The GOOD NEWS Thread

[blondguy]

Hi Everyone

If you have any good news in your life or seen any good news in the media please let us know in a brief post 😊

Note: I understand and respect this thread topic is not for everyone as any level of anxious/depressive feelings are awful to experience

Just for myself I have a couple of positives

• Peta Credlin on Sky News gave Beyond Blue a huge mention earlier this week
• My mum is still independent and doing well at 90 years of age and her lung function test is 'Normal' and still a smoker! Love you mum x

any good news is welcome...and thankyou everyone for being a part of the Beyond Blue forums too!

my kindest always...Paul

[Unbeliever]

In Dublin there is a retired man who spends every night, 7 days a week making 50 tubs of food for the homeless and distributing them. He does this with no funding and only on his pension and paying for everything himself.

In Florida, when a family of 6 were caught in a powerful riptide out in the ocean, over 80 people formed a "human chain" from the beach to the family and then over about an hour managed to pass each of them 1 by 1 back to the shore down the human chain saving their lives (one of whom was a grandmother who had suffered from a heart attack in the water) to where paramedics were waiting onshore.

In 2016, the Emir of Dubai flew £300,000 of emergency supplies to Haiti on his private jet. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum sent 90 tonnes of emergency supplies in his Boeing 747 to the Caribbean island in the wake of Hurricane Matthew.

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes. The head of the parish of Santana in the city of Gravatá in Brazil, gives stray dogs shelter in his church in the hopes that a kind family will adopt them. After finding a stray dog and taking them to a vet for a quick checkup, he brings them to his church services. Thanks to his actions, the number of stray dogs in his community has decreased drastically. Not only have dozens of puppies found loving permanent families, but Father Gomes has also become a dog dad to some of the strays himself.

In 2013, 5 year old Jocelyn Rojas was playing in her front yard in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, when authorities believe she was abducted by a man who lured her by offering ice cream. On hearing this,15 year old Temar Boggs and his friend took off on their bicycles to search. About a half-mile away, they spotted the child in a sedan. But the driver was elusive. The two teens chased the alleged kidnapper on their bikes for 15 heart-pounding minutes. The driver apparently knew he was being followed and gave up. "He stopped at the end of the hill and let her out, and Jocelyn ran to me and said that she needed her mom," Temar said. Without question due to their refusal to give up these teens saved this girl from something terrible happening.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 twin towers collapse, professional trained rescue dogs started becoming increasingly upset and depressed because they were working so hard to find survivors but there were so few to find. So some of the rescuers started burying themselves in the rubble so that the dogs had someone to "save".

[Unbeliever]

In China, for the last 13 years 2 disabled men, one blind, the other a double arm amputee, have been planting trees together in rural China. Every day Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi walk to work carrying a hammer and a metal rod and always with the aim to plant as many trees as possible in the area, to prevent their village from flooding and improve the environmental surroundings.

In Colorado, when 9 year old Joshua Wade needed surgery he was extremely anxious. So he brought along his stuffed animal, “Wolf,” who had a hole in his right leg. He asked his doctor at the Children’s Hospital if his stuffed friend could get surgery as well, to which his parents told him that they "didn't do wolf surgeries here". When Joshua woke after his surgery he found his pal "Wolf" had a fresh set of sutures, a hospital mask, and a new leg bandage all courtesy of the anesthesiologist on duty who had overheard the conversation earlier.

In Turkey, this year a man was doing a street performance that involved laying down on the street and pretending to be injured and in pain. A homeless dog that happened to be walking by entered into the performance and laid its head on top of him in an attempt to comfort him and refused to leave the "suffering" man. The actor tried not to break character but found it impossible with the surrounding crowd cheering the genuinely sweet moment. The dog was escorted to the side by a fellow actor so the performance could continue and the dog watched for a while before wandering off. The actor later could not get the moment out of his head and returned to the same spot regularly hoping to find the dog... without success. The actor eventually did find him and took it to find them a "forever home" in order to repay the dog's kindness.

In Dublin, 37 year old John Byrne who had been homeless for 23 years was begging on a bridge with his best friends Lily the dog and Barney the rabbit when a youth suddenly grabbed the rabbit and threw it into the river below. John, seeing Barney struggling to stay afloat, jumped off the bridge into the river and carried his now lifeless body to a bridge support column and managed to resuscitate him while firefighters on the bridge worked to get them both to safety. Within days after the story came out John was given a Compassionate Citizen Award for going above and beyond the call of duty to help an animal in need. His story touched the hearts of thousands of people nationwide, with many offering him donations and food.

[monkey_magic]

Unbeliever all that good news has really boosted my morale thankyou so much for taking the time in sharing all of that!

Today I officially won my weight loss challenge/bet. I am down 17.5kgs and $1600 richer!

My good news!

[Ggrand]

Hello everyone...

Congratulations , Magic....I am so very happy for you..you done it and you are very deserving of your prize.....I hope you spend it on something you want...enjoy the money, beautiful lady..

Grandy..

[Unbeliever]

Enrique, a southern rockhopper penguin has been living at a zoo since 2016 and is estimated to be more than 30 years old (median life expectancy in the wild is about 10 years). Due to his age he had developed severe arthritis in both feet making it severely painful for him to walk and swim. Zoo officials contacted a New Jersey-based company that makes boots for dogs and cats, called "Thera-Paw" to create strap on cushioned, rubber shoes for Enrique. Staff members put them on Enrique in the morning and take them off at night before he goes to bed. Since wearing the boots, zoo officials said Enrique has not required constant cream for his feet and now can get around without pain.

In Argentina. 21 year old Luciano Karosas adopted a dog called Thanos who had developed an incurable cancer that formed a massive and very noticeable tumor on his head. The dog had been rejected by 4 different families because he required special treatment and was not expected to live very long at all (a month or so at most)... dooming him to spend his final days lonely in a cage. When Luciano found this out he wouldn't have that and adopted Thanos to make sure that he felt unconditional love during his final days and made the best of the little time that they had together. Thanos right up to the end loved to play and snuggle just like any dog would. “I came out of the experience with a piece of my heart in my hand,” Karosas said.

In Armenia, when New Zealand born Samuel Forrest and his wife had a son they received the unexpected news that their child had down syndrome. His wife immediately gave him an ultimatum... put their child up for adoption or she would leave him. Samuel returned to New Zealand with his son Leo and immediately filed for divorce.

In Denver Colorado, 50 year old Steve Greig, was devastated when his dog Wolfgang died. A month or so later he decided to honour Wolfgang by going to an animal shelter with the intent to bring home the oldest "least likely to be adopted" dog that they had. That dog turned out to be a 12-year-old Chihuahua named Eyore, that had bad knees and a heart murmur. This experience ended up to be so rewarding that he decided that wherever he discovered a dog that was unlikely to find a home he would do the same thing again. His property is now currently home to nearly two dozen animals: eight elderly dogs, two Calico cats, two ducks and a miniature pot-belly pig named Bikini (who happens to think she's one of the dogs).

[ecomama]

I could read your GOOD NEWS posts forever Unbeliever lol. SO BEAUTIFUL!

IDK where my last post went but oh well.

Well done Monkey. You're a MIRACLE Monkey lol!!! Rich one too hahaha.

My good news is that I'm here. Thankyou for the Forums everyone, I really appreciate each and every one of you.

Also my son is FINALLY home. He beat the Lock Down timing and made it home in time. Yay.

Looking forward to feeding him up lots and spending some down time with him.

Love EMxxxx

[missep123]

I really love this Good News thread everyone 🙂

Thank you to everyone for posting!

So happy for you @ecomama! I am so glad you get to spend some quality time with your son!

[Unbeliever]

In Illinois, in 2015 there was a lone completely blind deer who had wandered in a suburban neighbourhood. Someone noticed a 10 year old boy would walk with her from one grass patch to another, making sure she got enough to eat each day before school and took photos. They posted photos of the boy and the deer online and they went viral. A few days later, vets from the wildlife rescue group picked up the deer and took her to a forest preserve where they’d be able to look after her and keep her safe. After the deer went to the rehabilitation center, they learned that many other people in the neighborhood had been leaving food out for the deer.

Trabuco Canyon, California, 2 year old Scarlette Tipton was born with a rare cancer that ultimately led to her left arm being amputated when she was just 10 months old. Her father was watching the local news station when the story of a 3 month old kitten (the vets had named "Holly") who had been found badly injured had been saved but had to have a leg amputated. The parents then drove over 2 hours to the animal shelter to adopt Holly which happened to be just before Christmas. Scarlette formed an instant bond with Holly who instantly recognised that they had something in common.

Ballymun, Dublin, 15 year old Jamie Harrington was walking across a bridge when he noticed a man in his mid-30's on the ledge looking off. Jamie stopped and simply asked him if "He was okay"? and then convinced the man to sit down with him and talk on the sidewalk. The conversation lasted about 45 minutes. He then called an ambulance and they traded phone numbers. A few months later the man called him and told him that his girlfriend was pregnant and they were going to name the child "Jamie".

In Tanzania, as of just recently they have finally managed to halt the worst ivory poaching within its borders, making more than 2,300 arrests of poachers and traffickers over five years. Investigators say that by the beginning of 2020 they had identified and penetrated at least 11 organised wildlife trafficking syndicates and arrested 21 high level leaders and organisers of the illegal trade, who profit most from it. This success has been achieved by linking multiple organisations working together instead of relying solely on a singular task force.

[Unbeliever]

In Germany, they have initiated a "Bee-friendly urban wildflower meadows" program countrywide scheme to reverse a 75% decline in insect populations. More than 100 large wildflower meadows have been planted in Germany's largest cities over the past three years and are all accessible to the public. Berlin has set aside 1.5 million Euros to seed and nurture more than 50 wild gardens while Munich has set up about 30 meadows since 2018. There are similar initiatives in Stuttgart, Leipzig and Braunschweig. Hamburg. This month also unveiled the first of a series of bee-friendly flower beds atop bus shelters.

In Buffalo NY, 14 year old Nathan Adams who started his own small lawn mowing business after being unable to find work due to his age lost his grandfather (who had helped him start up his business). Out of respect for his grandfather's military service he decided to mow 50 lawns for free for 50 veterans. In return, veterans and organizations began reaching out to him, donating military apparel and a "coin and a patch that's been all over the Middle East".

In Taiwan, after the pandemic started Taiwanese architect and engineer Arthur Huang turned his attention to solving the urgent need for medical supplies and hospital space. Unable to obtain materials as a result of travel restrictions he focused on creating construction and medical materials out of recycled waste making medical parts, medical components all out of local trash. This has resulted in the "Modular Adaptable Convertible MAC ward" the world's first hospital ward built out of recycled materials. The walls of the MAC ward are lined with panels made from 90% recycled aluminum, and insulation made from recycled polyester. Cupboard handles and clothes hooks are made from recycled medical waste such as PPE. A portable version can be built from scratch in 24 hours allowing it to be transported to places with urgent high medical need.

[topsy_]

My good news is that our grandson, Mr 18, is coming to stay tomorrow for two weeks. YAY!