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Watch Mom Brought To Tears When Wild Bird Comforts Her at Son’s Grave

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It was like a scene out of Snow White.

An English woman named Marie Robinson was visiting the grave of her late son Jack earlier this month when she was comforted by a wild robin.

Jack had passed away from brain cancer four years earlier, and Marie had been visiting his resting place on the anniversary of his death.

RELATED: Hospital Grants Dying Patient’s Last Wish For Wine, Cigarette

It was then that she was soothed by the presence of the tiny robin.

The bird was perched on the grave before flying over to her hand after she called it – and then she couldn’t help but break down in tears of gratitude.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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This Senior Has Cared For Feral Cats Every Day For the Last 22 Years

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McKinley Corbley
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Through rain and shine, snow and sleet; Willie Ortiz has cared for his feral neighborhood cats every day for the last 22 years – and when we say every day, we mean every day.

The 75-year-old collects recyclable scrap metals which he sells at a salvage yard. All of the money he makes, he uses to buy cat food for the 68 local felines in Hartford, Connecticut. If a new furry friend joins the colonies, he carefully captures it so he can get it spayed or neutered.

“Willie’s cats are all very healthy because he makes sure they get what they need to have as good a life as possible,” says Willie’s friend Kathleen Schlentz. “New cats wander in or get dropped off by people that won’t or can’t care for them, and unfortunately some existing cats get hit by cars, don’t survive the winter, or even worse.”

RELATED: Public Raises $100K For Widower Selling Kindling to Pay Wife’s Medical Bills

Despite those mishaps, however, Willie soldiers on with his mission.

To assist with his financial burden 14 months ago, Kathleen set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for cat food, vet visits, feline medication, and gas money.

“He collects and sells scrap metal everyday, no matter the weather. He relies on donations so he can continue his mission. He has not missed one night of feeding despite the rain, snow, freezing weather or his own health issues.”

Donations were few and far between – until one of their friends posted the story on Reddit. Contributions poured in, raising a total of $25,000.

CHECK OUT: Man Becomes Hero to Cats in War-Torn Syria

Kathleen says that Willie couldn’t believe his good fortune.

“He was so excited and when he gets really excited, I have trouble understanding his accent. He was so happy and so relieved! He really wasn’t sure how he was going to make it through the winter,” says Kathleen.

“He said ‘Do you think I should take a day off from scrapping?’. I told him: ‘I think you should take 2…’”

Click To Share This Pawesome Story With Your Friends (Photo by Kathleen Schlentz)

Canada Rules to Uphold Net Neutrality

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The internet of Canada is to remain a fair and equal space for all thanks to this new ruling.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) strengthened its commitment to net neutrality yesterday by declaring that Internet service providers should treat data traffic equally to foster consumer choice, innovation and the free exchange of ideas. As such, the CRTC today is publishing a new framework regarding differential pricing practices.

This framework supports a fair marketplace for services, cultural expression and ideas in which Internet service providers compete on price, quality of service, speeds, data allowance and better service offerings, rather than by treating the data usage of certain content differently.

RELATED: Soon You Can Cross Canada on One of the Longest Pleasure Trails in the World

The ruling comes as a direct stance against Videotron: a music streaming service that allows users to stream music from third party apps without using data. After assessing Videotron’s Unlimited Music Service under the new framework, the CRTC found that the company is giving an undue preference to certain consumers and music streaming services, while subjecting other consumers and content providers to an unreasonable disadvantage. The company has been given 90 days to comply with the new guidelines.

“A free and open Internet gives everyone a fair chance to innovate and for a vast array of content to be discovered by consumers,” says Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman and CEO, CRTC. “A free and open Internet also allows citizens to be informed and engage on issues of public concern without undue or inappropriate interference by those who operate those networks. Rather than offering its subscribers selected content at different data usage prices, Internet service providers should be offering more data at lower prices. That way, subscribers can choose for themselves what content they want to consume.”

Click To Share The News With Your Friends (Photo by Pixelrain)

Dad Has the Perfect Plan to Cheer 6-Year-old Who Wet Her Pants

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McKinley Corbley
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Ben Sowards has accumulated a lot of parenting experience from his 11 kids – so when his 6-year-old daughter Valerie had a little bathroom accident at her school on Friday, he knew exactly what to do.

After accidentally wetting herself during class, the kindergartener wrapped a jacket around her waist to hide the accident and walked to the school’s office. Valerie called her dad, told him what happened, and waited to be picked up.

Ben, not wanting his daughter to feel ashamed, gave himself a patching wet spot on the front of his pants before driving over to the school.

When he arrived, proudly sporting his stained trousers, Valerie couldn’t believe her eyes.

WATCH: Adorable Children Crash Dad’s Live TV Interview

“She just looked at him… just in awe,” Ben’s oldest daughter Lucinda told KXTV. “He pretended like they were sneaking out of the school together, like they were both getting away with something.”

The elder sister goes on to say that her parents have always emphasized that there is nothing too serious that they can’t overcome just by laughing it off. The Sowards have only proved their point since pictures of Ben and Valerie taken on Friday went viral overnight.

Praise poured in from social media in recognition of Ben’s astute parenting skills.

“It’s something people can relate to – whether they can be a parent like that, or have a parent like that, or to have people say, ‘I don’t have a dad but I can’t wait to be this type of person,’” Lucinda told KXTV.

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In Twist of Fate, NFL Star’s Organs Go to the Ailing Sports Hero Who Inspired Him

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McKinley Corbley
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NFL tight end Konrad Reuland was on his deathbed when he declared that God had a plan for his life – but after he passed away from a brain aneurysm at the age of 29 in December, his parents seriously doubted the sentiment.

However, a serendipitous plan did occur, when Konrad’s organs ended up saving the man who inspired the football player to become a professional athlete twenty years earlier.

In the 1980s, MLB Hall of Fame hitter Rod Carew spent a lot of time with children when he wasn’t on the baseball field hitting .300 every year with the California Angels. One of those kids was Konrad, who was so inspired by the star’s winning ways, he decided that he wanted to grow up to become a sports hero just like Carew.

RELATED VIDEO: Boy Throws Opening Pitch at Baseball Game 1 Year After Double Hand Transplant

Fast forward to a year before Konrad’s aneurysm. Rod was playing on a golf course when he suffered a massive heart attack. Doctors informed him that he would eventually need a new heart and kidney if he wanted to live to see any more innings.

As destiny would have it, the donor who ended up saving his life was the young football player whose future goals were forged by Carew’s kindness.

With the strength of a new set of organs, Carew uses his retirement to advocate for the American Heart Association to honor Konrad’s memory.

(WATCH the video below)

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Utah Legalizes Lemonade Stands and Other Businesses Run by Kids

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McKinley Corbley
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Lemonade stands have always been a classic example of youngsters exercising their entrepreneurial spirit – and now, thanks to a new piece of legislations, kids in Utah will no longer have to worry about their operations being shut down by the cops.

SB 81, a law that was signed by the Gov. Gary Herbert on March 24th, states that children are no longer required to carry permits in order to run their “businesses”.

“Business” is defined in the bill as “any enterprise carried on for the purpose of gain or economic profit”.

RELATED: Boy With Autism Sells Drawings to Buy Toys For Sick Brother

The article then goes on to say that no counties in Utah are allowed to “require a license or permit for a business that is operated: only occasionally… by an individual who is under 18 years of age; or charge a license fee for a home based business”.

The bill – which was mostly geared towards operations like lemonade stands and shoveling snow – reportedly follows a measure that was passed in Salt Lake City four years ago. The ruling now applies throughout the entire state, however, after it passed with enthusiastic bipartisan support.

SB 81 also proves some relief for local adult business owners.

Assuming an estimated 24,000 home based businesses per year are impacted, the total statewide savings to businesses annually would be about $720,000, or $30 a month in licensing fees.

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$200K Donated Overnight for Soldier Killed Fighting ISIS

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It’s a familiar story; a soldier is killed while he is fighting overseas, leaving his wife and children behind without a father.

And in the case of Special Forces Sergeant Mark De Alencar, he was no ordinary father either.

This past weekend, Alencar was killed while fighting against ISIS in Afghanistan. During his time as a Green Beret, he was recognized with over 19 awards and badges including the Purple Heart, the Iraq Campaign Medal with two stars, and Expert Infantryman Badge, among others.

As well as being an excellent soldier, Alencar was also a loving husband and father of five.

RELATED: Public Raises $100K For Widower Selling Kindling to Pay Wife’s Medical Bills

In honor of his death, a family friend of the Alencars named Nikki Damron created a GoFundMe account to help ease the financial burden that was left behind.

Despite the campaign only starting with a goal of $15,000, it raised $200,000 overnight. It has now reached $325,000 one week later.

“Mark was a close friend of my husbands and my family, a hard working soldier and more importantly, an amazing father,” wrote Nikki. “Our community has been hit hard in the last passing months and I just felt the need to try and do my part and help out his family.

“Joining SF was a huge dream of Marks, one he worked very hard to achieve. As a fellow military wife, I feel it is my duty to make every effort to ensure his wife and family are taken care of.”

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Major Earthquake May Have Saved Island From Coastal Erosion

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McKinley Corbley
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There aren’t a lot of benefits that come from major disasters – but this island in New Zealand may have just been saved from certain long-term danger because of it.

After the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in November, over 75 miles of Kaikōura coastline in Canterbury was raised up to 26 feet out of the water.

Kaikōura is a relatively small tourist town on the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand with a population of 3,500 people. The regional council had reportedly been struggling with how to manage the island’s coastal erosion; a phenomenon in which their water currents were washing away beaches, land mass, and dune sediments.

RELATED: 30,000 Bees Rescued From NZ Town After Earthquake

The council would have had to spend millions in order to repair the coastline; but now – ever since the earthquake – officials are wondering whether the island has temporarily been put out of harm’s way..

“It was actually the elephant in the room for us, like many councils, because it was such a big job to deal with, particularly along the esplanade where it’s a very popular residential area,” Kaikōura mayor Winston Gray told Radio New Zealand. “Now with the uplift … certainly it has taken the issue away for a given period of time. How long, we don’t know.”

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Watch Bewildered Beaver Accidentally Herd 150 Cows

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Everyone knows about beavers gathering sticks for their lodge – but have you ever heard of a beaver gathering heifers?

Adrienne Ivy went to visit her cow herd on Friday morning when she saw that 150 of her cattle were crowded around a strange shape. As she got closer, she recognized the shape as a confused beaver.

The beaver, who was most likely gathering materials for a shelter, was followed by the crowd wherever it went.

RELATED: Cop Posts Selfies with Dogs He Saved To Help Them Reunite With Owners

Though the Canadian cows wouldn’t get any closer than about 3 feet, they were still enchanted by the strange creature’s presence.

“Because heifers are young, they are very curious creatures,” says Ivy. “They were absolutely enthralled by this wayward beaver traveling across their stomping grounds. Enthralled, but wary enough to keep their distance.”

Ivy posted the amusing interaction on Facebook with the caption: “How do we move 150 heifers in Canada? Now I just need a better trained beaver…”

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Scientists Unlock the Key to Turning Algae into Oil

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Undersea algae could become the fuel of the future— and producing the valuable oil would not require any arable land or human drinking water.

The mechanism behind oil synthesis within microalgae cells has been revealed by a Japanese research team led by Professor Hasunuma Tomohisa and Academic Researcher Kato Yuichi, both from the Kobe University Graduate School of Science, Technology and Innovation.

The amount of biomass on Earth is approximately 10 times the amount of energy we currently consume. Roughly half of this natural material grows in aquatic environments.

CHECK OUT: Teenage Girl Turns Plastic Trash Into Million-Dollar Biofuel

Microalgae is produced by the combination of light, water, carbon dioxide and a small amount of minerals. Their cells divide quickly, which means it can be harvested faster than land-based biomasses, such as sugar or corn. Algae can also be harvested year-round, potentially offering a more stable energy supply.

Many species of algae are capable of producing large amounts of oil (lipids), but this is the first time that researchers have captured the metabolic changes occurring on a molecular level when lipids are produced in algae cells.

Focusing on marine microalgae, Professor Hasunuma’s group found that JSC4, a new species of green alga harvested from brackish water, combines a high growth rate with high levels of lipids. The research team developed an analysis method called “dynamic metabolic profiling” and used this to analyze JSC4 and discover how this species produces oil within its cells.

RELATED: People Willing to Pay 11% More For New Biofuels That Help the Earth

Professor Hasunuma’s team incubated JSC4 with carbon dioxide as the sole carbon source. 4 days after the start of incubation, over 55% of cell weight consisted of carbohydrates. When saltwater comprised 1-2% of the incubation liquid, the team saw a decrease in carbohydrates and increase in oil, and 7 days after the start of incubation over 45% of cell weight had become oil.

With a high cell growth rate, the lipid production in the JSC4 culture solution achieved a speed that greatly surpassed previous experiments. At the start of the cultivation period starch particles were observed in the cells, but in saltwater these particles vanish and numerous oil droplets are seen.

Using dynamic metabolic profiling, the group found that the sugar biosynthesis pathway (activated when starch is produced) slows down, and the pathway is activated for synthesizing triacylglycerol, a constituent element of oil. In other words, the addition of seawater switched the pathway from starch to oil production. They also clarified that the activation of an enzyme that breaks down starch is increased in saltwater solution.

The discovery of this metabolic mechanism is not only an important biological finding, it could also be used to increase the production of biofuel by improving methods of algae cultivation. Based on these findings, the team will continue looking for ways to increase sustainable oil production by developing more efficient cultivation methods and through genetic engineering.

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Watch Dad of 5 Girls Yell With Joy When Baby Boy is Born

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Kennedy Zarour is the proud father of five daughters – but when his wife Natalie finally gave birth to a baby boy, he couldn’t contain his excitement.

Natalie started filming her husband as she was delivering the child by C-section on March 8th.

The New Jersey-based couple didn’t yet know the gender of the baby until the doctors announced that it was a boy. Kennedy was so shocked, he let out a shout of happiness.

RELATED: Teens Are Instant Heroes For Saving a Boy Who Fell Off a Cliff

“Oh my God I love it!” Zarour screams as he jumps right out of his seat. “Yeah baby! I got a boy!”

Kennedy was so exuberant, in fact, the doctors actually had to tell him to calm down so he wouldn’t scare anyone.

The beloved newborn has since been named Gerard.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Prairie Dogs Win Major Victory in Court

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McKinley Corbley
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Prairie pups on the range are now more likely to live and see another day thanks to a recent court ruling.

The 10th Circuit of Court of Appeals overturned a Utah state judge’s ruling to eliminate the protection of prairie dogs under the Endangered Species Act.

The Utah Prairie Dog used to have a recorded population of over 100,000 one century ago, but their numbers have dwindled to mere thousands due to human conflict and hunting, which has since led to their “endangered” classification.

RELATED: Critically Endangered Black Rhinos Welcome Two Newborn Calves

In 2014, Utah voted to disregard federal regulation of the species by claiming that the Utah Prairie Dog was a pest that should be managed by the state landowners who are affected by them. The Denver-based 3-judge panel overruled the legislation and sided with environmentalists claiming that the species would be wiped out without federal protection.

The panel also argued that the Endangered Species Act should not simply apply to animals that roam across multiple states.

“Piecemeal excision of purely intrastate species would severely undercut the ESA’s conservation purposes,” Judge Holmes wrote in the panel’s ruling. The “regulation of take of endangered and threatened species is directly related to—indeed, arguably inversely correlated with—economic development and commercial activity.”

Click To Share This Prairie Good News With Your Friends (Photo by Dishfunctional, CC)

12-Year-old Girl Outsmarts Carjacker and Saves Little Sister

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McKinley Corbley
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A 12-year-old girl may not seem like much of a match for an adult carjacker – but that wasn’t the case for Maddie Weiler.

Maddie and her 7-year-old sister Molly were on the way to the Busch Gardens theme park in Virginia on Saturday when they witnessed a car accident happen right in front of their eyes.

Maddie’s mother Brandie Weiler pulled over and got out of the car in order to help the victims. After she dialed 911, however, she saw the man who caused the accident unlock the door to her car and climb into the driver’s seat.

RELATED: Teens Are Instant Heroes For Saving a Boy Who Fell Off a Cliff

The perpetrator, 21-year-old Paul Salsman, wasn’t expecting the beatdown that followed.

Maddie sprung into action by putting the van into drive, knowing full well that it prevented the car from starting. She then started punching Salsman as hard as she could and screaming at the top of her lungs – all to give her sister Molly enough time to get out of the car and away from the danger.

Salsman reportedly tried to steal two more cars before being arrested by police. He is currently being charged with three counts of felony carjacking, felony hit and run, and driving under the influence of drugs.

MORE: Abused Shelter Dog a Hero for Finding Naked Girl Shivering in Cold

According to Fox News, Maddie is an talented horseback rider. After the incident, she told her mother: “Mama, if I can control a 1,500-pound animal, then I was sure going to try to take care of him.”

Maddie’s parents have always told the kids to resist kidnapping by lashing out and making as much noise and possible. Though she suffered a fractured growth plate in her wrist, the young hero believes that it’s a small price to pay for the safety of her family – and she encourages other girls to follow her example.

“I just went for it,” Maddie told WTKR. “Nothing passed my mind except, ‘He is a psycho and he needs to get out of the car’.”

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Fewer Women are Drinking Alcohol While Pregnant Than Ever Before

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The signage varies but the message is working; drinking by pregnant women is down 11% in states requiring point-of-sale warning signs.

According to a health economist at the University of Oregon, the benefits to heeding the warnings show up in fewer extremely premature births (less than 32 weeks gestation) and very-low-birth-weight babies (less than 3.5 pounds). The biggest effects are seen among those with the most drinking behavior – women aged 30 and older.

Gulcan Cil’s complex breakdown of extensive data, she said, indicates reduced drinking by pregnant women associated with signage and suggests a likely causal relationship between drinking while pregnant and birth outcomes.

RELATED: Thousands of Indian Doctors Fight Sexism by Delivering Baby Girls For Free

“The signage is working,” said Cil, a visiting instructor in the Department of Economics. “Drinking alcohol while pregnant has been an issue that many policies have tried to address over the last few decades. An 11% change in the prevalence of drinking is not trivial. It is big enough to show up in the birth outcomes.”

The study involved regression analyses of data available in two national sources and information from the 23 states and Washington, D.C., which have adopted such signage, and a group of states that have not. The study’s control group included women who had lived in non-adopting states and women who lived in adopting states before signage requirements were implemented.

The primary data source was the National Vital Statistics Natality Detail Files, a collection system based on information obtained on birth certificates. The focus was on data from 1989, when information on alcohol consumption during pregnancy was required, to 2010.

Data also came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1985-2010. The system, Cil said, gathers information that women were likely to freely share about their drinking patterns during the previous 30 days before taking the telephone-based survey.

MORE: India Doubles Paid Maternity Leave, Making it 3rd Best Worldwide

Her analytic approach to compare data from sign-adopting states and states not using signage allowed Cil to identify the direct relationship between drinking while pregnant and birth outcomes, reducing the likelihood that other factors such as cigarette smoking, drug abuse, nutritional deficiencies and other risky life choices were at play in behavioral changes.

Point-of-sale signage, she said, appears to be an effective, low-cost approach to protect the health of pregnant women and the babies they carry.

“Some people never get exposed to these kinds of educational campaigns,” Cil said, adding that the signage that she saw at a Eugene grocery store, which sparked her study, reinforced what she already knew about drinking while pregnant. “I found that the issue has never been studied and evaluated as a public education program or public awareness program.”

Cil noted that the signage used in Oregon contain an eye-catching graphic depicting a pregnant woman, while signs used in other states do not. All contain similar language. A future study might explore whether variations in signage – graphics, fonts, colors and language – may best influence behavioral change.

(Source: University of Oregon)

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Rick Steves Sacrifices Nest Egg to House Dozens of Homeless Women and Kids

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Travel guide guru Rick Steves just gave a $4 million apartment complex to homeless women and kids who need housing.

Steves realized the importance of affordable housing early on during his travel adventures (how else?) as a young man in Europe.

He described his personal backpacking trip as “Europe Through the Gutter,” a wandering teen embarking on the daily challenge of finding an affordable (i.e., free) place to sleep.

With his rail pass, he’d sleep on trains, ferries, the pews of Greek churches, the concrete floors of Dutch construction projects, and in barns at the edge of unaffordable Swiss alpine resorts.

“How else would a white, middle-class American kid gain a firsthand appreciation for the value of a safe and comfortable place to sleep?”

POPULAR: Former Addict Cuts Homeless People’s Hair and Spreads Joy of Rehab

Twenty years ago, he devised a scheme whereby he could put his retirement savings not into a bank to accrue interest, but into cheap apartments that could house struggling neighbors. He would be helping others while his own money would grow whenever the property values rose.

“I would retain my capital, my equity would grow as the apartment complex appreciated,” Steves explained on his travel blog. “Rather than collecting rent, my ‘income’ would be the joy of housing otherwise desperate people. I found this a creative, compassionate and more enlightened way to ‘invest’ while retaining my long-term security.”

The 24-unit apartment complex began housing single moms who were recovering from drug addiction and ready to get custody of their children back.

WATCH: Tony Robbins Rescues 100-Yr-old Lady Before She Becomes Homeless

“Imagine the joy of knowing that I could provide a simple two-bedroom apartment for a mom and her kids as she fought to get her life back on track.”

But, in early 2017, Steves’s generosity rose to a whole new level. He took his affordable housing project one step further and donated the entire 24-unit apartment complex to the YWCA. The nonprofit group will now be able to plan for the future, knowing that the facility is theirs to keep.

(WATCH the inspiring video at K5 News)

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Reebok’s Next Shoe Will Be Made From Corn

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McKinley Corbley
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American apparel company Reebok has just announced their new shoes for environmentally-conscious souls.

In a statement released by the brainiacs of Reebok’s Future Team, the company plans on selling shoes made out of corn as a part of their fall collection.

Everything in the stylish kicks will be entirely compostable and plant-based; from the organic cotton tops, to the soles made of corn – even the glue holding the shoes together will be concocted from biologically friendly materials.

The Cotton + Corn initiative will be the first project in the world to create a plant-based athletic shoe.

CHECK OUT: Man Creates ‘Shoes That Grow’ So Poor Kids Don’t Outgrow Them

Once the corn shoes have reached the end of their life span, they will be used to fertilize the soil and create the next generation of recyclable footwear.

“Reebok is trying to clean up the entire life cycle of shoe making: from what shoes are made of to where they end up,” says Bill McInnis, vice president of Reebok’s Future Team.

“Typical shoes are made from oil-based plastics that can sit around in landfills for hundreds of years when you’re done with them. We’re focusing on creating shoes made from things that grow, made from things that bio-compost, made from things that can be replenished.”

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Your Dog’s Guilty Look May Come From Wolves

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When your pooch bows his head low and looks at you with big sad eyes after he’s chewed on your shoes, he may be using a complex survival tactic evolved from wolves.

According to Nathan H. Lents, a molecular biologist with the City University of New York, young wolves use the “apology bow” as they begin social integration into a pack.

If the young wolf bites too hard, for example, he might be spurned by the pack. He will then use the apology bow to get back in the group’s good graces.

“Dogs have inherited this behavior and they will use it after any kind of infraction that results in being punished,” Lents wrote in Psychology Today. “As social animals, they crave harmonious integration in the group and neglect or isolation is painful for them.”

RELATED: Abused Shelter Dog a Hero for Finding Naked Girl Shivering in Cold

“Dogs have inherited this behavior and they will use it after any kind of infraction that results in being punished. As social animals, they crave harmonious integration in the group and neglect or isolation is painful for them.”

Check out Nathan’s book, Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals, that discusses how animals –like us –fall in love, get jealous, exchange valuable goods and services, hold ‘funerals’ for fallen comrades, develop irrational phobias, and communicate using rich vocabularies (prairie dogs even name the humans they encounter).

Share This With Your Pack of Dog Friends… Or,  – CC Photo by George Thomas

You May Spot ‘Forrest Gump’ Recreating the Iconic Cross Country Journey

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McKinley Corbley
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His name may not be Forrest Gump, but this guy sure loves running.

38-year-old Robert Pope has been making international headlines thanks to his cross-country mission to recreate the historic running chapter of the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump.

Robert, a Liverpool, England native, has run over 5,000 miles in the last 7 months in order to retrace the route portrayed in the 1994 movie. The marathon runner started in Mobile, Alabama in September, and ran all the way to the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, California. Then, true to the original ping-pong hero, he turned around and started running back.

WATCH: Two Runners Pick Up Collapsed Competitor, Carry Her to Finish Line

Robert has always loved running; and before he started his American journey, he wanted to raise money for charity in a way that stood out from the thousands of other charity runs already in existence. Eventually, he had the bright idea to impersonate his favorite movie hero: Forrest Gump.

The jogger grew out his beard and bought the classic white Nike sneakers, as well as the Bubba Gump Shrimp hat and shirt. Then he just started runnin’.

Running across America equals the distance of about 100 marathons – and Rob runs a little over two per day. The money he raises is either donated to the World Wildlife Fund or Peace Direct.

CHECK OUT: Baby From Nirvana Album Cover Recreates Iconic Image 25 Years Later

Pope stopped in Massachusetts yesterday in order to run the Boston Marathon, but plans on returning to New Jersey and continuing his expedition towards Maine. Anyone is free to join him for a final running streak reminiscent of the movie, or just to “come along for a beer”.

Robert chuckles every time he is cheered on throughout his journey with the appropriate phrase: “Run, Rob, run!”

You can follow ‘Forrest’s’ journey by checking out his Instagram page or his Going The Distance website.

(WATCH the video below)

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Bomb Squad Creates Beeping Easter Egg Hunt for Blind Children

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Bomb squads are typically employed to defuse explosive situations – not necessarily to ignite excitement.

But the local explosives experts of Albuquerque, New Mexico decided to use their skills for just that.

25 different military workers and specialists from the Albuquerque Police Department organized a beeping Easter egg hunt for the city’s blind children on Saturday.

CHECK OUT: Thousands of Blind Dogs Get New Leash on Life With This Wearable Device

By using special circuitry within the eggs, visually-impaired children can hear the sounds emanating from the contraptions and find where the goodies are located.

After hundreds of people attended the event – which was held at USS Bullhead Memorial Park – the community plans on making the hunt an annual celebration.

(WATCH the video below)

 

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Man Buys Ice Cream For So Many Strangers, Bill Stretches 7 Feet

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McKinley Corbley
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A mysterious customer known only as Mr. Gary is being hailed as a dessert legend after spending over three hours buying other people’s ice cream.

Mr. Gary reportedly came into Sweet Sammie’s Ice Cream shop in Fort Worth, Texas last weekend to get his free street parking validated. Street parking usually costs $20 unless it is verified by a business.

When the employees agreed to sign off on the parking pass, the customer was so taken aback, he volunteered to pay for everyone’s ice cream.

RELATED: Starbucks Worker Receives Apology Note, Tip From Sassy Customer

Mr. Gary then reportedly sat by the counter with a bottled water and started picking up the tabs of every customer. Sammie’s employees say that he kept upping his cutoff point as the night went on; first, he said he would stop paying at $100; then at $500; then at $1,000 – until finally he signed off on a $1,300 bill with a $100 tip for each of the employees.

The receipt was so expansive, it stretched to 7 feet long – which the Sammie’s employees reportedly plan on hanging from the wall.

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