Jean Kabre is the concierge and event planner at 101 Constitution — a place full of people focused on power, influence, and Congressional lobbying. But when word got out that Kabre was helping support dozens of family members in his home village in Burkina Faso, the people whom Kabre had come to know as his friends, pitched in at astounding levels.
Even those hit hard financially by the devastation of Hurricane Sandy themselves, were reaching out to help families in Queens, N.Y., who are still in need 17 days later. One businessman who lost $160,000 in inventory still thought to use his Thanksgiving as a time to serve those worse off.
Young people who are down on their luck in Los Angeles gave thanks yesterday for My Friend's Place, a privately funded center that has become a haven where homeless youth can nurture fragile dreams. It also gives them what food it can afford, and clothes, toiletries and hot showers.
A group of prisoners at New York City's Rikers Island jail were let out for a day so they could deliver 700 Thanksgiving meals to the needy. The men cooked up the hundreds of turkey dinners in a jail kitchen for delivery to two churches, according to an AP report. That's not the only example this month of Riker's prison helping New Yorkers in need. A New York Times story today tells how, after Hurricane Sandy tore through nearby neighborhoods, the island inmates did 6,600 pounds of laundry for people in emergency shelters.
Someone called The Turkey Fairy has been leaving blankets, hats and gloves at a Cleveland bus stop in the middle of the night. On Monday morning, the items were discovered with a note that read, "Happy Thanksgiving. Take gloves, hats, blankets, & stay warm. Love, The Turkey Fairy."
Customers in Central Oregon turned out in droves to support a local business down on its luck. Always serving the community through donations to high school raffles and day care centers, it was time for the locals to show support for the Black Rock Coffee Bar on Pacific Highway in Tigard, which had been robbed twice in two weeks.
Since November 1, a group called Mercy Chefs, using a retrofitted RV mobile kitchen, has been supplying hot meals to New Yorkers who lost power after Hurricane Sandy. Now, at the request of the Freeport mayor, the unit has just relocated to Long Island to feed 1,000 people still housed in Nassau County's emergency shelters -- just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday.Read More
Portlanders are remembering a man who for five years played music, did magic tricks and smiled at cars from a sidewalk corner bordering the city's Hawthorne Bridge. Rain or shine, and always dressed in a white tuxedo and Mickey Mouse ears, Kirk Reeves could be seen entertaining passers by. The city came together for a memorial under the bridge Sunday and fans are raising money to place a marker on the spot where he performed daily.
In 12 cities across two countries, nearly 500 business executives, advocates and celebrities slept outside on the streets in freezing temperatures Thursday night to let homeless kids know they matter. The decades-old Covenant House was able to raise more than 11 million dollars in conjunction with events held across North America.
The Occupy Wall Street movement, forever angry about government bail-outs for big banks, finally figured out a way to issue their own bail-outs -- this time, for the little guy. A group called Strike Debt launched a campaign last night, called Rolling Jubilee, that has already raised more than a quarter million dollars to buy up the debt owed by faceless Americans and cancel it, while just paying pennies on the dollar for the privilege. They call it, a bailout by the people, for the people.
This year, front row seats to see the marching bands and massive balloons of the iconic Macy's Day Thanksgiving Day parade will be occupied not by diplomats or corporate titans and their families, but by thousands of New Yorkers hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy.
Occupy Wall Street has become a lauded and effective relief organization for victims of Sandy. The social media savvy that helped Occupy protesters create a grass-roots global movement last year is proving a strength as members fan out across New York to deliver aid including hot meals, medicine and blankets.
This photo taken by a tourist in Times Square, shows a 25 year-old police officer stooping on his knee against the cold sidewalk to talk to a homeless man with bare feet. He asked his shoe size, went into the Skechers store and bought all-weather boots. Here are 6 photos posted in November on social media that serve to inspire and will restore your faith in humanity.
17 years ago, a retired couple in Utah started making handmade wooden toys for poor and sick children. The little cars and trucks were received so enthusiastically in the local hospital, a workshop was set up which has since delivered more than 1.1 million toys to kids around the world. News spread around Cedar City telling of a Happy Factory where retired couples could come to laugh and give their time in a collective effort to make kids happy around the globe.
The Davis community in California with help from Giant Bicycles has come together to create a heartwarming final chapter for a cross-country bicycle rider in route for her charity, Bike and Build, which raises money for low cost housing projects in the U.S.
Local public transportation workers are off the job in Moncton this summer, so an anonymous angel came forward and offered Jamie Vautour $200 so he could afford wheelchair-accessible transportation to attend his Nickelback concert earlier this year, plus some extra spending money. Now, the same donor has come forward anonymously again -- this time for Springsteen show.
Three of the hospitals taking care of people wounded in the Colorado theater shooting said Wednesday they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills for the 22 victims. Wednesday they will limit or completely wipe out medical bills for the 22 victims. Some of the wounded, many of them young, are uninsured and face mounting hospital bills.
A former bus driver, who in her senior years works as a bus monitor, sat patiently through ten minutes of relentless and brutal bullying by middle school kids on her route, as a video camera rolled. The video went viral and an online social media community so sympathized with her that they raised money to send her on a vacation to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It was a house she and her late husband built in 1956. Mary Cate Jones had spent the past few weeks packing up memories and preparing for a forced eviction from the home where she lived in Tennessee for 56 years. But after her plight was featured in the local paper last month, donations began pouring in. And now, thanks to more than 500 people and a $15,000 check from an anonymous donor, Jones and her family will be able to keep their home.
Greg Rubar still can't believe how his bad luck turned into good fortune. On Saturday, he was working in the Italian cafe where he's been a waiter for 16 years. A couple, who are regular customers at the restaurant, gave him a tip he will never forget. They had heard about him losing his car recently and wanted to help.
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