Calm bus driver gets 56 kids off safely before bus bursts into flames

It started as another Tuesday morning for school bus driver Teresa Stroble. She picked up 56 kids bound for the Duncan South Carolina elementary, middle, and high schools. Suddenly, two older students in the back of the bus yelled that they smelled smoke. Thinking quickly, Stroble pulled the bus over into the parking lot of a car wash. In less than a minute, she evacuated all the students from the bus, moved them a safe distance away, and radioed her transportation office to call 911.

The empty bus burst into flames.

Grateful students, parents, emergency responders, and school district officials are unanimous in their praise of Stroble's calm management of the crisis. No doubt, her ability to handle the situation exactly as she was trained to do saved lives.

The students have dubbed Teresa Stroble their superhero.

Girl with chronic illnesses founds a non-profit to bring smiles to hospitalized kids

Kayla Abramovitz and her brother Ethan know a thing or two about hospitals. Both have had extended hospital stays because of chronic illnesses: Crohn's disease, Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.

When Kayla was 11-years-old, she wanted to help some younger patients through their long, frightening, often boring hospital stays, but she was too young to volunteer. She noticed some Thomas the Train DVDs on her own shelves at home and had an idea.

With the help of her family, Kayla Cares 4 Kids began with a goal of collecting 100 donated DVDs for Niklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. That was four years ago. Kayla Cares 4 Kids, now a 401c3 non-profit, has collected over 14,000 items to date, including DVDs, electronic hand-held games, and arts and craft supplies. Donations are dropped off at collection points in Florida and New Jersey, and have been enjoyed by kids in children's hospitals and Ronald McDonald houses in all 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

Now 15, Kayla has won numerous local and national awards for her work. She works as hard as ever to "help sick kids feel better one smile at a time."

The ladies who kept the water flowing

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.

Tiffani Bell, working on a fellowship in the city of Atlanta, stumbled across a Twitter post about the situation in Detroit. She learned that if a $150 bill was unpaid for 2 months, water service could legally be shut off. That made no sense to her, and Twitter acquaintance Kristy Tillman agreed. The two women put their heads together and let their hearts lead them. Within days, they set up a page for donation pledges, and started to connect with folks in the most need. In a few weeks, the workload of managing donations and notifying residents grew to a full-time job.

Eventually, Bell and Tillman founded a non-profit called The Detroit Water Project. In a year, they collected over $170,000 to pay water bills for over 900 Detroit families.  Of course, problems paying the bill are not isolated to Detroit, so the project has expanded to Baltimore. The non-profit, now called The Human Utility, hopes to continue to expand its model to other cities and communities.

Another example of two people who saw a problem and didn't just sit by and let it happen. Tiffani Bell and Kristy Tillman became part of the solution.

This officer's example led his community to go above and beyond

Back in February, Atlanta Georgia Police Officer Che Milton responded to a call to apprehend a shoplifter. The thief was a 12-year-old girl, caught stealing $2 shoes from a Family Dollar store.

Officer Milton spoke with the tearful girl. He learned she stole the shoes to give to her 5-year-old sister, because she wanted to do something nice for her. Touched, Officer Milton offered to drive the girl home and speak with her mother.

The girl's small home was in a rough part of town. The home had almost no furniture, and sheets lay on the floor where beds should be. There was little food for the family of seven, two parents and five children. The girl's mother explained that her husband works jobs that don't pay much, and prohibitive day care costs for the little ones prevent her from working.

The officer's heart broke. He went to a nearby pizza shop, bought four large pies, and dropped them off. Several times in the next few weeks, he brought diapers and bags of clothing.

Back at the station house, he was called into his sergeant's office. The sergeant had heard about the family's situation and wanted Officer Milton to know he was organizing additional help for the family. The department posted the children's clothing sizes to their Facebook page. Now people from all around the Atlanta area have pitched in with donated goods, all because one man listened to his heart.

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.