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Nintendo Partnering with Nonprofit to Bring Gaming Consoles to Hospitalized Children
The new Nintendo Switch gaming stations are being rolled out to hospitals and health care systems across the country as part of an initiative between Nintendo of America and the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit organization that’s mission is to bring happiness to ill children and their families. “Starlight Gaming has been a great aid in helping patients cope with hospitalization,” Lexi Little of Christus Shreveport-Bossier Health System in Shreveport, Louisiana, told CNN . “We cannot thank Starlight enough for impacting the lives of our patients, families, and staff members on a daily basis.” Julie Hertzog, a child life supervisor at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, Washington, told CNN: “The gaming stations are important distraction tools that normalize the healthcare environment and help kids through difficult experiences. They provide choices for kids, motivate them, and give them the opportunity to have fun when it is needed most.” The gaming consoles are easy to clean and transport between rooms, And are especially designed and manufactured by Nintendo for use in a hospital. Each console comes pre-loaded with more than 25 games, from Super Mario Party to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Since the partnership initially began around three decades ago, Starlight and Nintendo have delivered more than 7,200 gaming stations to more than 800 hospitals and health care facilities. “Over the years, Starlight Gaming stations have provided millions of seriously ill children with the healing power of play, entertainment, socialization, and emotional support, and have helped to normalize an otherwise scary situation or setting for families,” Adam Garone, CEO of Starlight, said. “We’re so grateful to Nintendo and their employees for such a long and continuing partnership fueled by innovation, impact, and generous support.” “It’s been our pleasure to work with Starlight and observe them bringing happiness to kids when they need it most,” added Don James, Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President. “As with everything we do, we hope the new Starlight Nintendo Switch gaming stations will put smiles on the faces of children and their families.” Image source: CNN

Boy Living in Tent for Charity Hits 500-day Milestone and Over $880k Raised
Max Woosey, an 11-year-old boy from Devon, a county in southwest England, has been living in a tent for over 500 days to raise money for charity. He started his mission on March 27, 2020 in memory of his friend and neighbor, Rick Abbott, who died from cancer in February 2019. Just before his passing, Rick gave Max his tent and told him to have an adventure with it. Max wanted to raise money for North Devon Hospice, which had taken care of Rick, and the facility was losing financial donations as the global lockdowns ramped up. Max has slept in the tent over Christmas, his birthday and even through winter storms. He only planned to raise £100, but 500 days and 10 tents later, he has raised over £640,000 British pounds, or approximately $880,000 U.S. dollars. “It feels amazing to reach 500 nights,” Max told the Guardian. “It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long because so many cool things have happened since I started camping. I never ever thought it would last this long, but I absolutely love it.” Max’s mother is an accountant and said the 500 days have been life-changing for the family. “It started off as my little 10-year-old boy camping out in the garden for a few nights and hoping to raise £100. None of us can really believe what has happened,” she said. When asked about plans to stop camping, Max said: “No, this is me, this is what I do now. I don’t have any intention of stopping just now. I love being outdoors and being closer to nature. If it stops being fun, I’ll come in. But I can’t imagine that. Image source: The Guardian

Naomi Osaka to Donate Prize Money From Tennis Tournament to Haiti Relief
Tennis sensation Naomi Osaka has announced that she will donate prize earnings from the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament to relief efforts in Haiti, where a 7.2 magnitude earthquake has devastated the country. More than 1,400 people have died and over 7,000 people are injured. Osaka, who is of Haitian and Japanese descent, could potentially win $225,000 for first place or $188,945 for the runner-up position. She is seeded No. 2 and will be playing her first tournament since the Tokyo Olympics, where she shockingly lost in the third round. The 23 year old finished second at the Western & Southern Open last year after withdrawing from the final match due to a hamstring injury. The situation in Haiti is expected to worsen as Tropical Storm Grace reaches the country, bringing torrential rainfall that could result in flooding and mudslides. “Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break” tweeted Osaka, whose father is Haitian. “I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all my prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors' blood is strong we’ll keep rising.” Several other celebrities have stepped up and said they will help rally support for Haiti, including rapper Wyclef Jean, who is from the Caribbean country. He posted a video to Instagram calling on people to “please do your part so we can help the country.” Rapper Cardi B also tweeted about the situation, saying: “I got a soft spot for Haiti and its people.” Actor and Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda wrote that he is donating to Fonkoze and CORE, and encouraged his followers to do the same. Image source: Insider

Canines Save Lives: Dogs Trained as Lifeguards Save Swimmers on Italian Beach
A group of 14 people were struggling in strong wind and high waves at an Italian beach, and were rescued with the help of Italy’s lifeguard dogs. A trio of Labrador retrievers — Eros, 4, Mira, 5, and Mya, 7 — helped the Italian swimmers that were around 330 feet off the shore of Sperlonga, an area halfway between Naples and Rome. The group included eight children between the ages of 6 and 12. The family struggled to get back to shore after their floats and surf equipment began to capsize due to strong wind and waves. One of the family member’s began calling for help and got the attention of three nearby dog units. The Italian School of Rescue Dogs (SICS) monitors approximately 30 Italian beaches, with 300 dog units, with one trainer per pup. Eros, Mya and Mira were able to bring the group to shore in approximately 15 minutes. Roberto Gasbarri, the head of SICS’s center-south department, said that dogs are “fundamental” in rescuing struggling swimmers, because big groups of people are too much for a small group of lifeguards to handle alone. Labradors, golden retrievers and Newfoundland terriers are the preferred breed for dog-lifeguarding, but all dogs are permitted to attend the training schools. Canines that perform particularly well are those that are calm under pressure and have exemplary swimming skills. Webbed feet and water-resistant coats are an added bonus. Image source: The Times

Ham Radio Hero Helps Saves Friend’s Life From Hundreds of Miles Away
Bill Scott of Scaramento, California brings his small black ham radio with him everywhere he goes. A ham radio, or amateur radio, is a popular hobby and service that allows people to communicate through a non-commercial exchange of messages. “On Saturdays, I’ll hear check-ins from just about every part of the world,”Scott told CBS Sacramento. He typically spends hours on the radio every day, taking it on walks, vacations and sometimes even to social gatherings. Having spent 40 years as an amateur radio operator, he has reached people from South Africa all the way to the Space Station. Then, this past June, he received a call and recognized the voice on the other end. “It was all kind of skewed and everything. I thought it was a prank call at first and so then after we finally established, he said ‘You are an amateur radio operator,’ and I said ‘Yeah’, then it all started coming together,” explained Scott. It was his ham radio friend, Skip Kritcher, that lives 500 miles north in Myrtle Point, Oregon. Kritcher dialed Scott’s number by mistake, but he was stuck on the floor and needed help. “I couldn’t see the numbers too good on the cell phone and I wound up pushing the button and calling Bill,” said Kritcher. Scott’s wife, Sharon, is a retired nurse of approximately 60 years and realized that Kritcher was having a stroke. “The speech that he had was slurred and my husband couldn’t seem to keep him on task, he was skipping all over and confused,” Sharon explained. The line dropped, and Scott immediately called 9-1-1. The couple had visited Kritcher’s home before, so they knew how to tell first responders to get there. An EMT told them that he would have passed within a couple of hours had 9-1-1 not been called. “It’s pretty awesome, they are great people you know. I’m just glad I called them,” said Kritcher. “Just a miracle that he called the wrong number and he got us and we were about to do something to help him,” said Sharon Scott. Kritcher still has impaired vision, but he continues to communicate with Scott through their ham radios while he is recovering from his stroke. Image source: CBS Sacramento

From Homeless to Hollywood: How This Homeless Artist Became A Sensation Overnight
Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Richard Hutchins grew up in Techwood Homes, one of America’s first federal public housing projects, before moving to Los Angeles. He found an art studio in LA where he could carry out his passion for painting. Eventually, Hutchins found himself in an LA county jail for a crime he was later found not guilty of. While behind bars, Hutchins spent his days painting with any materials he could find — toothpaste, Kool-Aid, the colored dye coating of Skittles and M&Ms, and a paintbrush made from his plucked beard hairs. When Hutchins was released, his art studio had been ruined by a fire and he became homeless again, ending up in shelters on Skid Row for six years. This past Easter Sunday, everything changed. Hutchins was at a grocery store when he ran into Charlie “Rocket” Jabaley, rapper 2Chainz’s former manager. Ever since, Jabaley and his company, the Dream Machine, have helped change Hutchins’ life. When asked what his dream was, Hutchins said: “My dream is to walk into a museum one day and see one of my paintings hanging on the wall.” Jabaley took Hutchins to a store and purchased $2,000 worth of painting supplies. Then, Jabaley and his team made a website for Hutchins to sell his work, including the 250 envelopes he had painted on while in jail. Four hours after the website went live, the team had sold $50,000 worth of art. Hutchins has made over $200,000 from art sales so far, with buyers like Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Steve Harvey. Hutchins hopes to help others get off of Skid Row. “I remember the night I slept in a firm good bed. It was a wonderful experience,” he told CNN. “But I am not comfortable until everybody around me is comfortable, which means the people that I left behind. "The money that we have raised and continue to raise, I am going to use ... to at least try to make the world a little bit better place to live in -- especially on Skid Row." Image source: Inspire More

After Taking Wrong Bus to Venue, Jamaica Gold Medalist Thanks Stranger Who Paid Cab Fare to Ensure He Made His Race
The Jamaican hurdler Hansle Parchment won gold in the men’s 110-meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics in a major upset of the reigning world champion, Team USA’s Grant Holloway. The 31-year-old athlete nearly missed the race when he got on the wrong bus and found himself at an aquatics center rather than a track just before the event was set to begin. He reached out to the Olympics officials who told him his only option was to head back to the Olympic Village and take a different bus to the correct venue, which meant he would miss out on time to warm up or, even worse, miss the race entirely. Then, Parchment ran into a stranger that ultimately helped him win a gold medal. Olympics volunteer Tijana Stojkovic defied the strict regulations that would have prevented her from helping when she gave Parchment money to take a taxi to the stadium. Thanks to her kindness, he arrived at the correct venue with enough time to prepare for the race. After winning gold, Parchment retraced his steps to find Stojkovic and thank her for her help. Two days later, Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness posted a video to Twitter that shows Parchment expressing his gratitude and saying Stojkovic was “instrumental in getting me to the final that day.” He then handed her his gold medal and gifted her with a yellow Team Jamaica shirt and paid her back for the cab fare. After the clip went viral, the Jamaican government went a step further and invited Stojkovic to their country as another display of appreciation. Image source: The Guardian

Officers Escort Child to First Day of School After His Dad Died of Covid
Noah Swanger made quite an entrance for his first day of fourth grade at Steve Schorr Elementary in Las Vegas. It is his first year without his father there to walk him to class. Noah’s father, Jason Swanger, was a police officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and died in June due to complications from COVID-19. Jason’s colleagues and fellow Las Vegas police officers showed up at the Swanger home to escort Noah to his first day of school with a motorcade and walked him to class. Noah greeted the officers wearing a tie, which his mom said represents his new role as “man of the house.” “This is his connection to his dad on the police department, so it means a lot to him that they’re all here for him,” Noah’s mother, Christa Swanger, told KKTV. Christa said the officers have maintained a relationship with Noah over the last two months to help him cope with the loss of his dad. “Every call that he went on was his most important call. He was thorough, caring and had compassion for people on calls,” said Brennan Childers with LVMPD. “There’s nobody that looked up to him more than his son and nobody I feel he was closer with than his son… We were just happy to come out here and be here for them.” Christa described her late husband’s squad as a family that has stepped up for Noah since his father’s untimely passing, including surprising him with a truckload of presents for his birthday and taking him to lunch just as his dad did. Noah wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become a police officer someday. Image source: CNN

MIT Group Develops Robot That Can Help Elderly People Get Dressed
The Interactive Robotics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has created a robotic arm that can slide a vest onto a human arm. This is an early step in creating a robot that could completely dress an elderly or disabled person. Robots have been able to dress themselves for over a decade, but dressing someone else is more difficult. The robot has to guess the human’s next move and avoid hurting someone if it moves the wrong way. “In this work, we focus on a planning technique,” Shen Li, a PhD candidate in the Interactive Robotics Group at MIT, told Fast Company. “Robots predict human motion, then design a plan that’s safe based upon the prediction. If I dress a kid or adult, they might have different reactions. So you have to predict what they’ll do.” For humans, this prediction is an invisible process. Li and his team took a stock robot arm and put a 3D tracker on it that can see the movement of the person waiting to be dressed. The groundbreaking software can recognize someone’s position and consider what their next move may be. This allows the robot to help the human get dressed while avoiding injury. “We’re not only predicting the most likely human movement, but the entire uncertain human set of the future,” said Li. He added that this is a conservative approach, so getting dressed could take some time. “After the robot is more certain about the human [it’s faster],” said Li. The next steps of research include adding a full sleeve to the vest, and eventually developing the software to help pull on a second sleeve or a pair of paints. Image source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Man’s $1 Collections Lead to Over $8,000 in Donations to Help Others
Anthony Talley created a program where he collects $1 from others to donate to people in need, and he has reached approximately $8,000 in donations. Talley lives in LaGrange, Georgia, a town with a high crime rate and high poverty rate of approximately 29.7%, so he knew he wanted to give back to his community. The initial money raised primarily went toward helping a man who lost his home in a fire. Talley also used some of the funds to do something kind for the children of LaGrange, buying ice cream for every elementary school student in Troup County. “When I do stuff like this it’s an overwhelming joy,” Talley told 11Alive. “People say, ‘well what do you plan to get out of this?’ And I tell them I plan to change the world, one life at a time, one dollar at a time.” Talley named his program $1 Thursdays, and his most recent charitable efforts include helping a mother of 10 with the purchase of a new car after she lost hers due to an accident involving her daughter, and helping a family with funeral expenses of a loved one after she passed in a car accident. To contribute to $1 Thursdays, Talley collects donations through cash app at $AnthonyMauriceTalley or through Venmo at @Anthony-Talley-9. He posts regular updates to his Facebook page to let everyone know how much has been raised and the current cause he is campaigning for. “Remember the goal is to change the lives of others $1.00 at a time,” he wrote in a Facebook post. Image source: 11Alive