Ten year old Jonas Corona is on a mission to give back to his community. Four years ago he started a Los Angeles based nonprofit organization called Love In The Mirror, which provides necessities such as food, clothing, school supplies, and books to kids and families living on Skid Row in LA.
For 13 years, Bryan Martin kept the book hidden from his daughter, dutifully taking it to her teachers, coaches and school principals every year to have them append it with positive comments and messages. Finally, on June 8 — the day of her graduation from North Johnston High School in Kenly, N.C. — Brenna Martin received a special copy of the Dr. Seuss classic "Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' "At first I just smiled and said that it meant a lot and that I loved that book,'' Brenna said. "But then he told me ‘No, open it up.'
The success story of Lloyd Chen, 17, is the stuff that dreams are made of. Raised in poverty by a single mom who emigrated from South Korea to the U.S., the California teen recently received nearly $3 million in full scholarships, earning one at every top university to which he applied.
The economy of Iceland is growing at a clip that has surprised many people. A number of carefully planned steps has brought its fiscal deficit of more than 10 percent back to a near balance.
Congressional leaders unveiled a more conciliatory tone of cooperation in the face of a new Washington landscape that is suddenly more Democratic. In an 11-minute speech, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hinted that the days of stranglehold partisanship may be over. Reading from a teleprompter, he suggested that he would work with Obama on the imminent fiscal issues.
It may sound scary for a teenager to be handling radiation, but Taylor Wilson's radioactive rocks are safe. There's never been any reason for concern, until he decided to build his own reactor -- in his garage. He was trying to produce nuclear fission -- because he thought he could. There's nothing that's impossible to me. You can ask my parents, he said.
Martin Sheen commanded the stage with his impassioned portrayal of an attorney arguing for gay-marriage rights; Brad Pitt dazzled as a federal judge. Clooney also performed in the star-studded LA premiere of 8, a play about the court fight against Proposition 8.
Biological diversity does not come easily in one of the most crowded and disadvantaged neighborhoods of Los Angeles County. One school, wanting only to beautify their campus, got an unexpected result after ripping out concrete and planting native flora. Kids' test scores in science rose sixfold.
A Los Angeles-based fashion designer is starting an urban garden revolution in his neighborhood in South Central Los Angeles. Instead of vacant lots -- the city owns miles and miles of these in LA county -- Ron Finley wants to help residents to plant a million tomato plants. He is co-founder of LA Green Grounds, a company that plants gardens at low-income homes as a part of a recovery system to transform neighborhoods.
A former landfill in a Rio de Janeiro slum has been turned into a park thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers. People came here to get rid of old refrigerators, stoves, tires and even their dead dogs, said Mauro Quintanilha, a musician and craftsman who started the initiative to create a green oasis out of the pungent garbage dump.
Planting begins this month for a group of students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who are pioneering a sustainable solution for campuses across the country. The UMass Permaculture Committee is transforming a 12,000 square foot conventional grass lawn into a sustainable permaculture garden for supplying fresh food to its campus community.
By the time Cesar Gutierrez was 16, he had already gone to jail twice, experimented with gang life, sold drugs and ran away from home. Today, the 22-year-old works at a popular Manhattan restaurant as a sous chef and has cooked with renown chef Daniel Boulud.
Ted Komada, the music teacher who started a chess club nine years ago at Killip Elementary School, hoped to help the mostly low-income students build confidence. Now, his chess team heads to the national finals, after having won five consecutive state championships in Arizona.
Creators of a podcast for video gamers were shocked after their illustrator suffered a shoulder injury and her insurance company refused to pay. With her drawing ability in jeopardy, the show's creators humbly asked their viewers for donations and in two days had already collected $64,000 -- more than four times their original goal.
The word 'Hope' engraved on wooden blocks is on display alongside food items in several Budgens grocery stores as an innovative way to raise money for charity. Shoppers can place the blocks in their carts for the cashiers to collect £1 for each one scanned in support of local people affected by dementia.
Insurance companies won't cover the cost of one medical device, so the family's neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands.
Tim Harris, owner of Tim's Place, is the country's only restaurant owner with Down's Syndrome, and the joy he gets from serving people good food carries over into his diner's most famous export: hugs.
They both have terminal cancer but Kathleen Rinard has only days to live and wanted to give her husband one final gift. He always wanted to ride in a Cobra convertible sports car, so she called an auto club. Instead of a single convertible rolling up to their hospice, 29 Cobras arrived revving engines outside.
The social media community of Reddit has once again responded with incredible generosity to a personal story of tragedy posted on their website. Jake Villanueva, 23, was given six months to live after a surprise diagnosis of terminal kidney cancer and he posted his story on the website. Not to ask for anything, but just to talk. What happened next is the stuff of Reddit legend.
Mr. Dennehy and nine of his friends have spent the past 23 years locked in a game of Tag. It started in high school and has been pulling them closer ever since. Nowadays, their wives and co-workers are trained to keep a lookout so they can avoid being tagged by other players.
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