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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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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A US oncologist gave an extraordinary gift to his past patients by forgiving $650,000 in medical bills for cancer treatments. In February of 2020, the clinic Dr. Atik practiced out of closed due to staffing shortages. At the time, there was close to $650,000 outstanding patient debt on the books. Dr. Atik attributed the large sum to the fact that no patient was ever denied treatment, regardless of whether or not they could pay.
After the clinic closed last year, Dr. Atik attempted to settle the debts. He soon realized that many of the people he’d treated didn’t have the means to pay—especially with so much added financial hardship brought on by the coronavirus pandemic—so with the blessing of his wife, Mehreen, he decided to forgive the outstanding debt.
“My wife and I, as a family, we thought about it and looked at forgiving all the debt… We saw that we could do it and then just went ahead and did it.” Dr. Atik said. It was one final way for Dr. Atik to show kindness and compassion to patients that he had always considered it an honor and privilege to treat. The week of Christmas, Dr. Atik sent out holiday cards to nearly 200 of his former patients that read:
“The Arkansas Cancer Clinic was proud to have you as a patient. Although various health insurances pay most of the bills for the majority of patients, even the deductibles and co-pays can be burdensome. The clinic has decided to forego all balances owed to the clinic by its patients.”
Dr. Atik said “We thought there was not a better time to do this than during a pandemic that has decimated homes, people’s lives and businesses and all sorts of stuff. I just hope that it gave them a little sigh of relief and made it easier for them so they could face other challenges they may be facing in their lives.”
Originally from Pakistan, Dr. Atik founded the Arkansas Cancer Clinic in Pine Bluff in 1991, providing treatments including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and CAT scans. He is now a professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. In 2013, he was named president of the Arkansas Medical Society. Five years later, he became chairman-elect of the board of governors of the American College of Physicians. He credits much of his success to being in the right place at the right time. “I believe the opportunities that have come my way are, in part, because of where I am,” he explained.
David Wroten, executive vice president of the Arkansas Medical Society advocacy group, said that Dr Atik had called him “to make sure there was nothing improper” about his idea of forgiving patients’ debt. “If you knew Dr Atik, you would better understand. First, he is one of the smartest doctors I have ever known, but he is also one of the most compassionate doctors I have ever known” Wroten said.
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For the past seven years, students from the Palma School in Salinas, California have been part of a book club at Soledad State Prison. Jim Micheletti and Mia Mirassou founded the book club called “Exercises In Empathy” with a focus on compassion, empathy and restorative justice. Teaming men who have been given life sentences with private school students to discuss themes found in literature has led to raw emotions and candid discussions between youths and inmates.
“The students would go into the prison afraid but would leave with a new perspective on the incarcerated men. “They go in thinking monster … and they come out thinking a man. A human being … they’ve done bad things, but there are no throwaway people here,” Micheletti said.
Former inmate Jason Bryant who participated in the book club said that the discussions went beyond plot lines and protagonists. When he was 20 years old, Bryant was sentenced to 26 years to life for his involvement in a 1999 robbery that resulted in a shooting death. Behind bars, Bryant was looking for ways to be of service. It was at the book club that he heard about Ernest Gordon’s “Miracle on the River Kwai.” In the book, prisoners of war created a culture of sacrifice and they called it “mucking” for each other.
“It was incredibly refreshing to have young men come into a space with us and see us as what we are, which is people,” Bryant said. Inspired by the POW’s stories, Bryant and his co-defendant Ted Gray decided to “muck” for a young man. They made a plan to raise money from other prisoners to create a scholarship fund for a Palma student in need.
The base pay for incarcerated people in the state of California is eight cents an hour. Those with an industry job make $1 an hour, which can get you to $100 a month. The inmates made the money working jobs like sweeping, clerking and making furniture. Over the course of 3 years, almost 800 inmates raised $32,000 for the scholarship.
When they learned about the inmates’ plan, Micheletti and Mirassou knew exactly who should receive the scholarship. Before his sophomore year at Palma, Sy Green’s father had a heart transplant and his mother lost her vision in an accident. They both lost their jobs and the family was burdened by medical bills. Green was not part of the program so he was shocked to learn inmates, who he’d never met, had come together to pay for his tuition so he could continue going to private school. “I was mind-blown. … And then immediately, I was just grateful,” he said. Green plans to pay the good deed forward.
As for Jason Bryant, California Governor Gavin Newsom granted Bryant clemency and a second chance at life after 20 years behind bars. Bryant plans to use his freedom to continue to mentor students like Green. Bryant is the Director of Restorative Programs at CROP, a nonprofit that’s working to reduce the rate of recidivism through training, career development and stable housing. “I don’t know about redemption. … I can say this, I know that those of us who have truly transformed our lives are committed to adding value in any way that we possibly can,” Bryant said.
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A young leukemia survivor spread holiday cheer to kids battling cancer by delivering toys throughout the D.C. area. Six-year-old Summer Grace Cernoch and her family drove around the region with the gifts. Summer Grace battled leukemia for two years, spending holidays in the hospital, had several surgeries and countless painful treatments. She finished her last treatment in February.
Two Christmases, 79 port chemos, 10 blood transfusions, and a countless number of pills later, Summer Grace beat cancer. Per her request, the night she took her last chemotherapy pill the Cernoch family set off fireworks in celebration. The fireworks, however, were just the beginning of their celebration of Summer Grace’s hard-fought battle – in September they started the Summer Grace Foundation in her honor.
December 21st marked three years since she was diagnosed. “I’ve dreaded this day every year as it … just brings back a lot of bad memories for our family,” said Summer Grace’s mother, Jessica Cernoch. The Cernoch family started the foundation to help kids like her and many of the toys delivered Monday were donated by the community.
The foundation’s mission is to raise awareness, raise funds for pediatric cancer research in hopes of finding better and less toxic treatments, and support the childhood cancer community. 1 in 5 kids diagnosed with cancer will not survive. On average, 43 kids are diagnosed with cancer every day, and 7 kids die every day due to cancer or because of the effects of their harsh treatments. “We remember very vividly how awful this journey is, and so we want to do everything we can to give back and support the childhood cancer community,” her mother said.
The world changes in an instant, and things are never quite the same ever again after a cancer diagnosis. Childhood cancer effects every aspect of family life. In addition to the physical aspect of cancer, there’s often a huge financial burden, and an indescribable level of worry and stress. Life becomes physically and emotionally draining, and there’s often little energy left to focus on anything or anyone other than the child. Marriages may become strained and siblings may be left feeling disconnected from the family.
Every year, the foundation also partners with various businesses to offer relaxing, overnight retreats. Donations to the foundation can sponsor a retreat for families battling cancer. Summer Grace and her family also plan to start a music scholarship program for cancer patients.
You can support the Summer Grace Foundation through AmazonSmile. At no cost to you, you can find the same selection of products and low prices! Upon checkout, Amazon will donate a portion of your purchase price to us. Simply go to smile.amazon.com, sign in, and choose the Summer Grace Foundation as your charity. Amazon will donate .05% of all eligible purchases.
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A New York City based painter bought $65,000 worth of art to help struggling artists during the pandemic. Guy Stanely Philoche whose own Abstract canvasses can command in excess of $100,000 each—began the one-man crusade in support of his fellow artists. Philoche knows all too well that earning a living as a fine artist is rarely easy in the best of times.
As pandemic restrictions tightened their hold, closing galleries and shutting down regular shows, for many, it became close to impossible. As the ability to afford the basic necessities slowly diminished, art became a luxury not many could afford. That resulted in hundreds of thousands of artists and independent creators were left without an income stream in the midst of the chaos. One of these artists was Philoche’s own friend, who just had a baby and had lost his job because of the pandemic.
“I told him, ‘Don’t worry, we’re New Yorkers. We’ve been through 9/11, the blackout, the market crash, we’ve got this,'” Philoche said. “But he was scared, so I bought a painting from him to help him get through it. It was such a big deal for him at that moment, and that’s when I realized if he’s panicking like this, other artists are too.”
The realization that so many creative people were struggling was the catalyst that spurred him to do what he could to help. “The art world is my community and I needed to help my community,” Philoche said. “People say New York is dead, but it’s far from that. There’s an artist somewhere writing the next greatest album. There’s a kid right now in his studio painting the next Mona Lisa. There’s probably a dancer right now choreographing the next epic ballet. People forgot about the artists in these industries.”
In March, Philoche posted an Instagram shout-out to artists around the world asking them send images of their work. Philoche, 43, has dedicated himself to seeking out artists from around the world who are unable to make ends meet and has so far purchased more than 150 artworks for up to $500 each. Since then, he’s spent in the neighborhood of $65,000 and purchased over 150 unique works of art from both friends and total strangers. His only criteria is that the art speaks to him.
Philoche and his family immigrated to America from Haiti when he was 3 years old. As the middle child of three boys and coming from a family of sports enthusiasts whose passion he didn’t share, Philoche turned to art as his calling. Like many immigrants, he says he learned to speak English by watching TV. He was also inspired at a young age to make drawings of his favorite Disney characters. From those early efforts, his fascination for the art that would one day become his career was born.
It took Piloche decades to achieve success, however, now that he’s arrived, the 43-year-old feels honor-bound to pay his good fortune forward. “Art saved my life,” he said. “I owe it a debt I could never repay, but the only way to really repay it is by buying other art from someone who hasn’t gotten a big break yet. And that’s what I’m going to keep doing.”
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When a popular Toronto bar, called Swan Dive posted that it was struggling to pay the rent through the pandemic, customers came out to help. Owner Abra Shiner was trying to keep her pub going through lockdown by operating as a bottle shop, strictly limited to curbside pickup and delivery due to Ontario locking down again. But it was becoming very clear that the costs of trying to run that way were just too high.
She decided to be honest about her predicament on social media and her post went viral. “We were blowing through our savings and I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to pay rent towards the end of the month. So, I wrote on Facebook asking people to come buy the beer we had in our stock room… and it worked. The post went viral” Shiner said. Shiner’s social media plea soon had over 20,000 views, and people from all over the Brockton Village neighborhood were showing up to save beer, and their beloved bar. “Like really, if you guys don’t come buy all this beer we won’t have enough to pay our rent, YOU LIKE BEER, COME GET SOME!!!” Shiner wrote on the bar’s account while informing her customers that the bar would be closing down for a spell.
Within a few days, the Swan Dive had off-loaded almost all of its stock of craft beer. “People just started coming out of the woodwork, customers we hadn’t seen in a long time were driving in from out of town,” Shiner said, noting that more than half of the customers were new faces. “We’ve been saved, I was afraid we were going to have to go out of business,” Shiner said.
The Swan Dive carried about 35 different craft beers. The bar usually has two or three cases of each in stock. According to Shiner, she was able to sell off more than 90 cases of beer. In the end, she was left with only two in her stock room. Combined with a government rent subsidy, the money the community provided in recent beer sales will keep them going until spring when it can safely open its doors once again. “You guys are pretty darn great,” Shiner posted to the Swan Dive’s Facebook fans. “What wonderful people you all are.”
Many businesses are struggling right now and the holiday season is here. Supporting your local favorites with gift card and goods purchases may just be what keeps them running and you never know how much those sales could matter.
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A Dairy Queen restaurant in Brainerd, Minnesota was the scene of the pay-it-forward chain that lasted nearly three days. According to store manager Tina Jensen the chain stretched over the course of nearly three days, starting on Thursday, Dec. 3, during the store’s lunch rush, and ending on the evening of Saturday, Dec. 5.
The longest chain this drive-through ever experienced was 15 to 20 cars, but in 2020 with the holiday spirit in the air, everyone wanted to keep it going. Jensen, who manages two Dairy Queen locations in Brainerd, said that the event led to about $10,000 in sales with over 900 cars paying it forward. Jensen said she was excited on December 3 when a man said he’d like to pay for the car behind him, so she gave the heart-warming news to the people in that car, and then asked if they wanted to do the same.
“If you like I can pay it forward and you can pay for the order behind you and we can keep this going,” Jensen recalled in an interview with KARE-TV. “She’s like ‘really, why would he do that?’.” That customer agreed to pass on the kind gesture and after that, the next car kept paying for whoever came next. Jensen says, “One lady, she was so excited, she threw us a 20 dollar bill almost in tears. ‘Are you serious? This is really going on?’ I said, yep, you are about 125 cars into it. She said, ‘For real, can you believe this?’”
Before Jensen left for the day, she instructed employees to let her know if anything happened to end the chain. At the end of each shift, Jensen would post an update about the chain on the restaurant’s Facebook page, and the event quickly caught the attention of social media watchers. Jensen said “The community was posting it on different pages, and the word spread,” she explained. “We heard a few different times, ‘Oh, I’ve seen it going on Facebook, I wasn’t sure if it was still going,’ and we’d tell them they were the 300th car or something and that’s where the excitement really came in. People would get very, very excited.”
Jensen said that at least one person called the restaurant and asked to put money on a gift card that could be used in case a car couldn’t pay it forward. “There would be times where people ordered a $5 Blizzard and the car behind them would be a full family getting, you know, a $30 or $40 order,” Jensen said. “To keep a chain going, you’ve got to make sure that somebody is paying it forward, and that’s what we did.” By the time the chain came to an end on Saturday evening, when a customer couldn’t pay for the party behind them and the gift card funds had run out, Jensen said that she and her staff had been excited and energized by the experience.
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A moving company announced this month a new commitment to provide free moves to victims of domestic violence and those currently living in abusive situations. Since the recent launch of the program, College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving has already completed over 100 free moves for those who are fleeing an unsafe situation in the U.S. and Canada.
This new program was launched after a rise in domestic violence reports across the country during the lockdown. College Hunks co-founder Nick Friedman explained that their company purpose is to make a positive impact on the lives of the people they help. Friedman and his team were motivated to start the domestic violence initiative when they sat down to discuss how the COVID-19 crisis might be affecting those negatively by stay-at-home orders.
They already have a program to help disadvantaged youth in vulnerable situations get access to food. For every completed job they have been donating 2 nutritious meals to Feeding Children Everywhere—with over 1 million meals donated since the program began. They decided they needed to extend their services to domestic violence victims. Friedman said “I definitely think our Free Moves for Survivors of Domestic Violence program sheds light on a really important issue that is not often talked about. As a purpose driven, socially-conscious organization we’re always looking for ways to positively impact our communities—in this case, particularly for those who feel powerless in unhealthy home situations.”
This idea was done 20 years ago, by another moving company, Meathead Movers who began offering free moves to people in abusive homes. Last year, Meathead Movers donated more than $150,000 worth of moving services, partnering with eight domestic violence shelters in Central and Southern California.
Now, College Hunks Hauling is extending the same kind of help across their 131 franchise locations in the U.S. and Canada, offering the use of trucks and labor at no cost. People who need this kind of help should first contact their local domestic violence-prevention shelter to notify them of their situation. A certified domestic violence-prevention shelter will then need to approve and coordinate the no-cost move requests through College HUNKS to ensure that the victim is supported throughout the entire transition.
Once qualifications for the free move are confirmed, the approving shelter works in partnership with College Hunks to execute the move in coordination with their local franchise owner and the local authorities, as needed, for the safety of both the victim and the assisting College HUNKS team. College Hunks has also provided trucks for transporting COVID-19 testing supplies and other medical equipment, for relocating beds and goods from one hospital to another, and delivering water to healthcare workers.
College HUNKS Hauling Junk & Moving was originally founded in 2003 by two college buddies, Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman who began using a beat-up cargo van to haul furniture. H.U.N.K.S. becoming an abbreviation for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable, Service. Now, it has over 100 franchises supplying full-service, tech-enabled residential and commercial moving, junk removal, donation pickups, and labor services in the United States and Canada.
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Celebrity chef David Chang, founder of the successful Momofuku restaurant brand, is donating his $1 million dollar “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” winnings to the restaurant industry. Like the other celebrity contestants on the show, Chang had been playing for the charity of his choosing, the Southern Smoke Foundation, a Houston-based crisis-relief organization for hospitality industry workers experiencing debt or other hardships.
“I’m so honored that Dave chose Southern Smoke as his charity,” founder Chris Shepherd said. “Now, more than ever, with indoor dining shut down in many parts of the country and temperatures dropping to prohibit outdoor dining, food and beverage industry employees are desperate.” Southern Smoke was established in 2017 and COVID-19’s impact on restaurants, bars, and catering companies in 2020 has made the need for financial crisis intervention all the more urgent. According to their website, the Southern Smoke Foundation has distributed more than $5.7 million, both directly to people in need via the Emergency Relief Fund and to organizations that represent the needs of people in our industry.
Chang has seen first-hand how the spread of covid-19 has cost the hospitality industry hundreds of billions of dollars and put many people out of work. When Chang reached the $500,000 mark, host Jimmy Kimmel cautioned him that no celebrity contestant had ever taken home “the big check.” Chang seriously considered walking away, but trusting his luck, he decided to go all in. “I’m a gambling man and shame on me if this is wrong, but I’m doing this because having a million dollars right now, in this moment, is a game-changer for many, many families.”
Unless you’ve been lucky enough to work from home the entire time, it’s likely your industry has been affected in one way or another by the pandemic. Across the globe people have faced tough decisions on how to navigate a socially distanced life. From teachers creating and maintaining virtual AND in-person curriculums to drivers and delivery people, as well as healthcare professionals on the brink of burnout. Millions who work in the hospitality industry, including food and drink service, have seen unemployment since early into the pandemic in March. Thankfully, many people, like Chang, have found ways to help others through this and inspire others to do the same.
Chang won over several front-line workers in this season of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” which also featured celebrities Tiffany Haddish, Julie Bowen, Ray Romano, Rebel Wilson and Joel McHale. The restaurateur, author and television personality is known for founding the Michelin-star winning Momofuku restaurant group as well as Netflix original series “Ugly Delicious” and “Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.” Southern Smoke Foundation immediately celebrated the win on twitter with the tweet “WE WON A MILLION DOLLARS!!!! #TAKINGCAREOFOUROWN
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