Buffalo, NY experienced a catastrophic blizzard over the Christmas weekend that left many stranded with over 4 ft of snow and winds of up to 70 mph. While the area is no stranger to snow, getting that much snow and high winds together is unusual. A group of South Korean tourists narrowly avoided a ruined vacation because of the kindness of strangers.
On the morning of Dec. 23, the winds went within minutes from 10 miles per hour up to 70. The storm lasted four days, but the vast majority of the snow — about 36 inches out of the total 51.9 inches recorded in the region — fell Friday into Saturday morning. Traveling from Niagara Falls to Washington DC, the tour group of 10 South Koreans got stuck in the blizzard on Christmas Eve.
Two of the group went to a local house to ask for a shovel to dislodge their vehicle. Alex Campagna heard their frantic knocking on his door. Knowing it was the worst blizzard he had ever seen, he thought it would be a better idea for them to wait out the storm. He invited them all inside, putting them up on couches, air mattresses, and sleeping bags.
Eager to repay his kindness, the guests cooked several South Korean meals like jeyuk bokkeum, stir-fried pork, and dakdori tang, a spicy chicken stew. As it turns out, Campagna and his wife really like Korean food and actually happened to have some of the more extravagant ingredients on hand.
The stranded travelers stayed the night Friday and Saturday, swapping stories and watching football. On Christmas day drivers came to pick up the tour group and took them to New York for some impromptu flights. A member of the group, Choi Yoseob said “It was kind of like fate, the luck of arriving at the Campagnas’ doorstep with their fully stocked kitchen and unhesitating hospitality. He said the hosts were “the kindest people I have ever met. We have enjoyed this so much.”
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Makayla Burns, 24, and her dad run a small business called Horrornaments, which makes creepy-themed ornaments such as evil pickles and violent clowns. The Michigan business was struggling so as a last ditch effort, she posted a TiktTok video asking for help-and help came. The video went viral with over 1.1 million likes, and sales lit up like a Christmas Tree.
The video shows her dad pacing aimlessly around their warehouse, clearly stressed out.”It’s the middle of December, and my dad is currently walking around the warehouse wondering why we aren’t busy with orders,” Burns wrote in the video. “I’ve been trying so hard to promote his ornaments, but I don’t know what to do anymore. And honestly it makes me so sad. Like…this is his livelihood.”
Burns said they received more orders in the last two days than they have in the previous 11 months. To date, the Burns team has 5,000 orders of ornaments and both are very thankful for the support. In another video, MaKayla’s dad gets choked up talking about it. “You just saved this business,” he tells her with tears in his eyes. “You have no idea how tickled I am.”
She said her dad was worried he might not even be able to pay his rent before the windfall. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I don’t know what else to say other than thank you.” Hopefully now that the company is on the radar of horror lovers, they will thrive in the new year.
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An Arizona woman, Elizabeth Rizzo, raised over $120,000 for an elderly Walmart employee. When Elizabeth first saw 82-year-old Carman Kelly, she wondered why she was still working at her age. After learning that Carman Kelly was working to pay off about $10,000 in medical debt and only had $50 in her bank account at the time, Rizzo made a TikTok video about her situation.
The video posted by Rizzo, who goes by @rustywarrenkockersupgal on TikTok, has since gone viral and has been viewed more than 15 million times. The GoFundMe fundraiser she created and shared with her followers has raised more than $129,000 for Kelly — surpassing the initial goal by thousands.
Elizabeth posted a second video where she told Kelly she raised about $5,000. “You’re their new grandma!” Rizzo said in the video as she told a shocked Kelly the news. “Will you be able to retire after this?” Rizzo asked. “I hope so!” Kelly responded. That’s when the donations continued to flood in. “With the second video, it just went crazy,” Rizzo says. “I was not planning this, I just felt moved to do this.”
Elizabeth said “I was surprised at the amount we were able to fundraise. I was really shocked, but I believe in the goodness of people and I believe if you touch their heart, in some way, they’ll come together.” Rizzo has kept Kelly updated throughout her fundraising efforts and the two have formed a close friendship.
In the final fundraiser reveal, Kelly tells Rizzo “There isn’t enough words to tell you how I feel. It isn’t just about me, it’s what the meaning of all this is and I really feel that. It’s about joy.”
Living only 20 minutes from each other, the two are now good friends and Rizzo says she sees Kelly as her own grandmother.
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More than 50 families got a holiday surprise in Kansas City thanks to a Chiefs star. Chiefs’ wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and his foundation paid off about $10,000 in layaways at a Burlington Coat Factory store. The JuJu Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of youth initiatives and lifting the spirits of those in need. This was the JuJu foundation’s first event like this in Kansas City since signing with the Chiefs in March .
Smith-Schuster said there were times when he didn’t get a gift or had to share when he was growing up. So, now he wants to give back to families who might be struggling. “I love it so much because being a part of the community is what it’s all about. These people are die-hard fans. They support us every Sunday, every game we play in,” Smith-Schuster said. “It’s just nice that I have an opportunity to be a good role model to these kids and give back to the community.”
The JuJu Foundation was founded in 2019 by Kansas City Chiefs and former University of Southern California Wide Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster. They provide free Football Camps to 6th, 7th and 8th graders, scholarships and grants to organizations that work to improve the lives of those in need. Last year, while Smith-Schuster was still with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the foundation gave $75,000 in grants to Pittsburgh Charities and also awarded $20,000 in scholarships to 4 students.
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After Renee Story’s daughter’s flight was canceled, the determined mother’s positive thinking got her daughter home. Alanah Story was set for a 7PM flight from Orlando to Knoxville when her flight was delayed and ultimately canceled. Frontier Airlines was unable to give stranded passengers assurances that they would be able to fly out that night.
While at the help desk, Renee met Carlos, a police officer who was also heading to Knoxville for a 10:00 AM appointment with his daughter the next morning at a university. The two agreed that they could rent a van to drive there. They then suggested the idea to several passengers and they were able to gather a group of 13.
Alanah said “I was off to one side because I didn’t want to be involved, my mom just turned to me and said ‘we’re headed downstairs to get a van, come on people! Like 13 people followed her, I was just wondering what was happening.” Among the rest of the group were Johan and Adolf, from Mexico, Michelle, who was headed to a farming convention in Knoxville as a keynote speaker, and Q, who was simply trying to get home.
The strangers each chipped in $60 to rent a 15 passenger van and headed out on a road trip.
In the end, all the passengers managed to keep their appointments, Carlos’ daughter made it to the university appointment and Michelle was able to deliver her speech as the keynote speaker. Carlos posted a video to tiktok explaining “We made our 10:00 AM appointment, all because of a community that came together.”
But what started as a 650 mile journey of convenience, paced over 10 hours, ended with some brand new friendships. Alanah made friends with Q, who lives in Knoxville, and the two are planning on going out for karaoke soon. Carlos’ wife Lauren and Alanah’s mother Renee have also kept in touch.
Alanah said “It was not a quiet ride, no one was getting any sleep on that drive, I think I slept around 20 minutes. I really couldn’t have picked a better group of people to make the trip with. The whole experience really confirmed my faith in humanity for a little bit, in the States right now we’re going through a period of division, so it was nice to see.”
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A Minnesota liquor store employee is being praised for a generous act after she gave up her shoes to a man who has no home and didn’t have his own to wear. Brooklyn Center Liquor, located at 1350 Shingle Creek Crossing, said its employee, Ta Leia, also known as “Ace”, offered her Nike Air Jordans to a man who was asking for beer boxes to create makeshift shoes.
The store said on Facebook “Ace, being a Minnesota Vikings fan, had on her favorite pair of purple Nike Air Jordans which she gave to the man with zero hesitation. This is a true example of empathy, compassion, and holiday cheer. We can all appreciate a story like this during the holiday season. We applaud Ace for her selflessness and her willingness to help those in need!” The store said Ace is a recently hired employee and she has demonstrated how “great” she is with customers, adding that she is “a very reliable employee.”
The man is seen on surveillance video, attempting to leave with beer boxes on his feet, before Ace approached him. “I was mid-transaction and I was like, ‘hold up, let me go outside and talk to him. I said, ‘What size you wear?’ and he said 10 or 10½. I just looked around, grabbed my shoes, unlaced them and gave them to him right at the door. I didn’t care about the shoes, I cared about him. He didn’t know me, I didn’t know him. I just thought best to give him something he may need, that’s how I took it as.”
According to a Facebook post, Ace said her manager gave her another pair of shoes, for which she was “thankful.” She said she has been in a similar situation, expressing empathy towards the man. “I was raised to volunteer and give to the homeless. I’ve been there before. I didn’t hesitate to give. It made my day to see him happy,” she said. She credited her mother, grandmother and godparents for raising her to always give back.
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An Oakdale family is praising their teenage son for helping free his father after being trapped underneath the truck they were working on. Matthew Wilkinson said despite getting home late on what should have been a normal Monday night, he couldn’t put off working on the brakes on his work truck. The father and son were working on the truck, something they have done many times before.
This time, however, the rotor was stuck. Matthew said “I couldn’t get a good angle, so I slid my body underneath the truck and was hitting it. The second it popped off, the truck fell. I know it rolled forward because I saw it roll forward and it fell right on top of me. All I could think about was the breath coming out of me. I was just squished. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t yell.”
Dalin Wilkinson, 15, a freshman at Oakdale High School said “It just dropped right on him. I was scared. I heard him make a noise like his soul was leaving his body. It was crazy. I just ran over and tried as hard as I could to get it up enough to get him out.” The family’s home security camera captured the terrifying moment.
Dalin admits he didn’t know what to do at first before he ran to the back of the truck and tried to lift it enough to get his father out. The accident left Wilkinson with a punctured lung, broken ribs and a separated shoulder. The pair regularly work on vehicles together with no issues but he’s thankful his son was there. ‘My son is my hero. He saved my life” Wilkinson said.
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A New Hampshire family, inspired by an act of kindness 12 years ago, have paid it forward every holiday season since. In 2010, Krista and Jeff Butts were struggling. Krista was out of work and Jeff was working 80 hours a week with the Exeter Police Department to provide for their three young sons. Krista had saved up enough money to get haircuts for the boys and was overcome with emotion after learning that all of their haircuts were paid in full by a stranger.
The simple kindness from a stranger inspired the mom and her sons to perform their own acts of kindness that day — and every holiday season moving forward. That same day, Krista brought her sons to their local Walmart and bought three gift cards. She gave each son a card and instructed them to walk around the store together to find people who they thought could use them.
One of the recipients was a mom with two kids. Krista’s sons said they chose the woman because she reminded them of her. It was an “awesome parenting moment” she’d never forget. Each year since, the family has done random acts of kindness around the holidays for 25 days. Starting Dec. 1, the Butts family picks something nice to do for someone each day leading up to Christmas.
“It can be as simple as helping someone, holding a door, paying for a coffee,” Krista said. “We usually try to pay for at least one family’s meal, we reward public servants with food and treats, drop off decorated wreaths, Christmas decorations or meals to neighbors or strangers. We try hard to go places where people don’t know us and just enjoy the spontaneity of it all, because I think it means more to people when it’s a stranger doing something nice for you. I don’t know why that makes a difference, but I think, for people it does.”
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Cities in the US and Canada are allowing citizens to pay their parking fines with toys to help make sure children have a gift to open on Christmas morning. The “Toys for Tickets” campaign allows motorists to donate toys, in lieu of money, to pay for any parking ticket this holiday season. Every year participating cities have collected thousands of toys through the initiative.
The Toys for Tickets campaign receives tremendous support from participating communities each year. The only requirement is the toy new and unopened toy must be equal to or greater than the value of the parking ticket. Donations of more than one toy are accepted as long as the value of the toys equals or exceeds the amount owing on the fine.
Drivers must bring the parking ticket and a receipt for the toy within 30 days of the ticket date. The toys can be dropped off at local city or town halls and are delivered to a local toy drive in time to be distributed to children over the holidays. Check with your local municipalities to see if they are participating.
Many communities paused the program during the Covid 19 or changed the guidelines to allocate the funds for purchasing toys in lieu of collecting toys. Parking tickets are not a positive experience but the Toys for Tickets initiative can certainly help spread some positivity throughout communities during the holiday season.
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Sixteen years ago, Danielle Gletow became a foster mom and within a year she adopted one of the children, a two-year old baby girl. During the adoption, she found out she was pregnant—but instead of funneling her energy solely to her own family, she continued fueling her passion to help the kids in need.
She set up a nonprofit, One Simple Wish, to galvanize donations from others like her, who want to make an impact and bring joy to foster youth. Over the next 15 years, One Simple Wish collected over $15 million to grant requests for over a quarter-million kids and young adults impacted by foster care. Wishes range from laptops and sports equipment to art supplies and music lessons—even travel expenses for an aspiring model to fulfill her dreams at New York Fashion Week.
Every year nearly 500,000 children are impacted by abuse, neglect and trauma and spend time in our nation’s foster care system. The wish-granting platform gives kids a chance to just be kids, but they can also make important connections, experience new things and find their passion. Gletow said “I wanted to be a mother to all these kids who might not feel like they have one. I realized, early on, that a lot of these children decide it’s not worth wishing anymore, because it isn’t going to happen.”
This year, to mark National Adoption Month, Gletow and her team gave nine new cars to deserving adults who, in their youth, were impacted by the child welfare system. They flew all the winners to New York City under the guise of ‘a foster care conference’ just so they could surprise each one with keys to a new car—along with a year’s worth of insurance and gas.
Participants gathered for dinner where the real reason for the trip was revealed. The nine were then surprised with car keys, along with a $500 gift card, and more.
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