"Believing it’s important to bring awareness to the homeless plight, especially the homeless veterans, the Luzerne County Homeless Coalition held its second annual Homeless Memorial Service at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church… The priest told of Ed who volunteers at a soup kitchen and after lunch he treats three homeless men by taking them to the movies. "We need to encourage one another with the good stories.” (Wilkes Barre TimesLeader)
Iraqi Oil Output Reaches Highest Level Since 2003
Iraq’s oil output hit its highest level in about three years in November, reaching 2.32 million barrels per day, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week.
Geri on BBC Radio Panel This Week
EDITOR’S BLOG – I will be joining a panel Saturday morning on the BBC World Service program, Newshour. One question being discussed: "Does the news media tend to under report the good in place of the bad?" I will be joined by Journalism professor, Adrian Monck, and former Tony Blair media advisor, Lance Price. The show airs around the world (going live at 7:30 AM Eastern), on the web and via satellite radio. Listen for me on 3 other radio programs in the US and Canada next week…
UPS Cuts Fuel Use Dramatically With Fewer Left Turns
It seemed to UPS that sitting in the left lane, engine idling, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear so you can make a left-hand turn, is pretty wasteful, especially when adding up the fuel useage by more than 95,000 big brown trucks delivering packages every day, reports the New York Times.
So the company will utilize a new software program to re-route the vehicles to make them hyper efficient.
(READ the story in New York Times)
Thanks to Rose-Colored News
Free Room at The Inn Helps Families be Together for Holidays
For 19 years, one of the biggest hotel groups in the world has offered free rooms for Thanksgiving and Christmas at all locations in the United States through its “Room In The Inn” Program. Anyone visiting a friend or family member who is hospitalized or in a nursing home or treatment center over the holidays is eligible for a free room at many Marriotts, Hiltons, Comfort Inns and Holiday Inns Express, any of the hotels operated by the Tharaldson Lodging Company.
The idea for extending such holiday hospitality arose many years ago when company owner Gary Tharaldson and his wife Linda were visiting relatives over Christmas and their nine-month-old son became seriously ill. He was hospitalized for several days and they spent that holiday isolated in his hospital room awaiting their sons recovery.
In later years, Linda’s father passed away due to cancer at Thanksgiving time and her brother was killed in a car accident just days before Christmas. Linda became impressed by the burden that the added expense of a hotel room could place upon families, especially during the holidays and the strain of finding lodging — especially in unfamiliar cities. When her husband became owner of a company operating 350 hotels she instituted The Room In The Inn program to offer hotel rooms to families and friends of patients free of charge during Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Paula Harbour has been general manager of the Fairfield Inn in Mansfield, Ohio for 12 years. She’s seen firsthand the joy created by Linda Aamold Tharaldson’s program on the faces of people who don’t even know it exists, but who are are given the discount at check-in.
“I’ve had people come in who told me they were visiting their father in a nursing home for the holidays, and their face just lights up when I tell them about the Room In The Inn Program, especially those of modest means. It’s eighty bucks back in their pocket that they can spend on something else. That’s all because of Linda.”
The Fairfield Inn in Mansfield hosts about 2-3 families each season, on average, and offer rooms on four days, Thanksgiving Day, Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Day and Christmas Eve.
The Mansfield hotel spends time on outreach to hospitals and nursing homes, even assisted care facilities distributing brochures about the program and try to get the word out to help more families.
The Potomac Mills Residence Inn in Woodbridge, VA is calling local newspapers to try to rustle up some publicity for their free rooms. Sales Manager Angela Mitchell says they are “proud to be participating in the Room in the Inn program and want to make it a little easier for people to visit their loved ones in area hospitals, nursing homes and treatment centers on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Eve.”
Every one of the more than 350 hotels managed by Tharaldson Lodging Companies will honor your request for a free room. They include some local hotels like:
Residence Inn by Marriott
Courtyard by Marriott
Springhill Suites by Marriott
TownePlace Suites by Marriott
Fairfield Inn by Marriott
Hampton Inn by Hilton
Homewood Suites by Hilton
Country Inn & Suites
Holiday Inn Express
Comfort Inn
Comfort Inn & Suites
This story originally ran on the Good News Network on November 20, 2006, after Angela contacted us from the new Manassas, VA Residence Inn. During the 2007 holidays she continues her promotion of this great program from the Woodbridge, VA hotel.
DNA Evidence Exonerates GA Man After 30 Years
John Jerome White says Dec. 25 was just another day inside Macon State prison. But this holiday promises to be special. Earlier this month, the 48-year-old was released from prison after serving almost 30 years for rape he didn’t commit. (Video Interview)
Muslims Encouraging Christmas Celebrations in UK Schools
"Muslim leaders join the U.K. Commission for Equality and Human Rights in urging Britons to enjoy Christmas, and not worry about offending non-Christians. The urging comes amid reports of schools cancelling nativity plays in order not to offend Muslims and students of other religions." (Audio at NPR)
Update: Poodle and Pit Bull Live Happily Ever After
"There’s a happy ending to the tale of Vincent, the poodle who fell madly in love with Angel, the abused pit bull, at their foster home (linked from GNN-i). After the story appeared in the newspaper homeowners stepped up willing to take both dogs." (A-J Constitution) Thanks for the follow-up, Steve G.!
Children Send Holiday Wishes to 1,000 Kenyan Peacekeepers
Kenyan children have sent more than 2,000 homemade Christmas and New Years messages to their country’s nearly 1,100 peacekeepers serving under United Nations’ blue helmets in eight missions around the world.
Once Volatile, the German-Polish Crossing Is Dismantled
One of the world’s most tense borders, the gates between Poland and Germany, will be opened for good as Poland today joins the passport-free zone of Western Europe. Thanks to William F. for the tip!
India Starts Putting Street Children in Schools
"Thanks to India’s biggest effort yet to educate every last child, 30 homeless children in a pilot project are given housing and "bridging" classes to help them catch up on lost years of schooling." (Reuters)
2007: A Very Green Year
"There’s a clear trend here. Despite setbacks and delays, the world is now giving serious attention and political support to energy use, pollution limits and the 800-pound gorilla of climate change. Just a year ago, none of this was foreseeable." (A short hopeful analysis in the San Francisco Chronicle)
Saving Plants that Save Lives
Unsustainable collection practices are threatening the survival of many of the plant species used in traditional and modern medicines. After three years of collaboration between conservation groups, the first set of principles and criteria for the sustainable wild collection of medicinal plants was introduced.
Concern over the decline in medicinal and aromatic plant populations and supplies, has been growing for some years and the new standard addresses requests from industry, governments, organic certifiers, resource managers and collectors for a means of assessing the sustainability of wild collection.
A Merry Christmas in Muslim Senegal
“Religious harmony in Senegal is on full display this year as Christmas and the Muslim holiday of Tabaski fall within days of each other” — and the Senegalese enjoy celebrating everything.
READ More in the CS Monitor…
US Accelerates Nuclear Stockpile Cuts
"The United States has accelerated the scrapping of its nuclear weapons, approving a "significant reduction" in the stockpile by the end of the year, the White House said Tuesday. As a result, the US nuclear stockpile will be less than one-quarter its size at the end of the Cold War." (Thanks to William F. for the tip!)
Woman on a Mission to Turn County Around
The executive director of Swaziland for Positive Living is on a mission to alter an impending catastrophe. "In a country with a shocking rate of HIV/AIDS, the women of Swaziland live a life with no rights, no say and no hope – until now. “Give me $3 million and two years, and I’ll mobilize every woman in Swaziland. We’ll turn this country around.” Thanks to Gisèle Guénard for sending this!
New Tree For Every Child in Wales
“A schoolgirl’s idea for a scheme to plant a tree for every child born or adopted in Wales was launched. Parents will receive a certificate and notice of where the tree has been planted.” (BBC) Thanks to William F. for the tip!
Police Reward Good Drivers with Coffee
"Police in a California suburb are stopping law-abiding motorists and rewarding their good driving with $5 Starbucks gift cards." (AP WIre)
“Last Hope” Donor Conference Raises $7.4 Billion for Palestinians
"A donors’ conference in Paris, which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called ‘the last hope’ to avert bankruptcy, has raised 7.4 billion dollars in aid for the cash-starved Palestinian from the US, Europe and Arab countries." (Deutsche Press) Click read more to see a list of countries and contributions.
Documentary Spotlights West African ‘Sisters In Law’
Two women in the West African nation of Cameroon are delivering justice and breaking gender barriers in the courtroom. Their work is the subject of the documentary Sisters-in-Law. (audio at NPR)