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If You Do What You Love for Fun, Your Peers Will Be the First to Hire You (Then Companies Will Follow)

By
Ryan Morris
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The Lesson: When we think about starting our professional career, we typically find the most successful companies in the field and then scheme up ways to work for them; however, many incredibly successful producers, artists, engineers, and writers started doing their work simply for the pure fun of it – and then they got their first paid gigs from friends, peers, and acquaintances.

Notable Excerpt: “…a friend of mine loved making videos. Because she found it so fun, she volunteered to make a video for the end-of-year party for her son’s kindergarten class. A fellow parent was so impressed, that he hired her to do a trailer for his book – and that became her first gig in professional video production.

The Host: Dubbed a “Happiness Guru”, best-selling author Gretchen Rubin started her career in law and was clerking at the Supreme Court when she realized she wanted to be a writer. To date, the Manhattan-based speaker has written several biographies, self-help guides, and indexes on the happiest places and practices in the world.

Podcast: Her top-ranking, award-winning podcast, “Happier with Gretchen Rubin,” which discusses happiness and good habits.

Books: Rubin is the author of “The Happiness Project”, which spent two years on the New York Times bestsellers list. Her books, including “The Four Tendencies”, “Happier at Home”, and “Better Than Before”, have sold almost three million copies worldwide in more than thirty languages. Additionally, Rob Lowe has published an autobiography called “Stories I Only Tell My Friends” and a collection of romantic memoirs called “Love Life”.

(LISTEN to the inspiring talk below) – Feature photo by Bryan Van Wagner

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Bus Driver Saves Money From Every Paycheck to Buy Christmas Presents for All 70 of His Students

By
McKinley Corbley
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A compassionate school bus driver went above and beyond the call of duty to show his students how much he cares.

Curtis Jenkins has worked as a bus driver for his school district in Dallas, Texas for seven years. This year, however, he wanted to do something special for his little passengers during the holiday season.

Originally, Jenkins wanted to host a gift exchange, but his wife remarked on how some of the students’ parents might not be able to afford a gift.

So instead of facilitating an exchange, he simply started saving money from his pay checks to buy gifts for all 70 of his students from Lake Highlands Elementary School.

RELATED: Dying 86-Year-old Bought 14 Years Worth of Christmas Gifts for His 2-Year-old Neighbor

After asking each student what they wanted for Christmas, he waited until the last school day before winter break to load up his bus with wrapped gifts and dole them out to the kids.

“When I opened that door, one of the kids asked me, ‘Are you Santa?’” Jenkins told KXAS. “Seeing those faces on the kids was more than anything I could ever do with the money.”

Though Jenkins was happy to fulfill his labor of love on his own, he says that he also received some financial contributions from a co-worker and a compassionate parent who was touched by his gesture.

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Smart Caption Glasses Allow Deaf Audience Members to Watch Live Theater Performers Directly

By
McKinley Corbley
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Deaf people can now enjoy live theatrical performances more than ever before thanks to these new “smart caption glasses”.

The Royal National Theater in London has been piloting the glasses with their audience members who may be deaf or hard of hearing.

While sign language interpreters are often made available for certain performances, they are not always present for some of the shows. The glasses, on the other hand, use lighting, timing, and stages cues to display the scripted dialogue on the inside of the lenses. Even if an actor skips a few lines of dialogue, the glasses will be able to detect the change and display the correct scripting.

This way, spectators can watch the actors while reading the dialogue.

LOOK: 15-Year-old Melts the Hearts of Airline Passengers When She Befriends Blind and Deaf Passenger

After several months of testing the glasses, the National Theater will be making the glasses available for all of their performances starting in 2019 free of charge.

Additionally, the manufacturer of the glasses hopes that the technology will soon be made available in theaters around the world.

“This new technology allows the deaf and hard of hearing to have complete access,” Sarina Roffé, the former president of the National Cued Speech Association, told CNN. “It’s really amazing how far we’ve advanced and how it has positively affected the quality of life for people who are deaf and hard of hearing.”

(WATCH the explanatory video below)

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When Man Finds Balloon With Girl’s Christmas List, He Travels to Mexico to Deliver

By
McKinley Corbley
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Despite being separated by an international border, an American man was able to make a Mexican girl’s Christmas wish come true after he found it tied to the string of a balloon in the desert.

Randy Heiss had been out on a walk with his dog in Patagonia, Arizona when he saw a deflated red balloon trapped in some shrubs. More peculiarly, there was a little note attached to the string.

The note, which was written in Spanish, was a Christmas list that was addressed to Santa from a little girl named Dayami. The sweet youngster simply said that she wanted some paints and new clothes for Christmas.

Heiss was moved by the letter, not just because of its innocence, but also because he used to send letters to Santa the very same way – so he became dedicated to fulfilling the child’s Christmas wish.

RELATED: Dying 86-Year-old Bought 14 Years Worth of Christmas Gifts for His 2-Year-old Neighbor

“It really touched my heart to find it and I said well how in the heck am I going to be able to figure out how to make contact with this little girl and make her wishes come true,” Heiss told KVOA.

He took to social media, hoping to find someone who could put him in contact with the family. With Christmas looming ever closer, Heiss eventually approached a Mexican radio station for help, and within one hour of them broadcasting his story, he was connected with Dayami’s family in Nogales, Sonora.

Delighted for an opportunity to bring some holiday magic to the family, Heiss ditched work to go shopping for Dayami’s gifts at Walmart and bring them down to Nogales.

LOOK: Family Accidentally Transforms Weed Growing From the Sidewalk into a Beloved Charlie Brown Tree

Dayami’s family was extremely grateful for the gesture, and Heiss and his wife were careful about telling the kids that the gifts were from Santa.

The gesture didn’t just bring an immense amount of joy to Dayami’s family, either – Heiss says that it meant a great deal to him and his wife as well.

“We lost our son nine years ago,” Heiss told the news outlet. “So we don’t have grandchildren in our future and so really getting to share Christmas with kids was something that’s been missing in our lives.”

Furthermore, Heiss has stayed in touch with Dayami’s parents through social media, and they are quickly becoming extensions of each other’s families – all thanks to his act of Christmas compassion.

(WATCH the video below) – Photos by Randy Heiss

Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media

Man Donated Hundreds of Thousands of Miles to Strangers, Reuniting Families for the Holidays

By
Ryan Morris
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For the past 5 years, motivational speaker and frequent traveler Peter Shankman has donated his flyer miles to those in need – this year his donation exceeded 200,000 miles.

After realizing he had no use for his flyer miles, and no desire to use them, Shankman started giving his miles to close friends, family, and colleagues.  Once he saw how many remained in his account at the end of each year, he started a contest in which the miles were gifted to people in need.

After his contest became popular on the social media site Imgur, others began donating their miles as well, collectively totaling 300,000 miles for this year’s contest.

In order to win a portion of the miles, individuals who need to fly home for the holidays, but have no means to do so, write a post detailing why they’d like to fly home.  This year 5 families were reunited after writing in for the contest.

WATCH: Tears Flow as 88-Year-old Finally Meets Biological Daughter She Thought Died At Birth

“I can’t think of a better way to use [frequent flier] miles,” Shankman told The Washington Post. “The moon is almost 250,000 miles away, and I travel more than that annually.”

Sarah Latham, a winner of this year’s contest, was struggling to find a way to New York so she could visit her ailing grandfather. With his condition worsening and doctors claiming there wasn’t much time left, Latham knew she wanted to see him at least one last time. Prior to winning Shankman’s contest, purchasing a round-trip wasn’t possible without sending her family deeper into debt. 

RELATED: Woman Realizes the Old Dog She Just Adopted Was Same One She Had as a Child

“I’m happy I won because now I have the opportunity for one last memory,” she told The Post. “After my dad died, the relationship I have with my grandfather became even more important than I have words to describe. This is my trip to say goodbye.”

In addition to sending Latham to New York, the miles were also gifted to a couple in Los Angeles so that they could be with their family in Utah, and to send two brothers in San Diego to North Carolina, where they will be visiting their mother for the first time in years.

Fly This Sweet Story Of Kindness Over To Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Ira Shankman

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent Peale

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Photo: by Can Pac Swire, CC license on Flickr

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

“One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” – Andy Rooney

By
Good News Network
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Rjcox – CC license

Quote of the Day: “One of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the living room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.” – Andy Rooney

Photo: by rjcox, CC license on Flickr

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

7 Ways to Navigate Uncomfortable Conversations at the Holiday Dinner Table

By
Good News Network
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Credit: Didriks

Oh the holidays!

We may love our family and enjoy seeing them, but we may also have very differing perspectives on the world. Family gatherings seem to be a catalyst for uncomfortable conversations with family members, whether it be about politics, religion or just having to update the entire family on your life. After a challenging political season and vastly differing views on certain topics, some may consider sitting out the holidays all together. Although the holidays are a time to be grateful for the people you’re bonded with for life, it can sometimes be difficult. The holidays bring together a lot of opinions and personalities which pave the way for awkward moments. Fortunately, we have 7 tips to help you survive the uncomfortable conversations you may be about to have with family.

1. Ask the Host for a Debate Free Zone. Whether you’re the host of the family gathering or someone else, ask that “hot” topics not be discussed during the gathering. This could pertain to politics, religion or known differences in opinion. Family will be more likely to come and with a good attitude if they know controversial topics will be avoided.

RELATED: Grandma Accidentally Invites Stranger to Thanksgiving, Tells Him to Come Anyway

2. Realize You Probably Can’t Change Opinions of Others. You can avoid arguments by realizing something you’ve probably figured out in life on your own already—trying to change someone’s opinion (especially an older family member)—is just about useless. People don’t change their mind by arguing with them. Attempting to change your uncle’s mind will only get you both more defensive of your opinions.

3. Be Ok With Silence. Maybe the conversation is uncomfortable because you have nothing in common with a relative. If this happens, don’t try to say something for the sake of talking. Be okay with the silence and use it to plan something intelligent to say. Too many awkward moments happen when we feel the need to blurt out something, to realize a moment later we just stuck our foot in our mouth.

4. Change the Subject. Sometimes tricky, sometimes smooth, changing the subject is almost a conversational art. You can deflect an uncomfortable question by responding vaguely or look at others around you to join in so you’re not alone handling a response. Don’t be afraid to mention something random either. Like you just remembered something cool you wanted to share. You’d just need to think of something on the spot.

MORE: What Mindfulness Has Taught Me About My Father’s Suicide

5. Plan Indoor Activities. Where there’s entertainment, there’s little time for debate. Keep the party going by planning activities for everyone to enjoy. Bring out the board games, plug in the karaoke machine, plan a craft table, and have family bring instruments if they play one and get a sing-a-long going. Who doesn’t love a good holiday movie? Play a good movie family can watch together like Miracle on 34th Street or Home Alone. This will insure the guests have sweet memories about the holiday vs. negative ones.

6. Plan Outdoor Activities. Fresh Air and exercise are good for everyone’s mind, body and spirit. If the weather is cooperative, organize an outing for ice skating or snow shoeing. If there’s snow, gather the troops for a snowman building contest. At the very least, get those who are interested out for a quick walk or a drive to view holiday lights.

CHECK OUT: Muslim-Owned Restaurant Offers Free Christmas Meal For Homeless and Elderly

7. Stay Confident. Our families are often our biggest critics. A family gathering may bring with it a smorgasbord of opinions and advice from aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. And they all like to put in their two cents about what you should be doing in life. In situations like this, remain confident. They don’t live your life and although you’ll listen to their advice, you don’t have to follow it.

Don’t let the anticipation of uncomfortable conversations with family bring you down this holiday season. Keep your chin up, go with a good attitude and enjoy the holidays!

Justin Lavelle is Communications Director at PeopleLooker. PeopleLooker is the fast, affordable, and easy way to access public records and search for people. Find out ages, marital status, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, criminal records, and more. PeopleLooker is a popular tool for online daters who use the app to check the background of potential dates.

Click To Share These Helpful Tips With Your Friends – Photo by Didriks, CC

Undersea Robot Just Delivered 100,000 Heat-Resistant Baby Corals to the Great Barrier Reef

By
Good News Network
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In a world first, a small robot was deployed to plant thousands of baby coral in a mass repopulation project for the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

The LarvalBot is a briefcase-sized underwater drone that recently dispersed over 100,000 microscopic heat-resistant coral larvae across damaged segments of reef.

In a bid to protect the marine life from climate change, the coral larvae was derived from species that have been shown to be especially tolerant of warmer waters. Scientists will monitor the reefs during the coming months to ensure that the larvae grows properly – and if it proves to be successful, researchers plan on developing the LarvalBot so that it can deploy millions more coral larvae in the future.

Furthermore, they hope to deploy a small army of LarvalBots that will be able to repopulate coral reefs around the world.

RELATED: Man Postpones Retirement to Save Reefs After He Accidentally Discovers How to Make Coral Grow 40 Times Faster

“This year represents a big step up for our larval restoration research and the first time we’ve been able to capture coral spawn on a bigger scale using large floating spawn catchers then rearing them into tiny coral larvae in our specially constructed larval pools and settling them on damaged reef areas,” said Professor Peter Harrison from Southern Cross University, one of the colleges that helped to develop the project.

“With further research and refinement, this technique has enormous potential to operate across large areas of reef and multiple sites in a way that hasn’t previously been possible,” he added. “We’ll be closely monitoring the progress of settled baby corals over coming months and working to refine both the technology and the technique to scale up further in 2019.”

(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Gary Cranitch / Queensland Museum / Great Barrier Reef Foundation

Water You Waiting For? Share The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media

Veteran and His Wife Donate All of Their Worldly Possessions to California Firefighters

By
Good News Network
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A compassionate combat veteran and his wife are donating almost all of their worldly possessions to firefighters who were combatting the blaze in Paradise, California.

Kim Ringeisen and his wife Annette will be moving to North Carolina from their home in California. Instead of paying to ship all of their furniture and household goods across the country, however, they opted to donate it all to the 40 firefighters who lost their homes in the wildfires last month.

Apart from a few sentimental possessions, the two of them filled up a 26-foot shipping truck with the contents of their house and donated it to the firefighters.

The Ringeisens also donated an additional storage unit filled with their stuff to California firefighters as well – and since Annette makes dolls for a living, she packaged up dozens of her homemade toys as Christmas gifts for the children of the civil servants.

LOOK: Veteran Who Was Given 4 Months to Live Transforms Polluted Creek – and Lives 27 Years Longer Because of It

To top it all off, Kim raised over $850 in online donations to cover any financial needs the firefighters might have.

“They’re out there every day protecting lives and protecting property and doing the best that they can with it and I think we can help them out when needed,” the combat veteran told Inside Edition.

(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Kim Ringeisen

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Woman Collected Thousands of Christmas Cards From Strangers to Place on Homeless People’s Pillows

By
McKinley Corbley
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Erin Schulte may not get to see the fruits of her labor in person, but she has been working like an elf to spread a little Christmas cheer to homeless people across North America.

Schulte, who is from Delta, British Columbia, has been collecting thousands of holiday cards to place on the pillows of people living in homeless shelters on the nights leading up to Christmas.

The Canadian woman began the “Christmas Card Collective” last year when she asked her friends and family members to send her cards that she could pass on to the less fortunate.

After setting a modest goal of 225 cards, Schulte was stunned to receive over 800 letters – so this year, she took to social media in the hopes of collecting even more.

WATCH: 48 Years After Reading the Christmas Card That Got Him Through the Vietnam War, He Finally Got to Meet the Sender

Sure enough, Schulte says that she has already received thousands of additional cards from strangers young and old, and their heartfelt messages have moved her to tears.

“These are the most words from complete strangers. You don’t know if it’s someone in kindergarten, an 80-year-old lady… it’s just a big beautiful bundle of Christmas spirit and giving,” Schulte told CTV Vancouver as she sorted through piles of cards.

 

 

Over the course of the last few months, Schulte and her friends have been reading each individual card before packing them up and sending them to homeless shelters across Canada.

This year, she says that she even sent cards to shelters in Los Angeles, and she planned on hand-delivering a shipment of cards to a youth shelter in Seattle.

(WATCH the news coverage below) – Photo by CTV Vancouver

Be Sure And Send This Sweet Letter To Your Friends On Social Media

“Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving.” ―B.C. Forbes

By
Good News Network
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A quiet moment in the otherwise frantic time of Christmas

Quote of the Day: “Christmas is a tonic for our souls. It moves us to think of others rather than of ourselves. It directs our thoughts to giving.” ― B.C. Forbes

Photo: by Alan Cleaver, CC license on Flickr

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

United Airlines, Upping its Game, Gives Flight Attendants Ways to Be ‘Travel Angels’ in the Air

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Good News Network
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So many millions of people travel for the holidays that there are bound to be mishaps—and some of you may be expecting the worst when you head to the airport.

Yet, so many folks are in such a jolly mood, you are just as likely to be blessed by a ‘travel angel,’ someone who is eager to assist or offer you something that makes you break out in the biggest smile.

On my trip back to Virginia last week, I saw a stranger offer her lotion to a toddler who likes to rub it on her tummy. I was pointed in the right direction toward the gate by someone who heard me asking myself out loud, ‘where is number four?’ Most impressive, was the treatment I received on United Air flight 653 to Dulles airport.

Four or five years ago, my husband would dread flying United due to their constant flight delays and over-booking, but, apparently, changes are in the air.

A month ago, United launched some heartwarming videos on social media documenting a few ways that the airline had helped passengers in need. One featured a woman who had lost her laptop and frantically needed it for a presentation the next day. As Editor-in-Chief at Good News Network, I thought about sharing them, but reconsidered for various reasons (not the least of which was imagining commenters on Facebook loudly griping about the many ways United had failed them, which would require heavy moderation to keep our community a positive place).

However, when I experienced an afternoon flight that was on-time, with stellar service in the air for myself, I decided to share my story, and ask others what kind of travel angels they were running into this week.

The first angel of kindness arrived when I ordered 2 mini bottles of scotch to drink on the long cross-country flight, and the woman with the drink cart said, ‘2 for 1’, and only charged me for one.

The second angel showed up after none of the electrical outlets in our seat row were working. I became frustrated after paying for 5 hours of wifi, to only get a chance to use 2.5 of those because my laptop had run out of battery life so quickly. I walked to the back galley to see what could be done. The flight attendant immediately took out his phone and, needing only my seat number, offered me a $75 flight voucher or 3750 free miles on my frequent flyer account.

I commented, “You guys are upping your game at United,” and he told me, “They’re giving us more tools” to keep people happy.

RELATED: JetBlue is Delivering Gift-Wrapped People to Their Loved Ones for Christmas

Happy enough with that consolation, I asked if he could warm up a ham and cheese croissant that was leftover from an earlier lunch. He said he had no way to do that, but another flight attendant from First Class had arrived just then and said he could do it in the other galley. I touched his shoulder to spin him around to take note of his name badge so I could thank him properly. The thought of melted cheese at that moment revised my spirit.

Miguel whisked away my sandwich and another flight attendant later brought it to my seat, warm and flakey. Ten minutes later, however, she showed up again with a surprise, saying, ‘This is from Miguel.’

It was a little glass bowl sitting on a glass saucer with a silverware spoon. Inside was a scoop of  the most delicious frozen ice cream, with chocolate sauce and whipped cream on top!

I sat there just beaming. I was incredulous that this had just happened on an airplane—IN COACH. This wasn’t Virgin, or Swiss Air, or Southwest. This was United.

Apparently, The Friendly Skies is no longer just a slogan. Thank you to all the wonderful workers on this Tuesday flight from LAX.

I would love to hear your stories about any ‘travel angels’ who floated into your life wearing a holiday halo—so please share in the comments!

MORE: Mom Brought to Tears When Airline Stranger Gives Up First Class Seat for Her Sick Daughter

Three Women Are Being Praised for Coming to the Rescue of Stressed Mother at the Airport

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Maybe Opposites Shouldn’t Attract: This is What You Need to Know When Choosing a Long-Term Partner (Video)

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Good News Network
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The Lesson: In this helpful take on relationships, a clinical psychologist discusses the principle qualities to be concerned with when you are looking for a long-term partner. Caution should be used when there is too much mismatch between the five fundamental personality types. He describes the five types, and the reasons that finding a person whose personality meshes with your own is so important—but also he also believes that being too alike will hamper one’s personal growth. What happens when opposites attract?

Notable Excerpt: “I think of marriage the same way, people think ‘oh, they lived happily ever after’ but that’s not what you want in a marriage. You want someone to contend with because you learn through that wrestling […] you learn where you’re an idiot and where you should stop being (fill in the blank). It’s the fact that you have to contend with someone under all sorts of circumstances. Theoretically, it’s a manner of promoting psychological, you could say, spiritual growth, and it’s genuine.

The Guest: A renown Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, Professor Peterson’s lectures are available on YouTube, and he also hosts his own podcast. He is the author of “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos” and “Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief”.

The Host (relevant only for the second clip): H3H3 Productions is a comedy YouTube channel created by the Israeli-American husband and wife team Ethan and Hila Klein. Together, the duo produce reaction videos and sketch comedy. They also host the H3 Podcast which you can find on Soundcloud, iTunes, and Stitcher.

(LISTEN to the fascinating talk below)

He also has some tips for people who are already engaged in committed relationships – check out his advice below.

Good Advice? SHARE It – And, CHECK Out More on our Good Talks Page…

Two Hours After Being Trained, Rescuers Save Drowning Skier From Frozen Lake Using Handy Local Invention

By
McKinley Corbley
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Discovery Channel Screenshot from the video below

A cross-country skier is lucky to be alive after being saved from icy waters earlier this month thanks to some newly-trained firefighters and their innovative new rescue device.

Just two hours after the St. Paul firefighting team underwent ice rescue training, they were called to the aid of someone who had fallen into the waters of McCarrons Lake in Roseville, Minnesota.

“The new firefighter who actually went in the water to effect the rescue said the training that day was the first time he had been in the water with the ice rescue suit doing those maneuvers,” Tom McDonough, St. Paul deputy fire chief of training, told Pioneer Press.

The firefighters are much more capable of successfully completing such rescue operations now that they started using the ARM-LOC: an inflatable sleeve that attaches to a drowning victim’s arm and allows rescuers to pull them to safety.

RELATED: Hiker Was About to Die in a Snowstorm When She Was Saved by a Total Stranger Following Her Intuition

Inventor Connie Sylvester and her family in Duluth, Minnesota, were inspired to develop the device after they saw a woman on television who was unable to be saved from icy waters because her hands were too cold to grip the rescue rope.

The ARM-LOC, however, ensures that an endangered person can be pulled to safety without having to grab hold of anything.

Discovery Channel Screenshot from the video below

The Pioneer Press says that there are now over 100 fire and sheriff’s departments around the state that are using the ARM-LOC, engineered by Sylvester’s company Water Rescue Innovations.

The cuff easily slips over the victim’s forearm and they only have to pull the ring for the sleeve to inflate and create a tight hold around the arm.

The company has further developed the cuff to be used in fire rescues.

(WATCH the demonstration video below)

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Dedicated Veterinarian Donned Mouse Onesie to Soothe Anxious Dog

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Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

When you give a veterinarian a mouse suit, you know that any surgery on an anxious pup will turn out well.

Though you can imagine the tactic being used by pediatricians, Mike Farrell had a hunch that donning the huge grey and pink onesie-style outfit would be a big help with Rupert the Dalmatian, who needed an operation on his leg last week.

The suit smelled like Rupert’s owner, Sonya Schiff, who brought it along on the day of the surgery to help sooth the dog in Hertfordshire, England, after he previously showed signs of aggression whenever the vet tried to touch him.

On the day of the surgery for hip dysplasia and cruciate ligament problems, Schiff hoped that her smell could lull the devoted pet to sleep while he was in care, but when the ailing pooch was still too skittish to handle, Doc Farrell jumped into the costume himself.

The result—while looking ridiculous—proved highly effective, as Farrell was able to examine Rupert thoroughly before performing surgery on the ligament.

SWNS

“As dogs have a superior sense of smell, 10,000 and 100,000 times better than people, their brain processes information in a very short period of time,” said Monika Kafno, a dog behaviorist who attended the surgery at Davies Veterinary Specialists. “This triggers an association of the smell with a particular experience or event in their life.”

LOOK: Squirrel Rescued From Roadside Now Hides Nuts in His Human’s Hair as He Prepares for Winter

Ms. Schiff doesn’t know what the plush gray outfit will trigger in the future, since its brilliant use at the clinic, but surely these sweet photos will provide a lasting memory of the day Rupert got a new leash on life.

Be Sure And Share This Pawesome Story With Your Friends On Social Media

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” – Maya Angelou

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” – Maya Angelou

Photo: by Ryan Dickey, CC license on Flickr

With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?

Corona Beer to Ditch Plastic Packaging by Using Biodegradable 6-Pack Rings

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Good News Network
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The Corona brewing company has just announced that they will be launching a pilot program in which they will be replacing their plastic 6-pack ring packaging with something that is 100% plastic-free and biodegradable.

The new plastic-free rings are being made from plant-based biodegradable fibers, with a mix of by-product waste and compostable materials.

If left in the environment, they break down into organic material that is not harmful to wildlife, whereas the industry standard plastic six pack rings are made from a photodegradable form of polyethylene that results in increasingly smaller pieces of plastic if not recycled—at a terrible cost to the environment.

Corona will begin testing the plastic-free rings in their homeland of Mexico at the start of the new year. If the initiative proves successful, they plan on expanding the rings to the UK as well.

RELATED: In Bid to Cut Food Waste, Kellogg’s is Using Their Rejected Cornflakes to Make Beer

The plastic-free packaging is part of Corona’s partnership with Parley for the Oceans. Since the partnership launched last year, Corona and Parley have conducted over 300 clean-ups in more than 15 countries, including the Maldives, Palau, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Chile, Indonesia, Italy, South Africa and Australia, resulting in more than three million pounds of plastic waste collected.

“The beach is an important part of Corona’s DNA and we have been working with Parley to address the issue on the frontlines where plastic is physically accumulating,” said Corona Better World Director Evan Ellman in a statement. “We also recognize the influence a global brand like Corona can have on the industry, and with the support of Parley, are pursuing scalable solutions like plastic-free six pack rings that can become a new standard to avoid plastic for good.”

Corona is now the second global beer brand to implement such sustainable packaging, since Danish-based brewer Carlsberg announced that they would begin piloting a similar initiative back in September.

Clean Up Negativity By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by Corona

7-Year-old Boy Has Helped Thousands of Veterans After Watching a Video About Homelessness

By
McKinley Corbley
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7-year-old Tyler Stallings may not have superpowers, but in light of how many people he’s helped, he definitely deserves to wear a cape: the youngster has spent the last three years helping thousands of Maryland veterans.

He first became inspired to lend a helping hand when his mom Andrea taught him about about veteran homelessness in 2015.

“On a whim, I showed Tyler a video about the sacrifices that people make to serve our country,” says Andrea, who is from a family of veterans.

When she went on to say that their family was unable to build homes for the veterans who don’t have them, Tyler asked if he could simply give them everything else they might need.

LOOK: When Street Musician Offers His Earnings to Homeless Vets, He is Stunned By How They Pay It Forward

He began filling “Hero Bags” with clothes, shoes, snacks, toiletries, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotion, shaving gel, and hand sanitizer—and with his mom’s help, he was able to start handing them out to local vets at the Maryland Center for Veteran Education and Training (MCVET). But it didn’t end there.

WATCH: 48 Years After Reading the Christmas Card That Got Him Through the Vietnam War, He Finally Got to Meet the Sender

“At first, it was hard for people to take a four-year-old seriously,” says Andrea. “It took me a while to find a shelter that would let him come in and help. But when shelters like MCVET finally did, they loved having him there. It’s nice to have a child in an environment like that. We would take them care packages with toiletries and grooming products to thank people for their service, and they would take whatever they needed.”

Over the course of the next three years, the youngster has given away over 2,000 Hero Bags and gift cards to homeless vets.

Additionally, he partnered with local mattress manufacturers to provide 250 mattress for the vets living at MCVET.

LOOK: When Helicopter Upsets Tennis Player With PTSD, His Teammate Abandons Game to Comfort Him Using a Song

To date, the youngster has raised over $17,200 in GoFundMe donations for his mission. He one day hopes to raise use a portion of the donations to start his own nonprofit so he can help other kinds of homeless people as well – and his mother could not be any more proud of him.

“Recently, Tyler showed up to an event to thank a veteran who has suffered from 15 strokes. The look on the man’s face when Tyler handed him a Hero Bag… it was just amazing,” said Andrea. “Maybe no one has ever made these veterans feel like their contributions are significant. This is how we show them our appreciation.”

Be Sure And Share This Sweet Story Of Kindness With Your Friends – Photos by GoFundMe

Before Dying, 86-Year-old Bought 14 Years Worth of Christmas Gifts for His 2-Year-old Neighbor (Podcast)

By
Good News Network
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A doting dad was overcome with emotion when someone showed up at his door with a bag filled with 14 years-worth of gifts from his neighbor, who had just died. Hear The Good News Guru tell her feel-good story of the week (from the December 21, 2018 Ellen K. Morning Show on KOST-103.5 radio in Los Angeles).

READ the full story at GNN.

Subscribe to our Good News podcast on iTunes, or for Android devices on Podbean.

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