Thousands of runners rally around the U.S. to finish the run by Eliza Fletcher, the Memphis teacher who was kidnapped and killed during an early morning jog. In cities across the country, runs were organized to honor the mother of two on September 9th, one week after her abduction while on an early morning jog near the University of Memphis campus.
The runs were organized on social media in multiple cities across the U.S. At 4:20 a.m. — alluding to the last time Fletcher was seen alive — friends and strangers wearing bright colors and lights ran, jogged and walked in her honor. Runners in Memphis ran the same 8.2 mile path Fletcher regularly ran. Runners in Boston, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville, Tupelo and elsewhere organized their own events as a tribute to Fletcher. Hundreds logged their runs on a website dedicated to the event.
Fletcher’s Sept 2nd abduction, which was caught on a surveillance camera on Central Avenue, sparked an intense search for the vehicle. Members of the U.S. Marshals Service located the GMC Terrain in a parking lot the next day and the suspect was arrested after trying to flee the area.
Many organizers of the Finish Eliza’s Run events have declined interviews out of respect to her family saying they want the focus to stay on Eliza Fletcher and other women who have gone missing, been harassed or felt unsafe while exercising. Fletcher’s family have requested privacy while they grieve and released a statement thanking people for their support.
“Now it’s time to remember and celebrate how special she was and to support those who cared so much for her. We appreciate all the expressions of love and concern we have received. We are grateful beyond measure to local, state and federal law enforcement for their tireless efforts to find Liza and to bring justice to the person responsible for this horrible crime.”
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The cast and crew of the Gravesend TV series reunited with the teenager they saved while filming in Brooklyn last November. Nam Phuong, 14 was walking his dog when a driver lost control of her vehicle and hit him along with a parked car. The teen and his dog were trapped under the vehicle when the cast heard the commotion.
Good Samaritans and members of TV mob show “Gravesend” acted quickly to free the 14-year-old. The crew was shooting a scene in a video store when they heard a loud crash but they didn’t see anything in the street. When Michele Frantzeskos, a producer for “Gravesend,” wandered outside, she heard yelling bystanders and saw the crash. She immediately grabbed the elderly couple out of the car.
That’s when she heard a voice saying “Help me, help me!.” She looked under the cae and saw the child injured and pinned underneath. Frantzeskos grabbed actor William DeMeo as he was walking to his trailer and called on other crew members to help. They quickly rushed over to help and assess the situation.
Members of the film crew and neighborhood banded together to lift the car up, allowing the teen to get out from under the car. The teen’s dog also escaped from under the car as its leash was released. The dramatic video of the rescue, taken by a bystander, shows the teens legs flailing from underneath the car around 10 people begin lifting it off of him.
Paramedics transported the teen to the hospital in critical but stable condition. The teen says he remembers looking behind him just before the car hit and then blacking out and waking up to being dragged by the car. Phuong sustained serious injuries but is recovering. He and his family visited the scene of the crash to meet the cast and crew that saved him. He said he is thankful for their quick thinking.
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#BeKind21 Kindness Challenge is an invitation for you to practice kindness toward yourself and others each day from September 1 to September 21 to build kinder, more connected communities that foster mental wellness. Inspired by the idea that habits are formed by repeating an activity for 21 consecutive days, Born This Way Foundation annually hosts #BeKind21 and invites participants to build a habit of kindness.
Those who sign up pledge to be kind to themselves and their community and share their experiences on social media using the hashtag #BeKind21. Born This Way Foundation, founded in 2011 by Lady Gaga and her mother Cynthia Germanotta launched #BeKind21 with the aim to make kindness cool, validate the emotions of young people, and eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health.
#BeKind21 had more than 6.8 million people last year who collectively pledged and encouraged over 143 million acts of kindness in just 21 days. Over 400 partners, including entire school districts, cities, nonprofits, and corporations, participated in the campaign and helped to spread the word. The annual program is now in its fifth year and has generated over 291 million pledged acts of kindness since it’s launch in 2018.
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Since 2009, LA-based non-profit, Food Forward has rerouted 250 million pounds of food from landfills and delivered over a billion servings of fresh produce to food insecure communities.
The non-profit helps reroute perishable produce to communities in need of more fresh fruits and veggies all over the country. A combination of inflationary governmental fiscal policy and the centrally-planned response to COVID-19 has really damaged the ability of rural or food-desert-based communities to buy fresh produce.
Food Forward has mastered the logistical challenge of rerouting produce destined for landfills. Southern California is the largest exporter and importer of produce in the country, making the non-profit centrally located where there is a great need. From its refrigerated food distribution center in south east LA, the group works with 350 direct partners coordinating food donations, which have so far made it out to 12 California counties, six other states, and two Tribal nations. Coming out of the centrally-planned chaos of the pandemic, Food Forward feels they are getting a grip on the demand for fresh produce rather than reacting to it in difficult or emergency circumstances.
CEO Rick Nahmias said “We understood workflows well enough, we understood efficiencies, we understood the network and how food flows through the L.A. area, the contiguous county, and the region. We’re all kind of under this umbrella, feeling like the last 10 years for Food Forward were a dress rehearsal for the pandemic.” Nahmias said among the many problems in this line of work, is the fact that often the food has just days of shelf life left.
Food Forward’s Wholesale Produce Recovery program staff rescue fresh fruits and vegetables from wholesale vendors by the truckload to prevent this unnecessary waste. The Farmers Market Recovery program prevents quality produce from being wasted, and provides a solution to farmers who have unsold produce and want to help fight hunger. A single market can yield over 2,000 pounds of seasonal produce that in many cases is organic. The Backyard Harvest program connects generous homeowners with volunteers ready to harvest surplus fruit on hundreds of private properties, public parks, orchards, and farms throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Nahmias credits his team’s nimbleness and excellent reactivity to the success that saw them win 2018 CA non-profit of the year. Their operation is so tight that every $1 donated allows them to redirect 10 pounds of produce from restaurants, grocery stores, or farms before sending them to communities that rarely get to buy fresh produce. Keeping perishing produce out of landfills also reduces methane gas emissions from its decomposition, reducing America’s methane footprint after about ten years.
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A beloved math teacher in L.A. entered what he believed was a faculty appreciation ceremony but instead walked out with the keys to a car. Julio Castro, 31, lives in Santa Clarita Valley and teaches at YULA Boys High School. He had been commuting about four hours a day by scooter and bus to get to and from school because he didn’t have a car, sometimes getting home as late as 9:30 p.m. — long after his three young children went to sleep.
Joshua Gerendash, a senior at the private, all boys school said “He still makes sure to devote all this time to students,“he made sure I understood all of the material by sitting down with me during his lunch breaks and sacrificing his time after school where he could be getting to the bus stop going back home.” Gerendash said Castro even helps students who aren’t in his class and that he’s “really dedicated to our futures.”
Gerendash was determined to get Castro a car after he happened to see him looking at cars online. After a months-long fundraising campaign, Castro’s students secretly raised more than $30,000 to buy him a 2019 Mazda CX-3. They also bought him a year’s worth of gasoline and car insurance.
Castro said “I feel surprised. I feel special. So thank you to my students. They are like my kids as well. Now that I have a car, I get to drop off my kids every morning. And then coming here with time to spare, I can use it on my lesson plans. Then on my way back, traffic is still bad, but I’ll be able to make it for dinner.”
Another senior at the school, Charlie Leeds said “No matter what happens with him, he is gonna find some way to pay it forward. We’ve been taught certain values like empathy” and to “treat your fellow person as you’d want to be treated. Mr. Castro is the embodiment of that. With this car, with this new opportunity, he’s only going to find more and more ways to help other people around him.”
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A group of high school football players in Georgia are being recognized for helping get a woman out of her wrecked car. The six students ran to the aid of a woman trapped in her car minutes after an accident near the school. As the vehicle began to smoke, they worked together to pry her bad mangled door open to get her out.
The Rome High School football players were identified as Cesar Parker, Treyvon Adams, Antwiion Carey, Messiah Daniels, Tyson Brown and Alto Moore. As soon as they saw the wrecked car they leapt into action. “We just ran as fast as we could to the lady and check on her to see if she was alright. We saw she was in pain, she was screaming and asking us to help her. We used all our muscles,we’re pretty big people, we’re strong. We play football, so we lift weights a lot, but the door was just extremely bent and broke.” Adams said.
It all happened in about a minute, once the woman was freed the teens checked on the other driver involved in the accident and carried on their way back to class. The 50 year old woman was transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. Their heroic actions were witnessed by staff at the school and they have been recognized by both the Rome City Schools and the Rome Police Department.
Ninth grade teacher Luis Goya witnessed the incident and praised them in a social media post that included a picture of them while they pulled the door open. “This morning I witnessed something amazing that our Rome High Football players did. While I was in front of the school during my morning duty, I heard a loud noise at the intersection that appeared to be a wreck. While I was running to the intersection, I noticed that two cars were involved. There was a 50 year old lady trapped in her car and couldn’t get out. Smoke started to come out of the car, and fluid started to spill everywhere in the intersection. The door was jammed and in terrible shape. While I was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher, the football players who witnessed the wreck, ran to the car and started helping the lady. They literally started using their strength to pry the door open, so the lady could be released. After a few seconds of pulling and pushing the door, the boys ended up opening it and helped her get out of the car. She was shaking and still in panic, but our RHS boys gave her comfort and were able to help her. The Rome High School football players really showed up today. They went above and beyond to help this lady without hesitation” Goya said.
Adams admitted that the team has been getting a lot of love and recognition for their act, which teachers said they deserved, and the school has helped drive. In true hero fashion, the teens say while the recognition was nice, it was something anyone would do.
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A New York City Uber driver is being hailed as a hero after he stopped mid-ride to rush into a burning brownstone to help rescue people before firefighters arrived. Fritz Sam, 54, was taking a passenger to LaGuardia Airport when he noticed a commotion on the street in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood. He saw flames and dark smoke coming out of a second floor window of a brownstone.
Sam said he asked his passenger “Can I pull over? Maybe we can help.” They got out and joined a group of bystanders who were yelling for people to get out of the residence. When he asked if everyone was out of the building, someone said they thought at least one person remained inside. “At that moment, I was like, ‘You have to decide, you know, what are you going to do?'” Sam said. “I just knew that something had to be done at that moment. So I just took my phone, ran inside and around the staircase.”
Sam said that inside the building, he first found a man who said he had to retrieve something from another floor. Elsewhere, he found a woman who was hesitant about leaving the building. Sam was able to convince the woman to leave and walked out by her side. Once she was safely on the sidewalk, he went back into the building to find the man who he had encountered earlier. As he was leaving with the man, Sam said he ran into a police officer and a firefighter with a hose, who both ran into the building.
Sam’s passenger, Jemimah Wei, said that after firefighters arrived on the scene, they agreed the people would be safe and they could continue on their ride to the airport. “We got back into the Uber, and Sam was like, ‘Do I smell like smoke?'” Wei said. “I was like, ‘Dude, seriously? It’s fine, you just saved a life.'” Wei tweeted about the heroic experience and said she still caught her flight despite the unexpected detour.
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California has become the first state to implement a statewide Universal Meals Program for all public school children. The Universal Meals program will be used to reach more students with the federal National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The Meal Mandate is expanded to include both a nutritious breakfast and lunch for, not just needy children, but all children each school day.
The Universal Meals program is designed to build on the foundations of the federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). The program is powered by both state and federal funds. The California State Legislature allocates funds to provide additional state meal reimbursement to cover the cost of the Universal Meals Program. High poverty schools will be required to participate in a federal provision.
Prior to this program, students qualified for free meals under particular criteria which included aspects like their parents’ income taxes, the level of poverty in the school’s surrounding area and the zip code where the family lives. With over 327,000 students in California public schools, 60% of students qualified for free school meals.
The state recently implemented the Universal Program to address rising food insecurity. While California produces nearly half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables, on average one in five residents — about 8 million people — struggle with food insecurity, according to the California Association of Food Banks.
Now, with the state launching the mandatory Universal Meals Program, parents will be sure that their children can get at least two free, full meals at schools daily and not have to incur the expense for preparing breakfast and lunch for them. All students will be automatically enrolled in the program, although students will not be required to participate. Instead, meals will be served to the students who ask for them.
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A Mississippi man credits his pet cat with preventing a robbery at his home and possibly saving his life. While cats have a reputation for being aloof, this cat did everything she could to alert her owner of danger. Fred Everitt, 68, adopted the 20 pound calico from theTupelo-Lee Humane Society four years ago with the intention of saving her life; he never thought she’d return the favor. But Bandit, who is now referred to as Everitt’s guard cat, did just that.
On July 25th, sometime between 2:30 and 3 a.m. Everitt said he was first awoken by Bandit’s loud meows in the kitchen. Then, she raced into the bedroom, jumped onto the bed and began pulling the comforter off of him and clawing at his arms. Everitt said she had never done that before so he knew something was wrong. “I went, ‘What in the world is wrong with you?” Everitt said.
When he got up to investigate, he turned on the lights and saw two young men outside his back door. One had a gun, and the other was using a crowbar to try and pry the door open. Everitt said by the time he retrieved his handgun and returned to the kitchen, the would-be intruders had already fled. He said the situation could have been very different without Bandit. “It did not turn into a confrontational situation, thank goodness,” Everitt said. “But I think it’s only because of the cat. You hear of guard dogs. This is a guard cat.”
Everitt said he’s been a longtime supporter of the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society and was dropping off a donation check four years ago when he asked to see what kittens were available for adoption. Bandit came home with him that day. “I want to let people know that you not only save a life when you adopt a pet or rescue one. The tides could be turned. You never know when you save an animal if they’re going to save you” he said
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Big Dog Ranch Rescue, a 100-acre cage-free no-kill rescue group has announced it will open a location in Alabama. The new site will sit on the former home of a greyhound training facility in Macon County and will serve as a rescue, rehabilitation and adoption center for neglected and abused dogs across the south. The facility is set to open its first buildings in September.
The Macon County location will be named “Big Dog Ranch Rescue, Alabama” and will serve as the sister site to the Palm Beach County, Florida location. The facility has 16 kennels and several other structures that will be renovated before its grand opening. They said the rising costs of everything from fuel to food make the opening of the facility in Alabama even more critical.
The group said in a release “Many shelters are severely overcrowded, resulting in a record euthanasia rate for these former family pets. This new campus will allow Big Dog Ranch Rescue to double its impact by eventually saving 10,000 dogs each year. The expansion will allow us to double our impact in saving last-day dogs from euthanasia by increasing our capacity to a facility where our rescue efforts are desperately needed.”
Big Dog Ranch Rescue was founded in 2008 and has more than 50,000 dogs. Their goal is to save 5,000 dogs every year and place them with loving families. They also educate people about the proper care for dogs and the importance of spaying and neutering. The non profit rescues dogs from natural disasters and high-kill shelters as well as takes in owner surrenders and strays. They rehabilitate the dogs and find them loving homes.
They have several programs to match owners including matching dogs for seniors and veterans. They rescue dogs in any condition, then every dog receives a full medical exam, is spayed/neutered, and microchipped. From there, they live out their days playing in ½ acre sections until homes are found. With the new facility opening, they are hoping to expand medical services to be available to all adopters for the lifelong care of their dog. Big Dog Ranch Rescue Founder and CEO Lauree Simmons said “Together, we can make a difference in ending dog homelessness and saving more lives with the help of Shorter, Alabama’s resourceful community.”
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