Katherine Johnson wanted to make her lonely 7 year old son Oliver Johnson’s birthday one to remember. Oliver is obsessed with trucks, he knows the name of every truck, every truck manufacturer, and every trucking company. Katherine offered $50 to anyone who would come give him a ride in their big rig for his 8th birthday. She never imagined the outcome of her Facebook post.
Katherine hoped one truck driver would take up the offer, but instead, Barry Hart, owner of Hart Haulage Trucking, saw her offer and decided to organize a whole convoy. Hart put a call out on social media and 34 drivers signed up for Ollie’s birthday convoy. So many signed up that Hart had to organize them like a parade and call authorities to help manage traffic. Hart said that almost twice as many showed up for the bid day.
Hart said all the drivers volunteered to be part of the convoy for young Oliver despite the what it would cost them to get there truck to the meeting point. “Every one of these truckies that are doing this, and there are probably 10 trucks at least that are coming from Auckland, those guys, it will cost them $500-600 to get that truck down there, do their thing, and go away, and not one of them is asking for anything” Hart said.
Even Hart was shocked by the turn out saying he expected 15 to 20 drivers but it just kept growing as word spread. “When it comes to kids, this community, these truckers will always come out. It’s a young fella and we wanted him to know there was a community around him” he said. Ollie’s dad Simon Johnson said they were “literally blown away” by the number of trucks that turned up.
Ollie had absolutely no idea that there would be a truck convoy coming to celebrate his birthday until the trucks turned up. Johnson said “His reaction all day will just be sunshine in everybody’s eyes, he’s still on cloud nine.” Johnson said they also received comments and birthday wishes from all over the world, and they will be forever grateful and humbled by what has taken place.
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Three time NBA Championship winner Rick Fox co-founded and is the CEO of Partanna, which manufactures concrete that absorbs more carbon from the air than it contributes during the manufacturing process. Fox believes tropical storms are becoming more intense due to carbon content in the atmosphere.
Fox got involved in 2019 when he got a call from his manager just after Hurricane Dorian smashed into Fox’s home in the Bahamas. His manager, who was also displaced by a natural disaster—the fires in California in 2018, said she had met an architect called Sam Marshall who was developing carbon-negative concrete.
Instead of using Portland cement, which is a major source of carbon emissions, they use a special mixture of natural and recycled ingredients that’s cured at ambient temperature rather than the high temps that make concrete and cement responsible for the largest share of the manufacturing emissions pie chart.
The binder components consume CO2 as they cure, which means they actually remove carbon from the atmosphere. They use a brine activator that’s found in natural pozzolans, which helps avoid using the energy-intensive clinkering process. Every part of the concrete process is designed to reduce its environmental impact.
Believing in the cause, Fox went all in and became the co-founder and CEO of Partanna “I’ve been a part of a lot of amazing journeys and industries, from entertainment to movies and TV. I’ve been on sets with Oscar-winning actors and directors, and I’ve been on championship NBA teams. There’s been nothing more rewarding for me in my life than to be a part of this team where we’re leaving something behind,” Fox said.
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Donna Herter, watched her 24 year old son, Christian Bowers, struggle with making friends. Christian has Down Syndrome, and making friends was never hard for him until he finished school and found, as many people do, it’s not as easy and straightforward to maintain a social life.
Bowers’ mother, Donna Herter, watched her son sink further and further into depression. He occasionally attends gatherings and groups of other special needs men and women his age, but longed for friendships. Eventually, Herter put up a post on Facebook asking if any local guys near Rochester, Minnesota, would be interested in coming to hang out with Christian for two hours, with a compensation of $80,00.
Herter put up the post at 4AM, the end of her night shift as a nurse. She headed home and went to sleep and woke up to over 5,000 comments on her post. Hundreds of commenters volunteered to help free of charge. She eventually found 7 fellows from Wentzville, Minnesota, who visit Christian once a week on a rotating schedule. Herter says her son goes to sleep with a smile on his face now, and is excited about life in general, and of the future as well.
One of the 7 friends, James Hasting, said he felt terrible seeing the post and that Herter had reached the point where she was trying to pay people to visit her son. Hasting, who volunteers with special needs folks, said hanging out just for a few hours to watch a movie or play video games with Christian has changed the way he looks at the world.
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A group of good Samaritans in Florida helped police rescue a father and daughter who never returned after taking out a jet ski on the lake. Christopher Snow, 31, and his daughter, Alexis, 13, had gone out on Baker Creek Park for a ride at sunset, but his girlfriend, Carolyn Joyce, went to the dock around 8 p.m. after being unable to get in touch over the phone with the pair.
Seeing that Snow and Alexis had yet to return, Joyce alerted Deputy Kevin Reich, who was on routine patrol at the dock. Samantha Conover, her fiancé and some friends were out Saturday night having dinner on the water in Lake Thonotosassa. Afterwards, they brought their pontoon back to the public boat ramp where they saw Deputy Kevin Reich, who was looking for two jet skiers. Conover had seen the two earlier so she offered Deputy Reich a ride on her boat to work together to search the lake.
Within 40 minutes of first speaking with Joyce about the missing father and daughter, Reich and the others heard the teen frantically scream “Help!” The rescuers shouted back “We’re coming, baby, we’re coming!” The father and daughter had been treading water for about an hour after their jet ski sank in the middle of the lake. Deputy Reich’s body camera captured the thrilling yet emotional moment as the two were successfully pulled aboard the boat.
The pair appeared exhausted on the video when the rescuers pulled them aboard, and officials said they had been treading water for nearly an hour. Conover said “ It was nerve racking for all of us. I don’t think I ever could be able to get it out of my mind, the screams I heard from her”. She added about finding them “It was amazing. Like, I cried. I held my husband, I cried. We would do it a thousand times again.”
At a press conference, grateful Snow said “I want to thank both the boaters that helped and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office for being on patrol and noticing something wasn’t right. My life jacket wasn’t sized properly, so this is a good reminder to make sure yours is fitted correctly.”
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In 1995, Lamar Johnson was wrongfully convicted of fatally shooting a man and received a life sentence. A couple of years later, a minister at Ginny Schrappen’s church handed her a letter. It was from Johnson and addressed to anyone who would write back. The two struck up a fast friendship and corresponded constantly for decades while Johnson was in prison, serving time for a murder he didn’t commit.
Johnson always claimed he did not commit the murder. After the Midwest Innocence Project got involved and the real killer confessed, Johnson was exonerated and released from prison at 49 years old. Twenty-eight years later his conviction was overturned. On February 14, 2023, Johnson was released from prison at 49 years old.
He spent the next few weeks doing all the things he couldn’t do in prison, including traveling to see one of his best friends for the very first time. Johnson went to Schrappen’s house for the first time, where she greeted him with a warm welcome. She gave him a tour, a box of his favorite cereal and one last letter.
Johnson said that the greatest gift, though, is the confidence his friend instilled in him and it’s inspired him to serve a life of friendship. Johnson said that Schrappen’s belief is what helped him get through nearly 30 years of injustice. “Especially when somebody is innocent, you want someone to believe in you. Because when you have people who believe in you and they won’t give up on you, then it makes it harder for you to give up on yourself” he said.
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Isaiah Márquez-Greene, a survivor of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, got the surprise of a lifetime when he went to a New York Rangers game and met one of his favorite players. Márquez-Greene knew he was going to receive a jersey from Rangers captain, Jacob Trouba, at the game. But what he didn’t expect was for Trouba to present him with a scholarship for law school.
Márquez-Greene, lost his sister Ana, who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting at age 6. Now 18, he is getting ready to attend the University of Connecticut and had already been accepted into the school’s special law program. In a video from the game, Márquez-Greene met Trouba on the ice and shared that he’s been a fan of the hockey star since he played for the Winnipeg Jets.
After signing his jersey, Trouba invited him to sit on the Rangers bench. Calling him an “amazing human,” Trouba shared that he knows Márquez-Greene’s story and asked the incoming freshman what he wants to do in the future. After Márquez-Greene responded that he wants to be a lawyer, Trouba handed him a certificate.
“This is for you,” he said. “It’s from the Garden of Dreams. It’s a scholarship for law school.” “No way,” Márquez-Greene responded. Trouba continued, “You’re going to graduate from college, you’re going to go to law school and you’re going to have no debt coming out of school. You deserve it, man” he said. After the pair took a picture together, Trouba gave Márquez-Greene his number and told him he wanted to check in with him when he goes to college next year.
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Ten year old Olive Wallace comes from a musical family. Her grandmother is a retired Californian music teacher. Olive’s aunt also teaches music. Olive herself is a musician and plays two instruments- the violin and the clarinet. The fifth grader sings in her school’s choir and honor choir at Avon Grove Intermediate School.
Her mother Michelle Wallace says her daughter sketched out her first musical composition in pencil. When Olive shared the composition she had written with her mom, Michelle shared it with the TikTok community. “So my 10-year-old daughter wrote this,” Michelle explained in a TikTok video. “Could somebody play this? I need to know — I need to know if it’s any good or if it makes any sense.”
Days later, the musical piece went viral with musicians and orchestras worldwide. Musicians from all over the world shared recordings of themselves playing variations of Wallace’s song on social media. She was able to hear her music played on the guitar, the piano and the harp, as well as performed by string orchestras comprised of music instructors and middle school students. Six million views later, the composition had been played and shared by hundreds of TikTok musicians, including well-known professionals, and was turned into a full string orchestral arrangement.
“I never in a million years would have expected this to happen,I’m blown away by how many people put their time into that, it was just really amazing and beautiful,” Olive said. “I’m happy it reached so many people and brought so many people joy, I think that’s what music does for people,” she added. Olive hopes her music inspires others to pursue their love for music.
AGIS orchestra teacher Emily Lucas described Wallace as “always creative and imaginative.” She said other students at AGIS think the media attention is awesome and some have even asked Wallace for her autograph. Lucas added that she doesn’t think anyone was necessarily surprised by the response, simply because of how creative Wallace is every day. “If this type of thing was going to happen to anybody in the school it would be Olive, and Olive’s mom would be the person to make it happen,” said Lucas.
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In 2018, a homeless man found a check for $10k and his only thoughts were returning it to its rightful owner. Because of his good deed, he was rewarded with a chance at a whole new life. Elmer Alvarez had been living on the streets of New Haven, CT for several years battling addiction. The unexpected death of his brother from a heart attack spurred him into a dark spiral of addiction and crime.
Having finally kicked his addiction, he never considered keeping the check despite still living on the streets. Alvarez said “It never crossed my mind because I made a decision to turn my life over. I’d been clean for three years. I was just thinking about how that person was feeling by losing an amount of a check like that, an amount of money like that. I’d be feeling kind of desperate.” It turns out that the check belonged to real-estate broker Roberta Hoskie.
Luckily for Elmer, Roberta was full of compassion for his situation due to her own experience with homelessness as a teenage mother. “He didn’t know whose name was on the check, he didn’t know that at one point I was a single mother, I was at one point on welfare, and at one point found myself homeless” Hoskie said.
She offered him a reward for returning the check, which brought tears to Elmer’s eyes. Roberta also offered Elmer a place to live, paying his rent for seven months, and had him attend her real estate school for free. Hoskie said she was in awe of his actions. “There needs to be more people like Elmer Alvarez, he’s a golden heart guy, he’s a phenomenal guy.”
Years later, Alvarez is able to support himself as a realtor and is on the board of directors of Outreach Foundation, a non-profit Hoskie started to help with housing and resources for homeless teens and young adults. Hoskie also wrote a book- “Poverty Curse Broken: The Roberta Hoskie Story” with the hopes of inspiring others to break the poverty cycle.
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Students at Glen Lake Elementary School in Minnesota raised $300,000 for a new disability-friendly playground. Some students in Betsy Julien’s fifth-grade class took note of the complete lack of playground equipment, such as a wheelchair merry-go-round or swings that kept students with disabilities from joining in on the fun of recess.
Students Wyatt Feucht and Rhys Riley believed that every student deserved the chance to have fun during recess, so they asked their teacher why the school couldn’t buy the equipment themselves. Ms Julien explained that it was expensive, with an estimated cost of $300,000. The pair made a mission to raise money for a disability-inclusive playground.
They began collecting spare change, held a bake sale, printed flyers, and went door-to-door to raise money. They even reached out to local businesses and restaurants, asking them to donate a portion of their profits. The students’ hard work continued for several months, with support from the Glen Lake Parent Teacher Organization, until they finally reached their goal- raising the $300,000 needed.
Hall of Famer John Randle and current special teams ace Josh Metellus were on hand at Glen Lake Elementary School on Wednesday as part of a rally for students that are raising money for playground equipment to allow some of their classmates to better participate in some of the outdoor activities. The fundraiser originally had a goal of $300,000, but is now over $700,000 with the goal having moved all the way to $1,000,000.
Their teacher Betsy Julien said “My future as an adult is bright knowing that this generation of students, of changemakers, sees something that needs fixing, and they go for it headfirst.” Now the class has set a new goal: to buy adaptive playground equipment for other schools in the district. Their fundraising efforts can be found at: https://www.glenlakepto.org/glen-lake-accessibility-project
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A Kenyan high school teacher is using old laptop batteries to turn petrol-powered bikes into electric ones. Paul Waweru, a Physics teacher based in Nairobi, is turning second-hand electronics destined to become waste products into something useful. Waweru said he had to import an electric bike but the bike didn’t last long which prompted him to get innovative.
He buys old batteries that can cost as little as 0.50 Kenyan shillings, which he then cannibalizes for the cells that still can hold a decent charge. Once he has enough battery cells, he configures them into battery packs to replace the internal combustion engines of existing scooters and bikes.
A full charge on the laptop battery pack is around 60 miles and it can fully charge in 45 minutes for less than half the cost of a full tank of fuel. He founded a company called Ecomobilus which sells Ecomobilus bikes. They require zero maintenance because there are no mechanical parts that need to be repaired.
Many African cities are choked with air pollution, especially during the dry seasons, and some are seeing electric bikes as the perfect solution to quickly and effectively improve on this vital issue. Ecomobilus Bikes are now being used by many couriers and delivery drivers as a cost effective solution to the air pollution problems.
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