Christmas is weeks away but one little boy is planning to play Santa for a family he doesn’t even know.
The 7-year-old boy in Carrollton, Georgia heard his parents discussing a local family who had lost everything in a house fire. They had no renter’s insurance and have been living in a motel room — all five of them — losing hope by the day.
That’s when they learned of young Bradley Thomas’s efforts to give them a Christmas, and hope is returning.
“The school year had barely begun at Admiral Seymour elementary when teacher Carrie Gelson, frustrated after a difficult day at work, wrote an impassioned open letter to Vancouver residents asking if anyone cared about her inner-city students who were coming to school with empty tummies and holes in their shoes.
“The response was astonishing. Just minutes after her plea was published in The Vancouver Sun, donations and offers of help began to arrive at the school, turning into a flood of generosity that continues to this day.”
(READ the news from the Vancouver Sun)
The group Sweet Blessings has a vision of bringing memorable birthdays to children in need.
Since creating the volunteer program, Ashley Boyd has hand-delivered unforgettable gourmet birthday cakes to kids aged 5-14 living in poverty or experiencing life threatening illness.
“To know that someone else besides his family cares enough about him to make his day even more special is amazing,” said one mother. “His face lit up when he saw a cake he normally would have only dreamed about.”
Sweet Blessings with its army of volunteers has created unique cakes for more than 70 kids in the Kentucky area.
(WATCH the Making a Difference video below from MSNBC)
The fifth annual New York Comedy Festival’s Stand Up for Heroes gala this week featured stellar comedians like Ricky Gervais, Seth Meyers and Jon Stewart onstage at the Beacon Theater. But it was Bruce Springsteen who stole the show when he hand delivered his guitar, harmonica and plaid shirt to the highest bidder in the audience who won it for $160,000 to benefit US veterans and their caregivers.
It was then announced that the winning bidder was giving the guitar to one of the uniformed servicemen at the show, Andrew Kinard, who lost his legs in Iraq and spoke movingly onstage earlier in the evening.
The fifth annual New York Comedy Festival’s Stand Up for Heroes gala this week featured stellar comedians like Ricky Gervais, Seth Meyers and Jon Stewart onstage at the Beacon Theater. But it was Bruce Springsteen who stole the show when he hand delivered his guitar, harmonica and plaid shirt to the highest bidder in the audience who won it for $160,000 to benefit US veterans and their caregivers.
It was then announced that the winning bidder was giving the guitar to one of the uniformed servicemen at the show, Andrew Kinard, who lost his legs in Iraq and spoke movingly onstage earlier in the evening.
After years of speculation that cell phones may harm your brain, new research suggests they may actually fight Alzheimer’s disease.
Microwave radiation from cell phones may protect against and even reverse Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, according to a new study involving genetically tweaked mice.
Ethiopia has more than halved its child mortality rates since 1990 through campaigns to increase the number of health workers and clinics throughout the country, government and aid officials said on Friday.
The number of health posts has surged to more than 9,000 in 2011 from a handful in 2004 with priority shifted towards food-insecure areas, UNICEF said.
In other good news for Africa, Kuwait announced this week that it has contributed $250,000 to UNICEF for humanitarian assistance during the continuing food crisis in Somalia.
New Energy Technologies has designed some speed bumps that motorists should be happy to drive over. Besides slowing down speed demons, as cars and trucks drive over the company’s MotionPower strips, kinetic energy from the vehicles is harvested and converted into electricity.
The Maryland-based company envision the devices powering street and building lights, roadway signs, and potentially electronics and appliances in homes and buildings.
Sitting atop the second largest uranium reserves in the world, Kazakhstan has not followed in the former Soviet Union’s footsteps toward military power.
Instead, it is at the forefront of the global movement for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Where test explosions once shook the earth, scientists are now researching peaceful applications for atomic energy.
“Our country decided that the might of our new state would be determined not by our nuclear muscle, but by our total rejection of it,” Nursultan Nazarbayev, who remains president two decades later, said in a recent speech.
The number of nuclear tests worldwide has fallen dramatically in the last decade, during which only North Korea has broken a de facto worldwide moratorium.
(READ the Reuters story in the Daily Times)
What if you accidentally dumped something in the trash bin that was worth $10,000?
Would you swim in a pile of waste to find it?
After he mistakenly tossed out his wife’s engagement ring, one husband didn’t think twice.
Luckily for Brian McGuinn, he found the diamond among 8 tons of trash.
Early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease may be improved by teaching patients to regulate their brains, a study suggests.
Scientists allowed a small group of patients to monitor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their own brain activity as they carried out a finger-tapping task.
After a time they learned to alter activity in specific parts of the brain affected by Parkinson’s.
In a stinging rebuke to President Bashar Assad, the Arab League voted Saturday to suspend Syria’s membership if his government does not take steps within four days to implement a peace plan designed to end months of unrest that has led to hundreds of deaths.
The 22-member league warned that Syria will face further sanctions if they do not withdraw armed forces from populated areas, release political prisoners and begin a dialogue with opponents.
To honor veterans and their commitment to service in the face of sacrifice, Dog Bless You, will donate 11 service dogs to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Beginning Nov. 11 – Veterans Day – Dog Bless You will give away one dog per day for 11 days, ending Nov. 22.
In just a year since its launch, Dog Bless You has grown to nearly 275,000 members on Facebook backing its multitude of philanthropic projects, like funding the mobilization of search and rescue dogs following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this spring.
A seven-year-old Argentine boy has defied doctors’ predictions that he would never walk, with help from a homemade rehabilitation device built by his father.
The first version of the machine designed for Ivo Cardile, who has been severely brain damaged from birth, was built in just a month out of a bicycle and wooden planks.
While headlines swirl around a sports scandal of epic proportions on the college level, a high school football team quietly demonstrated the meaning of kindness during a championship game.
Last Friday, during a South Carolina high school playoff game, a gesture will be remembered for its epic qualities of pure sportsmanship.
The Myrtle Beach Seahawks were leading Hilton Head 64-10 with just a few seconds on the clock. The winning team decided to create an unforgettable moment for a player on the other team with Down’s Syndrome.
While headlines swirl around a sports scandal of epic proportions on the college level, a high school football team quietly demonstrated the meaning of kindness during a championship game.
Last Friday, during a South Carolina high school playoff game, a gesture will be remembered for its epic qualities of pure sportsmanship.
The Myrtle Beach Seahawks were leading Hilton Head 64-10 with just a few seconds on the clock. The winning team decided to create an unforgettable moment for a player on the other team with Down’s Syndrome.
Just in time for Veterans Day, a confluence of activity across government and industry is combining to help spur the hiring of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afganistan.
Yesterday President Obama praised the US Senate for passing part of his jobs package, the legislation that will create tax breaks for businesses that hire veterans. The bill will give tax credits of up to $9,600 to companies hiring disabled vets and improve job training and counseling for veterans. Read the full story from NPR News.
Also yesterday, First lady Michelle Obama announced that U.S. business has pledged to hire 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2014, and she made a personal vow not to rest until all of the country’s 859,000 unemployed veterans have found work. Companies such as UPS, Microsoft, Home Depot and Citi are examples of businesses participating in the campaign, which Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden created, called Joining Forces. See more details at ABC News.
Garrett McNamara just broke the world record for largest wave surfed by successfully navigating a 90-foot wall of watery death.
The Hawaiian resident and pro surfer conquered the nine-story wave outside the Portugal town of Nazare, breaking the previous record—77 feet—set by Mike Parsons in 2008.
Garrett McNamara just broke the world record for largest wave surfed by successfully navigating a 90-foot wall of watery death.
The Hawaiian resident and pro surfer conquered the nine-story wave outside the Portugal town of Nazare, breaking the previous record—77 feet—set by Mike Parsons in 2008.
Senate Democrats on Thursday turned back an attempt to repeal federal rules designed to prevent Internet service providers from discriminating against those who send content and other services over their networks.
The rule under attack requires broadband providers to let subscribers access all legal online content and prohibit wireless carriers from blocking access to any websites or competing services, such as Netflix or Skype, which require more bandwidth.
