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Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh is becoming globally recognized for conducting cleft palate surgeries free of charge. Singh has performed the procedure for more than 37,000 children and adults as part of his “Smile Train Project.” Singh is a well-known plastic surgeon in India, and he established G.S. Memorial Plastic Surgery Hospital and Trauma Center, located in Varanasi, India, in 2001 in honor of his late father. The hospital provides state-of-the-art reconstructive plastic surgery for patients in need at an affordable cost.  “In every cleft child who has come to me, I have visualised that little Subodh, who lost his father when he was only 13. My father Gyan Singh and mother Giriraj Kumari (she died last year) taught me to serve the poor and live ethically,” Singh told The New Indian Express. “I feel God made me a plastic surgeon and not a businessman to serve a divine cause.” Singh earned his degree from the Institute of Medical Sciences, one of six institutes of Banaras Hindu University. He is also a Diplomat of the National Board in Plastic Surgery. Singh is also trained in aesthetic surgery, head and neck reconstruction, burns and hand repair and microsurgery at various institutions. Image source: New Indian Express

When Lidia Tromp, a woman from Ontario, Canada, was faced with moving into a nursing home, she already knew just what she wanted to do with her home of 55 years. "God put it in my head and my heart to give [the house] away," Tromp said in a news release from Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services (OAHS) on Friday. "It was such a liberating thought. Good will come from it, I'm sure." Tromp purchased her home in Tillsonburg – near London, Ontario — after she moved to Canada from her home country of Holland. After settling into the house, she noticed a set of iron bookends that depicted “a person slumped over on the back of a horse" represented "the suffering of Indigenous people from their loss of land, children, and other forms of oppression," she said. Despite sometimes working multiple jobs at a time to afford her mortgage, Tromp always found the time to give back to her community. Throughout the years, she has made over 10,000 handmade dolls, even sending some to children in other countries. With the help of her lawyer, her home was inspected and the donation of the home was accepted. "She has the kindest, gentlest, and most giving heart and soul of anyone I have ever met and likely will ever meet. I was honored to be the representative from OAHS to meet Lidia, I was incredibly moved," Wanda Chorney, the manager of title services for the organization, said in the news release. Tromp’s donated home will provide an indigenous family with safe and affordable rental housing. OAHS gives priority to individuals and families escaping violence, including women and children who are living in shelters, victims of sex trafficking, and people who are either experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of becoming homeless. "I hope things work out better now for the Native nation than what has been done so far," Tromp said. Image source: CTV News Toronto

Tyson Foods announced Monday that it will pay out $50 million in year-end bonuses to frontline and hourly meatpacking workings beginning this month. This announcement comes as companies are fighting to attract and retain employees. The one-time bonuses for 86,000 eligible Tyson workers will depend on tenure and range from $300 to $700, the company said. "This is yet another way for us to say thank you and show how grateful we are for our frontline teams' efforts to keep each other safe, our company strong and our world fed over the past year," Chief Executive Donnie King told Ma. Approximately 59,000 workers contracted COVID-19 through January at plants run by Tyson and competitors JBS USA, Cargill Inc, National Beef Packing Company and Smithfield Foods. The meatpacking industry was hit especially hard during the pandemic due to the nature of the work, spending long hours in close quarters. Tyson added that it has spent more than $500 million in wage increases and bonuses for frontline workers throughout the past year, with the average total compensation for hourly workers topping $24 per hour. Image source: CNBC

This Christmas-lover transformed her office cubicle into an incredible life-sized gingerbread house to win a workspace decorating competition. 47-year-old Monika Orrey had only been working at her new job for two months when the competition was announced. The financial services manager shocked her colleagues by spending eight hours constructing the gingerbread house, complete with giant candy canes and fake snow. Orrey built the sides and roof of the house by herself by using duct tape and cardboard that she later covered with brown craft paper. “I consider myself very festive, or as my daughter would say, I am ‘extra’!” said Orrey, who is from Oakland, California. “I do indeed have far too many decorations at home according to my family but I know they love it.” As for decorating her cubicle, Orrey said she wanted to do something “big” and incorporate her “well-known sweet tooth.”  “I was able to collect bowls from the dollar store, paint pinwheels on them, attach the bowl to a white cardboard tube and cover in cellophane for extra large ‘lollipops’,” she said. “I bought some candy stickers and found more candy images online that I printed out for more decorations.” Orrey added that several of her colleagues have even brought their children in to see the gingerbread house. “Mission accomplished!” said Orrey. Image source: Metro UK

While most high schools have traditions when it comes to supporting their sports teams, not many have support groups for other activities, like choir or art. Mountain View High School in Orem, Utah is looking to change that.  The school has a group called “The Bruin Crazies,” which supports the sports teams by cheering and leading the student section during games. Their new group, The Bruin Classies, has just begun to cheer on the non-athletic student activities  — the group has already accumulated more than 90 members. “The Bruin Crazies are essentially our student cheering department,” Caleb Stay, senior at Mountain View High School, told The Daily Herald. “We figured, ‘Why not create something for all of the arts, whether it be choir, band, orchestra, jewelry showcase, photography and art galleries — to give them some publicity and cheer them on?'”  The idea for starting a club that would support the arts had been in the talks for a long time, and students began signing up as soon as it became official.  The students named the group “The Bruin Classies” because they hope to bring a sense of “class” to the performances they attend. The group wears bowties to each event, and some wear signs around school in the days leading up to the events to spread awareness. “The students deserve to be celebrated by the student body. This is stuff that they have poured their time into and it deserves to be admired,” Stay said. “If you worked really hard on something and no one showed up, it would be a bummer. We just want to make sure that no one feels that way. We’ll get a bunch of kids to come and we want to be there to support the students.” Stay is both the president of The Bruin Classies and vice-president of the school choir, so he understands how important it is to support all student activities.“We want people to feel pride in the product that they produced. A lot of people are interested in the club, especially those in the arts,” he said. Image source: The Daily Herald

After a player accidentally entered the wrong phone number in a group chat, members of the Notre Dame Prep freshman basketball team found themselves on FaceTime with Tom Brady.  “That was fun,” Brady told ESPN on Wednesday. “That was really fun. It was really good to see all those young kids hyped up.”  The scenario began when Vinny Tartaglia started a group text for his teammates ahead of some of their upcoming practices. However, Tartaglia entered one of his teammate’s numbers in incorrectly. The number belonged to Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, who is originally from Michigan. “Did you mean to add me to this group?” responded Murphy-Bunting. "The guy replies … 'this is Sean. Do you know who I am?' Of course they think it's their teammate messing with them," Jason Whalen, whose son is on the team, wrote on Twitter. "After some back and forth the guy says 'this is @seanbunting_' and he sends a selfie in the Bucs locker room." The boys still thought that someone was pulling a prank on them, so Murphy-Bunting FaceTimed them, and they ended up catching a glimpse of Leonard Fournette, Mike Evans, Rob Gronkowski and Richard Sherman.  The Notre Dame Prep team then asked where Tom Brady was, so Fournette passed the phone over so they could say hi.

Apparently at that point SMB hands his phone to @_fournette who proceeds to walk around the locker room and introduce the boys to @MikeEvans13_ , @RobGronkowski, @RSherman_25, etc… pic.twitter.com/nd9aR2RgrT

— P. Jason Whalen (@pjwhalen16) November 24, 2021

"What an awesome experience for our boys and what an amazing group of guys on the Buccaneers," Whalen tweeted. "I can't believe they took the time to entertain Colin and his teammates. I'm sure they had a good time laughing at the fact that the Super Bowl champs got randomly added to a freshman basketball team group chat." Image source: The Washington Post

On Wednesday, Capital One became the largest U.S. bank to say it will do away with all overdraft and insufficient fund fees for retail banking consumers. The hefty fee is typically $25 to $35 for each overdraft.  This measure comes as regulators tighten their oversight of institutions that depend heavily on overdraft fees. On the same day, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced it would take action against banks whose practices take advantage of financially vulnerable consumers. "Rather than competing on quality service and attractive interest rates, many banks have become hooked on overdraft fees to feed their profit model," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. "We will be taking action to restore meaningful competition to this market." Capital One said eliminating overdraft fees is part of its longterm goal of “reimagining banking.” "Eliminating overdraft fees is another step in our effort to bring ingenuity, simplicity and humanity to banking," Capital One CEO Richard Fairbank said in a statement.  “We expect the vast majority of current bank customers, as well as the vast majority of overdraft users, to be eligible for free overdraft protection,” Fairbank said. “The same is true for our low and moderate income customers.” Image source: Business Insider

During the height of the pandemic, a mother of four and owner of HTX Art, Veronica Cabrera-Moreno, found a unique way to provide a creative outlet for those in her diverse Houston, Texas community who have little to no access to art. With the help of her family, Cabrera-Moreno transformed an old school bus into a mobile art studio. “Throughout the years I have painted, volunteered, and organized events for the community. Partnering with local restaurants and helping with existing programs using the arts to serve my neighbors,” said Cabrera-Moreno. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to fund and supply it, but we dove in. With the encouragement of a few friends, I began a GoFundMe and an Amazon Wishlist, and the donations rolled in. Soon, the bus had all the supplies needed to get started and I was even donated a portable sink.” Since building her “Art Bus,” Cabrera-Moreno has provided free arts programs and given art supplies to children, delivered art kits to a local elderly and disabled facility, organized community efforts to decorate hundreds of bags for Meals on Wheels and much more. “I have been able to do this with the support of different nonprofits who see the value in what I am doing and sponsor an 8-week program, a community event, or even an after-school program,” said Cabrera-Moreno, who is known for painting murals around her city. “It brings identity and a voice to many who are looking for ways to express themselves. I have seen art as a power to help children grow into confident leaders of tomorrow.” Image source: Click 2 Houston, Instagram / @htxartroni

Canadian lawmakers have passed a motion banning the practice of “conversion therapy,” which aims to change individuals’ sexual orientation or gender identity, and has been deemed harmful by health experts globally. In a rare show of bipartisan unanimity, the Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) voted to fast-track the legislation. This triggered an eruption of applause, as Liberal cabinet members hugged their Conservative colleagues. “I dream of the day when LGBTQ2 issues are no longer political footballs. And we are one day closer to that future,” said Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, who is gay. The bill was first introduced in March 2020, but it died after the government prorogued parliament. Trudeau’s party reintroduced the bill again but it died again when parliament dissolved ahead of the Sept. federal election.

Good news! Today, Members of Parliament worked together to pass our government’s legislation banning conversion therapy - and it is now headed to the Senate. We’ll keep working to make sure this abhorrent and unacceptable practice is prohibited in Canada.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) December 1, 2021

Erin O’Toole, the Conservative leader, has become an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights since gaining control of the party. By voting to fast-track the bill, lawmakers do not have to record their vote. The bill will now go to the senate for a separate vote before becoming an official law. Image source: BBC

More than 20 years ago, Gladys Hankerson was trying to get in touch with her sister in Maryland when she dialed the wrong phone number. Instead, she heard a man’s voice answer the phone.  The man was Mike Moffitt, a now-46-year-old man from Rhode Island – he explained that he was raised to always answer the phone. “At first, it was just like her saying, ‘Oh I’m sorry!’ and she’s really Southern, very hospitable, polite, very sweet, she’s like, ‘I’m so sorry, child!’ and then she hangs up real quick,” Moffitt told TODAY. Hankerson, now 80, accidentally called Moffitt several times before they finally struck up a conversation. “Finally, I just grabbed it and said, ‘Wait wait wait, before you go, who are you, where are you from, what are you trying to do?'” described Moffitt. “And we started talking.” At first, Moffitt thought the repeat calls were accidental. However, the mother of 10 continued to call over the next few weeks and finally disclosed that her son had passed away. “He said, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and he talked real nice to me and I talked real nice to him,” said Hankerson, revealing that “after that I had his phone number and I put it down on paper and I always called him.” Hankerson was lonely and enjoyed the companionship she felt when talking to Moffitt. “During that time I was downhearted, and he felt my sympathy and everything and lifted me up,” she said. This sparked a more than 20-year friendship between the two. They call each other every few weeks, and the pair finally met in person for the first time during Thanksgiving while Moffitt was vacationing in Florida with his wife and three children. He described the miraculous moment on Facebook writing, “Didn’t tell her I was coming and her daughter walked me through the door. I announced, ‘I’m Mike from Rhode Island’ and the first words out of her mouth where ‘I’m blessed!!'” “Oh it was such a great day, that was the happiest Thanksgiving there was, that made my day,” gushed Hankerson. “I wish more people could be like that, you know? That would be so nice, the world would be better too, people would be better.” Moffitt shared a photo of the meeting on Facebook, adding that “there are incredible people in this world that are a wrong number phone call away.” Image source: Facebook / Mike Moffitt