A Missouri businessman well-known for handing out tens of thousands in cash to random people at Christmas time, this year deputized officers in the local Sheriff's Department to do the jolly work for him. He told the dozen Kansas City officers he wanted them to be showered in those feelings of appreciation that he gets to enjoy every year.
In a "spur of the moment" decision an 86-year-old widow has hired an entire pub to host a Christmas lunch for herself and up to 50 lonely strangers. After 12 years of eating Christmas dinner alone, the woman reserved every table in The Lamb and Flag pub in Devon at a cost of £1,000 for food and wine.
For the past month, the Charlotte Observer has run a series of stories on particular struggling families who signed up to get toys from the Salvation Army's annual Christmas program. And dozens of readers responded to the stories with offers of cash, toys, furniture and groceries.
Remember the Virginia homelessman who only wanted a family for Thanksgiving? The kindness he received from all over the country spurred him to want to help hundreds of other homeless guys in Norfolk.
California YouTuber Daniel Fernandez surprised a hard working clerk at a store, giving her $500 just for being cheerful and enthusiastic toward everyone she meets every day.
Growing up in 13 different foster homes and the pain of physical and sexual abuse left Tina Thomas feeling empty and incomplete. But Tina is a survivor and no longer can be defined by her past. Fate intervened in her teen years when, despite never having broken the law, she was assigned a probation officer, Mary Beth Ryan. That summer, Ryan asked Tina to be a peer mentor at a special camp for abused girls. It changed her life forever.
A deluge of love and compassion has reached a 54-year-old homeless man who had the courage to put into action the Christian tenet, "Ask and it is given." Neil Shytles posted an ad on community Facebook pages around Virginia Beach asking for someone to invite him for Thanksgiving dinner. "I was very alone last Thanksgiving. PLEASE, if you have room in your home and in your heart to share your Thanksgiving, I not only (would) be thankful, but also consider myself blessed to spend this time with you."
Until a catastrophic car accident changed their lives, Massachusetts residents Marcia and Harold Rhodes didn't realize how much they would come to need and value the community around them.
After responding to a call on September 20 to assist an elderly resident who had fallen in her yard, a crew from City of Santa Barbara Fire Department had an idea of how to prevent future tumbles. The Mesa, California woman tripped on the the overgrown shrubs lining the walkway, so Engine #6 returned a few days later to do some yardwork.
Neighbors are helping neighbors in the riot-weary town of Ferguson. An unidentified man delivered encouraging words last week along with envelopes of cash to businesses cleaning up after the Missouri neighborhood protests left shops vandalized.
A sixth-grade teacher who was diagnosed with cancer last year, was forced to use all of her sick and vacation days for treatment. To rally support, her Los Angeles colleagues have donated more than 150 of their own sick days to her during her recovery.
A Texas couple on the eve of their wedding day was trying to sell furniture on Craigslist so they could buy the groom, who had just lost his job, a pair of shoes for the big day. They never imagined the kindness they would find in one 39-year-old stranger from Texas.
Once neighbors in Shoreline, Washington, learned about Frank Henderson's terminal diagnosis and his love for the holiday, they started getting into the holiday spirit, decorating their houses with lights in September to show solidarity.
They lost their dream home in the San Diego fires this week but found something in the rubble that restored their spirits and their community's hope as well.
The Rychner family of Farmington, Minnesota had little interaction with the elderly man living next door for nearly a decade. All that change last year when the family's 3-year-old son, Emmett, struck up an unlikely friendship with the 89-year-old Erling Kindem over a shared love of tomatoes and lawn tractors.
When 15-year-old Henry Stratman, who has Down Syndrome, found out that his house had been broken into and his beloved iPad taken, he was devastated. Within hours, commenters posting to an online news website in Humboldt County self-organized an effort to replace it.
When Kansas City, Missouri, Police Officer Todd Templeton's police cruiser arrived on the scene where three kids were playing basketball in a local neighborhood, the group had no idea that someone with a cell phone camera would capture what happened next.
The Brimfield, Ohio Police Department announced this week that they are redoubling their efforts in the name of safety, pulling over as many citizens as they can. Not only that, they are profiling a certain group known to "travel in groups". Before you ask where the good news lies in this disturbing information, read part of the full announcement that Chief David Oliver posted on Facebook, to the delight of many:
Brice Royer was diagnosed with a rare type of stomach cancer and began looking for the cause. He decided that if his life were filled with more love and sharing, rather than purchasing and selling, the simplicity might help to heal him. He researched and found that many "gift economies" were popping up around the world that […]
In New Orleans, Louisiana, like any city in America, there are thousands of signs. But one sign, that simply says "Love" is popping up on telephone poles all over the city.
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