A year ago, an earthquake in southern Chile devastated towns, flattening fire stations and equipment that could have been used in the rescue efforts. This week, an Illinois pastor has mobilized 10 Chicago-area firefighters who will travel to the South American country to train about 100 firefighters, bringing along discarded but usable firefighting gear.
Facing 7 or 8 years on the organ donor waiting list, an ailing Massachusetts mom, having exhausted all possibilities for kidney matches with blood relatives, found her miracle organ match in her grown adopted son from El Salvador.
Today, President Barack Obama named fifteen recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor. The Medal of Freedom is presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Mr. Obama described the annual awards as one of his favorite duties.
In Nairobi, the Africa Yoga Project is training HIV+, poor, and disabled citizens to be yoga instructors, creating jobs and changing lives. Most of the 3,000 weekly students are aged 16-30, living on about $2 a day, and many live in Nairobi slums with HIV/AIDS.
A photo uploaded to his Twitter account by Zack Farley shows a demonstrator in Egypt holding a sign that reads, Egypt Supports Wisconsin Workers. Standing amidst Egyptian flags waved in support of his people's victory over an oppressive regime, the young man's yellow sign sums up the modern internet age: One World, One Pain.
In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori.
Sparked by the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a new National Institute for Civil Discourse has been established in Arizona by local leaders interested in repairing the corrosive nature of public debate in America. As honorary chairmen, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton will oversee the institute, which named as its first priority to create a document of best practices for political discourse.
An 82-year-old Memphis woman ordered a pizza from Dominoes every day at noon for the past 3 years. That consistency, along with a caring Dominoes worker, probably saved her life.
The owner of Ian's Pizza in Madison said he's received hundreds of telephone calls from people as far away as Egypt who want to purchase pizza for the protesters demonstrating a block away at the Wisconsin Capitol.
Press a big button on the back of Coca-Cola's new "Happiness Truck" and out pops a surprise -- anything from a frosty Coke to a soccer ball, to a beach chair. A new video shows the joy recently delivered to Rio pedestrians.
A homeless man in southeast Michigan says a woman accidentally gave him a gold ring laced with diamonds when she handed him a handful of change, and now he is looking for the owner.
Hundreds of New Zealanders turned out to support a market day in Lyttelton, organized by residents to help a community in need. Free massages, food and chocolate, coffee and music were all offered to local residents in an effort to draw an already tight-knit community closer together.