Stories of people stepping up in times of disasters remind us their are heroes among us. One such story is that of Vince Eckelkamp, a Denver man and a line training manager at United Airlines. Eckelkamp booked a family vacation to Hawaii and never imagined that he would be the one flying the plane back home.
The Eckelkamp family was heading out of Maui on August 8, when chaos ensued because of the wildfires burning through Maui. Their flight was initially scheduled to leave on time at 8 p.m. but after several delays it was canceled, leaving them stranded at the airport. Eckelkamp explained that flight attendants couldn’t make it to the airport because of the fires and the airline was unable to track them down due to poor connection.
The flight was rescheduled to noon the next day and the Eckelcamp family along with other passengers on the plane were forced to spend the night at the airport as there were no hotel rooms available. High winds had knocked out power to most of the island so, as it turned out, that the airport was one of the safer places on the island with power, running water and food.
Eckelkamp said he knew the pilot who was scheduled to fly the plane the next day, so he texted him to let him know that he can step in if needed. Eckelkamp explained that due to limited flights and the crisis, the entire situation was a logistical nightmare. The next morning, the flight again was delayed from noon to 3:30 p.m. and Eckelkamp, once again, let his teammates know that he was available, should the need arise.
And soon enough, his colleague reached out and asked if he would still be willing to fly the plane to San Francisco. Fortunately, Eckelkamp had his license with him along with his earpiece and flashlight – everything that he needed to fly safely. However, he did not have his uniform and needed approval from the flight office duty manager to fly out of uniform. Around 330 passengers were expected to fly on the 737, which usually does not fly between Honolulu and Maui.
Eckelkamp has received praise from his colleagues, friends and family but he modestly said “I just did a small piece. The locals are the real heroes. What they were going through, and now what they have to rebuild for their families and homes and everything else. I mean, it’s just, it’s a lot for them.”
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In 2019, Apple Inc pledged to direct $2.5 billion toward affordable housing in California. Now, $1.5 billion has been spent and the project has created thousands of housing units across the city and county. The funding has been targeted, strategic, and effective, thanks to a plan to plug critical gaps in existing housing projects.
Kristina Raspe, Apple’s vice president of worldwide real estate and facilities said “We really look for projects and programs where not only do we have a deep impact, but we actually see the impact fairly quickly. That’s why we’ve chosen to focus on funding projects that need that last tranche of funding in order to be built, as opposed to projects that are still in the conceptual phase.”
They partnered with affordable housing non-profits like Housing Trust Silicon Valley, which provided Apple with lists of apartment and housing units that already went through planning and approval, but which hit last-minute snags. Apple then invested to get the buildings completed. Apple’s housing fund was able to get a 94-unit apartment building called the Villas at 4th Street in San Jose’s Japantown completed and open for chronically-unhoused senior citizens. Housing Trust Silicon Valley has also managed to secure the completion of another 82-unit building in San Jose on 333 Page Street, and a 30-unit building in the nearby city of Pittsburgh.
In the Bay Area, Destination Home, another of Apple’s partners, have been able to secure funds to build thousands of “extremely-affordable” homes in the county, as well as provide limited financial support to 24,000 people at the highest risk of losing their homes. In the Bay Area, Destination: Home, another of Apple’s partners, have been able to secure some of the fund’s money to build thousands of “extremely-affordable” homes in the county, as well as provide limited financial support to 24,000 people at the highest risk of losing their homes.
CEO Tim Cook created the corporate fund to advance affordable housing projects in the city of San Jose four years ago, citing a profound civic duty to the city. Since 2012, the California median home price has soared nearly 75% to $550,800, while the average rent for a vacant apartment is $2,293.
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An 84 year old woman in Tyler, TX went without air conditioning for nearly a month. Sybil Templeton’s AC stopped working and her home warranty company estimated a new unit would cost $8,000, a bill she could pay upfront and submit for reimbursement. Living on a budget and unable to bring her three dogs to a shelter with her, she stayed in her home for four days.
Templeton filled ziplock bags with ice and would place them on her neck and chest to get relief from the 90 degree heat inside her home of 33 years. But when the Texas temps rose into the triple digits she knew she couldn’t withstand the heat any longer. When her friend Chad Atchley heard that she was going through this horrible situation, he told her to pack a bag and bring everyone.
“When I picked her up she could barely walk, she was dehydrated. It hurt me to see her like that. She’s my friend of 27 years and to see her go from healthy to nothing in four days is not right,” said Atchley. Templeton stayed with her friend for three weeks as they tried to come to a solution with the home warranty company to no avail.
Todd Green, owner of a local HVAC company, East Texas Refrigeration, heard about the dire situation he called KETK News to figure out a way to get Templeton back in her home. Green made the call Wednesday morning and by noon that day, he had workers there installing a new unit for free. Templeton says she is grateful for all of the calls to help her out and thanks everyone involved during her situation. “I just couldn’t believe it. You know you hear of stuff like, you don’t expect anything like that to ever happen to you. I couldn’t stop crying. I really couldn’t stop crying,” said Templeton.
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A Vancouver schoolhouse had been slated for demolition after being a neighborhood fixture since 1912. But a chance conversation ensued that not only saved the building, but also moved it to a new location where it could once again have a purpose. Glyn Lewis, who works with an organization called Renewal Home Development that was pushing for the schoolhouse to be repurposed, just happened to be chatting with an official from the Squamish nation in charge of capital projects.
The official, Bob Sokol, said the nation was in serious need of new infrastructure for community services and education. Lewis asked Sokol if he was interested in saving, relocating, and repurchasing this little yellow schoolhouse from Henry Hudson Elementary? Both men were excited about the idea and together, with the Vancouver School Board, they hatched a plan.
The little yellow schoolhouse was originally a trade school for kids, where they could learn skills like metalworking and carpentry. Lewis said “We confirmed that it’s in good condition. It’s 110 years old, but it’s got beautiful, first-growth beams in it, and a lot of the systems were upgraded in the last 15 years. It would have been a shame to demolish it.”
They had the building lifted from its plot in Kitsilano and floated it using a barge—in its entirety—to the North Shore where it will head to the Capilano Reserve. Once the building relocation is complete, the Nation will repurpose it to teach children their indigenous language. Lewis said “I’m relieved. I’m excited. We’re proving with this little yellow schoolhouse there are more responsible, sustainable pathways to removing a building. We shouldn’t just bulldoze everything because it’s the easy thing to do.”
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Video of a rescue during the California wildfires circulated social media channels worldwide and captured the hearts of millions. The video shows an officer in Arvin, California trying to rescued a frightened dog that was chained up and hiding between a fence next to a burning mobile home. As the heat intensified, Officer Adam Calderon vaulted over a fence and worked amid blazing heat to save a chained dog from a raging fire.
After learning that the dog was chained in the yard, Calderon jumped a rickety 6-foot fence, found him cowering just beyond the flames, and got to work trying desperately to free him, eventually using hedge clippers. As Calderon’s body cam footage shows, the process took time and all the while, the officer comforted the scared dog with kind words as the flames threatened to overtake both of them.
Calderon said “My back was already on fire. Whenever I was able to shelter the dog, my back was burning, and at one point I thought I was going to have to give up. I just hope it motivates people to do the right thing at the right time. And I hope any officer can put an animal ahead of his life like we put people ahead of our own lives.” Once the dog was freed, Officer Calderon rushed the dog away from the heat and sat on a curb comforting him while they recovered from the heat. Calderon is receiving a Compassionate Action Award from PETA after saving the dog.
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A postal worker in Scotland saved a vulnerable senior from being scammed out of $3000. When the elderly woman came into the Paisley Post Office, manager Najma Mohammad noticed she was visibly shaken. Thankfully, the manager who was familiar with the customer, asked if everything was ok.
The customer hesitated but told her what was in the package, three thousand dollars that she’d withdrawn from her bank. The scammers had contacted her and claimed to be from her bank, saying there was “unusual activity on her account”. They told her she should withdraw all her savings and send it to an address so they could “deposit it into a new account”.
The post office detailed the incident on their Facebook page, saying: “As the customer was known to us, we thought that it was out of character and asked what was in the package.”
Ms. Mohammad immediately told her it was likely to be a scam—and she should contact her bank to verify the information. All the while, the scammers kept calling her back. This time however, “Najma answered and they hung up.”
The bank confirmed that no such call of this type had or ever would be made regarding withdrawal of money. The post office stressed that it’s important to let our elderly loved ones know about the variety of scams that are being perpetrated, so they don’t fall prey. “Could we please stress the importance of letting elderly loved ones know about this on a regular basis as sadly, falling prey to scammers is becoming more common.”
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A first-grade teacher in the Bronx started a non-profit Barbershop Books, after seeing one of his students looking bored while waiting at a local Barbershop. Alvin Irby said it was five years ago that he thought to himself while sitting in the chair at a Barbershop, that it was a perfect opportunity to practice reading.
The non-profit has since delivered 50,000 free books to more than 200 barber shops in predominantly black neighborhoods in 24 states. Irby’s non-profit installs child-friendly reading spacex in the barbershops and fills the spaces with free books around the country. Irby teaches the barbers in all the shops how to help encourage kids to read, such as by asking if they like to read, or what they think about one of the books in the shop.
Irby says the barbers’ interactions are key to encouraging reading. “We are putting books in a male-centered space, less than 2% of teachers are Black males and many Black boys are raised by single moms. Black boys don’t see Black men reading” he said. Irby says the idea is not just about enriching a child’s mind but improving their proficiency in school, where he says is pretty much the only place kids see reading happening.
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The St. Louis Police Department has partnered with the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, and St. Louis public schools in order to promote positive relationships within the community. The St. Louis CHESS Cops – or “Cops Helping Enhance Student Skills” – are a team of nine police officers who have been certified chess instructors.
The group then teaches classes for inner-city youth, which serve to educate them on critical thinking skills, planning, and logic. The program comes at a time when relationships between Missouri law enforcement and inner-city communities are strained. When the CHESS cops held their first kick-off event at Gateway Middle School- the results were magical.
Lieutenant Perri Johnson of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said “Our officers are so excited to be a part of this program. It is critical for law enforcement to establish positive relationships with members of the St. Louis community early on, and this program helps us do just that.”
“Saint Louis CHESS Cops is a program that truly exhibits the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis’s positive involvement in the community and current affairs,” said Tony Rich, CCSCSL Executive Director. “It is a prime example of how chess can teach fundamental lessons, build constructive relationships, and ultimately make a difference in the lives of young people.”
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A Philadelphia man was recognized for his efforts to improve lives in the community he once sold drugs in. Tyrique Glasgow started Tyrique’s community center on Taney Street in South Philadelphia and devotes his time to supporting the children of his neighborhood. He runs the community center out of a building he used to use for drug-dealing, and now gives children a safe place to enjoy summer camps, after school activities, or just play and get away from the violence and despair.
Glasgow went down a tragic road through a life of drug-dealing, crime, prison, and accumulating 11 gunshot wounds before he made the choice to focus on helping the kids in his community avoid the violent path he went down. “I got tired of my community following me in a negative direction and I wanted them to follow me in a positive direction. The kids really gave me a purpose” he said.
He coaches a flag football team, a girl’s dance squad, and runs the Young Chances Foundation to create safe programming for urban youths and low income families to grow and thrive. His approach of activities and community roundtable engagements with police officers has had a radical effect on the well-being of his neighborhood, with shooting rates dramatically falling within the 17th police district, even while increasing elsewhere in the city.
Glasgow doesn’t stop at youth however, he also helps connect people with addiction therapy, rental assistance, GED classes, and mental health counseling. He also recently renovated a vacant lot from an eyesore and known drug stash into a community vegetable garden. Glasgow said “It helps reduce poverty, stress, trauma, and when your quality of life is up, the crime goes down. I try to bring people to the table to take them off the menu. They accept me because I don’t point the finger at them. I look at them and see me. I’m one of them.”
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A Missouri widow continues a cherished tradition with her late husband of over 30 years through a modest flower store. Cierlita McGee, 78, runs a flower stand named “Just Because” in a Springfield parking lot, seeking to brighten the day of those who pass by, all in memory of her late husband, George.
McGee started her flower stand on July 1 to honor George who she said pampered her with presents throughout their 31-year marriage. George died on March 4, 2022, at the age of 71. “Every time he came home from work, he’d say, ‘Honey, I have a surprise for you.'” “It could be a rose stem, a bar of chocolate, or a $1 scratch ticket,” McGee explained. “I’d jump up and down.” He continuously told me, ‘It’s just because,’ so I named my company Just Because…”
The 78-year-old widow is originally from the Philippines where she worked as a high school and college teacher before relocating to the United States to further her education. She has a bachelor’s degree in business and has spent her life committed to helping others. Cierlita has taught English as a second language to newly arrived refugees assisting disabled adults in their homes.
Cierlita and George met in Hawaii in the 1980s while she was working as a residential counselor with three challenged persons at the time. After George relocated to Chicago, Cierlita went to Springfield Missouri to pursue her master’s degree in special education at Missouri State University. When she arrived, she called George, who relocated to Springfield, where they spent 31 years together. Cierlita decided to open the flower stand to honor him by brightening people’s days the way he brightened hers for years “Just Because”.
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