Home Blog Page 1250

Columbia University Janitor Graduates With Honors

By

Good News Network

-

May 10, 2012

janitor graduates Columbia University -ABC News video

A Yugoslavian-born custodian at New York’s Columbia University will be trading in his uniform for a cap and gown this weekend when he graduates with honors after working on his degree for 12 years.

Gac Filipaj, 52, will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in classics with honors from Columbia’s School of General Studies.

He fled to the United States from war-torn Yugoslavia in 1992, leaving behind his parents and siblings. Arriving in New York speaking virtually no English, he asked where the best school was and his friend pointed him to Columbia.

(WATCH the video below, or READ the story from ABC News)

Thanks to Craig Withers for sending the link!

Columbia University Janitor Graduates With Honors

Most Popular

By

Good News Network

-

May 10, 2012

janitor graduates Columbia University -ABC News video

A Yugoslavian-born custodian at New York’s Columbia University will be trading in his uniform for a cap and gown this weekend when he graduates with honors after working on his degree for 12 years.

Gac Filipaj, 52, will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in classics with honors from Columbia’s School of General Studies.

He fled to the United States from war-torn Yugoslavia in 1992, leaving behind his parents and siblings. Arriving in New York speaking virtually no English, he asked where the best school was and his friend pointed him to Columbia.

Microsoft Pledges to Become Carbon Neutral by July 1

By

Good News Network

-

May 10, 2012

Weeks after coming under fire for using excessive energy for cloud computing, Microsoft announced it will become carbon neutral across all of its operations starting July 1.

The software giant pledged to turn green all of its data centers, software development labs, air travel, and office buildings.

Highway Deaths in 2011 Reach All Time Low

Good Bites

By

Good News Network

-

May 9, 2012

US highway deaths declined again last year, reaching their lowest rate, when compared to miles driven, since record-keeping began in 1921, according to government data. Overall, traffic fatalities have plummeted 26 percent since 2005. –Associated Press

With Help of a ‘Bionic’ Suit, Paralyzed Woman Finishes London Marathon (Video)

By

Good News Network

-

May 9, 2012

Paralyzed marathoner Claire Lomas, London

A 32-year-old British woman paralyzed from the chest down has finished the London marathon after 16 days of walking with the help of a “bionic” suit.

Although Claire Lomas was not eligible to receive a medal, more than a dozen runners donated theirs, in a touching tribute after an Olympic rowing champion launched a Twitter campaign to get her one.

She walked almost two miles per day saying that her spinal cord injury “didn’t change who she was inside.”

Her inspiring effort also raised $150,000 for spinal research.

(WATCH the ABC video below and READ the story with photos in the UK Sun)

Company Hits Milestone With $1Billion Spent on College Degrees for Employees

By

-

May 9, 2012

Sometimes big companies actually do good things for their employees during bad times. And keep on doing it, quietly, without making a fuss.

United Technologies Corp., a hard-nosed industrial conglomerate that makes things like aircraft engines and elevators, reached an unusual milestone: spending $1 billion on a program to send its employees to college.

Holocaust Survivor at 108: “I was Thankful and Happy”

By

Good News Network

-

May 9, 2012

Alice-Herz-Sommer-A-Century-of-Wisdom

At 108 years old, Alice Herz-Sommer is the world’s oldest survivor of the holocaust. During WWII she survived a Nazi concentration camp in Prague while most of her family was exterminated. But through it all she was smiling and thankful and looked for the good.

She still plays piano every day, a lifelong talent she credits as saving her from the war.

“Hangover” Producer Brings College Program to Juvenile Inmates, Changing Lives

By

Good News Network

-

May 8, 2012

Inmates study - MSNBC video

The film producer responsible for the Hangover films teamed up with a young inmate to create an innovative college program that allows hundreds of prisoners to study and live together in prison. It rewards good behavior and those who want to learn.

So far 75 inmates have graduated and those who finish the program are far less likely to return to their troubled ways — a three percent recidivism rate, compared to the average 60 percent.

(WATCH the video from ABC News)

SHARE the Good News…

Free Food, Caring and Sharing: New Spirit of Community in Yorkshire

By

Good News Network

-

May 8, 2012

fruit in bike basket - Photo by Sun Star

There is an extraordinary sign on the outside of a well-tended West Yorkshire vegetable garden: “Help yourself.”

It is part of the expanding “sharing revolution” across the UK. Sweet corn grown around town is for all to take, orchards planted to bear fruit is free for the taking. Commuters can snip fresh herbs from pots outside the railway station.

It’s all kept weeded by an army of local people who give up an hour or so on the occasional Sunday.

“Community empowerment, social enterprise, co-operative, it has various titles, but it’s quietly getting huge,” said Mike Perry of the Plunkett Foundation, a thriving national organization supporting such enterprises nationwide.

(READ the story in the Guardian)

Photo by Sun Star

Once an Urban Landfill, Now a Rowing Paradise

By

Good News Network

-

May 8, 2012

river reflecting sun

Near the junction of the New Jersey Turnpike and Interstate 80, not far from the conga line of traffic grinding toward New York City, lies a body of water that was once a garbage dump, a murky soup of stinking refuse and plastic bottles.

But after a recent renaissance, that body of water, Overpeck Creek, and the new park abutting it have become a destination for rowers from New York City.

Dog Nobody Wanted is Honored as National Lifesaving Hero

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

Hero Dog Shepherd with owner - SPCA 2012

Three years ago, Bear was a 100-pound Shiloh German shepherd nobody wanted at a Texas shelter.

Monday, he was given the 30th National Hero Dog award by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for rescuing Debbie Zeisler from numerous seizures since his adoption. Even without formal training, the dog can sense each and every episode before it happens.

The 5 year-old dog from Milsap, Texas is a living testament to how being kind to animals can deliver the ultimate reward.

Dog Nobody Wanted is Honored as National Lifesaving Hero

Most Popular

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

Hero Dog Shepherd with owner - SPCA 2012

Three years ago, Bear was a 100-pound Shiloh German shepherd nobody wanted at a Texas shelter.

Monday, he was given the 30th National Hero Dog award by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for rescuing Debbie Zeisler from numerous seizures since his adoption. Even without formal training, the dog can sense each and every episode before it happens.

The 5 year-old dog from Milsap, Texas is a living testament to how being kind to animals can deliver the ultimate reward.

Paralyzed Girl Succeeds in Getting Out of Wheelchair

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

paralyzed girl walks again

Vanessa Cantu considers herself an incredibly optimistic person. When she was a freshman in high school she was involved in a serious car accident. Her seat belt didn’t work and without its support her spine broke and she suffered severe, internal injuries. She was kept in an induced coma for weeks. When she woke up she wanted to know why she couldn’t feel her legs.

Paralyzed Girl Succeeds in Getting Out of Wheelchair

Most Popular

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

paralyzed girl walks again

Vanessa Cantu considers herself an incredibly optimistic person. When she was a freshman in high school she was involved in a serious car accident. Her seat belt didn’t work and without its support her spine broke and she suffered severe, internal injuries. She was kept in an induced coma for weeks. When she woke up she wanted to know why she couldn’t feel her legs.

Turkish Leader is Hero for Opening Doors to Syrian Refugees

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

Turkey premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan - Photo by ABr-CC

Treated to a hero’s welcome, Turkey’s prime minister met Syrian refugees Sunday for the first time since his country opened its doors to tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing their government’s crackdown on a popular uprising.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to defend the rights of the Syrian people, saying they were close to achieving success. He was greeted by joyous Syrians at the largest refugee camp near the border.

Sudan: All We Are Tweeting is Give Peace a Chance

By

Good News Network

-

May 7, 2012

Tweets in Sudan for peace

As Sudan and South Sudan sink into full-scale conflict and hostile rhetoric nine months after the country split in two, people from both sides of the border are tweeting a very different message, one of peace, solidarity and frustration with their leaders.

These voices are galvanized around the hashtag ‘#NewSudans’ and includes Tweets like, “I’m not Arab, I’m not African, I’m not Afro-Arab, and I don’t belong to any tribe, I’m just Sudanese. I’m not from Khartoum, nor from Omdurman, I’m from Sudan.”

Greeks Help Out in Africa: A Health Center and School Goes Up in Tanzania

By

Good News Network

-

May 6, 2012

The Heifer Project in Zambia

When Costas went on safari in the late 90s, he knew he’d arrived in the land of his dreams.

But he began to see how unjust it was for him and his European guests to have all the comforts of home — fresh water, baths, as much food as they could eat — when the villagers had to get their water from the same pool their animals drank from, when they could die of malaria because they didn’t possess the pennies needed to buy preventive medicines.

So he stayed on in Tanzania and created an eco-friendly lodge, using the proceeds to help the locals.

1...1,2491,2501,251...1,690 Page 1,250 of 1,690