Happy Headline of the Day Archives

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport, Rhode Island, does a lot of good for families in the community. It provides food for the hungry, educates young people – and helps senior citizens stay healthy and strong.

And thanks to Jane Mead Timken, the center will be able to do even more good things as Jane sold her house – and handed over the $1.7 million in proceeds.

It was the largest gift to the organization in its 100-year history.

The idea for the donation started when all this coronavirus stuff started. Jane learned that demands for programs at the center were increasing in a big way – and fast.

So, she made the commitment and gave the center a huge boost, allowing the group to operate on firm financial footing – both now and for many years in the future.

Last month, Evelyn Topper lost her wallet at a coffee shop in San Rafael, California. Somehow, some way, that wallet ended up in a dumpster — which was found by a homeless man named Sean Curry.

Well, Sean ended up tracking down Evelyn to make sure she got her wallet back.

Evelyn and her 12-year-old granddaughter were so touched by the efforts Sean took — and the situation Sean was in — that they started a GoFundMe campaign to help him out. The campaign was a huge success.

Amazingly, more than $50,000 has been raised so that Sean, who has been living inside his SUV, can find a home. The money is also being used to build shelters for others who are dealing with homelessness.

All this fundraising and charity was unexpected, but it happened anyway, simply because Sean wanted to do the right thing — and return a wallet to a stranger. (The Mercury News)

Caitlin Gooch of Wendell, North Carolina, is using her passion for horses as a way to help raise literacy rates in her community by getting more kids interested in reading.

Caitlin was volunteering with young students in an after-school program and discovered that many kids couldn’t read or spell even simple words. She also realized that they loved looking at all of her photos of horses. So, she made a deal with them …

If they got all of their spelling words correct, they were invited to visit her father’s farm and meet the horses in person.

It worked. Many kids made it a priority to do better on the tests — and were rewarded with a visit to the special farm.

Caitlin then started a program called Saddle Up and Read. She now loads her truck and trailer with donated books and stuffed animals — along with a horse or two — and takes the show on the road to different neighborhoods, parks and parking lots so the kids can get a book and pet a horse.

As she sees the impact her work is having on children, Caitlin wants to expand the program in the future — and even create a permanent facility with the goal of raising literacy rates in North Carolina and beyond.

Inmates at Soledad State Prison in California raised a staggering $32,000 to help a high school student pay for his tuition.

For the past seven years, students from a nearby private school were part of a book club at the prison. The inmates were so thankful for the interactions with the students that they banded together and saved the very little money they earned behind bars — and turned that money into a scholarship for a student in need.

They found that student in Sy Green. Before his sophomore year, Sy’s mom and dad had to deal with some rough medical problems, and both of them lost their jobs.

But thanks to the scholarship, Sy was able to pay his tuition and continue going to the school.

Sy graduated and is attending college. He says he intends to pay it forward once he wraps up his studies and begins his career.

The inmates are proud of the help they were able to give to Sy — and look forward to continuing to do what they can, both while they are behind bars, as well as after they complete their sentences.

When all this coronavirus stuff started, Katherine Kehrli of Seattle, Washington, realized that more and more people were baking at home. An avid baker herself, Katherine also realized that there was a way for all these talented people to help those in need.

She started a charity group — Community Loaves — with the mission of donating home-baked bread to a local food bank.

The project has been a huge hit. When it started, donations trickled in. But over the past months, donations have poured in from home bakers all over Seattle, which has resulted in the delivery of over 1,300 loaves of bread.

Katherine and her team of volunteers even developed a simple recipe that everyone can follow, with each batch making four loaves.

Volunteers are encouraged to donate three loaves — and then keep one for themselves — which rewards the volunteers for their time and also allows them to pay it forward to those in need. (Yahoo)

Back when eight-year-old Treandos Thornton of McDonough, Georgia, was just five, he started a fancy bowtie business — T&N Bow Ties and Apparel.

And over the past few years, business boomed and the company is now close to $50,000 in sales.

That success has led to two big changes.

First, Treandos — who is the founder and CEO — promoted his younger brother, Noah, to the role of president.

Then, he decided to run his own food and toy drive that helps families in need.

Treandos was inspired to “motivate kids to see that style meets purpose” — and has a goal to have his very own store in the future.

When 51-year-old Noel Schoessow of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, was just a fourth grader, he had to undergo eye surgery and recover in a hospital.

While he was in the hospital, he was comforted by a puppet named “Fido.”

Noel wanted to give kids who are in the hospital now something special to keep them from being lonely, so he started a non-profit group called the Bear Hug Project, which buys teddy bears from the Build-A-Bear toy store and distributes them to kids in the hospital.

Since he started it in 2011, more than 3,000 bears have been donated. Every stuffed animal comes with a ribbon and birth certificate — and volunteers come up with a name for each bear.

Noel knows from experience that the bears put smiles on the faces of the children, but also admits that being able to deliver the gifts puts a smile his face as well.

It wasn’t a very good football season for Michael Carsley of Atlanta, Georgia, who finished last in his fantasy football league. Because he finished last, he had to suffer the punishment of spending 24 hours in a Waffle House restaurant. But, there was a catch …For every waffle that he ate, one hour would be removed from his total time.

So earlier this month, he sat down and ate 18 waffles — which meant he was in the restaurant for six hours. But while he was there, he was also collecting donations online.

The final bill came to about $49 — but Michael was able to raise $1,040 from people who were cheering him on remotely.

He ended up donating all of that money to his server, Mosammat Shumi, who has worked at Waffle House for 11 years, but had never seen anything quite like this.

Mosammat admitted that she “felt bad” for Michael and wished she “could have made him some thin waffles” earlier in the day.

But it all worked out. Michael fulfilled his obligation to his fantasy football league and Mosammat got the tip of a lifetime and had a day at work that she will never forget.

When coronavirus hit in March of last year, University of Pennsylvania student Ben Berman was planning a dinner party with a handful of friends, but had to cancel the party because everything was getting shut down.

So instead of feeding his friends at his place, Ben made pizza — and then dropped the pizza in paper bags down from his second-story window, using a string and pully system.

Well, that stunt has grown since then, and Ben is now selling the pizza from his window to anyone who makes a donation. But instead of pocketing the money, he’s donating all the proceeds to charity.

Amazingly, he’s already raised more than $30,000 — and says he wants to “keep adding on zeros to that number.”

If all goes according to plan, he’ll receive his Master of Business Administration degree in the spring and work in the health care industry. And even though he expects to be busy with his career, he hopes to keep this charity effort as a big part of his life moving forward. (New York Post)

Two months ago, the Steubenville Police Department in Ohio mourned the loss of their beloved police dog – Bono.

Just last year, Bono and his handler, Sgt. Rob Cook, were responsible for 220 drug seizures and 20 firearm seizures. Bono also appeared at dozens of public relations events at local schools and various organizations in the first 11 months of 2020.

So when Bono passed away, it was a big loss for the police department, as well as the entire community.

Well, a family in that community stepped up to fill the void by donating the money for another K-9 police dog.

The Teramana family – who helped bring Bono onto the police department – is making sure his legacy lives on with Bono’s replacement.

City officials praised the generosity of the family, pointing out that they’ve gone out of their way to do things for the city without being asked.

And because of the gift, the Steubenville Police Department will continue to be able to do an excellent job of searching for drugs and weapons – as well as lost children.

It was quite a year for a dog named Athena from Bourbon, Missouri. To start 2020 off, she had a life-saving surgery that involved having one of her legs amputated. Then, soon after that, Athena made a run for it, escaping from the yard of her owner, Dylan Summers.

Luckily, in early December, a pet rescue in East St. Louis, Illinois, took in Athena. The staff at the rescue didn’t know her real name, so they named her “Miss-A-Toe.”

That pet rescue then posted an online picture of Athena – or “Miss-A-Toe” – which led to a miracle.

A friend of Dylan’s saw the picture online and was able to let him know that Athena was safe.

Athena and Dylan were reunited. And, Dylan says Athena has settled in back in at home quickly, “like she never left.”

95-year-old Miriam Looker of Marysville, Ohio, has been busy these past months, using her quilting skills to make masks.

Amazingly, she’s put together more than 1,700 of these special masks since all this started. But … She had to take a break back in November – to recover from coronavirus herself.

Miriam, who lives in an assisted living facility, was originally inspired to make the masks by her stepson, who happens to be a doctor.

She admits the virus made her feel exhausted, but was able to regain her strength by taking a lot of naps.

And then, once she was back to feeling 100%, she got back to work, cutting and sewing fabric for more masks.

It doesn’t seem like the coronavirus has slowed Miriam down at all, as she explained, “It was kind of my turn, I guess.”

Eight years ago, Magdalena Klubczuk was heartbroken when her Shih Tzu, Roxy, disappeared from her garden in the U.K.

Magdalena spent weeks searching for Roxy – to no avail. Roxy even had a microchip and a collar with an ID tag. It didn’t matter. Roxy was gone and Magdalena admitted she gave up hope of ever finding Roxy again.

Well, all that changed on New Year’s Eve when Magdalena received a call from Dawn Taylor – who runs a local animal shelter. Dawn had found Roxy and was able to get the contact details for Magdalena from that microchip.

Roxy and Magdalena were reunited on New Year’s Day – with both of them starting 2021 in a most amazing way.

12-year-old Jacob Laplante of Colchester, Vermont, is battling leukemia. And because of all the coronavirus restrictions, he hasn’t been able to interact in person with other kids going through the same thing. But, that hasn’t stopped him from making an impact in their lives anyway.

Soon after he was diagnosed, his mother, Hillary, started the Facebook group “Jacob Strong” to update family and friends about what was going on. She also started a GoFundMe page to help get Jacob and the family get through these tough times.

As the money poured in, Jacob decided he also wanted to help other young patients at the hospital – so he purchased a bunch of restaurant gift cards to give away.

The generous gesture has been a huge hit. The families impacted by the gifts feel comforted by the delicious food – and get a break from the hospital cafeteria.

Thanks to friends in the community, the fundraising for gift cards continues, which is exciting for Jacob to see as he hopes others will follow in his footsteps.

In York, Pennsylvania, Jeff Graham and his family went to great lengths this year to brighten the holidays for other families in the community by purchasing and donating Christmas trees to those in need.

Jeff showed up at McPherson’s Tree Farm in a truck with a 22-foot-long bed and asked the employees to cut down 30 trees.

After the employees filled the truck, Jeff drove to a nearby parking lot and worked with his wife and two children to give the trees away, along with gift cards, spending about $1,000 on the trees and even more on the gift cards.

When asked about the event, Jeff explained, “We were all happy. Everybody was happy.” (USA Today)

It was a big year for six-year-old Summer Grace Cernoch. After battling leukemia for almost half of her life, she finished her last treatment in February — and it looks like she beat the disease.

Knowing how scary and painful the surgeries and treatments are, Summer Grace wanted to spread some holiday cheer to other kids who are still going through it, so she and her family started a foundation to help others.

The foundation raised a bunch of money in the community, which was used to buy toys. Then, last week, Summer Grace and her family drove around the area and distributed the gifts to cheer up other children who are battling cancer this holiday season.

The toy drive was a big success. So now, the hope is to use the foundation to continue brightening the days of others throughout the year with a music scholarship program for cancer patients.

An anonymous shopper came into a Walmart in Bristol, Tennessee — and donated $65,000 to pay the balance of items placed on the store’s layaway. Amazingly, the donation was enough to pay for ALL the layaway items at the store.

The manager sent out notifications to customers, letting them know that their items had been paid off by this generous secret Santa.

And while the man who donated the money wishes to remain anonymous, he did allow the manager to pass along a message to the customers: “He wants me to tell you that he loves you, God bless you, and Merry Christmas.” (TimesNews)

A neighborhood in Chesterfield County, Virginia, went out of their way to honor UPS driver Anthony Gaskins while he was on his route. Hundreds of residents lined up alongside the road, cheering him on when he turned the corner.

Those in the neighborhood appreciate Anthony for his kindness, reliability, and that he always delivers their packages with a wave and a smile.

So, the residents showed up and gave him an emotional “thank you.” They held up signs, screamed his name, honked their horns and rang bells.

They even arranged for Anthony’s supervisors to show up and present him with a gift.

Not surprisingly, Anthony was visibly moved by the gesture. He spoke briefly to the crowd, thanking them — and then got right back to work.

A Secret Santa is surprising essential workers across the country with Christmas cash.

This Secret Santa — of course — wishes to remain anonymous. It is known by those who help him with his mission that he’s a businessman.

In years past, he personally handed out hundreds of $100 bills to random strangers.

But this year he had a different idea — to mail packages to carefully selected essential workers across the nation.

For example, Kimberly Davis, who cleans rooms at a hospital in Houston, Texas, received $1,000 cash.

So did Ashton Dooley, a sanitation worker from Sarasota, Florida, and Elgin Thrower, a security guard from Kansas City.

In the coming weeks, this Secret Santa has promised to give away $100,000 — all to total strangers.

The man says he’s just trying to give away kindness, with no expectation in return. And along the way, he’s changing the lives of those who are receiving his special gifts in the mail.

Over 1,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, took part in the second annual All-American Presents from Paratroopers toy drive (aka A2P2) — which resulted in thousands of toys being donated to local children in need.

The event involved the paratroopers jumping out of helicopters and a cargo plane into drop zones — led by a jumpmaster from the country of Chile.

The soldiers who jumped were awarded Chilean wings — and all the toys were delivered to different organizations throughout the state of North Carolina. “It’s great to get your foreign [wings] and all, but [A2P2] has a bigger purpose: giving back to the community and being able to bring the unit together … and that’s what brings us all joy,” said Army 1st Lt. Blake Wilson.

In Raeford, North Carolina, a 91-year-old Korean War veteran — who wishes to remain anonymous — made a big impact on his community by donating hundreds of meals to families in need.

The man entered his local Food Lion grocery store and headed straight to the customer service counter, where he wrote a $1,500 check for the store’s “Holidays Without Hunger” program. He also wrote a $500 check for 100 pre-packaged meal boxes, which are also part of the program. These boxes contain food for a family of four and are donated to local food banks.

Store manager Charles Campbell said it was the largest single donation by an individual in the program’s 17-year history.

The man behind the donation said he didn’t want any publicity, explaining that he “plain and simple didn’t want people to be hungry.”

Police officers in Carrollton, Texas, were dealing with a routine call, when they were able to really impact the life of a man in need.

Somebody had called about a homeless man and his broken down wheelchair.

The guy was stranded. So, one of the officers stepped up and purchased a new wheelchair for the man from a local pharmacy.

A body camera recorded the whole scene.

The homeless man asked, “How much do I owe you?”

The officer responded, “Nothing. This is for you.”

“Oh, man. This is amazing,” the homeless man said. “It’s wonderful.”

Graduation day at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was extra special this year because it featured Melody Ormond graduating — alongside her 75-year-old grandmother, Pat.

Pat had gone to college before, but only had a few credits.

So, back in 2017, she found herself retired and admittedly bored. Melody stepped up and suggested she enroll in school.

That’s where the adventure started. Melody and Pat became classmates and worked together to earn their degrees.

After working hard for more than three years, Melody and Pat graduated. The school held a socially-distanced graduation ceremony and guests were not allowed in person. But, that didn’t matter too much as Melody and Pat had a family member there to celebrate — each other.

When she was just two years old, Aryn Diggs was diagnosed with cancer. Thanks to surgery and chemotherapy, Aryn recovered and bounced back in a big way.

But … She remembered a few things that she didn’t like about the experience, including the socks she had to wear. She remembers those hospital socks as being “drab.”

Now that she’s at full-strength, 7-year-old Aryn is doing all she can to brighten the days of other young people battling cancer.

Aryn and her mom, Marissa, worked together on a book called “Socks With Stories,” and recently shared that book with kids in the hospital.

The kids get the book, along with fun, fuzzy socks, which were designed by other children battling cancer.

Everyone involved understands that socks are a small thing, but they can change a patient’s experience.

Whenever Aryn meets someone, her message is clear: “Be confident. Don’t be scared.”

Because the tourism business declined this year, the residents of the coastal town of Ketchikan, Alaska, have been struggling a bit.

But, the appearance of a humpback whale has boosted the spirits of those residents — and has become a local hero.

Almost daily for the last month, the whale, nicknamed Phoenix, shows up, feeds on some fish and lunges out of the water — sometimes just yards away from onlookers on the shore.

The residents have started a Facebook page to keep everyone updated on the whereabouts of Phoenix.

This is a special whale, as many of Alaska’s humpback whales have actually moved on to Hawaiian waters.

But not Phoenix. For now, he’s hanging out in Alaska, enjoying his meals and dazzling the people there with his daily appearances.

In Corrales, New Mexico, Chad Akenhead and his family are selling Christmas trees with the idea of helping both their customers and small businesses in the area.

Chad and his family set aside more than 40 trees to sell, asking people to pay what they can for the trees.

And then, all that money will be donated to small businesses in the area.

The promise from the Akenhead family is real. The trees are available for whatever families can afford to pay, even if it’s nothing.

Their efforts have already raised more than $1,000 for businesses in need.

Chad explained that “money is cool,” but during these crazy times, nothing beats making people happy.

Thomas Panek is blind — but that didn’t stop him from running a 5K loop in Central Park in New York City, without the help of a human partner or guide dog.

Amazingly, Thomas just used the Guideline app from Google. The app gave him instructions that he was able to hear in his headphones — that allowed him to safely put one foot in front of the other.

Thomas believes “humans are born to run,” and has dedicated his life to helping others get out there, regardless of any challenges they face.

Running a long distance without any assistance was a huge victory for Thomas, who appreciates the feeling of freedom and independence, every step of the way.

6-year-old Chip Matthews of Opelika, Alabama, loves to get the mail for his family — and this is something his mail carrier Tawanna Purter has noticed over the past few months.

Tawanna also noticed that Chip’s house was decorated with birthday balloons.

So when Chip showed up to collect the mail — along with all the birthday gifts that had been sent to him — Tawanna wanted to make things extra special for him.

She was able to hand him the packages, along with some cash from her own pocket.

Chip was ecstatic about the extra-special and unexpected gift — and showed his appreciation of Tawanna by meeting up with her again and giving her a thank you card.

Chip is putting the money toward a Spider-Man action figure he’s saving up for. But, more importantly, he’s creating fun memories with a kind woman that will last long after things go back to normal.

In Madison, Alabama, a World War II veteran named Major Wooten was released from the hospital after beating the coronavirus — just in time to celebrate his 104th birthday.

Major served in the U.S. Army for several years overseas, and then went on to build railroads and work on rail cars in Paris in the 1940s.

This year, he found himself in the hospital because of the virus, but he battled back in a big way.

On Tuesday he was released, with a parade of nurses, doctors, friends and family cheering him on and singing “Happy Birthday” to him — because his birthday was the very next day.

Family members said they were thankful to have him home, both for his birthday and for the Christmas season ahead.