Sometimes, my job is so easy. It may have been an, er, stressful news week, but there were also more great stories than I could possibly pack into one newsletter. A bountiful harvest, you may say. A bumper crop. A cornucopia overflowing with delicious news of every flavor: There's fat bears and sweet high schoolers and, hey, even a little opera. So please, enjoy the abundance. I promise to ease up on the autumnal puns. Maybe.
Our favorites this week
Get going with some of our most popular good news stories of the week
Music to our ears
By now you may have seen the video shared by a Los Angeles police officer of a woman singing a sublime version of Puccini's "O mio babbino caro" in a Los Angeles subway station. The woman was identified as Emily Zamourka, a classically trained pianist and vocalist (obviously) from Russia who says a series of medical setbacks left her homeless. Since her beautiful voice captivated the internet, a few amazing things have happened: Zamourka was offered a recording opportunity and a performance gig, and a GoFundMe has raised more than $60,000 to help her get back on her feet. A Los Angeles council member and others are even working to get her housing. It's all great stuff, but we especially love the moment she got to meet Officer Frazier, the man who took the original video. It's just a wonderful reminder that every person you meet, regardless of their circumstance, has their own story to tell.
High school's not so bad after all
This pair of super cute high school stories are just begging for their own original Netflix movies. First, a high school football team in Michigan with no band invited a band from a neighboring high school to play at their game ... because the other school had no football team! The match was made last Friday night when the Glen Lake Lakers football team heard that their neighboring Forest Area Marching Band had no one to play for after their football team's season was canceled — Forest Area suspended its season due to low player participation. So, the Lakers invited the band to come play at theirs. The band quickly learned the Lakers' fight song and the two schools teamed up for a lovely evening. And, in true movie fashion, the Lakers won.
Meanwhile in Altamonte Springs, Florida, two high school sweethearts got their whole class cheering with a beautiful homecoming proposal. David Cowan and Saris Garcia have known each other since they were three years old. The teens both have down syndrome and met in a speech therapy class and are now upperclassmen at Lake Brantley High School. As Garcia was performing a cheer routine at a recent football game, Cowan surprised her on the field with flowers balloons and, of course, the biggest question of the night. Video of the sweet moment has been viewed millions of times, and their parents say they're overwhelmed by everyone's support and well-wishes.
Toy stories
A few weeks ago, 8-year-old Daniel Hunt watched as flames engulfed his family home, taking all his toys with it. But a week later, a devastated Daniel was surprised by his third-grade classmates with the results of a toy drive. They had worked in secret to resupply his collection. Daniel was completely overjoyed, and the boy's homeroom teacher Casey MacKintosh says, in their small town, the gesture was a no-brainer. "We live in a small community in Tennessee. Word of the fire traveled quickly and by Monday, everyone just wanted to help," she said.
I promised you a bountiful harvest, so here's yet ANOTHER story of kids being, well, amazing. Five-year-old Weston Newswanger is a proud cancer survivor, so when his mother asked him what he wanted for his fifth birthday, he said he wanted to donate toys to Penn State Children's Hospital where he was treated. His family got the word out and, when all was said and done, the little boy collected more than 3,000 toys — Play-Doh, dinosaurs, superheroes, the works — to give to kids fighting the same kind of fight he faced.
Raise a glass to...
Tyra Winters, a 17-year-old Texas cheerleader who jumped off her school's homecoming float to save a choking child! Winters says she was participating in Rockwall High School's homecoming parade when she saw a mother holding up her young son and begging for help. She held the little boy and gave him three strong back thrusts that made him spit up the candy he was choking on. Superpowers? More like good old proper emergency skills: Winters had taken CPR training in eighth grade because her mom is in the medical field. And, the teen plans to be a pediatric surgeon. Yeah, Netflix? We have another movie pitch for you.
A bright idea
The number of people who can now shout "Uno!" with their friends (and have bitter fights about the rules) just got more inclusive. Mattel announced this week that fans of the game can now buy UNO Braille. Mattel worked with the National Federation of the Blind to develop the game, and with more than 7 million blind and low-vision people in the US, it's sure to be a big hit. "The fact that a blind person is now able to play a classic game of UNO straight out of the box with both blind and sighted friends or family members is a truly meaningful moment for our community," Mark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said of the release.
You gotta see this
It's Fat Bear Week, y'all! Every year, the Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska holds an online contest to crown the biggest, chunkiest brown bear of the state's Brooks River area. These zaftig ursines often develop passionate online followings because, well, fat bears are glorious gifts of nature. There's no need to be ashamed, whether you're a fat bear or a fat bear lover: The National Park Service says large amounts of body fat in brown bears is "indicative of good health and strong chances of survival." The contest runs through October 8th, so get voting!
Heroes among us
The world needs more people like Dr. Olawale Sulaiman. The 49-year-old neurosurgeon was born in Lagos, Nigeria, but lives in New Orleans, where he practices at the Ochsner Neuroscience Institute. However, for about 12 days a month, Sulaiman returns to his birth country to perform operations and share his expertise with local medical professionals. To maintain such a schedule, he took a 25% pay cut at his job in the US, so he could have more time off for medical missions to Nigeria. Sulaiman also started RNZ Global, a healthcare development company with his wife, Patricia, in 2010 (power couple, much?). The company provides medical services including neuro and spinal surgery and offers health courses like first aid CPR in Nigeria and the US.
Wanna get away?
Just looking at this photo of Milos, Greece, will make you feel like you're on vacation (or at least, that your eyeballs are). The island, where the iconic Venus de Milo was found in 1820, is one of CNN Travel's picks for the world's most beautiful islands.
Tell us something good
There's no doubt that kids can change the world, and for Kids Saving the Rainforest, that mission begins among the lush trees and wildlife of Costa Rica's beautiful Pacific Coast. The organization was founded by two 9-year-old girls in 1999, and now it offers all sorts of opportunities for young people to foster a love of nature and a sense of ecological responsibility. They maintain a wildlife rescue, rehabilitate forested areas and conduct studies and projects that help preserve the region's rich natural treasures. Peter Francis volunteers with the organization, and says they recently completed a project with the children in Costa Rica to plant more than 20,000 trees in the area. " There is a lot of human-wildlife conflict which causes wildlife to be injured," Francis says. "KSTR helps rehabilitate wildlife, and volunteering with them makes me feel like I'm doing something really positive."
Thank you to Peter Francis for suggesting this story.
Impact your world
Got a few bucks? Even a bill or two can make a huge difference over time. When the staff at the Siesta Key Oyster Bar in the Florida Keys were brainstorming ways to help people in the Bahamas after Hurricane Dorian, they realized the answer was all around them — literally. The bar has a tradition where patrons staple a dollar to the walls, or the doors, or the bar itself, or pretty much any visible surface. It's a cool visual, but it makes an even cooler donation. The staff spent the whole month of September gentle prying the bills off, and when all was said, done, counted and taken to the bank, they were left with a total of $13,961 to give. "You pay it forward," says the bar's general manager Kristin Hale. "It gives it a whole new level of respect for what you do when you have the ability to do that."
Shameless animal video
There's always time for cute animal videos. That time is now.
We're smack dab in the middle of the MLB postseason, which is VERY IMPORTANT. Check on your favorite baseball fan, please! Whew. Let's all decompress under the gentle ministrations of Finn the bat dog, a very good boy who fetches bats for the Las Vegas 51s, a minor league affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. (Click to view)
No comments:
Post a Comment