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

By
McKinley Corbley
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LISTEN to this story from our podcast, told by The Good News Guru (GNN Founder) on Friday’s radio broadcast with Ellen K on KOST-103.5 — Or, READ the story below… (Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes – or for Androids, on Podbean)

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Ken Watson may have passed away in October, but a simple act of kindness that he performed before he died has already resulted in a lasting legacy.

Ken Watson was the 86-year-old neighbor of the Williams family. Owen Williams and his wife first moved into their home in Barry, Wales three years ago, and Owen says that he first caught a glimpse of Watson while the octogenarian was nudging a 20-foot ladder across the front of his house, all while he was balanced at the top.

The family formed a fast friendship with Watson, which was further strengthened when they gave birth to their daughter Cadi two years ago.

RELATED: Every Night for the Last 10 Years, Community Has Made Sure That Woman in Wheelchair Gets to Bed

Watson became a grandfather figure to the youngster, and every Christmas, he made sure to get her a gift.

After he died two months ago, the Williams family was stunned when his daughter showed up to their house with a massive plastic bag.

Inside the bag was 14 years worth of wrapped gifts that Watson had purchased for Cadi.

 

“I kept reaching into the bag and pulling out more presents,” Williams told The Washington Post. “It was quite something.”

Williams believed that Watson chose 14 presents because he always told them that he would live to be 100 years old – and he died 14 years early.

LOOK: When Boy Mails a Birthday Card to His Dad in Heaven, Postman Comforts Him With a Celestial White Lie

The family decided to start a new Christmas tradition called, “A Present from Ken”, but they couldn’t decide whether to unwrap ’em first in order to figure out which ones were age-appropriate for each year.

 

A quick Twitter poll revealed that 69% of Williams’s followers believed he should do the “lucky dip” by leaving the presents wrapped and letting fate decide which gift Cadi would be unwrapping.

MORE: When Student Accepts Stranger’s Accidental Invitation to a Funeral, She Becomes ‘Brightest’ Part of the Day

“Message received loud and clear, Twitter!” wrote the doting dad. “We’re definitely going to open one every year till 2032 … It’ll be our way of remembering an immensely generous gentleman – our new Christmas tradition.”

He assured his new influx of invested followers that he would keep them updated by posting photos of the gifts to the same thread each year.

Williams also had some advice for Twitter: Get to know your neighbors.

“Take your neighbors a small gift, a token. Just say, ‘Hi.’ You can open a new world just like we did.”

Share This Sweet Story Of Holiday Kindness With Your Friends On Social Media – Feature photos by Owen Williams

Man Transforms His Workspace into Winter Castle Complete With a Working Drawbridge

By
Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

A Christmas-mad office worker has transformed his desk into Britain’s most festive workspace: a snow-covered castle complete with a ‘smoking’ chimney.

For the third year running, engineer Jack Makepeace has created a merry masterpiece of his workspace so he can celebrate Christmas while on the job.

What started as a competition amongst his colleagues at Ibsecad, a building services firm in Leeds, West Yorkshire, has now become a tradition that his colleagues eagerly anticipate every holiday season.

This year, the newly-married Yuletide fan drew inspiration for his makeshift winter palace after he spent his recent honeymoon at the Ice Hotel in Sweden.

RELATED: Good Grief – Woman Turns Office Cubicle into Snoopy’s Doghouse For the Holidays

The engineer has always loved Christmas, but especially so because his new wife Charlotte is partially blind, and she loves to see the vague sparkles of holiday decorations.

Makepeace said: “Charlotte has a genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa which meant she lost her sight at 14 years old. She only has a little light perception left so she can see all the sparkles, on the tinsel and from the lights, so it is a very special time for us.”

SWNS

The 24-year-old then built a cardboard castle covered in white felt that resembled snow . He even equipped the creation with a working drawbridge and a chimney for escaping ‘smoke’ – or more accurately, if somebody vapes through it.

It also comes complete with fairy lights, tinsel, penguins, and sugar canes – and whenever Makepeace isn’t sitting inside of his castle to do his work, he sets his computer’s screensaver mode to a video of a burning log fire.

LOOK: Clever Kids Leave Amusing Bribe on Superintendent’s Doorstep in Hopes of Scoring a Snow Day

“It took me about three hours to make,” says Makepeace. “I have a degree in engineering, so luckily, the drawbridge didn’t pose too many problems to construct.

“I then went into the office on Sunday to staple the whole thing together – [and] I promise it was all done in my own time.”

SWNS

He goes on to say that he had only been working at the firm for a few months when they first launched the desktop competition in 2016.

“Others had put Christmas trees on their desk and I decided I wanted to go ‘out there’,” says Makepeace. “I wasn’t quite sure whether it was the right thing to do, with me only working here a short while, but I thought ‘sod it, it can only make people smile.”

“It went down such a storm that my colleagues said I had to make a bigger house next year – which I did – so this year I thought I better build a castle.”

SWNS

His ambitious creativity is especially brave considering how Makepeace’s desk is located next to the boss.

But on the contrary, the firm’s officer manager, David Coy, said that Makepeace “knocked it out of the park.”

WATCH: This Jolly King Has Lived in His Sandcastle for the Last 22 Years

“I set up the competition in 2016 to create a bit of festive cheer in the office,” says Coy. “The rest of us used a bit of tinsel and a tree, then Jack created a masterpiece that was absolutely incredible” adding that “he deserved the prize of a bottle of Jack Daniels” and they are already “excited to see what he’ll do in 2019.”

“We were slightly worried about what he could be getting up to in his boxed-in castle, but he does sit next to the regional director and he has put a window in there so we can have a peek in.”

(WATCH the festive footage below)

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“You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo: by Dan Foy, 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?

Want to Stop Eating Junk Food? New Research Says You Should Get More Sleep

By
Good News Network
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SWNS
Written by Mark Waghorn / SWNS

If you can’t figure out why you’re so desperately craving junk food late at night, this new research says that it might be because you’re not getting enough sleep.

Based on studies from Cologne University in Germany, tiredness boosts both production of brain cells and hunger hormones that are linked to comfort eating and hunger respectively.

Additionally, researchers say that participants who went an entire night with no sleep were willing to fork out more cash for snacks like chocolates and biscuits compared to non-food items. On the other hand, they would not spend the same excessive amounts of money after getting a proper night’s rest.

It explains why we are more likely to reach for the biscuit tin than a piece of fruit late at night. Britain is among the most overweight and sleep-deprived nations in the world – and evidence shows that the two are linked.

RELATED: Most People Don’t Get Enough Vitamin D, But This App Can Fix That

Psychologist Julia Rihm said: “We found a full night of sleep deprivation compared with a night of habitual sleep increased the subjective values of snack food rewards compared with non-food rewards.”

Using MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans, her team showed losing sleep fired up neurons in the amygdala and hypothalamus. The former is an area of grey matter that has been linked to reward seeking behavior – such as eating – under stress. The latter controls appetite.

“The data suggests one way a lack of sleep can promote overeating and obesity risk,” said Rihm. “This behavioral result was paralleled by increased amygdala and hypothalamus activity selectively after sleep deprivation.

MORE: California Becomes First State to Feed Chronically Ill With Specially Prescribed Meals

Blood tests also showed increased levels of ghrelin, the hormone that tells us to eat.

The study published in JNeurosci was based on 32 healthy 19 to 33-year-old men of normal weight who were kept awake and allowed to sleep normally.

Each experiment followed an evening meal of yogurt and pasta and meat in a creamy mushroom sauce at Rihm’s laboratory on two separate nights.

At each visit, they were instructed to either return home to get a normal night’s sleep while wearing a watch that monitors activity or to spend the night at the lab where they were kept awake. This allowed the team to compare their desire for snack foods – along with their brain activity and hormone levels – during each morning after the experiments.

LOOK: 8 Under-Appreciated Autumn Veggies and Fruits You Should Be Eating

The next day, they were given €3 to spend on snacks, such as popular brands of German chocolate bars or chips, or everyday household items or university merchandise.

In an online auction, images of the goods flashed up on screen with prices going up in increments of 25 pence. Only after sleep deprivation were the participants willing to pay extra money for the junk food items, which they were then allowed to eat afterwards.

“Sleep loss is associated with increased obesity risk, as demonstrated by correlations between sleep duration and change in body mass index or body fat percentage,” said Rihm. “We found ghrelin concentrations were increased after sleep deprivation compared with habitual sleep.

“Despite similar hunger ratings due to fasting in both conditions, participants were willing to spend more money on food items only after sleep deprivation.

“Furthermore, MRI data paralleled this behavioral finding – revealing how a food reward-specific up-regulation of hypothalamic valuation signals and amygdala-hypothalamic coupling after a single night of sleep deprivation.”

RELATED: Drug That Can Alleviate or Even Completely Eliminate Celiac Symptoms May Be Available as Early as 2021

She said the findings shed fresh light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity.

“One problem of modern society is sleep restriction building up constantly over a week of work rather than total sleep deprivation,” said Rihm. “However, in our approach, we used a total night of using sleep deprivation as a first step in unravelling mechanisms underlying sleep loss-associated increased food valuation.

“Taken together, our findings reveal a mechanism through which sleep deprivation might promote food intake by enabling food cues to gain access to processing in hypothalamic circuits via the amygdala.

MORE: When Blueberries and Grapes Are Combined, a Dramatic Decline in Memory Loss and Aging – Study

A similar study conducted by Swedish researchers last year found that their participants went on to purchase food that was higher in calories and weighed almost a fifth more than their normal intake after losing one night’s sleep, which implies that grocery shopping while tired could have a knock-on effect for our overall wellbeing.

So if you’re anxious about your junk food intake, try hitting the hay a little earlier and see if it affects your dietary choices.

Don’t Snooze On This Intriguing News: Share It With Your Friends On Social Media – Photo by Tommy Whitfield / SWNS

CEO Becomes First Crypto Billionaire to Pledge Bulk of His Wealth Towards the Greater Good

By
McKinley Corbley
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Brian Armstrong has become the first CEO of a cryptocurrency company to join a pledge that commits the majority of their wealth to causes benefiting the greater good.

Armstrong, who is the founder of Coinbase, signed The Giving Pledge: an agreement that recruits billionaires from around the world to donate their finances to philanthropic initiatives.

The pledge was started by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in 2010, and it has since been signed by such entrepreneurial moguls as Elon Musk, Michael Bloomberg, and 150 other international philanthropists.

Though Armstrong’s exact financial contribution has not yet been disclosed, Forbes estimated that his net worth clocked in somewhere between $900 million and $1 billion in February.

RELATED: In Largest Ever Donation to US College, $1.8 Billion is Donated for Low-Income Students

Furthermore, since Coinbase has become the leading U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, it reportedly generated $1 billion in revenue in 2017, and they are expected to bring in an additional $1.3 billion during the coming year.

“Once a certain level of wealth is reached, there is little additional utility from spending more on yourself,” said the 35-year-old CEO in a statement. “One’s ambition begins to move outwards. I’ve always admired founders and leaders whose ambition to improve the world supersedes any goal related to personal wealth.”

“There is a quote I saw recently which read ‘The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him their own.’ This stuck with me. Whether it’s through improving education, creating a more level playing field, or increasing economic freedom, I’m interested in helping more people see their ideas come to fruition in the world.”

Pay It Forward By Sharing The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media

$150 Million in Debt to Be Forgiven for US Students Left Jilted by Shady Schools

By
McKinley Corbley
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Over 15,000 Americans who have been carrying the burden of student loans for schools that have been shut down will soon get notices in the mail saying that their debt will either be repaid or canceled.

The initiative is part of the Department of Education’s newly-enforced “borrower defense rule” which allows students to have their loans repaid if their college was shut down for defrauding its attendants.

According to NPR, half of the people who will be receiving notices of their debt cancellation were former attendants of Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit college chain that closed down in 2014 as a result of its inability to prove that it was offering substantial education for the student aid money they received.

RELATED: In Largest Ever Donation to US College, $1.8 Billion is Donated for Low-Income Students

Though the legislation allows students to file their own claims and evidence of being defrauded, the initiative will also automatically discharge students of their debt if they had been attending a college that closed down between November 1st, 2013, and December 4th, 2018.

Over the course of the last five years, more than 3,600 schools have closed down, which means that collectively, the initiative will end up forgiving $150,000 million in debt for jilted students – and it could end up forgiving millions more.

“There are thousands of students entitled to automatic relief who in all likelihood don’t know it,” National Student Legal Defense Network’s chief counsel Dan Zibel told NPR.

Be Sure And Share The Good News With Your Friends On Social Media – File photo by LendingMemo, CC

Man Wins Multi-Million Jackpot for Christmas Thanks to His Wife Urging Him to Check the Ticket

By
Good News Network
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SWNS
SWNS

The mystery winner of an unclaimed multi-million dollar lotto jackpot was revealed to be a construction worker who drove around for six weeks with the winning ticket tucked inside the visor of his van.

51-year-old Andrew Clark had worked through weeks of bitterly cold weather before he finally checked the ticket – and he only did so because his wife-of-four-years, Trisha Fairhurst, and his niece kept nagging him to do so.

It’s a good thing that they did, too, because Clark ended up winning $96 million (£76 million).

“Trisha kept telling me to to check the tickets, and her niece Louise, who I was building an extension for, was also in on it once she’d heard about the unclaimed prize in the news,” said Clark, who is from Lincolnshire, England. “It was something of a standing joke that I had all the tickets while there was a local prize outstanding, so for weeks they were on at me to check.”

MORE: Good Manners Pay Off – When Man is Desperate to Meet Lotto Deadline And Stranger Lets Him Go First

“It was about 8pm and we were watching telly when Louise reminded me again about the tickets,” he added. “I finally gave in, got the bundle out of the van and started to work my way through them, methodically from the oldest to the most recent.”

“You might say I was winding up Louise, but I certainly didn’t expect the wind-up to end with me saying, ‘I’ve done it, I’ve won £76M’ – I won’t say what she said in response.”

SWNS

The company behind the lottery, Camelot, spent weeks searching for the holder of the winning EuroMillions ticket after the November 2nd draw.

“It almost feels like some magical Christmas story, the man who nearly lost 76 million,” says Clark. “For all our family, I’m very pleased that Trisha and Louise nagged me to check those tickets. This Christmas is going to be a quiet affair, but next year will be a different story.

RELATED: 87-Year-old Walking to Buy Mega Millions Ticket Breaks His Hip, Then Wins Hospital Lottery Pool

“This win isn’t just about Christmas magic, it’s about creating a lifetime of magical moments for all those around us.”

Andrew was 70 miles away from home when he called his wife to tell her the news.

SWNS

“I’d just got back from work and was settling in for a quiet evening when Andrew called and said ‘you know that £76M, well I’ve just won it,’” said Fairhurst. “Obviously I didn’t believe a word of it, even when my niece came on the phone to say it was true I still couldn’t take it in.”

WATCH: Woman Wins $1,000 Weekly Lotto Payout – and Proves Money Can Buy Happiness By Giving It All Away

“It’s been great choosing a new home and cars but without question, the best bit about the win is how we can help all our family,” says Fairhurst “We can quite simply change their lives, whether that’s paying off mortgages or supporting them in their future endeavors.

“It’s been amazing to put a smile on everyone’s face, and the fact it’s at Christmas makes it that little bit more magical.”

SWNS

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

Amidst Bomb Threat Evacuation, NBA Player Stops to Carry Neighbor’s Child Down 46 Flights

By
Ryan Morris
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Frank Kaminsky has no issue catching rebounds or maintaining his grip on a basketball – so it’s only natural he could handle carrying his neighbor’s child down 49 flights of stairs during a bomb threat earlier this week.

In a strange turn of events, Kaminsky’s night went from his daily post-practice session of playing Fortnite and eating Cheez-Its to evacuating his apartment building in Charlotte, North Carolina due to a bomb threat.

“I had to walk down 49 stories because they shut off the elevators. Instead of grabbing my keys and my wallet, I grabbed a box of Cheez-Its for the long journey down,” Kaminsky, who plays as a center for the Hornets basketball team, recalled to the Charlotte Observer.

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

By the time he had already made it down three stories, he suddenly encountered a struggling neighbor. Seeing that she was trying to balance her child, her dog, and some valuables, Kaminsky set aside his Cheezits and helped her by carrying her baby down the last 46 flights of stairs.

When asked about the event, Kaminsky chuckled, saying: “I’m just a good Samaritan, not a hero.”

While it wasn’t long before the residents were allowed to go back inside, the NBA center said that he was content to wait for the elevators to be turned back on so he didn’t have to take on the 49-flight journey a second time.

Score Big With Your Friends By Sharing The Good News To Social Media – Photo by Frank Kaminsky

“It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.” – Zig Ziglar

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “It’s not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life; it is how you handle what happens to you.” – Zig Ziglar

Photo: by Meg Lauber, 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?

Retiree Has Driven Over 64,000 Miles to Ensure Low-Income Students Can Get to Class

By
Ryan Morris
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Regardless of the weather, the driving conditions, or the distance, you can bet that New York native Paul Goetchius will make sure low-income students arrive to their college classes on time.

A retired environmental toxicologist (and wonderful conversationalist, according to the students), 76-year-old Goetchius has been offering free rides to college students for the past 8 years. Since he first started volunteering his automobile to the youngsters, Goetchius has logged an astounding 64,000 miles, and has shared a countless amount of meaningful, insightful, and often humorous conversations with the students he transports to and from school.

The students he’s driven have gone on to become physicians, teachers, and visual marketers, but what they also gotten out of their time in school is finding Goetchius as a role model and a friend. Some students even call him “Grandpa”.

26-year-old Nina Irby received rides from Goetchius for all four years she was in college, and the trips meant much more to her than just free transportation.

LOOK: Human Chain of People Help Move A Bookstore, Book By Book

“It’s not just a ride, you’re not just sitting there in awkward silence or with your headphones on,” Irby told the Washington Post. “He asks you questions and actually remembers the answers, so the next time you ride with him, he’ll check in on those things.”

Goetchius first started volunteering as a student driver through the nonprofit On Point for College. Although the program only asks its volunteers to drive students to and from their classes, Goetchius often goes above and beyond to ensure the welfare and safety of the students. If they have issues with registration, Goetchius is there to assist them. If their dorm room doesn’t have window screens or air conditioning, Goetchius will drive to the nearest Home Depot and purchase what’s needed. If a student gets hungry on the long drives to and from class, Goetchius never hesitates to get them a meal – which he always insists on paying for.

RELATED: Photos of 75-Year-Old Volunteer Napping With Cats Hauls in Funds to Run Sanctuary for a Year

For many students, Goetchius’s help is not only appreciated, it’s entirely necessary for them to be able to complete their college education. Some students don’t have a reliable car, while others have to share vehicles with parents who work 6 days a week. For them, riding with Goetchius has allowed them to complete their education – but according Goetchius, he benefits just as much from the experience.

“I just love driving, and I love these kids,” the septuagenarian told the Post. “I like to drive, and it’s such a blessing and a privilege to be a part of these kids’ lives, even just for a few hours, getting to know them and hearing their stories.”

Drive This Story To Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media – Photo by Barbara Goetchius

U.S. Just Finalized the Largest Offshore Wind Sale in the Nation’s History

By
McKinley Corbley
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File photo by Andy Dingley, CC

In an exciting new display of America’s shift towards sustainability, the government has just leased out 390,000 acres of federally-owned waters for offshore wind farming.

The leasing rights collectively sold for $405.1 million, making it the largest offshore wind deal in the nation’s history.

The land is located just off the coast of Rhode Island and Martha’s Vineyard. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), they decided to auction off the rights to the land after they were approached by two different power companies that expressed interest in using the acreage for wind turbines.

It was not just the two companies that ended up competing for the land, however – the auction ended up attracting 11 different bidders.

RELATED: Tesla’s Record-Breaking Mega Battery, Installed on a Bet, Saves Australia $40 Million in Its First Year

“These lease prices and the fact that we had 19 companies eligible to bid on these leases is great news for the overall US offshore wind marketplace,” said Liz Burdock, President & CEO of the Business Network for Offshore Wind.

“Remember that just three years ago, these lease areas had no bidders at all. This strong interest from the offshore wind marketplace demonstrates the economic potential of the offshore wind industry,” she added.

Earlier this week, the leasing rights were sold to three different renewable energy companies: Equinor, Vineyard Wind and Mayflower Energy.

MORE: ‘City of the Future’ is First Solar-Powered Town in America – and It Was Created by a Former NFL Player

All three of them paid $135 million for a portion of the land, which shattered the previous record for offshore wind deals that was set in 2016 when energy company Statoil reportedly paid $45 million for a portion of the waters off the coast of New York.

The companies will now be submitting assessment reports and building plans to BOEM for review and approval. Provided the plans pass environmental assessment and show that the farms will not interfere with the local fishing industry, the companies could begin building the turbines anytime within the next few years.

Forbes hailed the sale as a “rare bipartisan success story”, and they estimate that the farms could collectively generate up to 4.1 gigawatts of wind energy, which is enough to power more than 1 million New England homes.

Blow Your Friends Away With The Good News: Share It To Social Media – File Photo by Andy Dingley, CC

Watch Homeless Man Delight in Giving Away $100 Bills to Strangers on Behalf of Secret Santa

By
Ryan Morris
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A Secret Santa in Phoenix, Arizona enlisted the help of an unlikely elf to spread some Christmas cheer earlier this week.

An anonymous, kind-hearted businessman asked a homeless man named Moses Elder to hand out $100 bills to complete strangers who he believed demonstrated kindness or a need for generosity.

Elder was given $3,000 in total for his mission, and he started by standing on the street and holding out a cup to ask pedestrians for loose change. Some people hurried past him, while others stopped and offered him their money – and those who did were in for a complete surprise.

In exchange for acknowledging him, Elder would hand them a $100 bill and thank them for their “kind heart”, or he would simply exclaim “God bless” as they parted ways – and many people who received the cash gifts had to fight back tears.

RELATED: When ‘Homeless‘ Man Insists On Paying for Fancy Meal With His Hard-Earned Money, Restaurant Makes Special Offer

Most of them didn’t expect someone who is homeless to offer anything back, and that’s the exact notion that the Secret Santa wanted to expel with his gift-giving.

“You know, it’s a myth that the homeless just take. From my experience, the people with the least give the most of what they have,” the Secret Santa told CBS News.

One of the people who received cash from Elder was Danny McCoy, a father of 7 kids who was struggling to provide Christmas gifts for his family.

MORE: When Homeless Man Finds $17,000 Outside of Food Bank, He Turns It In So It Can Help Feed Others

While most of Elder’s cash recipients where strangers, he did offer some money to two people he knew from church. One man received $400, while a homeless mother-of-five received $500.

Needless to say, Santa was sure to give Elder some money as well, but the homeless man said that the best part of the entire experience was being able to show kindness and help others in need.

“Today we changed a lot of people’s lives. But I believe my life was changed the most,” Elder told CBS News – and his holiday benefactor would agree.

“You know, kindness is a bridge between all people, so if you’re ever down, and you want to lift yourself up, go do something kind for somebody,” said the Secret Santa.

(WATCH the emotional footage below)

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

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

By
McKinley Corbley
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This roadside weed has become the beating Yuletide heart of its city thanks to how its residents took some time to show it a little love.

It all started in early December when 20-year-old Alyssa Emrick and her family were driving through Toledo, Ohio. They were stopped at a busy intersection when the college student noticed an impressively tall weed growing out of a crack in the sidewalk.

Emrick remarked on how it resembled the sparse little tree from the Charlie Brown’s Christmas special. Her dad then suggested that they all pitch in to decorate it – and once her brother and grandmother agreed to the festive scheme, they pulled over at a local convenience store to buy ornaments and tinsel.

They quickly raced over to the sad piece of greenery and brightened it up with their decorations before heading home.

WATCH: Firefighter Dresses Like Buddy The Elf And Starts Pillow Fights With Shoppers–and it’s Hilarious

Over the course of the next few days, Emrick was delighted to see pictures of the festooned Christmas weed appearing on her social media feeds. She was surprised, however, when the photos started to show that more and more decorations were appearing on the tree.

One of the photos showed that someone had hung ornaments on the weed’s branches; another person then wrapped it up in Christmas lights; and while it wasn’t Linus’s blanket, someone else added a tree skirt to the base of the weed.

 

 

People became so enthralled by the jolly community hotspot, a Facebook page was created for the Toledo Christmas Weed so people could post their pictures of the shrub.

LOOK: Read the Amusing Card That Two Cheeky Mailmen Have Been Sending to Each Other for 43 Years

The contributions didn’t stop at decorations, either – soon after the weed started to garner more decorations, wrapped presents, warm winter clothing, and non-perishable food items started to accumulate under the weed.

One family posed with the shrub for their yearly Christmas photo. Carolers on the Toledo Christmas Weed Facebook page made plans to sing carols at the intersection.

 

 

On top of all of that, the weed now shows up on Google Maps as a city attraction.

A local Grinch tried to spoil the fun by stealing the Christmas weed – but someone else immediately replaced it with a dead potted houseplant.

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

People continued to leave so many gifts and donations under the Toledo Christmas weed, it almost became invisible under the avalanche of free toys, food, and clothing. The outpouring of garlands even stretched to a nearby streetlight so that its base was wrapped in stockings, bows, and wrapping paper.

 

 

Furthermore, the mayor of Toledo recently released an official city proclamation that celebrated the beloved Christmas weed.

Emrick, meanwhile, was stunned.

“We were mind-blown,” Emrick told The Washington Post. “We just expected people would see it and smile.”

 

 

But according to Toledo residents, the real-life Charlie Brown tree had become so much more.

“A community coming together and creating something beautiful out of a weed – there is a lesson to be learned here; With love, caring and attention anything, and anyone can be a light to others. I thank you. Happy Christmas to all,” wrote one resident.

CHECK OUT: Secret Santa Pays Off $430,000 of Layaway Items at Walmart – Turns Out it Was Tyler Perry

Emrick also has an idea about why a shrub became such a beloved part of the city.

“People are looking for positivity in the world,” she told The Post. “The fact that people saw this small little weed and were able to make it a community project, they’re trying to focus on the good.”

 

Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown! Be Sure And Share This With Your Friends On Social Media

“Music is not technique and melody, but the meaning of life itself, infinitely sorrowful and unbearably beautiful.” – Pearl Buck

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Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “Music is not technique and melody, but the meaning of life itself, infinitely sorrowful and unbearably beautiful.” – Pearl Buck

Photo: by Mari Ma, 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?

Tattoo Shop Has Been Giving Away Free Services to Anyone Who Brings in Clothing for the Homeless

By
Good News Network
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A Nebraska tattoo shop owner has given away thousands of dollars worth of free services in exchange for clothing that he can give to the homeless.

Mark Hennant, who is the owner of the Ink Link Tattoo shop in Nebraska, first started asking for donations over one month ago. Initially, the shop was offering free tattoo certificates in exchange for donated gloves, warm hats, winter coats, boots, and new socks and underwear.

Needless to say, the donations started pouring in. In fact, the shop received so many donations, they were forced to downsize their offer to certificates that were only worth 50% off of their tattoos followed by simply offering $20 worth of store credit for every item of important winter clothing.

RELATED: Organizations Learn Cheap Tattoo Removal to Help Inmates Get Jobs

To Hennant’s delight, however, the donations have kept coming, resulting in thousands of articles of clothing – and he says he doesn’t plan on stopping his mission anytime soon.

“It does feel good to help people, but it also just makes you realize, you know, how much people need,” Hinnant told KETV, adding that he would “keep it going, you know, because the winter is a long way from over.”

(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Ink Link Tattoo

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Watch Magician Perform Magic Tricks for Bewildered Shelter Dogs in Hopes of Getting Them Adopted

By
McKinley Corbley
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As a means of encouraging people to adopt a homeless pup before the holidays, this magician performed magic tricks for the dogs in order to show off their unique personalities.

In a clip that was uploaded by the TBS television network, magician John Stessel used his sleight of hand to make treats magically disappear.

Some of the confused canines could not contain their surprise, while others simply shrugged off the let-down and asked for head scratches instead.

Stessel performed the trick for about a dozen different dogs, and every single one of their reactions is cuter than the last.

RELATED: Man Creates Elaborate Cardboard Castle to Reconcile With His Cat – and It Worked

Unless they have already been taken home by enchanted viewers, then all of the dogs are available for adoption at the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter in New York City.

Although considering how the video has already wracked up over 1 million views in two days, it’s quite possible that some of these cute canines have already found loving homes.

Additionally, the shelter has been continuing their holiday tradition of waiving adoption fees until January 6th.

(WATCH the adorable video below) – Photo by TBS

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World’s First Cell-Grown Steak Doesn’t Cause Harm to Animals

By
McKinley Corbley
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Scientists have succeeded in growing the world’s first cell-based steak that was created in a lab without causing any harm to cows.

Israeli startup company Aleph Farms says that the lab-grown meat has the exact same texture and smell as that of regular steak. Though the taste is still fairly similar to the real deal, the researchers want to develop the steak so that it is thicker and identical to the taste of animal steak.

The steak prototype currently costs about $50 to make, which the company says is “not insane” compared to the $285,000 price tag of the first lab-grown beefburger that was developed in 2013. Additionally, the steaks are expected to become even cheaper as demand increases and production is expanded to a commercial scale.

The steak has already been put to the test in a real kitchen, too – Amir Ilan, who is a chef at the Paris Texas restaurant in Ramat Gan, Israel, praised the lab-grown achievement.

RELATED: Abandoned Coal Mines May Soon Be Transformed into Perfectly Efficient Indoor Farms

“Aleph Farms’ steak is thinly sliced and will cook in just a minute or so,” says Ilan. “For me, it is a great experience to eat meat that has the look and feel of beef but has been grown without antibiotics and causes no harm to animals or the environment.

Cell-grown meat is typically grown using a few cells of a living animal, which are extracted painlessly. These cells are then nourished and grown to produce a complex matrix that replicates muscle tissue.

One of the barriers to grown-meat production has been getting the various cell types to interact with each other in order to build a complete tissue structure similarly to an animal’s. The challenge is finding the right nutrient combinations that allow the multicellular matrix to efficiently grow together into a complete structure.

MORE: Animal Activist Makes Historic Deal With Meat Market to Close All Slaughterhouses

The company managed to overcome this obstacle thanks to a bio-engineering platform developed in collaboration with the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.

“We’re shaping the future of the meat industry — literally,” says Didier Toubia, co-founder and CEO of Aleph Farms. “Making a patty or a sausage from cells cultured outside the animal is challenging enough – imagine how difficult it is to create a whole-muscle steak. [But for us], this is not science fiction. We’ve transformed the vision into reality by growing a steak under controlled conditions. The initial products are still relatively thin, but the technology we developed marks a true breakthrough and a great leap forward in producing a cell-grown steak.”

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

The steak is expected to be commercially available sometime in the next four years. Since large-scale agriculture is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gases, accounting for roughly 9% of the world’s emissions in 2016, the steak could be a big game-changer in the fight against climate change.

Toubia, however, emphasizes that his company is not planning on replacing smaller-scale livestock businesses that boast more ethically raised, grass-fed cattle – they only want to take a stance against factory farming.

“We are not against traditional agriculture,” Toubia told The Guardian. “The main issue today is with intensive, factory farming facilities, which are very inefficient and very polluting and have lost the relationship to the animal.”

(WATCH the video below) – Photo by Aleph Farms

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Student-Designed Electric Car Breaks World Record by Crossing Australia in 6 Days Using Only $50 of Power

By
Good News Network
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A team of 14 college students have just set a Guinness world record with a solar-powered car that drove across Australia in 6 days using only $50 worth of energy.

The car, which has affectionally been named Violet, broke the record for using the lowest amount of energy on a cross-country drive earlier this month after it traveled roughly 2,500 miles (4,100 kilometers) from Perth to Sydney – and it arrived at its destination two days ahead of schedule.

The car was designed by the student-led Sunswift team at the University of New South Wales.

“I’m so excited we made it,” said 20-year-old Courtney Morris, a mechanical engineering student involved with the project. “It’s always so nerve-wracking to see the car that you built with your own hands on the road; I’m always afraid that something could change at any moment, but it all went pretty well and the team dynamic was great.”

RELATED: Tesla’s Record-Breaking Mega Battery, Installed on a Bet, Saves Australia $40 Million in Its First Year

To set the record, the team had to keep the car’s energy consumption to under 5.5 kilowatt hours (kWh) for every 62 miles. Actual energy consumption throughout the journey was an average of 3.25kWh per 62 miles, which is about 17 times less than an average Australian car.

By traveling an average of 372 miles (600 kilometers) a day, Violet used about the same energy per day as that of a standard household. When the vehicle is coasting at just 37 miles per hour (60kph), it uses about the same amount of energy as a four slice toaster.

MORE: Solar Panels Recoup Cost Faster by Following Sun From Dawn Till Dusk, Thanks to Clever Teen Scientist

“These students have pushed the boundaries of modern engineering and proven that solar powered cars are likely to be a big part of Australia’s motoring future,” said UNSW Dean of Engineering Professor Mark Hoffman, who was waiting for the students at the finish line.

“They worked extremely hard to prepare for this journey and despite setbacks, they’ve shown resilience, bounced back like professionals and got on with the job. This is what a university degree should entail – actual, hands-on experience and overcoming real-world challenges. I am incredibly proud of the calibre of young adults we have studying here at UNSW. A wholehearted congratulations to every one of you.”

Drive This Good News Story To Your Friends By Sharing It On Social Media – Photo by University of New South Wales

When Icy Roads Delay School Day, Bus Driver Buys 50 Breakfast Meals for His Students

By
Joao Freitas
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Due to how icy roads delayed an Alabama school from opening, staffers announced that they would not be able to serve breakfast to the kids – but this bus driver was not about to let his students go through their classes while hungry.

Wayne Price had already picked up a lot of the students on his route for Montevallo Elementary School – so when the school announced that there wouldn’t be any time for breakfast, Price purchased 50 McDonald’s breakfast biscuits for his young passengers.

The school later made a Facebook post to highlight their driver’s good deed, saying: “Mr. Price, one of our bus drivers, truly demonstrates the spirit of Christmas!

“On Tuesday, when school was delayed due to icy roads and we weren’t able to serve breakfast, he purchased biscuits from McDonald’s for his entire bus of students! What a kind act that our students will forever remember! Thank you, Mr. Price, for making a lasting impact in the lives of our students!”

RELATED: Watch Bus Driver Offer Comfort and Resources to Homeless Passenger Escaping the Cold

Price has since been praised for his kindness across social media platforms and news outlets – but according to some Facebook comments, the compassionate gesture wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary.

“Anyone who knows Wayne Price would know that this isn’t a random moment,” said Facebook user Derek Wilson. “In the almost 20 years of knowing him, I’ve seen this man give so much of himself to his community. I’ve experienced first hand the hope and guidance he brings to people who may not find it anywhere else. I’m glad he’s getting the acknowledgment he deserves.”

WATCH: ‘Coolest Bus Driver Ever’ Halts Pedestrian Accident in London

At the same time, Montevallo’s hero does not seem to think much of his act of kindness.

“You can drop $50 going out to dinner, and it was nothing more than taking my family out to dinner”, Price told WBMA-LD. “We get caught up in materialistic things, even buying biscuits to a certain element is a little materialistic, but Christmas is giving. Christmas is showing love,” he concluded with a smile.

Be Sure And Drive This Story To Your Friends By Sharing It To Social Media – File Photo by Coastline09, CC

“It is not good for all our wishes to be filled. Through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food.” – Greek Proverb

By
Good News Network
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Quote of the Day: “It is not good for all our wishes to be filled. Through sickness we recognize the value of health; through evil, the value of good; through hunger, the value of food.” – Greek Proverb

Photo: by Keith Williams, CC license on Flickr

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