Here are some of the people who make the world a better place!
9 - The Secret Santa In 2011, a woman named Whitney was planning
to pawn her television to pay for a ride home for Christmas.
However, all of a sudden, she found some cash.
Whitney was among a couple of dozen commuters who got on a local bus and were greeted by
a man in a Santa suit handing out $100 bills.
The Secret Santa, a Portland-area businessman who won’t reveal his identity, has been
giving away cash around Christmas many years now.
He hands out bills in envelopes to unsuspecting strangers, usually in places where he’s
likely to find people who needed money the most.
He gave out what people estimate to at least around $10,000 dollars that day alone.
Secret Santa went out of state for the first time In 2012.
He took a stack of cash to a Goodwill store in Aberdeen, New Jersey hoping to help victims
of Hurricane Sandy.
By that time, he had given out an estimated total of $80,000.
Apparently, many of the recipients forwarded the money to someone who actually needed it
more than they did.
The secret Santa said he was inspired by the late Larry Stewart, who handed out $100 bills
for more than 25 years in Kansas City.
He wanted to continue Stewart’s selfless tradition with the hope that it would inspire
other people to do the same.
8 - First Day When a young Birmingham college student's
car broke down the night before he was supposed to start a new job, he didn't panic.
At least not for long.
Instead, Walter Carr decided that he had to do what it takes to make it to his job on
time for the first day!
Carr was supposed to begin his new job as a mover at a home 20 miles from his apartment
near Birmingham, Ala.
However, none of his friends were able to help him out.
Carr really needed the job.
He googled the route from his apartment to the house and google said it would take eight
hours on foot.
However, he knew he could do it in less since he used to run cross-country!
How many of us would have just called in sick at this point?!
At midnight he started out on his journey.
Hours into his trek to work, a police car pulled up.
Carr explained his situation to officer Mark Knighten.
Officer Knighten decided to take Carr to get something to eat since he had been walking
all night.
Officer Knighten told Carr that the meal was on him since Carr had no cash.
However, that wasn’t the end of the good things that happened for Carr!
The story of Walter Carr spread from the police officers to the homeowner, to Carr’s boss,
Luke Marklin.
He was the CEO of the moving company, Bellhops.
Marklin drove in from Tennessee to personally meet Carr for coffee and thank him.
He was amazed by Carr’s determination and dedication and he wanted to show his appreciation.
That meeting ended with Marklin surprising Carr by giving him his own barely-driven 2014
Ford Escape.
An emotional Carr had just one word when Marklin handed him the keys – "Seriously?"
Did we mention that a GoFundMe was started for Carr, and it’s raised more than 44,000
dollars for him?!
It’s amazing how far a little hard work and dedication can go for someone!
7 - McDonald's Connection Meet Eric Haralson, a 28-year-old man from
Indiana who recently made one elderly woman’s day.
Or maybe, it was the other way around!
One November morning in 2018, Haralson headed to his local McDonald’s to eat breakfast.
A 70-year-old woman, who goes by the name Jan, had the same plan.
Jan saw Haralson sitting by himself so she asked if he was interested in sharing their
meal together.
Haralson’s reaction?
OF COURSE!
Jan grabbed her tray, he pushed a chair out for her and a new friendship was born.
They talked about how Jan goes to church every Sunday and how she used to be an artist.
In return, Haralson told Jan all about his girlfriend and their young son.
Jan apparently was very intrigued by people from a much younger generation than her.
One of the funniest questions she asked was the reasoning behind guys having a man-bun!
To be honest, we’re still trying to figure that one out ourselves!
They talked and laughed together like they were old friends when they didn’t even know
each other, and they couldn’t be more different.
Amanda Craft was the person who saw what was going on.
She decided to take a picture of them and post the story on social media.
Shortly after, the picture of them went viral, and mainstream media caught the story.
Apparently, Haralson and Jan sat together for 45 minutes before Haralson walked Jan
to her car and they exchanged numbers.
He said Jan was a firecracker who was outgoing and unafraid of saying what’s on her mind!
Is it just or us or should there be more people in the world who’re unafraid to reach out
and make a connection with people who are completely different?!
6 - Cat naps Can a cat be a man’s best friend too?!
Maybe this story can change some minds about that!
At Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary, they've found one person who has found his perfect companions
in the form of a super dedicated volunteer named Terry.
Terry has been volunteering daily at Safe Haven, a nonprofit cat sanctuary in Green
Bay, Wisconsin.
It’s a place that cares for cats with special needs.
Most of the time, cats with special needs are just put down.
However, some of those cats are brought to Safe Haven, for rehabilitation in a cage-free
environment, where they’re hopefully able to be prepped for adoption.
Most of the cats need a lot of extra care and have lots of medical bills that need to
be covered.
Apparently, Terry just walked in one day and introduced himself, according to the founder
of the sanctuary.
Terry said that he just wanted to come in to brush some of the cats and hang out.
However, he liked it so much, he eventually started going there every day!
Apparently, he’s always there now, brushing the cats, and can tell you about all of the
personalities of the cats.
And c’mon, what’s the best part?
Well, he falls asleep on most days he’s at the sanctuary.
Obviously when you’re as dedicated as Terry, other volunteers don't mind it at all.
Also it’s because the cats seem to love it when Terry falls asleep, because they’re
happy to nap right next to Terry!
Safe Haven posted about Terry on its Facebook page, and by now, people have donated over
$62,000 dollars for the sanctuary, because of Terry’s story!
If you guys would like to contribute, be sure to google Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary and their
website will pop right up!
5 - Dogs in a Blanket Back in 2017 in Istanbul, Turkey, heavy snowfall
and plunging temperatures started to make life miserable for everyone.
However, that’s also a time when some magic happened.
Stories started to come out about people going out of their way to help keep stray dogs safe
and sound!
Who knew there were people out there who care about their local pups?!
Istanbul is known for the high number of stray dogs roaming around the city.
There are estimates that there are around 150,000 dogs fending for themselves in a city
with a population of around 15 million!
Ali Çelik was one of the heroes that winter.
Making his way to work through the snow, he spotted a group of stray dogs lined up in
front of a local mall.
But surprisingly, the dogs weren’t alone.
Other people were there too, spreading out cardboard boxes for dogs to sleep on, and
wrapping them up in blankets.
Food and water were placed next to each dog and all of them helped to make sure every
single dog was taken care of.
The rest of the blanket-wrapping crew preferred not to have their names revealed.
They insisted they were doing it for the sake of the dogs, not for internet fame.
This act alone was enough to inspire other people to help as well, with some stores in
Istanbul deciding to open up their doors to let the dogs stay in for the night when temperatures
went wayyyyy below zero!
4 - Back to the village
When someone in a small town makes it big, usually they come back to share in their success.
And that’s exactly what pilot Vikas Jyani did when he got his pilot’s license!
Vikas comes from a small village in India called Sarangpur.
Vikas studied to be a pilot, something that’s a big deal to people in a small village, where
most people never leave the region.
Before he got his license, Vikas wanted to make sure some people from his hometown got
to experience what he learned.
He made sure that 22 residents from his village, all of them ages 70 and up, got to experience
the magic of flying!
Vikas couldn't wait to give back to his community, because as soon as he got his pilot’s license,
that’s when he took them up.
The passengers from Sarangpur were thrilled because, for most of them, this was the first
time ever being on a plane!
The oldest was a 90-year-old woman named Bimla, one of the many passengers who had never flown
before.
She said that the flight felt like a dream, and repeatedly said that many people make
promises but Jyani is one of the rare people who kept his word.
Do we really need to say that Vikas’s father was extremely proud of his son’s touching
gesture?
3 - Finders Keepers?
If you found a bag with 100 thousand dollars in it, what would you do?
Well, one woman in Tennessee chose not to follow the old saying "Finders keepers, losers
weepers" when she discovered nearly $100,000 dollars in a bag at her local restaurant!
Billie Watts was eating at a Cracker Barrel with her husband Malcolm.
Just like any usual person who eats in a restaurant, she decided to use the bathroom.
However, in her stall she found a bag hanging on a hook on the stall door.
While she was digging through the bag to find identification of the rightful owner, she
found a Manila envelope sticking out of the bag that could barely zip.
Inside the envelope was a picture of two women and a child, but no names, and stacks of neatly
stacked money totaling $97,000 dollars!
Watts admitted being tempted to take the money but ultimately, she decided to look for the
rightful owner.
It turned out that the money belonged to a woman who had just sold her house after her
daughter and grandchild passed away.
That was the picture of all them on the picture Watts found in the envelope.
The owner said that she needed every single penny from that envelope.
The owner still tried to give 1000 dollars to Watts as a reward for finding the money,
but Watts politely refused.
2 - Last Wish Victor was just like any other 12-year old
kid.
He loved hangin with his friends and playing soccer with his buddies.
But back in January of 2015, his back started to hurt.
And it began hurting more and more by the day, something that obviously isn’t very
common for a kid his age.
Unfortunately within weeks, doctors diagnosed him with a freakishly large tumor pressing
on his spine.
The tumor turned out to be cancer that began to spread around his body and to be quite
honest now, things weren’t looking good.
But Victor wasn’t really sad about having cancer – actually, he was more upset that
he wouldn’t get a chance to do any of the things that adults can do, such as get a tattoo.
Enter Alcides Correa.
When he heard the news, he came straight to the rescue – he happened to be a friend
of Victor’s dad and a tattoo artist!
So he walked right into the hospital with a bunch of colorful markers and in the blink
of an eye, gave Victor his very own personalized tattoo!
Correa promised to come back for another session but unfortunately, Victor passed away just
a few days later.
However, his memory keeps on living with the tattoo his father got that looks exactly like
one of the drawings Victor made while staying in the hospital.
1 - Post Its
Rosa's Fresh Pizza offers a taste of New York-style pizza to the people of Philly.
But that's not all they serve – Rosa and their customers have teamed up to feed the
city a daily taste of hope and kindness!
At Rosa's, customers can "pay it forward" by pre-purchasing slices for people in need.
Owner Mason Wartman, who left his Wall Street desk job to open up the pizza shop, says pay-it-forward
pizza started with just one customer, one dollar, and one Post-it note.
That customer was inspired by an Italian coffee house practice called caffè sospeso, which
means suspended coffee, where customers can pre-purchase cups of coffee for less fortunate
customers.
As word spread, more and more customers participated and Rosa's wall became covered with post-its
guaranteeing a slice for anyone who walked in, regardless of their ability to pay.
Since the first pay-it-forward slice, Rosa's has provided nearly 10,000 pizza slices to
needy Philadelphians and amazingly, pre-purchased slices now represent a whopping 10% of Rosa's
business!
Here’s what’s next!