Since they moved into the house four years ago, Matthew and Maria Colonna-Emanuel of Staten Island, New York knew there was a rusty metal box behind some thick shrubs in their yard. They figured it was an old electrical or cable box and left it alone. Deer ate the shrubs and the couple hired a landscaper to clear the area out and replant it. The landscapers uncovered the rusty box, obviously an old safe. Using a pickax, the couple opened it. Inside were $16,000 in soggy hundred dollar bills, plus diamonds, jade, and gold jewelry. While the smelly bills were peeled apart and laid out to dry, the couple found a document linking the box to their neighbors. Matthew knocked on the neighbor's door and asked if they'd ever been robbed. They said they had, back in 2011. NYPD confirmed that this neighbor reported theft of their home safe seven years ago. Matthew and Maria returned the $52,000 worth of treasure to their neighbors. When the press asked if they considered keeping the items, their answer was unequivocal. "It wasn't even a question," Maria said. "It wasn't ours."
"The reward is karma," Matthew added. "Good karma."
She went to work. She gathered a few friends and they sent out some extra packages from LeAnn's home for those soldiers. Then they did it again, and again, reaching new soldiers each time. As they expanded their reach, they realized the true size of the need. LeAnn's effort had to grow outside her own small group of helpers. So she founded Support the Troops, WI, a 501(c)3 non-profit. Staffed by volunteers, many of whom are ex-military themselves, care packages contain donated candy, nonperishable food, activity books, DVDs, personal care items, and clothing. The 10,000th care package was mailed to a US military soldier serving overseas this month.
Roberta Hoskie of New Haven, Connecticut was surprised to get the call. A $10,000 check made out to her had been found on the street. and the finder was calling her to return it. She hadn't even realized it was missing! The CEO of a realty company, Hoskie was deeply appreciative and agreed to meet the caller to retrieve the check. That's when she met Elmer Alvarez. Currently homeless. Alvarez had indeed found the check lying on the street and called Hoskie to return it. The two spoke and learned a bit more about one another. It seems Hoskie too had once been homeless, living in a nearby shelter, so she understood what Alvarez was going through. Hoskie gave Alvarez a reward for returning the check, and posted about the event on Facebook Live. Support and offers of help for Alvarez poured in, both locally and from other parts of the country. She plans to keep in touch with Alvarez and 'teach him to fish.' As for Alvarez, he says he returned the check because it was the right thing to do. A man of faith, he believes "once you do right, right always comes back to you. Because God don’t like ugly.”
Pam Brekke of Sanford Florida did what many Floridians did before Hurricane Irma - she prepared. A generator was tops on Pam's list to maintain her elderly father's oxygen supply in the event of a power failure. She waited in line at the nearest Lowe's, about 30 miles from her home, to buy one of their 200+ generators. The customer in front of her got the last one. Brekke burst into tears.
Ramon Santiago of Orlando had a generator already in his cart. He was walking through the store picking up other items he needed when he saw Brekke break down and cry. Because English isn't his first language, he did not understand the details, just that Brekke needed a generator and didn't have one. He had planned to buy the generator to help his mother take care of his two aged grandmothers, but he offered the generator in his cart to Brekke. She accepted it with hugs and thanks.
Unbeknownst to Santiago and Brekke, Nancy Alvarez, a WFTV morning newscaster who happened to be in line behind Brekke, saw the whole transaction and filmed it with her smartphone. She shared the story on the station's social media within hours. It went viral.
Santiago wasn't aware of it until he walked into a doctor's office several hours later and the nurses stood and applauded him. And it got better. Lowe's management learned Santiago's identity and tracked him down when a new shipment of generators came in. They gave him one for free, their thanks for his kindness to a stranger in need.
Stacy Hurt was anxious to get home. The 46-year-old flew on a Southwest flight direct from Nashville to Pittsburgh, but her luggage remained in Nashville on a previously booked connecting flight. Hurt was scheduled for her monthly chemotherapy session the following morning, and really needed her luggage. Packed inside were medications which helped with the chemo's side effects, as well as a rosary and a favorite T-shirt, both of which brought comfort to the mother of two in her fight against stage 4 colon cancer. Hurt called Southwest's Pittsburgh office and spoke with Sarah Rowan in Customer Service. Hurt told her story to Rowan, who listened and understood the importance of the luggage contents. Rowan promised to contact Hurt when the luggage arrived in Pittsburgh, and that a courier would deliver it directly to Hurt's home.
Sorry for the delay getting your bag to you. Myself and my Southwest family are thinking of you and wishing all the best. Kick that cancer's butt!
With luv, Sarah from Pit
Overwhelmed by Rowan's kindness, Hurt contacted Southwest and tracked her down to thank her. She also sang Rowan's praises to her bosses at Southwest so they would know their employee had literally gone the extra mile to care for one of their passengers.
In mid-June, corporate owners of Alfred Angelo Bridal, a nationwide chain of bridal stores, declared bankruptcy. Their stores were shuttered, leaving untold numbers of brides in limbo about the fate of their dresses.
On the last day at the Oklahoma City store, seamstress Rose Ellis grabbed every paid-for dress she could find and brought them home, 60 in all, plus veils, belts, and other accessories. She then contacted each bride-to-be individually and, without asking for personal payment, finished alterations and fittings out of her own home. "Even though I'm not getting paid for it, my conscience wouldn't let me go without having completed the work as promised,” Ellis said.
The response to Ellis' generosity has been more generosity. One appreciative bride started a GoFundMe page to cover Ellis' expenses, which met its goal (and then some) in just a few days. A local Holiday Inn Express offered Ellis a conference room to work out of, and has even offered the brides a free night in the bridal suite.
When Holocaust survivor, 89-year-old Henry Oster spoke at Viewpoint High School in Calabasas, California, 17-year-old Drew Principe was fascinated. He spoke with the elderly Jewish man after the assembly and presented him with a gift - a bracelet inscribed with a Jewish prayer he himself had bought on a trip to Israel several years earlier. Oster was overwhelmed with the gift, and admitted that he had never been to Israel.
The two kept in touch. Principe learned that Oster was detained by the Nazis just a few weeks before his bar mitzvah and spent time in Auschwitz. After the camp was liberated in 1945, he tracked down one of his few remaining relatives, an uncle in California. At 17, he was adopted by that uncle and began a new life in America. He never did get his bar mitzvah.
The man's story bothered Principe, and he decided to act. He wrote a letter explaining his dream of sending Oster to Israel and sent it to family and friends. They in turn spread the word. Over $15,000 was raised to cover Oster's travel expenses.
Principe didn't stop there. He learned that Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Israel, had listed Oster as a victim of the Holocaust, not as a survivor. He contacted them and set the record straight.
When Oster travels to Israel this summer, Yad Vashem will conduct an official ceremony to change his status to that of a survivor. Plus, he will finally celebrate his bar mitzvah, attended by his last living relative in Israel.
Auto body shops are typically busy, noisy places. Such was the case at Collision Masters in Buffalo NY, last week, when all of a sudden, the place went quiet. The business owner, Frank Todaro later said, "You could hear crickets." The abrupt silence was because a pickup had just pulled in, covered in racist hate graffiti. Air tools stopped, no one spoke. The staff was horrified by what they saw. The pickup's owner, Mr. King, obviously wanted the graffiti removed, and Todaro quickly put two workers on the job. Cleaning that much graffiti would likely take a full day.
Word spread of the conscientious workers at Collision Masters. Because of their kindness, State Rep. Tim Kennedy bought the shop staff lunch, and Mayor Byron Brown stopped by with an official proclamation hailing their good deed. A social media report of the quick, free graffiti removal got thousands of 'likes,' 'loves,' and 'shares' on Facebook.
On Wednesday, CJ Sparks was driving through Citrus Heights, California when he spotted smoke and flames coming from a church. He turned his car around and pulled into the parking lot of Advent Lutheran Church. One entire side of the structure was on fire. Thinking quickly, the 20-year-old Sparks called the fire department, but he was concerned by how fast the fire seemed to be spreading. He took matters into his own hands. He entered the church, grabbed a fire extinguisher, and got to work. He was soon joined by a neighbor with a hose, and the two of them fought back the flames until firefighters arrived. The pastor is thankful for the early fight against the fire. If the fire had spread, it would have destroyed the food pantry, and with it, meals for hundreds of the area's homeless people every week. Sparks says, "...it was something I had to do." The pastor calls it "a God moment."
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.
Three years ago, Detroit started the process of shutting off water to residents behind on their payments. That typically included the city's poorest and most vulnerable people. Many people around the country, including the UN, called the practice a human rights violation. Despite that, the practice continues today.
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.
Today, I'm taking a break from my usual blog in which I highlight one right thing done by an individual. The reason? Today, April 24 2017, is Holocaust Remembrance Day. Because of its origin on the Hebrew calendar, the day falls on a different Gregorian calendar date every year. Unesco has set January 27th as Holocaust Remembrance Day, so I suppose that makes two dates each year in which we are to remember. Either way, the date's purpose is to give us pause so we can remember victims of the Holocaust and to refocus on the pledge: Never Again.
Twenty years ago, Holocaust survivors talked with school students and civic groups, putting a personal face and story to the greater horror. Fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors are alive now to share their stories in person. Thankfully, many documented their truths via the archives at US Holocaust Memorial Museum,Yad Vashem, and numerous books, articles, and videos. There is great wisdom there, free for the asking.
And so here we are, a third generation away from those horrible events, and the question is as relevant as ever - have we learned the lessons of history so we can, with confidence, say 'Never Again'?
Prejudice and racial/religious profiling still exist worldwide, including right in our own country, our own towns. People are still lumped into categories and weighed against a popular standard in an assessment of worth. Genocide, wiping out entire populations based on some defining feature, still happens around the world.
In addition to the prevalence of anti-semitism in today's world, the 'other' victims of the Nazi regime also continue to be viewed as lesser human beings, still fighting for basic rights and basic dignities. This includes people who are homosexual, disabled, Roma Gypsies, or anyone who resists their government's status quo.
So no, even with two recognized dates in which to examine our prejudices and our actions toward one another, we haven't learned. The possibility of another holocaust is quite real.
God help us.
And that's why I continue to read and write about those years. I can't change history, and I can't fix the world. But I must do what I can to share what I've learned with subsequent generations. Anyone who reads Risking Exposure and its sequel (my work-in-progress) will hopefully see how dreadfully simple it is to move from feeling prejudices to verbalizing them to acting upon them (or turning a blind eye while others do so.) Only awareness of the historical cost will prevent us from going down that road again.
Jennifer and Don Austin were ready to get home. Don had undergone a below-knee amputation because of months of medical problems, and the couple was anxious to let him rest and recover in his own home. They knew Jennifer couldn't get him into the house in his wheelchair, so Don was ready to hop up his front steps with crutches.
He couldn't make it. He was too weak and off-balance, and try as she might, Jennifer couldn't help him. Don sat on the stairs to scoot up on his bottom, but even that proved too much.
At that moment, Steve Smith happened to be driving by. He didn't know the Austins, but decided to circle back and stop. Smith asked the couple if they needed help, and the Austins gratefully said yes. Smith picked Don up and literally carried him into the house.
Smith's kindness didn't end there. The next morning, he came back and asked the Austins' permission to build a ramp. He supplied the manpower and made it happen.
The Austins call Smith an angel, one who saved them twice within 24 hours. They shared his kindness on social media.
We humans like to think we can be brave when needed, that our inner hero can be readily called into action to save the day.
If only.
Truth is, most of us hesitate, grapple with indecision or surprise, or are sluggishly weighing out the pros and cons while the problem unfolds. Perhaps that's why we love hero stories. When seconds count, their best self emerges and they act.
Thankfully, Jonathan Kulig acted. On Saturday night, the 29-year-old had just gotten off a subway and stepped onto the platform. On the opposite platform, he saw something fall onto the tracks. When he reached it, people yelled and pointed to a person lying on the tracks below. The train would come into the station in less than a minute.
Kulig jumped down and scooped up the barely conscious young man. He lifted him to the edge where other subway patrons helped him to a bench. Then Kulig climbed out himself, and was promptly proclaimed a hero. The rescue was caught on video, including the dramatic moment when the train rushes into the station.
Kulig is employed by Con Edison, and had just gone through the MTA's track safety course. He knew how to keep himself safe as he helped the fallen person. "I did what I had to do," he said.
I'm not a runner, never was, but I understand there's a culture of support among runners. They stick together, encouraging each other during training and races so each individual meets their goals.
Olathe Kansas resident Ian Grillot was at a local bar last month, watching a basketball game. A man entered the bar and made disparaging remarks to two other patrons, whom he assumed to be of Middle Eastern descent. He was heard to yell, "Get out of my country!" and was promptly ejected from the bar. He returned, gun in hand, and shots were fired.
On instinct, Grillot ducked beneath a table but kept his presence of mind. He counted 9 shots, and assumed the shooter's magazine was then empty. So he stood and gave chase, intent on catching the gunman before he could harm someone else.
Turns out there was another bullet left. It pierced Grillot's hand and lodged in his chest, narrowly missing major arteries and his spinal cord. He was hospitalized for weeks. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with medical expenses.
It turns out the two men shot in the bar were of Indian descent, both aviation engineers employed locally for years by Garmin. One of the men died of his injuries, the other was critically injured.
A few days ago, Grillot's decision to act was honored by the Indian-American community in Houston. He was presented with a check for $100,000 in recognition of his "selfless act beyond the call of duty."
Grillot insists he just did what anyone else would have done. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't try to stop the shooter from continuing his rampage elsewhere. And the man who was critically injured? He's doing well, and looking forward to the future with his pregnant wife.
The shooter has been arrested and charged with first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder.
Ibn Ali Miller was running errands in his hometown of Atlantic City NJ on Monday. A street crowded with teens caught his attention and he pulled his car over. Without a thought that he might be walking into a dangerous situation, the 26-year-old married father of six got out and approached the group. At the center, he found two young men involved in a fist fight.
Miller has been praised by individuals including NBA star LeBron James and rapper Snoop Dogg. More importantly, the teens themselves have thanked him for stopping the fight. For his quick peacemaking action, Miller was hailed a hero and honored by Atlantic City council. A Muslim, Miller is humble, insisting that he just did what was right.
Since they moved into the house four years ago, Matthew and Maria Colonna-Emanuel of Staten Island, New York knew there was a rusty metal box behind some thick shrubs in their yard. They figured it was an old electrical or cable box and left it alone. 
Inside were $16,000 in soggy hundred dollar bills, plus diamonds, jade, and gold jewelry. While the smelly bills were peeled apart and laid out to dry, the couple found a document linking the box to their neighbors. 
