Stranded in an airport for 7 months, refugee finds a home thanks to a Canadian stranger

Hassan Al Kontar was stuck. A member of a targeted religious minority, the 37-year-old had fled his native Syria and worked in the United Arab Emirates for several years. When his work permit expired and Syria was still inhospitable to him, he scrambled to find a country that would issue him a visa.

As a Malaysian travel visa was about to expire in March, he readied to board a flight to Ecuador. The flight was delayed, and by the time it was ready, that travel visa had expired. There he was at the Kuala Lumpur airport, terrified to return to his native Syria, unable to find a country that would accept him.

He needed to do something. He created videos of his plight and tweeted them to thousands of followers. He washed in the airport bathrooms, slept under stairwells, and ate whatever leftover airline food generous employees offered him. He crocheted, watered airport plants, and hoped for a savior.

Thousands of miles away in Whistler in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Laurie Cooper was touched by Al Kontar's story. A media relations consultant living in a log cabin, Cooper volunteers with charitable nonprofits and rallied others to the man's cause. They raised over $20,000 to sponsor him, secured him a full-time job offer, and identified close relatives living in Canada. All that effort and leg work for a perfect stranger. 

Despite a number of complications, including Al Kontar's arrest and detention for loitering without a boarding pass, Cooper and friends persevered. Al Kontar was granted asylum in Canada. His saviors were present to greet the thin, unshaven, incredibly grateful man when he arrived in Vancouver this week.

Man pays for the person behind him at drive-through, prevents suicide

Ontario's Pickering News has the same policy as many newspapers - they do not publish letters anonymously. Despite that policy, they ran this editorial in early November about an anonymous letter they received: 

The letter writer wrote about being in a bad place in July of this year, so bad in fact that they (I don’t know whether the author was a woman or man) intended to take their life. July 18 was going to be their last day.“I had planned to end it all at home in my own little ritual and explain my thoughts in a note for anyone who cares,” they wrote.
Prior to this final act, however, a trip to Tim Hortons was in order for a coffee and a muffin. While in the drive-thru at Kingston and Glendale in Pickering the lady at the window told them, “The nice man already paid for it and he said to have a great day.” She was referring to the man in the SUV in front of them.
“I wondered why someone would buy coffee for a stranger for no reason. Why me? Why today? If I was a religious sort I would take this as a sign. This random act of kindness was directed at me on this day for a purpose.”
Back at home, they began to sob uncontrollably.
“I decided at that moment to change my plans for the day and do something nice for someone. I ended up helping a neighbour take groceries out of her car and into the house.”
They explained every day since she has looked for ways to make someone’s life a little better, and, as a result, it has “enriched my life in more ways than I could’ve imagined.”A coffee and muffin saved a life that day, and although I don’t know who the person was who sent me that letter, I feel better for telling the story.
Random acts of kindness do so much more than you think.
“To the nice man in the SUV … thank you from the bottom of my heart, and know your kind gesture has truly saved a life,” they said. “On July 18, 2017, I not only had a great day, I had the greatest day!”

When that column appeared in the paper, Glen Oliver's wife pointed it out to him. She knew of his long-standing habit of paying for the person behind him at the drive-through, usually at that very same Tim Horton's. He later told reporters, “I was blown away, blown away — couldn’t believe it...You know for such a small thing, just a series of events that were set off from that point on … 
"It's exponential now, you know? Like such a small, insignificant thing to most people just turned out to be … the planets aligned for somebody."

Toronto chef opens a pay-what-you-can soup bar

For years, Toronto chef Jagger Gordon noticed the food going to waste - imperfect but completely edible produce, canned items close to expiration date, oddly-shaped breads from notable bakeries - good, nutritious food thrown in the dumpster while some local residents went hungry. As a man who made a living working with food, the injustice bothered him. He decided to do something about it.

He founded Feed It Forward in 2014, intent on connecting the food industry to those in need. He developed an app which he hopes "will allow farmers, wholesalers, retailers, caterers, restaurants and even home cooks to donate food without having to worry about legal restrictions that currently exist prohibiting the free donation of food. The app will provide an alternative avenue for food donation by providing a platform connecting those in need, with donors, who will be paid by donation via the application. The recipients will have unrestricted access to donations and will receive donation notifications detailing the types of food available, locations, and pickup times in their area." 

In keeping with his mission of connecting nourishing food with those who need it, Gordon's newest venture just opened - a pay-what-you-can soup bar. Presently, he offers four kinds of soup, all made by him from ingredients that would otherwise have ended up at the landfill. Instead, those gleaned ingredients are nourishing bodies and encouraging the spirit of the people of Toronto.