The signs of spring are here. Spring training baseball, Nascar had its first race yesterday, people are talking about March Madness, and we had five blue jays in our yard yesterday. That is good news for us that do not like winter, but that is not good news that changes people or the world like the following stories.
Alyssa Kamm thought she had more than two years to plan her wedding. But she found her prep time cut to three weeks after learning her father had cancer.
The abbreviated schedule came courtesy of more than a dozen strangers, business owners and managers throughout Rochester, New York, who donated flowers, a venue, photography, music and numerous other services to help give the bride and her groom their dream wedding on Feb. 4.
Just three weeks earlier, on Jan. 13, Alyssa learned her dad had been diagnosed with advanced multiple myeloma, which affects the bone marrow and quickly weakens the bones. Her dad began chemotherapy treatment immediately.
One of the women shared her family’s story and sought advice about nice but inexpensive venues and services on a Facebook page for Rochester-area wedding vendors.
Photographer Bethany Colburn spotted the post and immediately decided to help.
“It touched my heart and I knew I wanted to be a part of this,” she told TODAY. She immediately began messaging with a good friend of hers who is a DJ and the two “started chatting about who we needed to ‘tag’ in the post and how we could really make this happen for Alyssa and her family.”
Colburn, who donated a full wedding photography package, said she was excited to see the event come together so effortlessly.
“We are surrounded by negativity and sad stories and sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are still good people in the world,” said Colburn, who hopes vendors in other cities “continue to spread the love” by helping others in need.
Alyssa’s dad, Karl Jones, 55, said he was amazed at how so many people he didn’t know coalesced to help his family.
“All the vendors — we call them our fairy god dream team. They didn’t know us, and they just started offering their services and the ball kept on rolling. It shocked me,” he said.
“This is something that makes him happy, to let people know that there are good people in the world we live in,” she said. “This story, even though it’s rooted in something that’s really sad, and it stings for us, it has such a happy ending, and that gives him something to live for.”
source: Eun Kyung Kim -TODAY
February 3 was a big night in Norman, Oklahoma. The Norman High School Lady Tigers basketball team was facing its rival, the Timberwolves of Norman North. By the end of the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers had a comfortable lead of 57-35 — for all intents and purposes, they had won the game.
But when the coaches sent in one player who had sat on the sidelines all night, everyone in the arena shared a victory.
That player was Lainy Fredrickson — a special-needs senior whose epic basket at the game’s close had the crowd (and the internet) going wild. Detrick Watts, a special education TA and assistant girls’ basketball coach, told TODAY that having Fredrickson on the team is “a blessing.”
“She always puts a smile on everybody’s face,” he said. “You know your day is going to be better just from coming into contact with her.”
“As coaches, you try not to show your emotions, especially during the game,” said Watts. “But the reality sets in that this is something more than basketball … it’s fulfilling a dream. For the coaches, and I think for the players, it’s something I’ll never forget.”
It made a similar impression on Michael Vanderburg, the alum who took the video. “It is a testimony to the awesome community of Norman, Oklahoma, and my alma mater Norman High School, and how there is still hope for humanity out here in this world,” he told TODAY. “If we just focus on the good instead of the bad, we could come together and really make a difference.”
source: Embry Roberts – TODAY
When Todd Steinkamp was told that his car wouldn’t make it all the way to a Wisconsin funeral he wanted to attend, he believed it was the beginning of a terrible day—but he hadn’t yet met the man who would turn it around.
The driver was forced to pull his vehicle into the closest auto repair shop after it started making a dreadful grinding sound midway through his route from Iowa.
The mechanic, Glenn Geib, told Todd that his car would not be able to travel the remaining 70-mile distance to the memorial service.
Things looked bleak, but after seeing Todd’s reaction, Glenn offered up his own wheels as a substitute.
“I must have looked pretty stressed-out at this time because Glenn then reached into his pocket, pulled out the keys to HIS own vehicle and said ‘Take my truck. Fill it up with gas, don’t turn on the emergency lights and get going’,” wrote Todd on Facebook.
Not only was the younger man able to make it to his funeral, but his would-be terrible day was totally turned around.
“We sat and talked for a while when I got back as I thanked him and he told me more about himself. The 74 year-old mechanic with a grip of steel turned a terrible day into a good one with a great lesson… ‘just be kind and help if you can’.”
source : McKinley Corbley – Good News Network
A waitress who did a good deed for a pair of firefighters was overwhelmed when they returned the favor—for her father.
Instead of a bill for their breakfast, Liz Woodward brought a pair of New Jersey firefighters a thank you note. They’d just spent 24 hours battling the blaze at a local warehouse, and the waitress wanted to do something nice for them.
“Your breakfast is on me today,” the note read, along with little drawings of a fire ax and helmet. “Thank you for all that you do.”
Firefighter Tim Young posted the story and a photo of the note to Facebook, urging people to eat at the diner where she worked. But then, he found out the waitress had a GoFundMe campaign that she was using to raise $17,000 to buy her father a wheelchair-accessible van.
Turns out, the young lady who gave us a free meal is really the one that could use the help,” Young wrote in another post.
The firefighter’s plea spread like wildfire. His posts were shared thousands of times and 1,000 people donated more than $67,000 — $50,000 above her goal.
“This is just one example of how so many people in this world have incredible hearts and they pay it forward, so the circle keeps on moving,” Woodward told TODAY.
source: Terry Turner – Good News Network
Of course, there are much, much more but did not want to get this into 2000 words so hopefully, other bloggers joined in today to give us more #goodnews stories.
Check out www.goodnewsnetwork.org, www.huffingtonpost.com/section/good–news, www.sunnyskyz.com/good–news, www.today.com/news/good–news, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/good-news, abcnews.go.com/US/Good_News as well as many others.
Change The World by Derek Minor (feat Hollyn)-
Be The Change by Britt Nicole –
What Love Can Do by Danny Gokey –
Revival by Zach Williams –
It’s A Beautiful Day by Mari Burelle –
I Have This Hope by Tenth Avenue North –
Beautiful People by Tim McGraw –
My God, My Music, My Life 