When a new neighbor moved in and began writing messages on a chalkboard in his front window, the funny and inspiring messages about happiness, or finding a wife, made Ayden Byle the toast of his Toronto neighborhood.
Wandering around the airport terminal, after learning my flight had been detained four hours, I heard an announcement: "If anyone in the vicinity of Gate 4-A understands any Arabic, please come to the gate immediately." Gate 4-A was my own gate. I went there. An older woman in full traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, just like my grandma wore, was crumpled to the floor, wailing loudly. "Help," said the Flight Service Person. "We told her the flight was going to be late and she did this." In my halting Arabic, I was able to soothe her worried mind. Not only that, by the end of four hours, all the women at the gate were as one, bonded by the old woman sharing her cookies.
Janette Camba, a temporary worker and familiar barista at Tim Hortons, for more than three years, is now back in her home country of the Philippines, recovering from a life-saving kidney transplant, paid for by almost $30,000 in donations raised in North Vancouver.
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. When grocery stores give you tons of cauliflower saved from the trash, you start simmering soup for the hungry.
James Cleaveland decided to devote himself to helping drivers in the city of Keene, New Hampshire, avoid the disgust of finding a parking ticket on their car. Cleaveland and a group of friends took to the streets with pocketfuls of change and began shadowing the city's three parking enforcement officers, stuffing coins in expired meters before they could issue $5 tickets -- so far, helping 2000 motorists.
As 91-year-old John Jack Potter faced eviction from the house he built and lived in for 56 years, his granddaughter decided to act. She set up a donation campaign on the website, Go Fund Me, and her story about the WWII combat vet losing his home attracted more than 5000 people who gave $138,000.
Katie Jones set up a big white board in her kitchen, numbering 1 to 34, she listed ways to make people happy in celebration of her 34th birthday. She placed a bag of quarters in a Laundromat. She left five dollars on the floor in the dollar store. She gave a Subway sandwich gift card to a homeless man.
The Eastern Market neighborhood near Capitol Hill was the scene of a remarkable community rescue during a sudden eviction of one of their most colorful residents. On a recent day when Michael's possessions began filling the sidewalk under the orders of federal marshals, a few of his neighbors wondered if there was something they could do to help. In the end, the neighborhood characters each played a role in protecting the dignity of one of their own.
The video of an elderly woman finding her dog beneath the rubble of her home in Moore, Oklahoma after it had been leveled by a tornado so moved people that they began emailing the CBS news team with offers of support. Erin DeRuggiero, of Minneapolis, Minn., went a step further when she learned that Barbara Garcia's home had not been insured. She set up a fundraising page on GoFundMe with a simple plea, Let's show her what love and community is all about.
In 2008 Leslie Davis suggested to her mother, a Master Gardener in New Mexico, that in addition to cultivating flowers for worthy causes, she might try growing fresh produce for the community, especially since the recent recession had left so many people unemployed who were visiting overburdened food pantries. That discussion five years ago grew like a seed into a thriving bounty of volunteers who harvest thousands of pounds of produce, sometimes in a singe weekend, for people in need.
A Reddit user posted this photo taken by his friend who lives in Watertown where families were ordered yesterday to stay indoors during a manhunt for the Marathon bomber suspect. The family asked if they could go get milk for their 16 month old son. A policeman, likely working long hours already, went to the store for them and delivered the milk to the house.
Mr. Rogers offered a famous answer to the question of what to tell children when scary things happen on the news. It holds true for all of us if we want to learn about what happened in Boston yesterday: Look for the helpers. We can always focus on the actions of the helpers, if we want to feel better.
At select coffee shops around the world you can get your morning caffeine fix and at the same time do a kind deed for someone in the community. Buying a Suspended Coffee means purchasing an extra cup at the time you are paying, which can be claimed later by anyone who walks in from the street and otherwise may not have the money. The movement has been growing in popularity since it began in Italy years ago.
In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, many Connecticut residents continue to struggle to recover their livelihoods and to provide nutritious food, safe shelter, transportation, clothing, and medical supplies for their families. A philanthropic family from Northwest Connecticut, who wishes to remain anonymous, has stepped in to help.
We've got an appetite for any story about feeding the homeless.
A lot of national attention has been showered on Billy Ray Harris, a panhandler in Missouri, after he returned a diamond engagement ring that accidentally dropped into his change cup when a woman was pouring in the contents of her change purse. The woman's husband, Bill Krejci, was so grateful for the honest man's efforts to return the ring, and so many friends asked how they could help, that a fundraising page was set up for Billy Ray on Feb. 14. As of this morning, Feb. 23, the Give Forward page just passed $100,000.
Hundreds came to the funeral of a Royal Marine who had no friends and no family after a clergyman posted a notice on Facebook to rally people for a proper send-off.
Retired grandparents Jeanne and Burt Metz lost their home when Superstorm Sandy hit Breezy Point, New York. A volunteer organization told the couple that their floors and walls would be rebuilt – but little did the Metz family know that hundreds of people were working to resurrect their entire house.
A project that hangs small wind chimes with bells is becoming a healing remedy for grieving communities following tragic mass shootings. An Arizona mom in mourning started Ben's Bells after her little boy passed away from illness. She wanted to say thank-you for the many kindnesses that were shown her, passing it forward so more people would remember how kindness heals. A few years later, the project grew, embraced by the Tucson community following the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and thirteen other citizens. Hundreds of volunteers painted, assembled and hung the ceramic wind chimes from random branches, and doorknobs and playgrounds around the city. Last week Ben's mom, Jeannette Maté, traveled to the location of the latest tragedy, Newtown, Conn., with 1,000 bells to distribute to a community in need of smiles.
Hundreds of South Mississippians stood in line at the Biloxi Town Green where more than 1,500 lunches were served and more than 500 pounds of donations dropped off to benefit New York City firemen. So many people over the years have helped us. We just want to say thank you.
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