Wealthy Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has taken up his friend Bill Gates' challenge to publicly pledge the majority of his wealth to philanthropy. Allen, who is 57, said yesterday that he plans to leave the majority of his $13 billion estate to philanthropy to continue the work of his foundation and to fund scientific research. […]
Into the furnace of sand and peril that is Death Valley, a 75-year-old grandfather from England will run next week in an effort to raise money for Cerebral Palsy Care in Kent. He already holds the record as the oldest man to complete in the world's toughest foot race, securing it as a sprightly 70-year-old back in 2005.
More than 40 workers were laid off when the Ameripure Oyster Co. had to shut down operations because of the BP Gulf oil spill, but the company employees were equally stunned by the generosity shown to them by complete strangers — including many NBC Nightly News viewers. WATCH the video below, or at MSNBC…
Many years ago, a $600-million-dollar man changed the life of Jack Canfield, who later became America's #1 success coach and co-author of the most successful book series in history, Chicken Soup for the Soul. Jack reveals who that man was, and what his teachings contained, in a new video series by the Gaiam company called, ENCOUNTERS: Portraits of Inspiring Lives.
In the nick of time, the Man of Steel saved a family's home ... for real. A couple facing foreclosure found the collateral they desperately needed with the discovery of an Action Comics #1 (aka, the Holy Grail of comic books) in their basement.
An anonymous woman that has been practicing random acts of kindness around Pittsburgh has revealed her identity, saying that she can now organize in a bigger way.
A Texas middle school teacher tried an experiment that paid off handsomely this spring. He wrote personal letters to 40 of his seventh-grade students in Fort Worth praising them for the progress that they were making in his class. The results are in and virtually every student scored higher than his/her previous test scores would have predicted.
Feisty and frugal, 98-year-old Verna Oller never bought new clothes or went to the hairdresser, but, she the savviest investor in town. By the time of her death, the Long Beach, Washington resident had amassed a fortune of $4.5 million and she directed that every penny be spent on her hometown, starting with the construction of a swimming pool.
Al Roker of the Today Show went on a nationwide tour to Lend A Hand to five charities in need. He helped raise $3 million, but the highlight for me was the New Ballet School in Memphis which offers low-income and troubled students the inspiration to dance -- hip hop style, flamenco, or ballet -- regardless of their ability to pay.
On Wednesday, the last of the Lakota code talkers, Clarence Wolf Guts, died at 86 and was buried with honors in the Black Hills National Cemetery. Lakota soldiers from Sioux-speaking tribes joined a special unit that used native language to keep the enemy from intercepting vital communications.
For the past 20 years, the Rev. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who started Homeboy Industries, has mentored and counseled the more than 12,000 gang members who pass through Homeboy each year to learn job skills, get their gang tattoos removed and attend therapy sessions on everything from alcohol abuse to anger management. Now the group is in financial trouble.
Thousands of volunteers have been working in Nashville since floods devastated the city three weeks ago. College and high school students especially have given up leisurely weekends to become Good Samaritans simply trying to ease a stranger's pain.