Author: Kelly Brant

Elli Van Bree is a fifth grader at Elm Grove Elementary School in Texas. Her little brother, Willem, who is in first grade, will be joining her at the public school next year. Willem has autism and in honor of Autism Acceptance Month, Elli decided to film a video for Willem’s future classmates. She was worried about him starting at a new school and so she made a video telling Elm Grove Elementary how great Willem is and how to interact with him. She began by explaining that Willem is a little different, but his differences make him special. She described how Willem uses a tablet to communicate because he cannot speak and how sometimes he gets very excited so he will clap or flap his arms. She also explained that sometimes he gets overwhelmed by new people and loud noises because his ears and eyes are extra sensitive. She also talked about how he is similar to everyone else: he loves to read, cuddle, and hike. In addition, she supplied a list of things to do to make someone with autism feel loved and accepted.  1. Smile and say “hi” 2. Don't be offended if he/she doesn't want to do the same things as you 3. Be patient 4. Be kind The video will be aired during Elm Grove’s school announcements and it has also gone viral on facebook after Elli’s mom posted it. Elli ends her video by emphasizing, “Overall, he’s a kid like you and me...and I hope you love him as much as I do.” After watching this video, I think it's safe to say that Willem’s fellow students will love him very much.       

On February 21, 2018, Christine Mazzuchelli got the call that her son had been in a training accident, and that if she wanted to see him alive one last time, she would have to get on the first flight from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Diego. While James was still breathing with the help of a machine when she arrived with his stepfather, it was clear that his condition was critical, and that they had a difficult choice to make. They decided to begin the organ donation process, which, unbeknownst to them at the time, would allow a man to return to work, a veteran to regain his health, and a cyclist named Mike Cohen to get back behind the wheel.  In 2004, when Cohen was just 18, he was diagnosed with Leukemia, and the treatment process caused lasting damage to his heart. He beat cancer two years after his diagnosis but his heart was quietly beginning to give up on him. In 2017, he was finally rushed to the hospital with chest pains, where they found golf-ball sized clot in his left ventricle. He would need a heart transplant. Around the same time, Christine Mazzuchelli wrote a letter to each of the four recipients of her son’s organs, detailing the selflessness of James and his “go big or go home” mentality. Mike quickly realized how special his new heart was, and as soon as he got out of rehab, he began planning a bike trip across the country to Jacksonville, where James is buried. As opposed to the last one, this 1,426-mile cross-country bike ride was closely monitored by Mike’s doctor who made sure that his heart-rate remained below 150 beats per minute. On November 20, 2019, Mike pedaled the last 12 miles of his ride, slowly approaching the cemetery to meet Christine and James’ step-dad. He rode up to the couple, unclipped from his bike, and found that only a quiet “Hi” could escape from his lips. He fell into a deep embrace with Christine as the tears began to flow, and Mike silently expressed his gratefulness to James. Someone brought out a stethoscope, and Christine was given another chance to listen to her son’s heart. The heart of a hero.

A Pakistani organization is truly helping youth get over the nation’s daunting literacy “hump”. Lahore’s Alif Laila Book Bus Society has donated books to be used for camel-led mobile libraries, which delivers them to students who can borrow and return them for free. One of the camels—named Roshan—delivers books weekly to four villages in Balochistan, Pakistan’s most impoverished province. Balochistan has the highest percentage of students out of school in the country. In addition, the province has a troubling 24% female literacy rate and 56% male literacy rate. With no library in the area and schools having shut their doors due to COVID-19, Roshan’s trips to Balochistan villages are instrumental in keeping students intellectually engaged. When the book-bearing camel strolls into town, children aged 4-16 can borrow books, exchange books with other students, or return books they have previously borrowed. Once the pandemic began causing school closures, Rahima Jalal, a local high school teacher, and her sister Zubaida decided that using a camel would be an effective way to keep students engaged in reading. Rahima tells The Guardian that “the idea of using camels comes from Mongolia and Ethiopia. It suits our desolate, distant and rough terrains.” As a result, camels were a logical choice for navigating the Pakistani landscape while simultaneously making educational enrichment more accessible to students currently out of school. The Jalal sisters have received positive support from students for the mobile library project. So, they recently coordinated another camel-led mobile library in the city district Gwadar. A camel named Chirag and his handler, teacher Ismail Yaqoob, visit five towns in the district every week. The Alif Laila Book Bus Society has established over 7,000 libraries since its inception in 1978. In that time, the organization has donated over 1.5 million books to students across Pakistan.

Julia McClain met Luna at the beginning of their first-grade school year, and they instantly hit it off, despite being unable to see each other in person. "I kind of liked her, the way she is," Julia told People Magazine. When Julia’s birthday was fast approaching this spring, she understood that a typical birthday party for a 7-year-old may not have been feasible during the pandemic, but her mother knew just how to surprise her: a playdate with Luna at the park.

@lovethejamjamThe moment I met my best friend for the 1st time???? #feelgoodstory #heartfeltmoments #mybestfriendforlife #feelgoodvibesonly #newsstoryoftheday #ontv♬ Send Me on My Way - Vibe Street

"Luna knew, but Julia did not know," McClain told KVVU. "We were walking down the pathway here and she saw Luna and was so excited." What Julia thought was a normal walk to the park quickly turned into a huge surprise, and the heartwarming moment was captured on video and shared on TikTok by Julia’s mother. “I thought it was really exciting and like, oh my gosh! I get to see Luna for the first time!" Julia said. The two girls played for hours, catching up on lost time, and Julia described it as “one of the best days of her life.” "I was yelling, like, 'I'm so emotional!' It was really, really touching," Mrs. McClain said. "At school they don't let them hug, they don't even let them close to each other, so when they finally saw each other, she was a little apprehensive, and then she looked at me and she's like, 'I don't care, I'm hugging her!'" Moments like these serve as a reminder that little by little, normalcy is slowly returning, and hopefully the two girls will be able to see each other more in the future.

tank

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, professional baseball teams have been scrambling to figure out safe ways to bring fans back into the stands: baseball mitts, peanuts, Cracker Jacks, bunnies, and all. Yes. Bunnies. On Thursday, April 22nd, the baseball world was pleasantly shocked to see a large pet bunny in the stands during the San Francisco Giants’ home game at Oracle Park against the Miami Marlins. Kei Kato brought her fiancé, Josh Row, and her therapy bunny, Alex the Great to the ballpark, and the furry fan was greeted with immense joy.

 

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Giants’ spokeswoman Staci Slaughter tells ESPN that Alex was the first bunny to attend a Giants game in Oracle Park’s 22-year history. Many speculate whether or not the bunny was a good luck charm for the club, after it pulled off a 3-0 victory with Alex in attendance. Throughout the game, broadcast cameras would cut between the action on the field and the bunny in the stands. Towards the end of the game, a Marlins’ media relations staff member set out to bring Alex team merchandise. He may have been disappointed to find that Alex was already donning the home team’s garb; the bunny had a dark bow tie with orange crabs on it, representing the Giants’ team colors. Alex the Great is just over four months old. Kato, 32, got Alex three months ago to help her manage various stress and anxiety related to the pandemic. After losing her brewery restaurant, “K-OZ”, Kato was in need of additional support systems. She tells ESPN that "I lost it all because of COVID, so I've been really stressed a lot.” Having Alex join the family has made a dark time brighter. In the same ESPN article, Kato has endless kind words to say about her furry friend: “We actually bring him everywhere. He brings joy to everybody. He brings joy to us."

Since she suffered a Grand Mal seizure this past January, Alabama 7-year-old Liza Scott has been selling homemade lemonade by the cup to raise money for her upcoming brain surgeries. What began as an adorable plan became a lucrative enterprise—the young Liza has raised tens of thousands of dollars from her lemonade stand. When Liza suffered a deeply serious seizure on January 30th, Birmingham doctors discovered that she had three rare brain malformations in her brain. If untreated, these issues could cause future seizures, strokes, or brain hemorrhages, according to the fundraising web page set up by Liza’s mom, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a single mother who raises both Liza and a 3-year-old son. She also runs Savage’s bakery in Homewood (AL). With two kids and a store to manage—all during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not been kind to small businesses like Savage’s—brain surgery costs were a brutal blow for Elizabeth’s family. She writes on Liza’s fundraising page that “the next year [of surgeries] will require a tremendous commitment of our family, our business, and anyone who is willing to join in this journey with us.” Despite her young age, Liza recognized the greater implications that the logistics of her surgery would have on her family’s stability and well-being. So, she decided to be proactive and relieve some of the financial pressure herself. And so, Liza’s famous lemonade stand was born. Elizabeth was all for Liza’s drive to help her family, so she built her daughter a personalized lemonade stand outside Savage’s Bakery. This behavior is not a surprise to those who know Liza well. Elizabeth tells Fox News that "Liza has always shown the initiative to step up and take part in helping with things around the house or at the bakery even when it’s not expected or asked." The 7-year-old sold her refreshing beverages for 25 cents per cup. Her concoctions seemed to get Alabama residents hooked; Liza’s stand had raised an estimated $15,000-$20,000 by the beginning of March. “Selling lemonade (and other special treats) is one of [Liza’s] favorite things to do,” Elizabeth writes on the fundraising site. “So much so I built her a Lemonade Stand...sell she does, even giving it away for free just because she wants everyone to enjoy.” The family has raised nearly $400,000 online for the surgeries and accompanying travel expenses to hospitals in Boston. After a successful first surgery, Liza’s family is preparing for a second one in May, which involves removing part of her skull. In the meantime, Liza and her mother are working to put together care packages for families that also are enduring difficult medical issues and hospital travel. The popular cliché “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” has never been more applicable.

Jessie Hamilton worked as a cook at a Louisiana State University fraternity over three decades ago. When the fraternity brothers heard Hamilton was still working two jobs at age 74, they decided it was their time to give back to the woman that was like a mother to them all those years ago. Roughly 90 members of Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji, chipped in $51,765 to pay off Hamilton’s mortgage, with each brother donating around $600 to $1,000 on average. About a dozen members of the fraternity surprised Hamilton with the money in Baker, Louisiana on April 3, just before her 74th birthday. The fraternity brothers had special T-shirts made for the occasion. They played a “Let’s Make a Deal” style game with her, but all of the doors were winning ones for Hamilton. Behind one door was the T-shirts with “Jessie Hamilton Day” on them and a catered lunch from a local seafood restaurant. The next door had an oversized check for $6,675, and the final one was the big check for $45,000. “That shows how they all felt about her,” said Andrew Fusaiotti, who was a member of the fraternity in the late 1980s. “Jessie is one of these people that shows up to work and always has a smile on her face, eager to please and never complains.” Hamilton spent 14 years working as a cook for the fraternity from 1982-1986, but she also helped students with rides to the grocery store and doctor’s appointments. She was 60 when she purchased her first home in 2006 with a 30-year mortgage. She originally planned to continue working until the home was paid off. Now, she plans to retire and take a trip to Hawaii. “This has been a blessing to me,” Hamilton said. “I have been worrying about how I was going to pay my house off. I am grateful for what God has done and has led them to do for me.”

Jack Garcia is using his talents to bring joy to the people of Boston. Garcia is a nursing student at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. He recently picked up the hobby of oil painting, and in the last 5 months, he got really good at it. Now, he is using his talent and creating a scavenger hunt of sorts for his twitter followers. He stated, “I just thought it would be really nice if you’re walking down the street and you see this scene you really like and you look down and there was an oil painting of it, that would be really cool right?” He embraced this idea and decided to leave his creations around the city for the taking. He lets people know where to find the paintings on his Twitter @JakeScapes. When a specific visual sparks his creativity, he sets up and paints it. He then tries to leave it somewhere in the vicinity. So far, he has left four of his oil paintings in South Boston, and says he is just beginning. “I’m doing something I really love. At the end of the day that’s why I’m doing this. It’s very exciting to see where this will all go,” said Garcia. He wants to inspire others to start painting as well. “We’ve all been inside and a beautiful thing to do is to just go outside and just enjoy the sounds and the sights and the smells and just paint what you see,” he said. “I think that’s really nice and I think more people need to do it.” As a nursing student, Garcia has a desire to help others. He is genuinely a kind and compassionate individual. He is not leaving his paintings for money or recognition. He emphasized, “I just want to try to be an efficient human being that makes people happy. I want to help people...And if it brings them some joy, I think that’s really sweet.”