Here are some recent heart-warming items that caught my eye. To the people in these stories, ‘Thank you for making the world better.’
Rent the Runway is an online business that rents designer clothing and accessories. Jennifer Hyman is a co-owner of the large, successful business and she recently spoke about a radical decision she made to provide equal benefits for all their employees. She had come to the realization that the more privileged, educated employees had generous benefits and the flexibility to take time off for family or medical emergencies while the hourly employees in the warehouse and customer service departments didn’t have the time or money to do the same even though they obviously faced the same life issues.
‘I implicitly understand that Rent the Runway would not exist without the dedication and loyalty of our team. Don’t I owe it to the team that got me here to take care of them? … It’s time for business leaders to step up and fulfill not only their fiduciary duty to shareholders, but also their moral duty to society to treat every worker equally.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/06/opinion/workers-benefits-inequality-rent-the-runway.html
A group of exhausted emergency ambulance medics shared breakfast at an IHOP recently after a particularly long, difficult shift. When they tried to pay their $77 bill they discovered it had already been paid by an anonymous person, leaving only a handwritten thank you note on the back of the receipt: ‘Paid, thank you for all you do! Have a great day! :)’ and simply signed ‘Recovering Addict’.
Captain Alyssa Golembeski said that when they read the note to the ‘boisterous bunch’ of medics, each of them was touched and sobered by the anonymous appreciation.
The generous gift giver is still unknown.
After the Japanese team’s defeat at the World Cup the players responded shortly after the emotional loss. How? Temper tantrums and breaking furniture? Finding an official to scream at? Getting drunk and falling down a lot on the fronts of their faces? Nope.
Actually what they did was a deep-clean of their locker room, leaving it in perfectly spotless condition, cleaner than when they entered!
Japanese fans also gained a reputation at the World Cup for picking up garbage and cleaning the stands after each game they attended.
A happy face toe family because, why not?
Grace Jerry and her husband moved from Donegal, Ireland to Victoria, British Columbia. Unfortunately they didn’t know their new neighbours and that just didn’t seem natural to the Jerrys so they walked from house to house and passed out fifty invitations to their neighbours to visit them – for soup. Yam and Pineapple soup (sounds great!).
On the specified date, more than forty people showed up. The tradition has continued now for thirteen years and Grace claims to now know the names of one hundred of her neighbours.
Raymond Hardisty was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was only four years old and needed a bone marrow transplant. The result of the transplant and the related drugs caused Graft versus Host Disease which has complicated his life since then.
The Stayner, Ontario resident is now 29 years old and has raised over $30, 000 for the Children’s Miracle Network. He works at the local Dairy Queen and franchise owner Sherry Schaap said, ‘You know he gives so much to the community, to sick kids and it truly is amazing how one human being can give back so much. And he does it, he has the biggest heart. I can’t say enough good about him. He’s just one special person.’
Raymond has been a life long Toronto Blue Jays fan and was surprised Thursday by the Toronto Blue Jays mascot and a call from Buck Martinez informing him that he would be throwing out the first pitch at the game against the Red Sox on August 8 at the Rogers Centre.
A visually impaired man fell onto the tracks at Broadway subway station here in Toronto-the-Good. Three nearby TTC passengers immediately banded together to get him back to safety. One of the rescuers, Kyle Busquine, said it simply but eloquently, ‘It’s just the morals and principles put in me by my parents. I think if everyone takes the time out of their day to help one another it would make the world a better place.’
They were rewarded with free transit passes for a year.
Walter Carr had a problem. His car had broken down and he wasn’t able to borrow one to get to his first day of work with Bellhops, a moving company. So he took a four hour nap, then headed out at midnight to begin a 22 mile walk to get to the job site for the next morning. Long story short, he only had eight or ten miles left to walk when some police officers noticed him – they bought him breakfast and gave him a ride to the site where he was to meet his new co-workers.
Jenny Lamey was the home owner who was having the work done and she was so touched by Walter’s story that she was moved to tears. She began a GoFundMe page to raise money for him to fix his car and contacted the president of the moving company to tell him the story.
At a later time, with the Lamey family, the police, and co-workers present, Bellhops CEO Luke Marklin surprised Carr with the gift of a new Ford Escape SUV.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/young-man-walked-miles-day-work-car-ceo/story?id=56642518
Cody, the Morris’s family dog, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given one to three months to live. They had a family meeting and decided that it would be a fitting gift to give Cody his favourite snack, a cheeseburger, every day for the rest of his life.
When they placed their first unusual order at the local Wendy’s drive through, the employee was naturally curious and asked more about the circumstances. As a result, Wendy’s is now supplying a cheeseburger free of charge for Cody to enjoy every day to the end of his life.
On the subject of doggies, here is a picture of my daughter’s (very well cared for) boxer whose name is Mara and her, ahem … rain gear which she wears willingly because getting wet isn’t fun, obviously.
They live in North York where there are lots of other (very well cared for) dogs with rain coats and she can actually go for a walk and stay dry without people staring!
Oh, and when the wind blows, the wings flap…
