Quote of the Day: “Nature is the master of talents; genius is the master of nature.” – Gilbert Holland
Photo by: Alexander Mass
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
Today is Ferragosto, one of the most important public holidays on the Italian calendar. It is a unique institution, in which working people, typically professionals, take trips to the mountains/hills, the sea, or the cities for leisure, and will stay away between one and two weeks on either side of August 15th. Inaugurated by Caesar Augustus, declared holy by the Church as the date of the Assumption of Mary, and turned into a national unity exercise by the Fascists, it is one of the oldest continual public holidays in Europe. READ more about this unique holiday… (18 BCE)
A family-owned restaurant was saved by a gaggle of teenagers after the owner’s wife fell into a coma.
From Hudson, Minnesota comes the story of the team at the heart of Urban Olive & Vine, and their dedication to a woman they’d come to know and love, Carol Trainer.
Along with husband Chad, Carol founded the restaurant and recruited from the 14-18 year-old-age bracket, enjoying the opportunity to pass on critical work experience, and life experience besides, to the “sponge”-like minds of the eager recruits.
But the tables were turned when Carol had a seizure, and entered a comatose state at the hospital that lasted for months. Chad, dutifully at her bedside, says he never asked one favor of his staff: they did it all themselves.
What exactly did they do?
“Without them the restaurant would not exist,” Chad tells Boyd Huppert’s Land of 10,000 Stories at KARE 11. “These kids became adults and ran our business, and took care of me.”
One particular teen adult was 17-year-old Acacia Kunkle, who started coming to work at 5:30 a.m. on her own volition to help open Urban Olive & Vine. She became a leader that others, like 15-year-old Joe Stephenson, looked up to.
Joe and Acacia were among the homeschoolers who kept things going during the day, while the public-school kids were in class.
“Me and Tori mainly, we’d go shopping for Chad,” 16-year-old Lainey Dombrovski says. “I have pictures of like huge carts of stuff and my car would be full of stuff.”
According to an extraordinary story from KARE 11, each teenager took on new roles and new responsibilities. They trained themselves, supported each other, came up with new specials, and, when the time came for it, found time to grieve.
On May 5th, Carol died in the hospital, and Chad closed the restaurant for the staff to attend the funeral.
Afterwards, they slowly, and as surely as before, got back to work; a testament to the discipline and strength they developed during the long months.
WATCH the story below from Boyd Huppert…
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China has forged a type of steel that can withstand the extremely low temperatures and magnetic fields needed to sustain nuclear fusion reactions.
Creating such a material with steel is a feat previously thought impossible by experts working on the famous ITER project in France, of which the leader of this new steel project was a part.
The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project brought together experts from 35 nations to build the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor in southern France.
Nuclear fusion is considered the ideal future energy source. It works by creating a thermonuclear reaction, the same process that powers our Sun, and containing it via superconducting magnets for brief periods of time to generate zero-emission energy in vast quantities.
It’s one of a handful of truly era-defining technologies humans are working towards, and physicists have faced numerous challenges in developing it. At the heart of a fusion reactor are superconducting magnets coated in a jacket of cryogenic steel. The steel must be capable of protecting the magnets from near absolute zero-temperatures, but also of withstanding the incredible forces generated by them.
Li Laifeng, at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ (CAS) Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry in Beijing, observed how this steel could withstand the pressures of ITER, but future, more powerful—also more compact reactors—would need more advanced steel.
This took Li on a 12-year journey to create what ITER experts thought was impossible.
Reporting on those early days to a Chinese science outlet, Science Daily, Li said that Western experts in the field thought that ‘316LN austenitic stainless steel,’ a specialized alloy designed for extreme conditions and used in ITER and capable of withstanding 11.8 Tesla magnetic fields, would be sufficient for future fusion projects.
Li doubted that, and allied with top scientists in the field of cryogenics and materials sciences, believed it was worth pursuing a better alloy.
In 2021, the CAS Institute of Plasma Physics in Hefei province set the benchmark for what the country’s own national fusion program would require to be successful—benchmarks that 316LNa steel could not meet.
Eventually, Li Laifeng was in charge of the High-Strength Steel Research Alliance, comprising 4 scientific institutes and 13 enterprises. According to South China Morning Post, “China high-strength low-temperature steel No. 1 (CHSN01) successfully met the institute’s benchmarks, showing the capability of resisting 20 Tesla fields, 1,300 megapascals of stress, and the low temperatures which protect the device from the heat generated by nuclear fusion.
OTHER IMPRESSIVE PROJECTS: World’s First Diamond Battery Could Power Spacecraft and Pacemakers for Thousands of Years
500 tons of this steel is now in production for China’s Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak, slated for completion in 2027 to replace its older fusion system.
Nuclear fusion has come on leaps and bounds over the last 5 years, with multiple milestones being set in several different countries. There’s more than one way to generate power through nuclear fusion, and the distributed work going on in Japan, China, Australia, the EU, and multiple locations in the US is leading to distributed advancements not only in the materials reactors are built with, but also in the efficiency of power generation, which until recently was always less than the energy required to operate a reactor.
MORE CHINA NEWS: Mercury Emissions Fall 70% Over the Last Four Decades Thanks to UN Treaty, Coal Phase-Out
Unlike nuclear fission—the splitting of atoms—fusion produces no radioactive waste. The tens of millions of degrees of heat present inside the fusion chamber require immense physical forces to generate and contain them. Any malfunction that results in the interruption of those forces has the result more akin to the blowing out of a candle rather than the detonation of an H-bomb.
Time will tell whether CHSN01 is successful in shielding fusion into real-world efficacy.
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A Jamaican university student has invented a self-cleaning door handle that’s been described as a “life-saving design that fits” the reality of the Caribbean.
Using ultraviolet light, similar to various automatic cleaning devices invented and deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it kills 99.9% of pathogens while being safe for humans and animals.
Bacteria multiplies and spreads fast in the tropical climate of the Caribbean, so it’s the ideal product for hospitals and other public buildings.
Inventor Rayvon Stewart won Jamaica’s Prime Minister’s National Youth Award and the Commonwealth Health Innovations Awards in the process of seeking a patent under international intellectual property law.
His story would be that of the classic second-generation immigrant to America: if he were one. But since he isn’t, Stewart and others view it as an outgrowth of the Caribbean’s growing science and engineering talent pool.
He and his cousin were the first in his family to attend university, having grown up in rough agricultural conditions on Jamaica’s Mount Prospect.
“Even though times were tough, we never really thought about that. We knew that we had something to do as a family,” Stewart told the Guardian.
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At Jamaica’s University of Technology he fell in love with inventing. He worked on a software that allowed people to virtually try on clothes, before a stint of volunteering in a hospital revealed the need for better sanitation.
Called Xermosol, the door handle is shaped a little like Pac-Man. About two-thirds of the circular handle houses the technological components beneath a grey shell, while the part you grab to open the door is under a set of ultraviolet lights that activate via a touch sensor. It takes about 30 seconds to disinfect the handle.
MORE INVENTORS: Pee From Runners at the London Marathon is Going to Be Turned into Fertilizer for Wheat
Dr. Camille-Ann Thoms-Rodriguez, a University of the West Indies consultant microbiologist, said of Stewart that “we’re very proud of him.”
“A lot of the innovation that we see in healthcare is often from a first-world country where there are more resources … but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have good ideas here,” she added.
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In the far northern reaches of Canada, an agreement has been made to give stewardship over an area twice the size of Florida to a coalition of First Nations.
For the purposes of conservation, $375 million will help build sustainable, resilient local economies not based on extraction that will see 150,000 square miles of land and fresh water protected in the long term.
Penned in Yellowknife, the largest settlement in the Northwest Territories, it’s called the NWT: Our Land for the Future Trust, and is the largest agreement of its kind in North America.
“This document we signed today has been a long time in the making. It reflects years of collaboration and commitment from indigenous leaders across the North,” said Chief Ernest Betsina of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, one of 21 that are included in the agreement.
“It reflects our shared understanding that indigenous people have always been the stewards of the land. And it’s time for that responsibility to be recognized and supported.”
The land area of the Northwest Territories is roughly equal to that of France, Portugal and Spain combined, although its overall area is even larger because of its vast lakes. Over 12,000 members of various First Nations’ people lived there as of 2021, making up over 40% of the territory’s population.
The Canadian government wrote that the agreement will help protect new and existing conserved areas in the territory including some of the world’s most intact boreal and tundra ecosystems.
LAND BACK STORIES:
Over time, it aims to conserve and steward up to 150,000 square miles of lands and inland waters in the Northwest Territories, and will be a significant contribution to Canada’s goal of conserving 30% of lands and waters by 2030, a goal which many nations are pursuing following an agreement at the UN made four years ago.
Several nations are significantly pursuing this goal, with Australia well on their way to achieving it by the 2030 deadline.
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Quote of the Day: “Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.” – David Wilkerson
Photo by: Alexander Mass
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
80 years ago today, Harry Truman announced the end of World War II. The American president told the public that Japan had surrendered unconditionally—a news report that led to joyous pandemonium in New York City, where celebrations began in Time Square. READ about this famous photo… (1945)
From Mexico comes the story of a heroic diving instructor, who was injured in the process of saving a group he was leading.
Manolo Acuña Zepeda, a beloved and experienced divemaster in Cozumel, risked his life to save a group of divers from an oncoming speed boat illegally operating over Yucab Reef.
This beautiful reef is typically done as a second dive following a deeper dive, and is of intermediate experience. The trick is to remain calm and allow yourself to drift in the strong current to reduce your oxygen consumption rate.
On July 25th, Zepeda was leading a dive over Yucab when he saw a speedboat, in the area illegally, coming right for his group. He heroically pushed his divers out of the path, but was struck and severely injured by the boat’s propellers.
A GoFundMe set up by fellow diver John Flynn of Sand Dollar Sports, said that his colleague faces a long, painful recovery, as the propeller broke his leg. The medical costs were to be substantial in Cozumel International Hospital.
The response from the dive community has been immense, with the GoFundMe receiving 92% of the needed funds to cover all medical and rehab costs.
He underwent his first surgery to stabilize a compound fracture in his right tibia in late August, and then another to repair his broken fibula.
He lost a significant amount of blood and, despite multiple transfusions, his hemoglobin remained dangerously low in advance of the second surgery. Blood donations from the dive community covered the deficit.
GREAT GOFUNDMES:
On August 8th, Zepeda was discharged from the hospital, with bones capable of healing on them own, and hyperbaric treatments to help speed him along.
“Manolo will begin physical therapy and respiratory therapy shortly after discharge,” Flynn wrote in an August 7th update. “An at-home nurse will visit regularly to assist with his care. His family had to rent another house to accommodate his wheelchair.”
Almost $50,000 was raised for the medical bills, ensuring that Zepeda will enjoy his favorite activity once again.
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A trio of brave locals were honored recently when a small plane crashed in Florida.
Catching fire almost immediately, and with all souls both still alive and yet trapped inside, residents rushed to their aid, receiving the hero’s commendation from the Boca Raton PD.
The small Cessna Skymaster aircraft was approaching North Perry Airport when it crashed into a tree.
“It was a miracle no homes were hit,” said Laura Ingram, a mother of three who lives two houses down from the crash site. “We heard this weird sputtering noise, and then boom—it sounded like a car explosion. We ran outside and just saw smoke and fire coming from behind the trees.”
The passengers: the pilot, an adult, and two children, all survived with non-life-threatening injuries.
But there was no time to celebrate as black smoke began to fill the cabin. Phone camera footage shows a group of locals coming to the rescue. One brings an axe, another a hose to battle the growing blaze.
Their efforts ensured all four were rescued and the fire was put out.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Tourists Stranded After Kangaroo Crash Receive 23 Days of ‘Unforgettable’ Help from Loving Locals
Honored in front of the county, one rescuer, Eddie Crispin, said he was more intimidated receiving the award in front of the cameras than when it was time to be a hero.
“My neighbor, where the plane actually crashed, had a water hose and was hosing the plane down. Another guy showed up with the axe; he was actually trying to break the window. It was just pretty much all going on at the exact same time. But we did pull them out one by one,” Crispin told Fox News.
WATCH the story below from WPLG…
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For years, a wasting disease has been turning sea stars to goo off the California coast. Scientists now finally know the cause, and are beginning to fight back.
Whether it has over 20 arms like the sunflower sea star, or just 5, billions of Pacific sea stars were being wiped out by an unknown assailant.
After four years of experiments from a huge collaborative effort led by the Hakai Institute, biologists finally identified the culprit: a kind of bacteria called Vibrio.
Devastating to coral, shellfish, and human beings, this strain of Vibrio has been labeled FHCF-3. The scientists determined it was the cause of the epidemic by examining what might be called the sea star’s blood. It doesn’t have blood as we would recognize it, but a circulatory fluid called coelomic fluid.
As to what is causing the spread of FHCF-3, ranging from Washington state down to the Baja Peninsula, the scientists point to warming waters.
“We have evidence that there is a link between increasing ocean temperatures and this sea star wasting disease epidemic,” said Melanie Prentice, one of the co-authors of the paper published on the discovery in Nature, to CBS News.
Sunflower sea stars, one of the species that’s been most affected, are voracious eaters of sea urchins. This slow motion game of lion and gazelle plays out on the seafloor and on reefs, and is a major cog in the overall machine of marine ecosystem stability.
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Themselves voracious eaters of kelp, the urchins were unleashed following the sea star’s decline, and like the bacteria that decimated the sea stars, the urchins devastated the kelp.
With the cause identified, a large collaboration involving Prentice’s Hakai Institute, as well as the universities of British Columbia and Washington, the Nature Conservancy, Tula Foundation, US Geological Survey, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, are beginning to plan strategies for the sea stars’ recovery.
MORE MARINE BALANCE: Out-of-Control Invasive Crab Species Has Met its Match: Cute and Hungry Otters
A breeding program for sunflower stars was set up between the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Birch Aquarium, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and the Sunflower Star Laboratory. Hundreds have already been raised, and biologists can now screen for the pathogen routinely.
Some of the juveniles are living in these aquariums, where members of the public can learn about the sea stars’ struggle to survive, and the critical role they play in the ecosystem.
WATCH the story below from CBS News’ ‘Project Earth’ segment…
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Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story stated that the collaborative project was led by the California Institute of Marine Sciences. This has since been corrected to the Hakai Institute.
Government earthquake alert systems are now being supplemented around the world with Google accelerometer data on smartphones and smartwatches, effectively creating a Google-wide early warning system.
The system has increased the number of people in earthquake risk zones capable of receiving alerts by 1,000%, with 2024 seeing over 2 billion devices receiving one.
Called the Android Earthquakes Alert system (AEA), it uses data from Android-powered devices to capture the faint signal of P-waves, a seismic tremor that precedes the more destructive S-waves.
Using the network of devices like a giant sponge, it’s a kind of detection through crowdsourcing, and allows the AEA network to predict where earthquakes may strike, and how powerful they will come to be based on the sheer preponderous of data.
So far, AEA has sent out alerts for 11,000 quakes in 98 countries, with 85% of Google-device users report having received an alert.
“Earthquakes are a constant threat to communities around the globe. While we’ve gotten good at knowing where they’re likely to strike, we still face devastating consequences when they do,” Google representatives wrote in a statement.
“What if we could give people a few precious seconds of warning before the shaking starts? Those seconds can be enough time to get off a ladder, move away from dangerous objects and take cover.”
Wealthier countries like China, South Korea, and Mexico have sophisticated early warning systems, but poorer nations may not be able to acquire the seismographic equipment and scientists required to staff a detection station 24/7/365.
The AEA, though rudimentary by comparison, offers a potentially lifesaving stopgap. For example, during the 2023 earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, the AEA significantly underestimated the magnitude of the event.
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Estimating the correct magnitude can allow a warning system to judge how far a quake will travel, and who needs to be alerted.
“Getting this right is crucial—underestimate, and you might not warn people in danger; overestimate, and you risk sending out false alarms that erode public trust,” Google added.
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“The challenge lies in the trade-off between speed and accuracy. The first few seconds of an earthquake provide limited data, but every second you wait to issue an alert is a second less of warning for those in the path of the shaking.”
It’s not the first instance of Google using its data for good. It also issues flash flood warnings from its Flood Hub project. In the 2023 monsoon season of India, over 25 million flood alerts were sent out to India and Bangladesh.
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Quote of the Day: “I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.” – Benjamin Disraeli
Photo by: Ross Stone
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
61 years ago today, The Beatles’ first film A Hard Day’s Night, opened in theaters across America, earning rave reviews and box office success. Described as a “comedic Fantasia with music,” the film was a financial and critical success and was nominated for two Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay. Forty years after its release, TIME Magazine rated it as one of the 100 all-time great films. READ about the film’s impact on cinema… (1964)
His dream was coming true.
Stadium lights were shining in the nighttime Carolina sky. Fans dressed in their team’s trademark black and blue colors filled the stands. And 12-year-old Jase Garland was heading out onto the field, going into an NFL game for the Carolina Panthers.
After everything he’d been through, the experience meant even more.
Two years ago, his mom, Erin, started to notice bruises building up on her son’s body. which led to a troubling diagnosis. The Asheville, North Carolina boy had Myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare bone condition that can lead to leukemia—and Jase would need a bone marrow transplant.
Last year, after the boy got his transplant, the Make-A-Wish Foundation notified him that he could choose a dream to help carry him through his recovery, giving him something to look forward to amid endless doctor appointments.
Jase wanted to be the quarterback for the Carolina Panthers.
Indeed, visions of him wearing that black, blue, and silver uniform uplifted the football-obsessed kid through all the challenges that he faced and all the pain that he endured.
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Finally this month, Make-A-Wish and the Carolina Panthers made his dream come true. Garland, who will enter seventh grade this fall, got to suit-up and take the field with his team.
He met head coach Dave Canales and Panther quarterbacks Bryce Young and Andy Dalton. He signed a contract with the team’s general manager, Dan Morgan, and drew up a play with offensive coordinator, Brad Idzik.
He hit the weight room with a few players, met the team’s mascot SirPurr, and received the long-awaited helmet and jersey— #26 — with his last name stitched across the back.
Finally, during the intra-squad scrimmage at Panthers’ Fan Fest night August 2nd, coaches sent Jase out onto the field. He took the ball on a handoff just inside the 10-yard-line, raced around the left end and headed toward the end zone.
Touchdown!
The Panthers players circled around him to celebrate. Jase did a couple of dance moves. Center Austin Corbett picked him up in the air, a little like how baby Simba was lifted above Pride Rock in The Lion King movie.
For a moment, joy banished all the fears and anxieties from his family—and Jase’s touchdown was an exclamation point on how he handled the whole ordeal.
“So it sounds maybe cliche,” Erin Garland began in a feature story by the Carolina Panthers. “…He’s just taking this like a champ because he’s had to be away from everybody for so long, so it’s just, it’s been—I’m impressed. I’m very impressed by him.”
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The Carolina Panthers and the Make-A-Wish Foundation gave Jase a spotlight and a chance to chase his dream. And when the opportunity arose just inside the 10-yard-line, Jase did the exact same thing he’s been doing since he first received the dreadful diagnosis.
He raced past all the obstacles until he found his triumph on the other side.
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A tortoise that had been missing for a month after escaping her garden was found three miles away—having gone on the run at a brisk pace of 0.0041 miles per hour.
The Hermann’s tortoise named Matilda managed to scale a zucchini plant to pull off her daring escape and slow getaway in early July.
The 10-year-old reptile then managed to negotiate several neighbor’s’ fences, dodge cars while crossing a road, and traverse a stream in the Leicestershire countryside of England.
Owner Sallyanne Brooksbank said she’d given up hope of seeing Matilda again after a month without any sightings.
But the tiny runaway reptile, which is barely the size of a saucer, was discovered last week in a field by pedestrians who were concerned about its safety so brought it into a local clothing shop.
Sallyanne then spotted her missing tortoise on Facebook when the shopkeeper posted about the discovery online.
Shop owner David Howley wrote: “The young girl thought she was going to tread on it because it was so well hidden. She put it in her t-shirt and brought it here.”
From the moment the tortoise was discovered it took just a little over four hours until the woman called to inquire about Matilda.
“She had a mark on her and they described it perfectly, they lived around three miles away so she had moved like a rocket,” the shopkeeper joked.
Delighted at her good fortune, Sallyanne has now been reunited with her beloved pet and says it was a “miracle” she survived after traveling the impressive distance.
“We searched the garden over and over, and I thought we’d never see her again,” the 55-year-old told SWNS news. “She must have had quite an adventure.”
Sallyanne believes her tortoise headed in the direction of the nearby village of Sewstern, somehow surviving busy roads and water crossings.
“We wish she could speak.”
The last time she was home, she was inside a raised garden bed made of wood, about 12 inches tall and full of veggies and bean plants.
SLOW AND STEADY WINS: After 9 Months on the Run, Escaped English Tortoise Found 1 Mile from Home Having Hibernated Through Winter
“It’s dug out to make sure she can’t get out, so she either climbed or just jumped out of it.
“She’s not very agile, but I think she may have climbed up a courgette stalk (a British zucchini) to get out of the garden.
“She has tiny claws and we think she clawed up the stem of the plants. She then headed off in the direction of Sewstern.
“We’ve been trying to work out her route, but it has to have been through several fences, across fields, a ditch, a road, a stream and who knows what else.
“She would’ve definitely crossed roads and dodged cars.”
The family don’t know who found their cherished pet, but they hope to eventually track them down and thank them.
“She could have been attacked by badgers or foxes or squashed by a car, but she seems fine.
“There are no marks on her shell, and she gobbled up the food we gave her.
“She seems happy to be home, and I know we are happy to have her back.
“We bought her for my son Rory when he was 12-years-old back in September 2013.”
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“She was a hatchling and only the size of a coin. She was tiny.
“The people who picked her up were walking towards Sewsterns when they spotted her. It’s amazing they saw her really.
“I’m very nervous about leaving her out at night now. She’s proved to be very adventurous indeed.”
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After 30 years and 1,200 games, the phone call that Jen Pawol was waiting for finally arrived earlier this week.
You’re going to the big leagues—and you’re going to make history.
Just like that, Pawol became the first female umpire in Major League Baseball history on Saturday, when she worked first base in the opening game of the Miami Marlins/Atlanta Braves doubleheader.
She worked third base during the second game of the doubleheader and then moved behind home plate to become the head umpire for Sunday’s matchup.
It was a busy weekend for sure, but a historic one.
“It was pretty amazing when we took the field, and it seemed like quite a few people started clapping and saying my name,” Pawol told MLB.com. “So that was pretty intense and very emotional.”
Pawol spent seven years working NCAA softball games before breaking into professional baseball. Since then, she’s paid her dues and climbed the ranks, working through the rookie and minor leagues before becoming the first female to umpire a Triple A Championship game in 2023.
Still, one more level loomed up ahead, and that one held an even bigger milestone.
Major League Baseball was formed in 1903, but the organization had never had a female umpire —until now.
The black hat she wore in the game is headed to Cooperstown, New York, inthe Baseball Hall of Fame.
Chris Guccione, who served as crew chief at Saturday’s game, said it was thrilling. “It gives me chills… even thinking about it and the magnitude. I was just sitting here (and) it kind of just hit me just now. I have a daughter, and she was so excited to meet Jen. And this is just a great role model for girls and women out there.”
MEANWHILE, IN FOOTBALL: It’s Official: NFL Scores Big By Hiring First Female Referee
At 48 years old, Pawol’s big league career is only getting started. “It’s just incredible,” she said.
“The dream actually came true today, and I’m still living in it.”
WATCH the moment below…
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This is the touching moment a rugby team carried a wheelchair-bound dad to the summit of Snowdon—helping to fulfill his lifelong dream.
Members of Bangor Rugby Club helped Phil Thompson to the Welsh mountain’s 3650-foot peak earlier this month.
The 66-year-old has always wanted to reach the top of Snowdon but thought it would be impossible after a motorbike accident at 19.
Phil’s 29-year-old son, Sam Thompson, plays for Bangor and when Mark Owen on the team heard about the dream, he knew he could make it happen.
The club had already been planning a fundraising trip up Snowdon (aka Wyddfa), so this tied in perfectly.
“It wasn’t what we’d initially planned, but it ended up being the perfect addition to our fundraiser,” said Mark, from Bangor, in northeast Wales.
“Bangor Rugby Club is very community-focused, and Phil hasn’t missed a game in over a year, come rain or shine.
“So, when I heard that reaching the Snowdon summit had always been a dream of Phil’s, it felt only right to help him get there,” the 41-year-old told SWNS news agency.
Mark began planning the fundraiser in early May after hearing that some of their funding had been cut by the Welsh Rugby Union. As an active member of Bangor Rugby Club, he wanted to ensure they’d be able to keep offering their youth activities.
“When we heard the WRU were cutting our funding, we weren’t necessarily surprised,” recalled Mark. “That’s why I thought we should do something ourselves.
“I’d initially thought we’d climb Snowdon carrying tackle bags, which most people were on-board for. Then, Sam mentioned to me about his dad and how he’d always wanted to summit Snowdon…”
Phil had an unfortunate motorcycle accident when he was 19 and has been in a wheelchair ever since.
Mark said: “Hearing this part of his story made me really want to help, and it fit perfectly with what the fundraiser should represent.
“It was a no-brainer that we wanted to include him, it was just about how we could do it.”
Mark had initially talked with Snowdonia Park to organize an electric wheelchair to take Phil from Camp Llanberis to the summit, but, just days before the event, they learned the wheelchair could only be used on another route—and only go part way up.
So they decided to see if they could get a frame so they could carry Phil in the chair.
“It was just three days before the climb, so we were all a bit panicked. Luckily, we found an amazing welding company, Pro Weld in Caernarfon, who sorted us a frame for free within the allotted time.
“The last minute save meant the whole fundraiser was actually able to go ahead.”
On the day of the climb, everyone met at the club premises at 5am and set off. The majority of the team started from the bottom, carrying tackle bags, until they reached Camp Llanberis where Phil was waiting.
Everyone partaking in the fundraiser over the age of 16 helped carry Phil up Snowdon until they reached the peak over three hours later.
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“It was a really touching moment,” said Mark. “Sam got quite emotional at the top and thanked everyone, telling them what it meant to him and his dad.
“I know Phil is not a very emotional guy, but I saw he had a moment looking out from the peak.”
MORE WELSH NEWS: Mythical Welsh Kingdom Drowned by the Sea Could Have Existed According to Glacier Research and Famous Map
As well as helping Phil check off a bucket list item, the GoFundMe campaign succeeded in raising over $2,100 in the first week following the event.
“A special thanks to Pro Weld in Caernarfon for fabricating the frame around the wheelchair,” the club wrote on Facebook. “Your skill and generosity made this possible.”
“This challenge showed what our club is truly about – community, determination, and looking out for one another. Here’s to many more!”
SHOUT THIS KINDNESS FROM A MOUNTAINTOP – And Share on Social Media…
Quote of the Day: “When ambition ends, happiness begins.” – Thomas Merton
Photo by: Shad Meeg
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quote of the Day page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
174 years ago today, Issac Singer received his patent for the improved sewing machine, paving the way for his eventual invention to spread across the world. The biggest change was that Singer concluded, after being invited to look at some sewing machines at the business of a friend, that the sewing machine would be more reliable if the shuttle moved in a straight line rather than a circle, with a straight rather than a curved needle. READ what happened next… (1851)
