The daughter of a 65-year-old Newark man used Twitter to directly ask Mayor Cory Booker to help shovel her dad's driveway on New Years Eve. Within five minutes Booker messaged her back, writing, "I will do it myself where does he live?"
Gillian, working for a Christian aid group there, was trapped overnight under the rubble of her building before Frank was able to arrive at her side, after mad dash across Haiti to save her.
Hundreds of earthquake survivors marched through the streets of Port-au-Prince today in a spontaneous display of faithfulness.
Day ten since the earthquake in Haiti and while search and rescue teams wind down, those resilient few who refuse to give up hope are rewarded by miraculous stories of survival. Meanwhile, the main port was operational once again and solar radios and cell phone chargers are being distributed by the US, while a market with fresh food was bustling once again.
Maryland farmer John Helmstetter thought his life was ruined after a fire destroyed his barn and a third of his cattle. But he regained the "American Spirit" when his neighbors and local Amish banded together to help. Hundreds of Amish men worked for three days to raise the building that provided John with his livlihood.
As the lid of his coffin was about to be sealed, Josef Guzy's grieving widow made one last request for her late husband's necklace. When the undertaker reached into the coffin for the last time, he thought that he detected a faint pulse. On closer inspection, Mr Guzy was still breathing.
The Social Entrepreneurship blog published its list of the top moments in social entrepreneurship of the decade.
Despite what may be your immediate impression of 2009, overall it was a pretty good year. Looking back, one can be grateful that the economy has started to turn around, at least for businesses, real estate and the stock market. And, looking ahead it is easy to be hopeful about 2010. With the New Year upon us, this Top 10 list of Good News is just what we need to kick off a new decade.
1000 at-risk kids from the streets of Miami are given an alternative to drugs and gangs, with free musical training in The American Children's Orchestra for Peace. Like a second family, the orchestra program offers support and friendship along with free musical instruments.
CNN talks to Sir Richard Branson, who manages his philanthropy like one of his businesses. Whether in the realm of disease, global warming, or conflict, his philanthropic foundation Virgin Unites treats risk the same: "Screw it, Let's Do It."
People with prostate cancer have been offered new hope after researchers at University of Pennsylvania discovered a molecule that appears to target the tumours. The researchers found that the "monoclonal" antibody seems to act against the disease in both its early and advanced stages.
Every Christmas, Jake Shaffer, 15, from Houston, gives up Christmas gifts for the chance to deliver hundreds of boxes of gifts and thousands of dollars he collects to the DeGeorge House for homeless vets for their annual holiday dinner.