An Indiana community is giving back to the man who has delivered pizzas with a smile for 31 years. Robert Peters, known as Mr. Smiley around the town of Tipton, was gifted a new car after one customer decided to raise donations. Tanner Langley, 28, a customer of the Tipton Pizza Hut said he and his family have been getting deliveries from Robert Peters since he was a child.
When Peters recently told him he was having trouble with his 28-year-old Oldsmobile, Langley decided it was time to thank Peters for the kindness he has shown the town over the years. He started a GoFundMe campaign in hopes to buy him a new car. In just 2 days, with donations from the community, he surpassed the $12,000 goal, reaching over $18,000.
“This community has a countless number of amazing citizens, but there are few people in this world that fill a room with smiles and happiness more than Robert Peters,” Langley wrote on the campaign’s website. “Robert has been delivering pizzas in the same car for a plethora of years, and I think it is about time that he gets an upgrade to his current vehicle!”
On Jan 11, Langley surprised Peters with a 2017 Chevy Malibu. The car’s registration, insurance and taxes were also covered and Peters was given a $500 gas card, plus a $2,500 thank-you tip from the neighborhood. “He makes an impact on everybody and he’s a very kindhearted individual. Every time you see him, he has a smile on his face. He has never not been joyful” Langley said in regards to the overwhelming support for Peters.
Peters was overcome with gratitude for the generosity Langley and the community showed him. He told news outlets it was heartwarming to know Langley and the community would go out of their way for him. ” “I couldn’t believe it, it’s almost like it’s surreal. I just hope that all those who made this happen will be blessed as much as they have blessed me,” Peters said. “This has really been an awesome experience that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. To me, me this is luxury. This is the first car I’ve had made in the 21st century.”
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Chicago restauranteur Robert Magiet was driving across town one morning when he spotted a shivering tamale vendor braving the frigid January temperatures of the “Windy City”. He made a spur of the moment offer she couldn’t refuse. Rather than let the woman wearing many layers of clothing to keep warm stay in the cold all day—Magiet bought out her entire day’s supply—close to 10 dozen tamales, gave her a big tip, and sent her on her way.
Magiet loaded up the tamales he’d purchased and distributed them to homeless people. Pleased with the outcome of the morning’s events, Magiet took to Facebook to see if he could continue the trend. “Anyone know of any Tamale Cart vendors that will be out this weekend in the cold weather? I went to Yolanda near Humboldt Park and bought her out so she could go home today. I’d love to do the same for other Vendors and distribute the Tamales to our neighbors experiencing homelessness. Let me know of any leads please” he posted.
In the following days, armed with suggestions, Magiet bought up all the tamales from vendors at three different locations. And again, after generously tipping the sellers whose trade had been severely curtailed by both the weather and the lockdown, he distributed the tamales to people in need. Helping the hungry in his community is nothing new for Magiet.
After opening a Love Fridge community food pantry outside his TaKorea Cocina restaurant this past June, Magiet teamed up with the owners of Fatso’s Last Stand and Jack & Ginger’s restaurants to prep and deliver 1,300 Thanksgiving meals for the needy. After Christmas, he also partnered with Jason Vincent, owner of Logan Square eatery Giant, to man a food truck serving breakfast and lunch to the homeless.
He also partnered with his friend Taylor Hammond, owner of The StopAlong, a Bucktown pizzeria, to ask if he’d be willing to donate his kitchen once a week to help ease food insecurity for families in need. Knowing how much kids love pizza, Hammond readily agreed. “It’s like, I have a restaurant. I have food. I know people who have restaurants and food. Let’s help people who need food.” Magiet said.
Having seen firsthand the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic had on his own industry, he feels lucky to be in a position to provide much-needed relief for those struggling to put food on the table. He says on average he purchases 15 dozen tamales for an average price of $16 a dozen. “At first they are in disbelief. They don’t understand why someone would want to buy so many tamales.”
Magiet plans to continue his tamale runs for the remainder of the winter. Pizzas are still on the table as well. “If somebody in our neighborhood is struggling, we all struggle. I’m not trying to save the world. I’m just trying to help people who need food. If I have the ability to go help somebody, I’m just going to go help somebody. To me, it’s literally that simple” Magiet said.
The food Magiet collects will be distributed to several Love Fridges locations around town, Breakthrough Urban Ministries in East Garfield Park, and to Franciscan Outreach’s homeless shelter in North Lawndale. If you’d like to help, donations can be made to Zelle at 773-807-0057 or venmo: @takoreacocina.
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The GameStop saga, which was initiated by a contingent of traders from Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets forum, has invited overwhelming attention — and scrutiny — to the world of day trading. The ‘crowd-vesting’ strategy paid off for the Reddit users who had banded together to buy GameStop stock. GameStop’s stock price went through the roof—from $43 to $325 in one week.
Other struggling companies such as American Airlines Group Inc. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. also saw stock prices rise and found themselves on the receiving end of liquidity to pay creditors. The stock market frenzy has given these companies a bail out that is bringing them back from the edge of bankruptcy.
Many Reddit investors also found themselves with a sizable profit, which inspired an idea of paying it forward. Hunter Kahn, a 20-year-old Cornell University mechanical engineering student raked in close to $30,000 in GameStop profits. While the bulk of that windfall will be spent financing his education, Kahn also used part of his newfound stash o’ cash to purchase and donate Nintendo Switch games and consoles valued at $2,000 to a local children’s hospital.
“As a beneficiary of the recent events on Wall Street I think it is important that myself and others pay forward our good fortune. I am proud to announce my humble donation of 6 Nintendo Switches and games to go with them to the Children’s Minnesota Hospital.”
He has now joined the ranks of another anonymous investor who recently donated ten Switches to a children’s hospital in Texas and others who have used their newly acquired funds to help cover people’s medical debts.
Another investor that profited from the trending buy in of Gamestop stock was maverick billionaire venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who was an early executive at Facebook. His initial $115,000 purchase of GameStop shares turned into a $500,000 payout. Palihapitiya announced that he bought 50 call options in GameStop. GameStop’s stock has risen a massive 750% in 2021 as online retail investing group WallStreetBets drove the stock up.
He also announced he will donate his entire payout to the Barstool Fund, a new COVID-19 charity that gives cash payments to small businesses who are about to go out of business. “I want to announce that I’m taking all the profits that I made plus my original position—so I’m gonna take $500,000—and I’m gonna donate to the Barstool Fund for small businesses,” Palihapitiya said. The Barstool Fund, founded by Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, raises money to support struggling small businesses during the pandemic and “save as many jobs as possible,” according to the Fund’s website. So far, it has raised nearly $33 million from 205,525 supporters to fund 187 businesses. Recipients include bowling alleys, salons, with the overwhelming majority being restaurants and bars.
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After Dr. Alex Oshymansky, a radiologist in Dallas, TX started a public-benefit company to combat the exploding prices of certain prescription drugs, he attracted a new partner—Shark Tank billionaire investor Mark Cuban. Oshymansky started in 2015 with Osh’s Affordable Pharmaceuticals and a million dollars in investment capital. Four years later, the new partnership is moving forward under the name Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drug Co, and donating medicine to those in need.
Mark Cuban has been outspoken about his disdain of the mixture of FDA demands for approval, and drug company greed creating soaring prices for drugs, making them unaffordable to many Americans. Now under Cuban’s brand name, the private-label arrangement allows Oshymansky to buy from third party suppliers, take care of the labeling and branding laws himself, and sell it at a serious discount with just a 15% mark-up for the business expenses.
This partnership allowed the pair to lower the cost of an anti-parasitic medication called albendazole from its normal U.S. price range of $225-$500, down to just $20. This proved especially valuable for Baylor College of Medicine, who needed thousands of doses of albendazole to complete a study they were doing on U.S. hookworm infections in the South.
“The Germ of the South,” was a catch-all term that characterized a curious lethargy and haziness of the brain, distended bellies, and emaciated shoulder blades, found across the Deep South during the 20th century. Today, American hookworm still infects large numbers of people, particularly children, due to poor sanitation and poverty. A study done in Lowndes County, Alabama of 24 homes found that 34% of stool samples contained the parasite, which is killed rather quickly by albendazole.
Cuban and Oshymansky donated the first 10,000 doses of the company’s albendazole supply to Baylor and the author of the study, Dr. Rojelio Mejia, so that volunteers from Alabama to New York who test positive for hookworm could immediately purge the parasite from their bodies. “We found it deeply troubling that albendazole is extremely expensive in the United States, and are happy to be able to manufacture it for free for this research and provide it at significantly decreased prices to the rest of the U.S. market.”
Other drug companies estimate that the number of doses Cuban and Oshymansky donated would have cost $2 million, an overwhelming cost that would have kept the research from being conducted. Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs is aiming for 100 new drug offerings by the end of 2021, all with no hidden costs, no middlemen and no rebates only available to insurance companies. They’re also in the process of constructing their own brick-and-mortar pharmacy in Dallas where they hope to earn a profit on non-pharmaceutical items that can fund the lower cost formulations and offer drugs for rare diseases directly to patients or through outpatient facilities. If successful, Cuban and Oshymansky’s efforts could force drug companies that continue to overcharge their customers to lower their prices or go out of business.
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When the pandemic ground life to a halt in New York City, restaurateur Luca Di Pietro had to close four of his five restaurants on March 15. After a friend offered to pay for meals offered to pay for meals prepared by Di Pietro’s restaurant to be delivered to a New York City hospital. He immediately wanted to do the same for the hospital that treated his son years earlier.
After that first delivery Di Pietro thought, “if there is such a need from the emergency room workers, maybe this could help save my restaurant while we do something good for the emergency room workers,” he said. Di Pietro reached out to other hospitals in New York City to continue deliveries and shared his plans with friends. From that point forward, orders for hospital workers began to flood in to his restaurant.
To organize the ordering process and manage donations, Di Pietro created Feed the Frontlines NYC, a for-profit initiative, to raise funds for his restaurant, Tarallucci e Vino, as well as other local restaurants and to provide hospital workers in the country’s hardest hit city with free and delicious food. Di Pietro and his team have become known as the “lasagna guys” among New York City’s frontline workers. Di Pietro and his team have helped deliver more than 157,000 meals to healthcare workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Supported by generous donations, Feed the Frontlines NYC works with local restaurants to prepare and deliver meals to fellow New Yorkers and has enabled many restaurants to rehire employees who had been laid off.
While most of his restaurants remain closed, he was able to rehire 135 of his own workers. Di Pietro partnered with other restaurants in New York City and lower Westchester County, New York-enabling them to pay their bills and rehire employees as well. In partnership with Di Pietro, the restaurants receive a portion of the donations to make and deliver meals to local hospitals. Each restaurant is given a different amount of money depending on how many meals it can make and deliver each week, Di Pietro says. The restaurant owners coordinate their deliveries with local hospitals and send meals themselves.
Feed the Frontlines has been feeding local hospital workers fighting the pandemic while helping to keep participating restaurants running and their workers employed.“We have … restaurants helping us and delivering food so they can keep their lights on,” Di Pietro says. “It’s morphed into something that I didn’t expect, but I’m very happy to be able to put together supply and demand.”
So far the Feed the Frontlines NYC initiative has raised over $1.26 million to pay for meals, and its success has even inspired others to create their own Feed the Frontlines initiatives in other cities. One of Pietro’s family friends started Feed the Frontlines Marin, that services an enclave in the San Francisco Bay Area. The operations team at Divieto Ristorante started Feed the Frontlines Miami after learning of Di Pietro’s initiative. Shawn Wilson, co-owner of Shed’s BBQ and Viga Eatery, started Feed the Frontlines Boston.
One man’s idea had inspired and enabled others to keep their businesses open while helping show appreciation for frontline workers. The pandemic has greatly changed not only Di Pietro’s business but the whole restaurant industry, perhaps permanently. Di Pietro said “This is keeping the lights on for us and others. Otherwise, there would be no business. And with rent due and salaries, for all the personnel basically living paycheck to paycheck, they’re so happy to come in and work on this because everyone is impacted, and they’re happy to be receiving a full salary. It’s been very humbling and it’s been good.”
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The Good Fight Group, a nonprofit started by UFC lightweight Dustin Poirier and his wife Jolie has provided thousands of meals to food banks, provided school supplies, helped build a playground and even supplied a solar powered water well to create a more self-sustainable living environment for the Batwa Pygmy Tribe. The nonprofit raises funds by selling sought after memorabilia they call “Fight Kits” to fans of the sport.
Former Interim UFC Lightweight Dustin Poirier and his wife Jolie began their nonprofit in 2018 and started auctioning off the shorts, jackets, and wraps that Poirier used in dozens of fights. The Good Fight is dedicated to helping underserved communities in their local Acadiana region.
The foundation has raised thousands of dollars since 2018 to impact others, including the young family of fallen LPD officer Michael Middlebrook, and disabled children who didn’t have a playground. The first auctioned kit was from the Poirier vs Eddie Alvarez fight, with proceeds providing 3,000 meals for their local Second Harvest Food Bank. In August 2019, a specially-built playground for children with special needs was built after Jolie heard the story of a young wheelchair bound boy dying wish.
Selling fight kits also provided over 100 women experiencing homelessness with care packages, and 500 children with school supplies & backpacks at Acadian Middle School. Donations to The Good Fight also supported former UFC fighter Justin Wren who now champions long-suffering Pygmy tribes in Africa—providing new water wells, solar power, and 43 acres of purchased land for the Uganda Batwa tribe. Other fighters are donating parts of their kits for auction, including the winner of the UFC main event fight, Michael Chiesa, from Spokane, Washington.
The Good Fight’s first goal of 2021 is to fully fund transportation and providing more tutors for all 6 locations of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana. Currently, the kids have transportation from school to the clubs, but do not have a ride home in the evening—which cuts attendance dramatically. The academic gap for students is huge right now and the Boys & Girls Clubs are trying to give the kids what they need to stay on track to progress to the next grade level. “Project Learn” has been identified as one of BGCA’s targeted programs which provideds homework help, individual or small-group tutoring, regular implementation of high yield activities and school-club-family partnerships. So far The Good Fight has raised over $17,000 of their $105,000 goal.
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IKEA Group has always been environmentally conscious and their latest move of purchasing of 11,000 acres of forest in Georgia that looked like it would be lost to development, shows their continued commitment. The purchase was made to ensure it remains intact and working to suck up CO2 from the atmosphere, the forest was bought by IKEA as part of a strategy to reduce more carbon than it creates through its value chain.
The working forest in the Altamaha Basin is now owned by the IKEA subsidiary, Ingka Group, which has worked with The Conservation Fund, a non-profit that has protected over 8-million acres of forests in the U.S. from fragmentation and development. A working forest is one in which lumber is harvested and regrown—and it’s these forests which often suffer from being broken up into smaller segments and developed, something the Conservation Fund and Inka are ensuring will not happen by creating permanent easements that legally prevent the forest from ever being split up into smaller pieces.
Ingka Group currently owns 616,000 acres of such forests in the U.S. and Europe, while privately choosing to ensure the highest international standards for good forest management. A spokesperson added that “no significant amount” of wood from the forests is currently used in Ikea products.
“Well-managed forests provide essential benefits, including clean water and important wildlife habitat, as well as mitigating climate change. The transfer of these lands to Ingka Investments completes our Working Forest Fund process, through which we identify and buy important, at-risk private forests; develop sustainable harvest and restoration plans; and secure permanent conservation protections to block fragmentation and development,” said Larry Selzer, President and CEO of The Conservation Fund.
Forest stewardship is just one way that the world’s largest furniture outlet is trying to become a carbon-neutral company. They recently announced they would begin buying used IKEA furniture from customers for resale, while electric vans and less carbon-emitting materials are used in both packaging and product. They are also committed to the goal to only use renewable and recycled materials in their products by 2030 and reducing the total IKEA climate footprint by an average of 70% per product, by 2030.
IKEA’s Sustainability Strategy outlines their belief that climate change is no longer a distant threat, but a visible reality and one of the biggest challenges that humanity faces. The IKEA People & Planet Positive strategy describes the sustainability agenda and ambition for everyone in the IKEA franchise system. They say the purpose of the strategy is to inspire, activate and lead others in decision-making and goal setting so that together we can achieve the positive changes we want to see in the world.
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A former opioid addict is giving back through random acts of kindness. Megan Cohen had been in over 70 treatment centers and found herself homeless in different states. Cohen also spent time in prison before going clean in 2019. In August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Megan started The Grace Project, non-profit that gives back to struggling addicts in the Philadelphia area.
“It was actually complete strangers that showed me kindness when I was out there and it, like, planted a seed of hope,” Cohen said. “I wish that the kindness my family showed me would have done that but it didn’t. It didn’t because I expected it.” For years, Cohen lived in a perpetual state of hunger, trauma and pain. Eventually, she landed on the streets of Kensington, PA -the largest open-air drug market on the East Coast. Joshua Santiago, an Uber driver coming off his shift spotted Cohen walking along the interstate in the rain.
“Something in my heart told me to stop, I was about to go home and lay in a warm bed” said Santiago. When he pulled over, Cohen was skeptical about his intentions but being so cold, she said she didn’t care what happened. Cohen said “I had no hope or will to live at that point. I asked him why he would let me in his car when it’s obvious what I am.” “You are still a person,” Santiago told her. Not long after Santiago offered her a ride, two other “angels” stepped into her path — one gave her a hot meal and a place to shower; another offered her cold water and encouraging words.
The power of those moments fuels Cohen’s faith in humankind and strengthens her resolve to save others who feel trapped, as she once did, in the throes of addiction. Every Thursday night, friends and family join Megan to distribute food, jackets, and toiletries in addition to cleaning up the littered streets. Shane Williams, who became a volunteer following his own recovery said “There’s people openly using drugs. There’s people with serious medical issues being unattended to.”
Weekly visits will continue as long as the community continues to support The Grace Project with funds and donations. Cohen hopes that the non-profit will evolve into a resource to support entire families who struggle with similar circumstances. The GRACE Project’s GoFundMe page expands on their vision: “As we continue to grow, we hope to be able to start helping more people in need. This goes beyond those that are homeless. We would like to be able to start offering assistance and organizing events for children out there and in similar areas. We also hope to be able to start assisting anyone else who is in need of a little grace and a little hope. This could look like the person who is just turning their life around and needs some help getting on their feet or the parents who have a sick child and may not be able to work anymore and in turn are facing financial struggles.”
They also take in-kind donations and have a list on their Facebook page of some of the items they are currently taking. Locals who want to donate can message them on Facebook to set up a pick up or drop off. In-kind donations can also be sent in the mail to 701 Philadelphia Ave Warrington PA 18976. “We would not be able to do what we do each week if it weren’t for the support of others and we want to thank anyone who has contributed from the bottom of our hearts.
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While times are tough for so many, it’s encouraging to know there are people who step in to help when they have the opportunity. Such an instance happened for a Massachusetts police officer who declined to charge two women accused of trying to steal groceries for their children. Somerset Officer Matt Lima is being praised for using his own money to purchase $250 gift cards for two women accused of trying to steal groceries last month. The women said they wanted to provide a Christmas meal for their children.
Lima responded to a report of shoplifting Dec. 20 at Stop & Shop, where two women with two young children were accused of putting groceries into bags at a self-checkout kiosk without scanning them. Upon his arrival, Officer Lima spoke to a Stop & Shop asset protection associate who told him that he observed the suspects, two women with two young children, allegedly not scanning all of their groceries and then putting them into shopping bags at the self-checkout kiosks.
The associate then printed the transaction receipt and noticed numerous items they took were missing. The suspects were subsequently asked to return inside with their items while they awaited for Somerset Police to respond. When Lima noticed that the only items stolen were food, he asked one of the women why she did it. “She stated that, obviously it goes without saying, that times are tough for a lot of people, that she was working but not enough and didn’t make enough money and that there were some other family issues going on and that she just wanted to provide a Christmas dinner for the kids,” Lima recounted.
Officer Lima served the two women Notice Not To Trespass forms and informed the associate that he would not be pressing criminal charges as all the missing items on their receipt were groceries. “The two children with the women reminded me of my kids, so I had to help them out,” Officer Lima said. Officer Lima asked about where the items were that the suspects allegedly attempted to take and was informed that they have been returned to their shelves. Officer Lima then subsequently purchased gift cards in the amount of $250 with his own money so the women would be able to purchase groceries for their Christmas dinner at another Stop & Shop location.
Chief George McNeil said “I would like to personally commend Officer Lima for his actions,” Chief McNeil said. “His actions exemplify what it means to protect and serve the members of our community. When faced with a difficult situation in which a family was trying to provide a meal for their kids, he made the generous decision to not press charges and instead ensured that they would have a Christmas dinner they could enjoy. This incident is a true testament of Officer Lima’s great character and decision making.”
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Global e-commerce giant Amazon has unveiled a new Housing Equity Fund, investing more than $2 billion to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable housing units in three communities where the company has thousands of employees—Washington State’s Puget Sound; Arlington, Virginia; and Nashville, Tennessee. Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund will help preserve existing housing and help create housing developments through below-market loans and grants to housing partners, public agencies, and minority-led organizations.
Amazon’s first investments include $381.9 million in below-market loans and grants to the Washington Housing Conservancy to preserve and create up to 1,300 affordable homes on the Crystal House property in Arlington and $185.5 million in below-market loans and grants to King County Housing Authority to preserve up to 1,000 affordable homes in the state of Washington, with additional investments to come in all three regions.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that his company has been helping people in need, including building a Mary’s Place family shelter within the newest Amazon office building last year to support over 200 women and children experiencing homelessness in Puget Sound. “This new $2 billion Housing Equity Fund will create or preserve 20,000 affordable homes and help local families achieve long-term stability while building strong, inclusive communities.” The Fund seeks to ensure that moderate- to low-income families can afford housing in resource-rich communities with easy access to neighborhood services, amenities, and jobs.
Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund will provide an additional $125 million in cash grants to businesses, nonprofits, and minority-led organizations. Amazon is providing below-market capital in the form of loans, lines of credit, and grants to households making between 30% – 80% of the area’s median income. The fund will also give grants to government partners including transit agencies and school districts, which typically are not involved in affordable housing issues, Amazon said.
Amazon’s first Housing Equity Fund commitment in Virginia includes a $339.9 million below-market loan and grants worth $42 million to the Washington Housing Conservancy (WHC)—a nonprofit organization that preserves homes so they are affordable for moderate- to low-income residents.
Home prices in the US have climbed more than 6% annually since 2012 despite low wage growth for most workers. Another obstacle is affordable apartment buildings in American cities affordable for teachers, healthcare providers, transit workers, and others with modest incomes are increasingly being redeveloped into luxury apartments, causing displacement and reducing housing options for working families. Before the coronavirus pandemic, rental prices had also risen steadily, causing a shortage of affordable units.
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