Two notable women were named 2012 Good News Ambassadors last week during a sunset award ceremony aboard a river cruise on the Potomac in Washington, DC. Caroline Adams Miller and Allison Silberberg were chosen got their strong positive voices in the fields of psychology, coaching, storytelling and advocacy.
For their extraordinary efforts to help change the world and better the lives of others, 10 everyday people will receive $50,000 and a chance for much more.
Robert Thome's dream of becoming a professional athlete was shattered when he broke his neck during a high school football game. As a 15-year-old quadriplegic, he thought his life was over until in rehabilitation he learned how to use his mouth to actively pursue his second-favorite subject, art. Without the use of his hands, Robert began painting with his mouth. At age 30, he became a member of a global for-profit company that allows him to live independently with a thriving career as an artist.
An abused Filipino child who lived off a garbage dump has won a prestigious award for the work of his children's charity, which benefits his fellow street kids. Cris Kesz Valdez, aged 13, was handed this year's International Children's Peace Prize at a glittering ceremony in The Hague on Wednesday, where he received a $130,000 prize presented by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Two best friends in Florida after leaving jobs that no longer fulfilled them decided to pack their bags and go on a Summer Service Adventure. 56-year-old Carol Hasbrouck and 60-year-old Joyce Claflin left their St. Petersburg home in June embarking on a 33-city volunteering tour under the banner, Dames Gone Wild.
Barbara Casados only uses her sewing machine for one thing -- a very special thing. She makes sick children feel better by giving them personalized Superhero capes. It started when she tried to solve the daily fights with her son over wearing clothes to school. She bribed him with the promise of a crusader's cape. Next, she sewed them as a business. But when someone came to her about making them for kids in a cancer ward -- 65 kids -- she couldn't say no to a single one of them.
A needle-in-a-haystack search by a New York City Parks Department worker willing to go the extra mile turned up a diamond ring lost in Battery Park. On the verge of giving up hope, a married couple searching the grounds spotted a city trash truck on the edge of the park and decided to leave a note asking that day's driver to help.
Kennedy Kibe lost $1,000 when the RoomStore filed for bankruptcy, but a woman who learned of his story wanted to make it right. Sue Hill contacted friends at Rolesville Furniture and paid $1,000 toward furniture for Kennedy and his family.
Recognized as one of Time magazine's 25 most influential Americans, Stephen R. Covey dedicated his life to simple leadership principles that could help any person truly control their destiny and effectiveness. Since its publication in 1989, his landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People sold more than 25 million copies in 38 languages, and remained on the NY Times bestseller list for five years. Covey, 79, died Monday from complications resulting from a cycling accident. He is being remembered as a business professor, management consultant, speaker and motivator, but also as an all around lovely guy and great family man
Many drivers commonly see homeless people carrying cardboard signs asking for money at intersections, but commuters who passed Doug Eaton on Wednesday were instead surprised that he was handing out money. In honor of his 65th birthday, he decided to distribute free money to people, advertising his giveaway with a hand-painted sign that read: Do you need a few bucks for some coffee?
31-year-old Spencer West recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. That's an accomplishment for anyone, but when you see Spencer West, you wonder how it could have been possible. This climber has no legs. My family and I were told by doctors that I would never sit up by myself, never walk by myself, and I probably wouldn't be a functioning member of society.
Jarell Brooks, 19, who risked his own life to save three total strangers, is lucky to be alive. He was in the theater during the premier of Dark Night Rises when James Holmes opened fire. When the shooting started, everyone scrambled to the exits, including Brooks who saw a young mother struggling and made it his mission to get this family out safely even after he was shot in the leg.
Three young men are being hailed as heroes for their old-fashioned chivalry and courage under fire in saving the lives of their girlfriends. While using their bodies as shields, Matt McQuinn, 27, Jonathan Blunk, 26, and Alex Teves, 24, were killed in the worst mass shooting in US history.
Even though she was well known as a physicist, Sally Ride became famous for being the first American woman astronaut to enter space. A trailblazer at age 32, when the 1983 Challenger mission launched, she also became, and remains, the youngest American to enter space. Ride died peacefully on July 23, after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer, according to the obituary released by her company, Sally Ride Science, which creates programs to keep preteens and their teachers engaged in science.
Five years ago, Leo McCarthy lost his 14-year-old daughter, Mariah, when a drunken driver hit her and two of her friends as they walked down a sidewalk near her home. But he refused to let her tragic death become just another statistic. Knowing that the driver was 20 years old -- not even old enough to drink legally -- McCarthy made an unusual promise to the teenagers attending Mariah's memorial service in Butte, Montana.
A young man with Down's Syndrome has earned a black belt in karate, inspired by Bruce Lee movies he studied as a child. Dustin Bean of Longview, Washington worked for 13 years, quickly moving from a special abilities class to regular classes to earn the coveted black belt. His mom said her son has high expectations for himself. He doesn't think he can't do something... He can do anything.
For more than three decades, nine women have been secretly baking and delivering hundreds of pound cakes in the middle of the night to people in Tennessee who could benefit from knowing that somebody out there loves them. They also secretly pay utility bills for widows or single moms in need. In all, they have contributed nearly $900,000 to the happiness of others.
A sudden gust of wind blew a baby stroller onto the tracks as a train rumbled into a NY station — but an unemployed Brooklyn man on his way to a job interview jumped off the platform and saved the tot from certain death, authorities said. He missed the job interview but after news of his heroics spread, he received numerous job offers.
A gray whale that had been tangled in a fishing net for more than three weeks as it swam up the California coast was finally disentangled Thursday by a fishing boat crew out of Bodega Bay.
A Yugoslavian-born custodian at New York's Columbia University will be trading in his uniform for a cap and gown this weekend when he graduates with honors after working on his degree for 12 years.
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