Gas station clerk returns dropped $1 million lottery winner's ticket

Talk about honesty. A Salina Kansas gas station clerk noticed a lottery ticket on the floor of his store. He scanned it and realized it was a winner - not just any winner but the Mega Millions jackpot winner. Plus, the ticket worth $1 million was unsigned. Anyone could sign it and claim it.

This as yet unnamed clerk chose to call the store's owner and see how to handle it. The owner's son came in and together the two figured out who had dropped the ticket. Call it serendipity or coincidence or whatever you like, but the customer in question drove by the station a short time later. The station owner's son came outside and waved him down. The ticket was returned to its rightful owner who also has not yet been identified. 

So this week, Salina Kansas has three very happy people. One is a million dollars richer. Two can close their eyes knowing they did what was right. 

Teen finds wallet containing $1500, returns it

Eighteen-year-old Tyler Opdyke was on foot, delivering flyers to advertise his uncle's pest control business near his California home. He spotted a wallet on the sidewalk outside a home and approached the home to return it. 

Inside the home, Melissa Vang heard the doorbell, but didn't recognize the young man. Afraid to answer the door to a stranger, she chose to ignore the bell. 

Not getting an answer, Opdyke lifted the wallet to the porch surveillance camera and then tucked it beneath the front doormat.
   
Still concerned about the wallet, Opdyke returned to the home later. That time, Vang and her two children opened the door to him. “It’s sad that I didn’t trust him to open my door when he was just doing a good deed,” she later told reporters. “We all need to be reminded that there are still good people out there.” 

Vang gave the teen a $150 reward, and her overwhelming gratitude. Opdyke took the reward of course, but shrugs off the idea that he did something special. "I just felt - this isn't mine. I need to give it back," he said.

6-year-old boy and his dad find $2000, turn it in

Erik Dopman and his 6-year-old son Jasper were walking near a school on April 18th. Jasper noticed a black bag on the ground, and Erik opened it to investigate. The bag contained large amounts of cash and some deposit slips. Erik called the local Arlington, Massachusetts police and turned it in.

The bag and its cash belonged to a small family-owned Mexican restaurant. An employee who was supposed to deposit the money reported it missing. Police returned the money to the grateful restaurant owners.

Erik and Jasper were both recognized for doing what's right. They were given Outstanding Citizen awards by their local community and gifts from the Mexican food company.

No doubt, Jasper will remember the lesson - doing what's right won't make you rich in the eyes of the world. The richness it brings is far more fulfilling.

Canadian teen on horseback delivers hot coffee to stranded trucker

Eileen Eagle Bears couldn't just sit and watch. The roadside camera from Highway 10 showed a truck stuck on the icy road, with its driver still inside. The highway was an otherwise deserted sheet of ice. Help would come, but it would take a while. In the meantime, Eileen knew that driver would be alone.

She filled a thermos with hot coffee and mounted her horse. Even though she had to walk the horse along some stretches because of the icy conditions, she and the horse trekked about 2.5 miles to deliver the coffee to the stranded driver, Peter Douglas. Eileen and her horse even came back a second time with some water, a thermos of stew, and some potatoes.

Douglas' truck was eventually towed to safety and he resumed his trip. He'd been stuck for 28 hours. But the help and encouragement Eileen brought let him know he hadn't been stranded.

Restaurant employee returns lost diamond, claims her action was 'common sense'

Anchorage Alaska has a new hero, Patricia Christophersen. This unassuming young woman was busing tables at Carlos Mexican Restaurant last week when she noticed a customer in panic. Rachel Saldana was frantically searching the restaurant for the diamond which had fallen out of her wedding ring. 

Rachel was with a group at the restaurant planning a fundraiser for the Alaska Miss Amazing Pageant, a pageant for young girls and teens with disabilities. Folks at the dinner joined restaurant staff in the search for the missing diamond. No luck. Rachel left broken-hearted later that night, sharing her cell phone number just in case the stone was found.

After closing, Patricia decided to take another look in the ladies room. She knew Rachel had taken her baby into the ladies room for a diaper change at one point, and Patricia had a hunch the diamond may have been jarred loose there. Sure enough, she found it behind the bathroom door. 

When Rachel received the call after 11pm, she was obviously surprised, but delighted. She and her husband gave Patricia a cash reward for her honesty.

Patricia's honesty is even more remarkable given her circumstances. She was involved in a multi-vehicle pile up a few weeks back and cannot afford to fix her car. She has no money for her own apartment and is currently living in a friend's paint store. 

But Patricia wouldn't have it any other way. She told interviewers that her decision to return the diamond was simple. She believes it was common sense to return something that did not belong to her. 

This kid followed his heart and found FROGS

In 2010 when Will Lourcey of Forth Worth Texas was 7-years-old, he saw a man holding a sign that read, "Need a meal." He asked his parents Julie and Bill, a teacher and a financial adviser respectively, what he could do to help. Their answer and Will's passion to help led to the creation of the non-profit organization Friends Reaching Our Goals or FROGS.

Will encourages his friends to get involved to in the organization, with their mission being to "end hunger, raise money and awareness for the hungry, inspire youth to make positive change, and have fun while helping others."

Will's example has inspired many. His efforts have been lauded across the country. His story has been shared on Nickelodeon and CNN, in print and online, and even at the White House.

Since 2010, FROGS has helped provide more than half-a-million meals for those in need. 500,000 plus meals served, all because one kid wanted to help and his parents showed him how.

The little known Sharp's War

I've read a lot of Nazi-era history in the last 10 years, both fiction and non-fiction. Sometimes I think I've heard it all before. Then I stumble across a story of people who did right in the face of that evil, a tale of personal sacrifice and courage which seems to be forgotten by history. The story of an American couple, Waitstill and Martha Sharp, falls into that group.

In 1938, Waistill Sharp was a Unitarian minister in Massachusetts. He and his wife Martha, a social worker, had a full, busy life caring for their congregation and their community, as well as their own two young children. One night, Waistill received a call from Robert Dexter, the director the Department of Social Relations of the American Unitarian Association. The newly signed Munich Accord gave Hitler control of the Sudetenland. This piece of Czechoslovakia had strong ties to the Unitarian Church, and as Dexter recalled later, “I knew there would be untold suffering in the Nazi-occupied territories, and I was equally convinced that something should be done about it by those of us who felt we had an obligation to aid our friends who had been so betrayed.”


Seventeen people had already turned down Dexter's request for someone on the ground in Europe. Waistill and Martha talked about it and agreed. They'd go to Europe and do what they could.

So in February 1939, the Sharps traveled to occupied Czechoslovakia and later to occupied France. They stayed one step ahead of the Nazis to rescue dozens of at-risk Czechs and get them abroad. Later, they returned to Europe and shepherded people out of occupied France to safety and transport via Lisbon. The number of people saved by their efforts is unknown, in part because they destroyed all records of their travels and those involved. The estimate is in the hundreds. Because their efforts included Jews, the Sharps were posthumously awarded The Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. 

A new PBS documentary by Ken Burns starring the voices of Tom Hanks and Marina Goldman now shares the Sharp's story with the world. 

Team Rubicon continues to serve

When a magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook Haiti early in 2010, hundreds of thousands of people were killed and almost a million left homeless. Water and medical help were cut off; food lines and tent cities sprang up amid the rubble. 

Two US Marines decided to help. Jake Wood and William McNulty rounded up six other veterans and first responders. With money and medical supplies donated by friends and family, they flew to the Dominican Republic and drove into Haiti in a rented truck. 

Relief agencies were already in place, helping many thousands of people. This group of ex-military and first responders decided their mission was to get to the people outside the reach of the other aid agencies. They voluntarily crossed into 'unsafe' areas, crossing their Rubicon and committing themselves to do what they could to help. And help they did. 

Since then, the non-profit Team Rubicon has grown exponentially. Team Rubicon USA alone has 35,000 volunteers who stand ready to be deployed to disaster areas. Teams have been deployed around the world to help victims of floods, fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, and to provide humanitarian aid. Their mission is to unite "the skills and experiences of military veterans with first responders to rapidly deploy emergency response teams."

 The men and women of Team Rubicon have been getting some good press for their service, including this video on Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist. They even have their own YouTube channel. 

Obviously, the folks receiving the generous help from Team Rubicon are incredibly grateful. And it works both ways - those who do the giving are also blessed. As one community leader said, "I support Team Rubicon not only for the important job they are fulfilling by getting experienced first responders on the ground to disaster areas, but what they provide in allowing our veterans to use the leadership, operational, and technical skills they honed in the military to serve their fellow citizens in times of desperate need."

One doctor's ingenious fake epidemic

When the Nazis moved into Poland in 1939, Eugene Lazowski had just finished medical school. He was made an officer in the Polish army and stationed in the town of Rozwadow where he worked for the Red Cross. The fence which marked the border of the town's Jewish ghetto was right behind his house.

Dr. Lazowski had heard of recent discoveries by fellow Pole Dr. Stanislaw Matulewicz. It seems that a certain strain of the typhus bacteria, when killed and injected, will allow the patient to test positive for the deadly epidemic disease while remaining symptom-free. Dr. Lazowski tried it, and sent the patient's blood sample to a German lab for testing. 

The response was a red telegram - the patient has epidemic typhus and must be quarantined.

The patient was not ill.  

So Dr. Lazoswki came up with a plan. Whenever a patient came to him, be it a villager or a Jew from the ghetto (who he was forbidden to treat but did so anyway), he injected them with the bacteria. Blood samples left the village, red telegrams returned.

Soon the village and the ghetto seemed to be a hotbed of epidemic typhus. Nazis avoided the area - Germany had not had an outbreak of typhus in a generation, and officials worried about their soldiers' vulnerability. When a medical inspection team was sent to check on the epidemic's status, Dr. Lazowski planted ragged, dirty villagers in the hospital. The nervous doctors took one look and left quickly. The village quarantine was official.

The Nazis stayed away from Rozwadow for the duration of the war. Over 8,000 villagers and ghetto residents were spared the fate of other Polish villages, all because of one doctor's kind heart and his ingenuity.

The toy smuggler

Rami Adham was saddened by the news of civil war in his homeland of Syria. He was understandably worried about the well-being of those not fortunate enough to now live as he did, in the safety of Helsinki, Finland.

So 44-year old Adham decided to act. Five years ago, he developed a plan to carry food and supplies across the border himself. His daughter Yasmeen, then 3 years old, wanted to help. She added some of her dolls to his bundle. His other children joined in the generosity, donating some of their toys and stuffed animals. 

So off Adham went, slipping across borders and walking for miles carrying plastic bags full of food and cash, plus a grocery bag of his children's Barbies and a suitcase of stuffed toys. Traveling 3,000 miles at his own expense and at the risk of his own safety, he arrived at a refugee camp in Syria.

The donated food and money didn't impress the kids. Oh, but the toys...

Adham told NBC News, "Their eyes were big, everybody was smiling. Kids there have lost their childhood, and not for a year: This is the sixth year now and it seems like everybody forgot them."

Adham has now made two dozen trips to Syria. With the help of the Finnish Syrian Association, donated toys from across Europe are now shared in over 400 orphanages in Syria. 

To protect and serve, and drive 100 miles

In the middle of the night, Matt Ross of Indiana got a call that his 15-year-old sister had been killed in a car accident. His grieving mother was back home in Detroit. Distraught, Matt convinced a friend to drive him to be with his mom.

Problem one. The friend had a suspended license. Problem two. The car was pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol for speeding. Problem three. The friend was arrested and the vehicle towed. Problem four. Matt himself had an outstanding warrant in distant Wayne County.

The Wayne County police didn't act on the warrant because of the distance involved, which was a relief. But filled with grief and without a way to get to his mom, Matt sat alongside the road and wept. Sgt. David Robinson saw the young man's pain and sat beside him. He prayed with Matt and offered to drive him to Detroit, a trip of over 100 miles.

Matt accepted the officer's generosity.

He fled, then turned around to help

Ramon Lopez was at West 23rd and Sixth Avenue when a pressure cooker bomb exploded in that Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan about 10 days ago. He told USA Today, “It felt like a building was coming down.” 

Adrenaline kicked in, fight or flight. He ran from the blast. 

He only got about a half-block away before reason and compassion took over. Lopez did the right thing. He turned around and ran back to the scene to help. There, he talked to the injured and worked to keep them calm until ambulances and police arrived. 

This teen says, "Sit with us"

For Natalie Hampton, a high school junior from Sherman Oaks California, lunch periods back in seventh grade were dismal. She ate lunch alone the entire school year and felt embarrassed that her classmates could see how lonely and vulnerable she was. Her status as 'the girl with nowhere to sit' left her open to bullying.

Natalie eventually changed schools, made friends, and is now thriving in her new school. But the experience haunted her. She decided that no other student should ever have to endure that kind of torment.

So this 16-year-old developed and released an App called Sit With Us available free in the iTunes store. App users can, privately and without well-meaning adult interference, locate 'ambassadors' within a school's lunch period. Those student ambassadors have agreed to allow anyone to sit with them at lunch. Natalie hopes this gives all students a chance to connect and make new friends.

This young lady saw a problem and did something about it. Well done, Natalie.

Empathy for the loser - a lesson from kids' sports

Celebrating after a win is easy and natural. The team crowds together for group hugs, pats one another on the back, all high energy and enthusiasm. The losers each stand alone, individuals feeling their individual defeat.

Typically the opposing teams then line up and walk past each other for the 'good game' hand slap. That's considered good sportsmanship.

But when we're celebrating, it's not easy to put ourself in the shoes of the loser. Showing empathy for the losers and offering them comfort is, well, unusual.

Empathy was clearly on display at the conclusion of this international Youth Soccer tournament. 

The winning team from Barcelona went above and beyond the expected line of polite hand slaps. These kids showed true empathy for the defeated Japanese team through genuine hugs and obviously encouraging words. Even through the language barrier, I bet the Japanese players knew exactly what was being expressed.

We adults have a lot to learn.

Update - #FillTheSeats

The target of $300,000 has been reached! The #FillTheSeats campaign was a success.

 Now thousands of Brazilian kids who could never afford to watch world-class athletes in action will do exactly that. Now thousands of world-class athletes who get little media attention and might have otherwise competed in front of nearly empty stands will enjoy cheering crowds to support their efforts.

The Paralymics in Rio are a better place to be because one man saw a problem and decided to do something. Kudos to Greg Nugent and to those who helped him. 

Fill the seats at the Paralympics

Yesterday marked the opening of the Paralympic Games in Rio. The 11 days of competition between world-class athletes are notoriously under-reported in mainstream media, especially given the hype of the Rio Olympics last month. And yet the athletes' personal stories of sacrifice and struggle to reach their elite competitive status are just as compelling as their able-bodied counterparts. More compelling, I would argue, because these individuals do it all with a significant disability.

So I was disheartened to hear that ticket sales to watch the Paralympic events in person were slow - only 12% had been sold as of mid-August. That would mean empty stands and sparse crowds to cheer on the efforts of these incredible athletes.

Greg Nugent decided to do something. A former marketing director for the 2012 London Olympics, he created the hashtag #FillTheSeats and set up an account to receive donations through Generosity on IndieGoGo. Nugent plans to use the money to buy tickets for Brazilians, especially children, who could not afford to attend otherwise.

As of this writing, the campaign has raised over $200,000 of their $300,000 goal. Because of Nugent's decision to do something right, the athletes will receive the enthusiastic support they deserve, and thousands of people will see events which may inspire them to achieve their own goals. Because one person decided to act, everyone wins.

Cruelty, inaction, and a pro-active project for change

An outstanding college student and musician, Tyler Clementi had just begun to open up to loved ones about being gay. Then his roommate at Rutgers captured an intimate video of him on a computer's webcam and shared it online. Others who saw the video didn't report this cyber-bullying, and Tyler became a target of ridicule. When he learned of this invasion of privacy and the rampant hate-speech against him, Tyler jumped off the George Washington Bridge.  

Like the rest of Tyler's home community, 10th-grader Christopher Rim was devastated by the news of Tyler's suicide. But Christopher didn't want to just sit back and be sad; he decided to act. He formed It Ends Today, a group of 18 students from his high school who traveled to different middle schools and high schools to educate teens about the importance of bystander intervention and the dangers of cyber-bullying.

The project grew and attracted the attention of celebrities including Lady GaGa and her Born This Way Foundation. Within a few years, It Ends Today operated 26 chapters in six countries with over 350 volunteers.



When Christopher went to Yale, he connected with the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. They paired with Facebook and created InspirED, "a portal where educators, community leaders, young people, parents, and government officials can connect to positively impact school climates and the overall well-being of teens in the U.S."

Christopher's original project has expanded to now reach tens of thousands of people every year.

All because one teen decided to act.

More than a dozen people did the right thing

Twenty-year-old Jonathan Janzen was on his way to work on a Tuesday in July. As he drove 70 mph along a stretch of Interstate 20, he was momentarily distracted. He swerved, overcorrected, and lost control. 

His car flipped two or three times, and landed upside down in a ditch. 

Then the amazing happened. Over a dozen strangers stopped their cars and raced to help Janzen out of the wreck. Working together, they flipped his car over and freed Janzen. Check out the slide show and the video of their cooperative effort.

Janzen's injuries were minor.  “I was not expecting to see that many people standing there…then people [were] giving me hugs…” he said. “Thank you so much every single one of you, just thank you for your concern.”

This Uber ride led to Brazil

In late July, Liz Willock took an hour-long Uber ride in Philadelphia in Ellis Hill's car. The two struck up a friendly conversation and Ellis mentioned how proud he is of his son Darrell, part of Team USA at the Rio Olympics. As the conversation continued, Liz learned that Ellis could not afford to fly to Rio to see his son compete.

So Liz decided to do something about it. She set up a GoFundMe page, asking for contributions toward the $7500 it would cost for Ellis to see his son participate in the Olympics. The goal was met in just two days through the generosity of over 150 people, mostly strangers. Now when Darrell Hill competes in the shotput on August 18th, his dad will be in the stands to cheer him on.

Kudos to Liz Willock for seeing a problem, allowing herself to feel empathy, and then developing a solution. And kudos to everyone who read about Ellis' situation and contributed to that solution. We need more news like this.

Read the story here and here. 

The courage to try

Sometimes I wonder how I'd react in a threatening situation. I like to think I'd act for the good, that I would instantly know what to do and how to do it. But seriously, when faced with a fight-or-flight moment, would I try to change the outcome? Would I even recognize the opportunity to try?

A day or so after the latest terror attack, this time in Nice France during the Bastille Day celebration, an amazing story has emerged. It seems that two quick-thinking bystanders attempted to stop the terrorist and his rampaging truck. One rode his motorcycle alongside the truck and tried to break into the truck's cab. The second actually did get in the truck's cab and wrestled with the armed driver. We may never know the extent these acts changed the outcome as neither was successful in stopping the madness alone. Perhaps their efforts slowed its attack. God knows.

These courageous individuals are as yet unnamed by the press, but they are true heroes in every definition of the word. I hope the media shares their names and their stories. We need reminders of how to behave well in the face of evil if we're ever going to learn how to subdue it.