An employee of Rotterdam Zoo who was dying of cancer asked Netherland's Ambulance Wish Foundation to let him visit the animals one last time. The touching goodbye offered by one giraffe, and caught on camera, is warming hearts worldwide.
Fourteen-year-old Ke'onte is full of life and laughter — largely because of his new parents. But his happiness is also thanks to a television news anchor who featured the boy's story in Dallas, Texas, not just once, but twice, after a failed adoption brought disappointment.
On March 4, a YouTube magician and prankster name Rahat set aside his mischievous pranks to do something really kind for a homeless man he'd often seen hanging around his shopping mall. He heard that the man named Eric was a nice and respectable guy, so he gave him a lottery ticket telling him it was a winner and that he should come to the shop and claim his prize. The store clerk was privy to the stunt and pretended the ticket was indeed a winner and handed over $1,000 in cash to the homeless gentleman. People liked the video of Eric so much that they wanted to know how they could help. What happened next is the stuff of internet legend.
11 year old Jeaden had one wish -- to have a birthday party with lots of people. Because he struggles socially, with mild autism and sensory processing, his birthdays have sometimes been a disappointment with only family members showing up. For his twelfth birthday his mom was determined to give him a childhood party to remember. With the help of local media, businesses who donated, and a Facebook page she set up, the gathering, held at a local roller rink in Prince George, B.C., was a huge success.
Few things offer as much comfort as a home-cooked meal. A big-hearted restaurant owner known as Momma leads a group in Arlington, Washington called the Soup Ladies. They are feeding hot meals to search and rescue workers at the site of a tragic mudslide 70 miles away in Oso.
15-year-old Lexi Di Benedetto and her parents spread out around the neighborhood on Saturday morning talking part in Our Lady of Peace School's first "Love It Forward" event. 100 or so community members showed up at the school and were given a list of 105 ideas to spread love in the North Hills area of Los Angeles.
The school principal at Port Barre Elementary in Louisiana is a living example of perseverance. Gabe Sonnier worked as the school's janitor in 1985 when then-Principal Westley Jones pulled him aside and said, I'd rather see you grading papers than picking them up. It was a turning point in Gabe's life.
Crusader Prime, a masked 40-something Indiana man in red spandex, a fedora and a thrift store trench coat, hit the streets on a cold day to hand out blankets and food to homeless people. He is part of the Real Life Super Hero (RLSH) movement that has ballooned across the country since the mid-2000s, united through the internet on www.reallifesuperheroes.com.
During this cold and flu season, The Joy Team of Vancouver, Washington, has erected a billboard in downtown Portland reminding everyone of that ancient holistic prescription that's not only free, but also effective: hugging. Just in time for Random Acts of Kindness Week (Feb. 9-16) and Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), the fifth in a series of monthly positive messages went up suggesting that onlookers, Hug someone today.
A fourth-generation family farm in Washington state was reeling from the worst event in its 102-year history. A silo at the farm's nearby feed mill collapsed; burying a worker underneath 500 tons of corn. That's when the farming community of Roy, and neighboring regions, pulled together to assist.
A Michigan mom, whose son told her there was no point to having a birthday party because he had no friends, has surely altered the course of the boy's life by created a Facebook page for his 11th birthday asking friends and family to send him positive thoughts. She thought she might get 50 responses, if all went well, but -- you guessed it -- the social media world exploded and after a week, the page had 50,000 fans. Now in its tenth day the page, which is a secret from her son, has 1.1 million likes!
Teacher Karen Swartz Larsson led children in two of her classes (comprised of fourth to seventh-graders), in making valentines for strangers. This Friday, they set out to leave the handmade cards in random public places around Stockholm. On buses, subway trains, and a hospital, they cards spread uplifting messages like, 'You are loved,' and 'You are perfect the way you are!'