9 Uplifting News Stories That Didn’t Make the Headlines

Good Stuff April: Doggy Bags, Doggy Adoptions and touching stories guaranteed to melt your heart.

Another month has flown by and that means a whole new set of news stories that slipped through the cracks in favor of something depressing. That’s not how we do things at Quest, so here’s another curated list of bite-sized, feel-good news to brighten your day.

1: Save A Penguin From Oil, Gain a Friend For Life

Okay, so this story actually did make headlines, but it’s too cute not to recount here. Dindim, professionally adorable penguin from off the coast of Brazil was having a really bad day. An oil spill looked to cut short his time on Earth when a retired fisherman and professionally awesome dude, Joao Pereira de Souza cleaned Dindim and nursed him back to health. Now the penguin swims 8000km out of his way to visit de Souza every year since 2011. Marine biologists hypothesize that the penguin believes de Souza to be a fellow black and white waddler like him, which explains his incredible journey and affinity for de Souza. Click here to see pics that are “aww” worthy.

2: The New Doggy Bag is Actually a Fridge For Humans!

A restaurant in India is doing something that every food establishment should do. The restaurant Pappadavavda isn’t just super fun to say aloud; the owner, former Citi Bank employee Minu Pauline, has added a refrigerator to the outside of her establishment so patrons can leave their leftovers for those in need. The premise is simple, rather than toting your half-eaten meals home where you may or may not finish them, you can donate them to someone in need who would normally look for food in a garbage can. Almost 8000 years of civilization and this is just now a thing. Check out more about Pappadavavda here.

3: Can I Have Some Spare Change? How About a Job Instead?

The Midwest isn’t just a place for funny accents (I’m from there so I can say that), it’s a place for big hearts, too. New restaurateur Cesia Abigail, owner of Abi’s Café in Minneapolis, couldn’t afford to hire any new employees, but when a homeless man came in asking for change, she asked him why he didn’t have a job. He told her he had too many felonies and no one would hire him. So she asked him if he wanted to work and he obliged! Now he works there part time as a dishwasher because someone believed in him. Help Abi raise more money in order to give Marcus a fulltime position here. Or, if you live in the area, go and buy all the food. Justify it by saying it’s for a good cause.

4: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Adoption Offers…

In the month of March a homeless dog also named March warmed the hearts of thousands. After this image was posted to the ACCT Philly Twitter page, the sadness on the dog’s face quickly turned to joy as the adoption offers flooded the shelter’s social media. March was moved from the kill shelter he was in to a non-kill shelter where he’ll quickly be adopted. Who’s inspired to go dog rescuing this week? I know I am!

5: Wounded Veterans Get PAWS

Riding the feelgood wave of doggery, a new act was introduced to congress that could provide wounded service members suffering from PTSD with their own service dog. This is amazing because A) dogs are basically unicorns except with one less horn and actually real, and B) it’s an alternative to prescription drugs which aren’t effective for our wounded veterans. The ACT is called PAWS (Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemembers) and it’s currently under review with the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs. Companionship at the taxpayers’ expense may not be popular with everyone, but it takes a special kind of heart to be stingy with providing hope and love to our veterans and dogs.

6: Homeless Man Donates 10k to High School

Two teenagers who helped keep a homeless man warm one cold Illinois winter received a very unexpected honor. Turns out the homeless man in question was heir to a $1.2 million dollar fortune after his father passed away. The man remembered the act of kindness from the two school boys and set up a 10,000 trust in their name to honor students who go above and beyond. The program awards two students $500 every year for outstanding acts of humanity. Even if every act of kindness isn’t met with a monetary reward, the feeling of doing the right thing and opening your eyes to the world around you is a lesson worth more than any dollar amount.  The two students had the perfect reaction when they found out, stating they didn’t need the money and it should go to someone who can put it to better use.

7: Blind Microsoft Developer Creates App to Help Millions See

As a nod to the eventual coevolution of human and machine, a blind developer at Microsoft just created an app that allows blind people to see. At the Build 2016 Summit, Saqib Shaikh introduced the world to the Seeing AI app. Using a smartphone or a special pair of glasses, the user can take a photo of their environment and using sophisticated algorithms, Seeing AI describes the environment to the user. Watch this video to see how it reads a menu, faces, and objects in Saqib’s world.

8: Eleven Year-Old Sells a Glass of Lemonade…For a MILLION DOLLARS!

Making lemonade from lemons…and by lemonade I mean $1 million. While that isn’t that much money in the grand scheme of things, how about this little tidbit; the eleven-year-old creator of BeeSweet lemonade just sold her brand to Whole Foods. Even more impressive? The creator, Mikaila Ulner regularly leads workshops on saving the honeybees and participates in social entrepreneurship panels.  Talk about knowing how to bee on top of things…dad jokes.

9: High School Students Create Replacement Limb For 8-year-old Girl

A group of high school students built a prosthetic arm for young girl named Hope (lovely, right?). Using a combination of a donated 3D printer and $30 worth of materials, the high school students designed a custom arm that opens and closes, allowing Hope the opportunity to test out the functionality of her new limb. I don’t think I’m on the wrong side of public opinion by saying we need more of this in the world.

Well, that about does it for news stories that made me tear up at my desk and have to hide my face from my co-workers because I “kept getting something in my eye.” Have a news story you want to share with us? Let us know – leave a comment below or shoot me an email [email protected]. I’d love to share your good news with the world. See you next month!