A police officer is being hailed a hero after he lifted off a 3,500-pound SUV to free the woman trapped underneath. Deputy Jon Holt said that he simply lifted part of the vehicle enough to free the woman after responding to a call of an overturned vehicle with an entrapment.
Deputy Holt arrived on the scene and told dispatch the car was upside down. He quickly ran to the vehicle to find the woman’s young son crouched in the car near his mother comforting her. A witness told Deputy Holt her head was pinned and she couldn’t breath. Holt then tells the boy to get back away from the car before he single handedly lifts the vehicle.
The Sheriff’s office wrote on a Facebook post “The driver was laying underneath the vehicle with her head pinned by the sunroof. Seeing the trauma her child was witnessing, Deputy J. Holt went into overdrive. Through sheer will and determination due to fearing the female may succumb to her circumstance in front of her panic-stricken child, Deputy J. Holt took quick action and was able to physically lift the vehicle up enough for the driver to maneuver her head out to safety.” the post said.
The post included brief footage of the incident with graphic footage of the accident, the woman trapped motionless under the car, and her child screaming from the back seat. In the video, Holt sidles up to the vehicle and can be heard straining vigorously as the video goes blank from the camera pressing up against a surface. “Mom, try to get out!” the voice of the child shouts. Holt continues to strain. “Can you slide anything Ma’am, is your head clear?” Holt says just before the video ends. Gloucester County Sheriff Darrell Warren said after the car was lifted and she was able to escape, the woman’s injuries “didn’t appear to be life threatening.”
Being called a hero is not new to Deputy Holt. He was recently awarded local and regional “Top Cop Awards” for rescuing a disabled young girl and woman from a burning home in March 2020. Believing that an infant was still unaccounted for, he entered the home two more times to search for the baby. During an interview regarding his most recent rescue, Deputy Holt humbling said that he’s not a hero and just a regular cop but his department and community disagree.
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Ulster Savings Bank (USB), headquartered in upstate New York, has been a fixture in the Hudson Valley since 1851. To commemorate their 170th anniversary on April 12, the institution launched an initiative to celebrate with ‘170 Acts of Kindness’. Since the effort began, the community outreach team at Ulster Savings has donated toys and puzzles to a local homeless shelter, as well as stuffed animals to an area child abuse prevention facility.
They’ve also picked up the tab for everything from garbage collection, haircuts, pizza, groceries, restaurant meals, flowers, and coffee—to the fees for New York State auto inspections at local garages—all to ease the worries of local citizens who’ve been financially impacted by COVID-19.
The bank’s CEO and President Bill Calderara explained on the company website “Celebrating our 170th anniversary with just as many random acts of kindness is our way of spreading kindness and supporting our community following a challenging year. Especially in times of crisis, being responsive to the community’s critical needs is paramount.” Beginning in March 2020, USB proactively dispersed $64,500 to immediately support local efforts in providing food and other essential services during the COVID-19 crisis.
The community-centric bank had a well-earned reputation for its philanthropy long before the pandemic. Twenty years ago, in honor of the bank’s 150th anniversary, Ulster Savings created its in-house charitable foundation, the Ulster Savings Charitable Foundation, to “assist the community in the areas of education, housing, and health/human services.” The bank already donates a good portion of their annual profits to give back to the communities they serve.
In 2020, through their community donation program, they donated over $599,000 to support a wide variety of needs. So far in 2021, they’ve approved over $44,000 to benefit 25 non-profit organizations. Their committee meets monthly to consider new requests. “We were founded for our customers and for the benefit of the community at large. That’s part of our DNA. The also encourage employees to volunteer locally. “Our goal is that 100% of employees volunteer every year.”
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As the Covid-19 crisis intensifies in India, many organizations and individuals are stepping up to offer help in the situation. Philadelphia doctor Ruchika Talwar, a 28-year old resident at the University of Pennsylvania, has raised nearly $500,000 in just one week to send critical supplies directly to state-run hospitals in India. Feeling helpless in the face of the crisis, Talwar sent out a tweet and an email to 30 friends and family members with a fundraising goal in mind.
Her mother is a graduate of the Maulana Azad medical school in Delhi, so their goal was to send 50 oxygen concentrators, at a cost of $500 each, to their colleagues on the ground. Talwar says her phone was soon filled with thousands of messages of people eager to contribute. Even Penn Medicine, Talwar’s employer, initially pledged $50,000. “Inspired by Dr. Talwar’s efforts, in just six hours, the Penn community surpassed our $50,000 fundraising goal, enabling us to get to a $100,000 total donation to support her work and other groups providing aid to India in just the first day of our campaign.”
Now that her initial goal has been met, Talwar has been posting progress photos on her Instagram account so those who donated can see exactly where their money is going, when it’s going and how it’s making its way to the places that are in desperate need of them the most.
The nearly half a million they have raised has helped send oxygen concentrators, supplies and shipping arrangements directly to state-funded hospitals they’ve personally vetted. She plans to continue sending critical supplies to hospitals as long as the donations keep coming in.
Anurag Mairal, the director of global outreach programs at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign at Stanford University, has also been raising awareness and helping raise donations on social media. Mairal has partnered up with Sewa International, a non-profit humanitarian effort he is a member of to help raise money for those hit hard by the pandemic in India.
Mairal, 51, said he has lost former neighbors and friends he grew up playing with back home in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India, to Covid-19. With his parents and sisters in India, Mairal said he’s even more committed to relief efforts in this second wave. The organization reached its 101,000-donor mark and raised over $7 million from its Help India Defeat COVID-19′ Facebook campaign. “I think it just shows that so many people care,” Mairal said. “We started with a modest monetary goal but quickly realized the needs on the ground were much worse.”
The country’s Covid-19 crisis has surpassed its peak, experiencing the world’s worst outbreak, with new cases staying well above 300,000 every day and continuously breaking the record for the highest single-day figure globally.
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Maryland father Jonathan Bauer is being hailed a hero for his heroic rescue of a toddler from Assawoman Bay in Ocean City, Maryland. Bauer was driving home from running errands on the Ocean City bridge with his 13 year old daughter when he was involved in a multi-car pileup on an overpass. He checked on his daughter and got out of his vehicle to help someone trying to get out of the trunk that was hanging over the side of bridge.
That’s when he heard people yelling for help and saw the 2 year old girl who had been ejected from another car involved in the pileup. Bauer said the girl was in the water about six feet away from her car seat floating perfectly on her back, head completely out of the water, arms moving and legs kicking, in a little pink dress. In a matter of seconds the little girl flipped over on her stomach with her face in the water so Bauer jumped 25 feet into the water.
Bauer said he reached her just as she was starting to sink and he lifted her out of the water. Her mouth was open, her eyes were semi-open so he put her against his shoulder and aggressively patted her on the back. Within seconds she spit up a bunch of water, started coughing and took a deep breath. Bauer said “I just kept patting her and she would cough and then spit up a little bit more water.”
Two good samaritan boaters, Joe and Alayna Oertel, had seen the accident and headed to Bauer when they saw him jump into the water. When the Oertel’s reached Bauer he handed the toddler to the boaters and she was airlifted to a local hospital for treatment. The Oertel’s recalled pulling Bauer and the girl to safety during a Today show appearance. “He didn’t say anything. He was just so shocked of what happened.” said Alayna. Joe added that Bauer “was in some tremendous shock himself. It says a lot about some people’s demeanor, just doing the right thing when you got to do it.”
Police say the girl is expected to make a full recovery. Seven others in the crash have since been treated at hospitals and released. Initially after the accident, Bauer did not want to be identified. Ocean City emergency responders met with Jonathan Bauer, who shared his story publicly for the first time since the crash May 2.
Ocean City Mayor Richard W. Meehan and Ocean City Fire Chief Richard Bowers called Bauer a “humble hero” for putting his own life on the line by plunging into the shallow water from that high up. “What he did was without question a heroic thing, and very courageous thing to jump over the railing, down 25 to 30 feet into open water,” Bowers said.
Bauer’s wife said “I can’t say how proud I am of him. It doesn’t surprise me. If you know him, that is something he would do.”
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Many teachers go above and beyond for their students which is the case for Pennsylvania teacher Barb Heim. Everyday after school she makes a 20-minute drive from school to deliver the day’s lesson to a special student in a fight for his life. Second-grader Harrison Conner is homeschooling while he goes through treatment for leukemia. The two of them wear masks and Heim also wears a face shield as she gives him the day’s lesson through a Plexiglass screen at a table in Harrison’s home.
Heim, who is in her 35th year as a first-grade teacher at Conneaut Valley Elementary School in Conneautville, Pennsylvania, has gone the extra mile to make sure keeps his spirits up and his learning on track as he goes through treatment. Heim said “It was a joy, because I knew he wanted to learn. He couldn’t wait. He was so excited. And he’d have his off days if medicine was causing him to not feel up to it. It wasn’t the best day for him, but we made it through. And he always did his best.
Near the end of 2019, Heim first noticed there was something off with Harrison during recess inside the school gym. Instead of being active, he would often turn pale and have to sit down while the other kids were playing. The school nurse notified Harrison’s mother, Suzanne, before the school closed for Christmas break. “He’s an amazing little guy,” Heim said. “He is so much fun in class. You could have 100 of him in a classroom, and you would still take more because he has that sense about him. He wants to learn. He loves to learn new things.”
Heim then found out the difficult news about Harrison’s diagnosis when school returned. “One of these little guys from my class walks in the doorway, makes a beeline to my desk, and says, ‘Mrs. Heim, Harrison went on a helicopter ride to the hospital,”’ Heim said. Harrison’s absence in class was felt by his teacher and classmates. Before Zoom became a fact of life for millions of children learning remotely, Heim’s class would call Harrison on Zoom every day after recess while he was at home.
Heim would read a story while his classmates made sure to say hello to their buddy. Then the pandemic began, isolating Harrison from his friends and classmates. Heim decided to make sure he wouldn’t fall behind.
Harrison’s mother Suzanne Connor said “It goes far beyond her just coming here for school. Ever since the minute he was diagnosed … she has been absolutely amazing. She has kept Harrison such a part of the kids’ lives in school and making sure that he feels remembered. It’s not like a teacher is coming from school to teach, she’s like an aunt who is coming over to hang out, and she brings goodies, and she is always bringing a smile,” she said. “My kids will meet her at the front door with all the latest news and it’s incredibly, incredibly, special.”
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Captain Thomas Moore, a British World War II veteran raised money for charity in the run-up to his 100th birthday during the COVID-19 pandemic. On 6 April 2020, at the age of 99, Moore began to walk one hundred lengths of his garden in aid of NHS Charities Together, with the goal of raising 1,000 pounds or $1391 USD by his 100th birthday. In the 24-day course of his fundraising, he made many media appearances and became a popular household name in the UK, earning a number of accolades and attracting over 1.5 million individual donations. By the end of the day on Moore’s hundredth birthday, the total raised by his walk was 32.79 million pounds or $45 million USD.
When his campaign reached 5 million pounds, he explained his motivation “When we started off with this exercise we didn’t anticipate we’d get anything near that sort of money. It’s really amazing. All of them, from top to bottom, in the National Health Service, they deserve everything that we can possibly put in their place. They’re all so brave. Because every morning or every night they’re putting themselves into harm’s way, and I think you’ve got to give them full marks for that effort. We’re a little bit like having a war at the moment. But the doctors and the nurses, they’re all on the front line, and all of us behind, we’ve got to supply them and keep them going with everything that they need, so that they can do their jobs even better than they’re doing now.”
Funds raised by Moore were used on well-being packs for National Health Service staff, facilitating rest and recuperation rooms, devices to enable hospital patients to keep in contact with family members, and community groups who support patients once discharged from hospitals. When his campaign ended, Moore encouraged people to continue to donate, directly to the NHS Charities Together’s urgent appeal.
Moore’s selfless pursuit captured hearts around the world, including that of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who called him “a beacon of light through the fog of coronavirus.” So many cards had been sent to him during the last two weeks before his 100th birthday that Royal Mail had to introduce dedicated sorting facilities and around 20 volunteers were recruited to open and display them, at the local Bedford School. On the morning of his birthday, a Hawker Hurricane and a Spitfire from the Royal Air Force’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight performed a flypast over Moore’s house. In the afternoon, a second flypast featured two Army Air Corps helicopters, a Wildcat and an Apache.
Murals were created in his honor, a bus company named one of its buses Captain Tom Moore on and reprogrammed the electronic displays to show a “Thank You Captain Tom” message intermittently in between the vehicle’s route and destination. On 17 July 2020, he was personally knighted by the Queen at Windsor Castle. Moore passed away on February 2nd 2021 after contracting Covid 19 but his impact during the pandemic made him a hero in the United Kingdom. Moore’s family continues to honor his life and giving spirit through The Captain Tom Foundation.
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A Missouri woman turned her grief into hope after she lost 11 of her family members and friends to COVID-19. Shana Jones, of Maplewood, sets up dozens of tables outside her home six days a week with hundreds of free items for those in need. Jones lost the first eight of her friends and relatives in her home town of Albany, Georgia, in the week before and after her March 25, 2020 birthday. “I cried, and I felt weak. It just became so overwhelming that I became numb” she said. But soon after, Jones wanted to use her grief to do something good for her community, and she began putting a collection of tables on her front lawn, each one full of food and supplies for anyone to take — free of charge.
The tables were stocked with paper products, snacks, canned goods and cleaning supplies — things that a struggling family may have a hard time affording if they have fallen on hard times. Residents only have to drive by and take what they need from the “Grab-N-Go” tables. Although she remains heartbroken from the losses, she wanted the tragedy to be a stepping stone and decided to give back to her community. Since the beginning of the pandemic, she has given away food to more than 300 families a week.
“A lot of people cannot go back to work full time, they’re part-time and they’re still trying to make it, but they are struggling because, you know, they’re home. They can’t work” Jones said. Jones’ generous actions meant so much to her neighborhood that many left notes expressing their appreciation. “Every time I get a note,I feel that the angel of one of my family members or friends is saying, ‘Well done” Jones said.
I have elderly people who come by and say, ‘I’m scared to go to the store, can I get some cabbage off your table?’ People come by and donate. They just put stuff on the table to help the community. That’s all I’m trying to do,” Jones said. The St. Louis County Council awarded Shana Jones with a special resolution “for making a difference in Maplewood.”
Lisa Clancy, the Chairperson of the St. Louis County Council said “I see Shana as an inspiration. “We just wanted to honor her for what she’s doing. I think it’s great.” While some items are donated, Jones has purchased many of the items herself, costing her hundreds of dollars. “Her main focus is improving the lives of those around her,” according to the GoFundMe page set up to accept donations for the effort.
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HeroHomes, a non-profit organization, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday to hand over the keys to a finished home to U.S. Army Veteran Vainuupo “AV” Avegalio. Avegalio was a homeless retired U.S. Army Sergeant who spent his income helping other veterans battling post-traumatic stress. The organization’s donation and help from contractors and local businesses made it possible to fund all of the building costs and furnishings for Avegalio’s new home in Purcellville, Virginia.
Avegalio is an amateur poet and visual artist whose work deals with war experience and trauma. Art and poetry are his way of dealing with guilt, anger, depression, and suicidal ideation which coupled with multiple injuries sustained while serving overseas- ended his 12 year military career. He now travels the United States and its territories conducting art and poetry workshops with at risk youth, current and former inmates, first responders, veterans, and those suffering from mental illness in hope of bettering their quality of life.
He was sleeping in his car while traveling across the country to help veterans in need and even used his money from the Army for his workshops and supplies. Avegalio has performed his readings across the United States and just recently hit the big screen in his debut in the HBO documentary, We Are Not Done Yet.
Avegalio, who served five tours of duty, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, moves into the 2,900-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom home custom-built by homebuilder Brookfield Residential. Brookfield Residential, based in the mid-Atlantic region, donated 100 percent of their management time to the project. The company also reached out to each vendor to find reduced costs, and in many cases labor and material were completely donated.
Avegalio said he hopes to use the basement in his new home, which has been renovated to his art studio, to continue his work helping others. HeroHomes is a nonprofit established in 2017 that gives veterans the ability to live independently and to provide for their future. Co-founders Jason Brownell and Matt Lowers met Avegalio through the third HeroHomes recipient William Slease. They said they hope that by providing Avegalio with permanent housing, it will help him expand his mission of helping others.
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A Hayward, California woman has been a mother to more than 80 babies over the years through foster care. Linda Owens has cared for 81 infants in the 34 years she has been a resource parent. The 78-year-old retired grocery department manager fosters the babies as a single parent and she remembers them all. She keeps a supply of baby gear and clothes on hand; some, bought with her own money.
Owens said “It’s a challenging job, but very rewarding. This is what God’s handed me a gift to do,” said Owens, who has loved taking care of babies since childhood. Sometimes she fosters two infants at a time. A number of the newborns come to her exposed to drugs in the womb. Some have developmental delays and many don’t sleep through the night.
Among the county’s 500 resource parents, Owens is one of the longest-serving. Mia Buckner-Preston is the Placement Division Director of the Alameda County Department of Children & Family Services, which places children in foster homes. “Her experience, the care, the love she provides to the babies, it’s immeasurable. She’s in a category almost all by herself.” said Buckner-Preston. That experience shows according to pediatrician Mika Hiramatsu. Owens has brought many babies to her over the years. “She’s always been very optimistic, always determined to give these babies the best possible start in their lives,” said Dr. Hiramatsu.
According to the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, 7% of all children in the system are under the age of one and the average age of children in foster care is about 8 years old. From October 2018 to September 2019, there were 672,594 children served by the U.S. foster care system. During that time, 254,359 entered the system and 248,669 have exited the system. The Statistics from Adoption Network show 140,000 children are adopted in the U.S. every year and 59% come from the foster care system, 26% from foreign countries and 15% are voluntarily relinquished.
When Owens job is done and it’s time to turn the babies over to their birth or adoptive families, letting go can be heartbreaking but she’s giving them and their parents the best possible start. The oldest of the babies she’s fostered is now 37. Owens has loved taking care of children since she was a child herself and it shows through her over three decades of work with the foster care system.
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A trucker was at the right place at the right time to become a hero when he rescued a utility worker who was trapped in a raised bucket truck, which had caught fire below. Efrain Zepeda was sitting in Santa Rosa, California’s traffic at about 9 a.m. . Sgt. Bill Harm of the California Highway Patrol knock on the passenger side door of his tractor-trailer and asked if he’d be willing to pull his rig out of traffic and alongside a utility bucket truck that was on fire.
Harm explained the truck’s operator was in the extended bucket above the street and the fire had killed the bucket’s controls. The only way down was for Zepeda to pull alongside the burning truck and position the trailer so the stranded worker could jump onto it to safety. “I didn’t have to think about it said,” Zepeda. “I told him, ‘Let’s do it.'” Sgt. Harm got other drivers to move out of the way and Zepeda pulled out of traffic and eased up directly next to the bucket truck that was totally engulfed in flames. He said he kept one eye on Sgt. Harm and the other on the flames, which were perilously close to his right side fuel tank.
The bucket truck operator jumped to safety and Sgt. Harm signaled Zepeda to move ahead. Shortly after he did, the utility truck exploded and the extended bucket collapsed into the street. A coworker brought a ladder for the utility worker to climb off Zepeda’s trailer. The rescue took about 10 minutes, but it seemed forever as it unfolded, Zepeda said. “The guy came to thank me,” said Zepeda. “I could see he was really scared but he was really grateful too.”
Zepeda has been driving for Estes Express Lines professionally for about two and a half years and they praised him for his quick acting heroics. “It is nothing short of a miracle that our driver, Efrain, was there just as this individual needed rescue from such a dire situation,” said Webb Estes, the company’s vice president of process improvement. “Enough can’t be said about the quick thinking by the police to request Efrain’s assistance and his bravery and immediate actions that allowed the worker to escape without serious injury by jumping onto our trailer. At Estes, the safety of everyone on the road is our highest priority and Efrain’s heroics exemplify this to the fullest.”
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