiled earlier this year on CNN.
They will be honored at “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute,” a globally broadcast gala that airs live on December 2. At the tribute show, hosted by Anderson Cooper in Los Angeles, one of the top 10 will be named CNN Hero of the Year and receive an additional quarter million dollars to continue their work.
The choice of top Hero will be decided by public voting conducted online through November 28 at CNNHeroes.com.
READ the List of Top Ten 2012 Heroes below, or WATCH the video with introductions here:
Catalina Escobar (photo, top of page)
Catalina Escobar is helping young moms in Colombia, where one in five girls age 15-19 is or has been pregnant. Since 2002, her foundation has provided counseling, education and job training to more than 2,000 teenage mothers.
Pushpa Basnet (photo, below)
Pushpa Basnet was shocked to learn that many children in Nepal have to live in prisons with their parents. In 2005, she started a children’s center that has provided support, such as housing, education and medical care, to more than 140 children of incarcerated parents.
Wanda Butts
Wanda Butts lost her son in a drowning accident six years ago. In his memory, she started the Josh Project, a nonprofit that taught nearly 1,200 children — most of them minorities — how to swim.
Mary Cortani
Mary Cortani is a former Army dog trainer who started Operation Freedoms Paws, a nonprofit that helps war veterans train their own service dogs. Since 2010, she has worked with more than 80 veterans who have invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Razia Jan
Razia Jan is fighting to educate girls in rural Afghanistan, where terrorists will stop at nothing to keep them from learning. She and her team at the Zabuli Education Center are providing a free education to about 350 girls, many of whom wouldn’t normally have access to school.
Thulani Madondo
Thulani Madondo struggled as a child growing up in the slums of Kliptown, South Africa. Today, his Kliptown Youth Program provides school uniforms, tutoring, meals and activities to 400 children in the community.
Leo McCarthy (photo, below)
In memory of his daughter, who was killed by a drunken driver in 2007, Leo McCarthy started Mariah’s Challenge. The nonprofit gives college scholarships to teenagers who pledge not to drink while they’re underage. Nearly $150,000 in scholarship money has been awarded.
Connie Siskowski
Connie Siskowski is helping young people who have to take care of an ill, disabled or aging family member. Since 2006, her nonprofit has provided assistance to more than 550 young caregivers in Palm Beach County, Florida.
Scott Strode
After beating his addiction to drugs and alcohol, Scott Strode found support through sports. Since 2007, his nonprofit, Phoenix Multisport, has provided free athletic activities and a sober support community to more than 6,000 participants in Colorado.
Malya Villard-Appolon
Malya Villard-Appolon is a rape survivor dedicated to supporting victims of sexual violence in Haiti. In 2004, she co-founded KOFAVIV, an organization that has helped more than 4,000 rape survivors find safety, psychological support and/or legal aid.
This is the sixth year CNN has conducted its annual search for CNN Heroes. In those years, the campaign has profiled more than 180 inspiring individuals on its global television network and websites.
Hernando Guanlao is a sprightly man in his early 60s, with one abiding passion – books.
They’re his pride and joy, which is just as well because they seem to be taking over his house.
Guanlao has set up a 24-hour free lending library outside his home in central Manila, to encourage his local community to read. He even left his job to run the operation.
Readers can take as many books as they want, for as long as they want – even permanently.
Eleven more wealthy American families have joined the Giving Pledge created by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates, to commit at least half their wealth to charity.
92 families have vowed to give away half their assets, the pledge organization announced this week.
Among the new commitments are Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, Progressive Insurance Companies Chairman Peter Lewis, and Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, according to NBC.
“We’ve said from the beginning that this is a long-term effort, so it’s exciting to see continued progress over the last two years,” said Bill Gates, co-founder of the Giving Pledge, which was started in 2010.
For the full list of pledgers and personal letters by many of these pledgers outlining their commitment to give, visit www.givingpledge.org.
