WATWB: Mask Makers

11-year-old sews 500 blankets and over 1,000 masks for kids in need

Lucy Blaylock learned to sew three years ago when she made a quilt for a friend’s birthday….

“After the party she asked her mom if they could put together a blanket giveaway for children in need. She posted on social media and received 16 messages from parents of kids battling cancer, autism, bullies, and a move to a new city.”

“She’s donated 1,100 masks since March to those asking for a helping hand — including an order for the Ronald McDonald House, her mom said.”

Here’s more from Good Morning America. 

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Retired Librarian Turned Mask Maker

In a related story,  retired librarian Cheri Nienke  has made over 1700 masks that she has donated to her community. Here’s that story. 

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We Are The World Blogfest, #WATWB, is a monthly blogfest dedicated to “positive stories no matter where they’re found. It is all about spreading peace and humanity on social media.”  Co-hosts for this month,  Susan Scott, Peter Nena, Shilpa Garg, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, and Eric Lahti welcome participants and encourage all to join in.

WATWB: Mother – Daughter Nursing Team Goes to New York

In the first week of April, Ona Onyia and her mother, Uchenna Onyia-Murphy, traveled 1200 miles from Arkansas to Elmhurst Hospital in New York “the epicenter of the epicenter” of COVID 19.  They saw how overwhelmed the hospital staff was and wanted to help. They also wanted to learn as much as they could in case things got bad back home.

They each work 12 hour shifts, Onyia overnight, and her mother during the day, sometimes for six days straight.

“It has been mentally and physically exhausting, but rewarding in so many ways,” Onyia says. “…..I feel like I can work anywhere after this.”

In spite of the hardships, they both extended their contracts for another six weeks.

Thank you to all nurses, doctors, and medical care workers who go where they are needed most, even in their own hometowns or their own homes.

You can read more about Ona and Uchenna in this story from CNN

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WATWB is a monthly event on the last Friday of every month bringing to light positive stories good work, hope and encouragement to our world. The goal is to infuse social stories that show kindness, compassion, hope, overcoming challenges and the resilience of the human spirit.  Our five co-hosts, this month’s co-hosts are  Susan Scott, Lizbeth Hartz, Shilpa Garg, Mary J. Giese and Damyanti Biswas.  

To learn more about WATWB or to join us click here.

For more Good News stories, please join us on our FB page here .

WATWB: 13 Year Old Makes Medical Masks Less Painful

Thirteen-year-old Quinn Callander from Canada saw photos of doctors and nurses with injuries from long hours in medical masks. Then he saw a plea from hospitals asking for ear guards to help relieve some of the pressure on health-care workers ears and faces.

For his birthday, Quinn had gotten the 3-D printer he asked for and made some ear guards from an internet design.  After Quinn’s mother, “Heather Roney, posted a couple of photos of her son and his ear guard project on her Facebook page… requests came flying in.”

Quinn’s printer is now going 24/7 and he’s made more than 500 ear guards that help ease the pain of medical care professionals around the world.

I hope you’ll read more about Quinn and his project in this Washington Post article. 

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We Are The World Blogfest is a monthly effort to bring positive stories of hope to the world. We share these stories on the last Friday of every month. Thank you to this month’s co-hosts:

 Eric Lahti, Susan Scott, Dan Antion, Damyanti Biswas, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal.

For details on WATWB, visit:

https://www.damyantiwrites.com/we-are-the-world-blogfest/

And be sure to visit the WATWB Facebook page for more stories of light and hope.

 

#WATWB: Schools and Teachers Looking Out For Homebound Students

Happy Anniversary to WATWB -going strong for 3 Years!

“…We hope to share the stories that show kindness, compassion, hope, overcoming challenges and in general, the impressive resilience of the human spirit. For every dark, negative story out there, there is a positive, heartwarming story that will add some light and lift the human spirit.”

Belinda Witzenhausen

 

Before we get to my two stories (I couldn’t just pick one), I want to say thank you to all the people working hard to provide basic needs. Doctors, nurses, first responders, sanitation workers, grocery store workers, and other public servants, thank you for your service and dedication!

While schools are closed, school bus drivers, staff, and  even principals are delivering meals to students who may have depended on school lunch programs. Here’s just one of many examples:   https://youtu.be/xVUrukDo-8Q

 

And here’s a touching story from a reported who calls herself, “Your Neighborhood Hope Dealer” about two teachers who left affirming chalk messages at their students’ homes.

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This month’s #WATWB co-hosts are Sylvia McGrath,
Damyanti Biswas, Shilpa Garg, Dan Antion, and Belinda Witzenhausen.

 

For more positive news stories, visit the WATWB Facebook Page! 

 

 

#WATWB: Veterinarian Cares for Homeless People’s Pets for Free

For the past nine years, Dr. Kwane Stewart has been visiting homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and walking the streets and alleyways of California to take care of homeless pets for free. He and his vet tech, Genesis, do this work in their spare time. They understand that pets are family.  Dr. Stewart has a gofundme page for help with supplies, medication, and pet food.

You can read more about the the street vet in the following story from from the Good News Network:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/veterinarian-treats-homeless-peoples-pets-for-free/

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This post is part of the We Are the World Blogfest, a monthly blogging event created by Damyanti Biswas and Belinda Witzenhausen to showcase stories of hope and light.

This month’s co-hosts are:

https://www.professorowlsbookcorner.wordpress.com/“Sylvia McGrath
“https://drkillpatient01.wordpress.com/“Peter Nena
“http://shilpaagarg.com/“>Shilpa Garg
“https://ericlahti.wordpress.com/“Eric Lahti
“https://bwitzenhausen.wordpress.com/”Belinda Witzenhausen.

Please visit WATWB Facebook Pagefor more stories of light and hope!

#WATWB: Caring for 600 Foster Children Over Fifty Years

Linda Herring, and her husband, Bob, provided foster care for over 600 children in nearly fifty years.  They mostly took in children with special medical needs and would often take calls and go pick up a children in the middle of the night. One of the comforts Linda provided was to make sure every new child had a professional photograph hanging on their living room wall.

When Linda first started fostering children in the 1970s, she was running a home daycare and working as a high school custodian. She also volunteered as a first responder for much of her life.  One of the things that drew me to this story is remembering how much energy it took to raise my two children. I know Linda and Bob had help, but what a labor of love!

Linda is now 75 and has decided to stop fostering children due to her own health concerns. She was recently recognized for her service in her state of Iowa.

You can read more about Linda Herring in this article from the Good News Network.

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We Are The World Blogfest is a festival of positive stories hosted on the last Friday of every month. This month’s co-hosts are D. Biswas – https://www.damyantiwrites.com/ – L. Hartz – https://authorlizbethhartz.com/blog – S. Garg – http://shilpaagarg.com/ – M. Giese – https://maryjmelange.wordpress.com/ – S. Stein – https://ssteinwriting.wordpress.com/ –

For details, click here.

You can find more WATWB stories on the Facebook Page.

To sign up for WATWB click here.

 

#WATWB: Helping Australia’s Koalas

The devastation from fires in Australia is hard to watch.  But there are helpers. A group of quilters in The Netherlands is making mittens for koalas and pouches for kangaroos suffering burns from the bush fires. The mittens and pouches must be made entirely from cotton. Here’s more of the story.

Thank you to all the helpers, including the staff of Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.  Here’s the link for their gofundme page.

Below are two videos of people helping koalas

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We are the World Blogfest (#WATWB) brings us positive stories on the last Friday of every month. For more light in the darkness, visit the WATWB Facebook page:

For more details on WATWB, click here.

This month’s co-hosts,Sylvia McGrath, Lizbeth Hartz, Shilpa Garg, Mary Giese, and Belinda Witzenhausen welcome participants and encourage all to join in.

 

#WATWB: Homeless Dogs Find Love and Safety in this Brazilian Church

Father João Paulo Araujo Gomes of Brazil shelters stray dogs “in his rectory away from the dangers of the streets.” They come to church on Sundays to give and receive love and in hopes of finding a forever home.

Dogs have a way of mirroring the unconditional love of God. So is it any wonder that GOD spelled backwards is DOG? Dogs teach us about a very special kind of love.

Here’s an excerpt from the article in Bored Panda (link below) :

“Dogs provide us with unconditional love, laughter, and precious memories and it’s nothing less than fair to pay them back. Whether you are a faithful believer in God or not, as long as you believe in kindness and compassion, we can slowly make the world a better place.”

 

Click here for the story and sweet photos.

 

“We are the World” Blogfest” aims to spread the message of light, hope and love in today’s world. We are challenging all participants to share the positive side of humanity. This month’s co-hosts, Sylvia McGrath, Lizbeth Hartz, Shilpa Garg, Mary Giese, and Belinda Witzenhausen welcome participants and encourage all to join in during future months. #WATWB comes on the last Friday of every month. Click HERE for more information. You are always welcome to join in!

You can find more stories of hope, light, and love on the WATWB Facebook Page.

Click HERE to be part of the Light.

#WATWB: Volunteers Turn Old School Buses into Homes for Working Homeless Families

A School Bus from Pixabay

 

Julie Atkins, a freelance journalist based in Oregon, spent some time living with the homeless. She became interested in the working homeless and discovered one family living in an old school bus. This led Julie to starting the non-profit Vehicles for Change. Schools donate the buses and volunteers make them into homes.  The bus homes provide mobility and hope for working families.

Learn more about how it all got started and the families in  this article from People.

 

#WATWB is a monthly celebration of positive news stories. The world needs to know that positive news is abundant. For more WATWB stories, visit the Facebook Page

For more information, visit:

https://www.damyantiwrites.com/we-are-the-world-blogfest/

Guidelines:

1. Keep your post to below 500 words.
2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news, about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.
3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.
4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.
5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

#WATWB: The Town that Opened Doors to People Seeking Asylum

Las Cruces, New Mexico, a city of about 100,000, didn’t ask for asylum seekers to be sent to them. It was ordered by the US federal government.* In response, the people of Las Cruces rallied to provide hospitality.

“Rather than leave them at bus stations or other locations within the community, the City of Las Cruces and its government and non-government partners are working to provide care before processing (asylum seekers) through to their host families.”

City of Las Cruces Website*

Volunteers organized to provide food, clothing, and shelter for the 1600 people dropped off by border patrol.  The city council designated $600,000 in funding for temporary housing and the community has added private donations. Read more about this town that chose to help in the following article from The Good News Network:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/1600-asylum-seekers-welcomed-in-las-cruces/

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“We Are the World Blogfest” seeks to promote positive news. There are many an oasis of love and light out there, stories that show compassion and the resilience of the human spirit. Sharing these stories increases our awareness of hope….”

#WATWB starts on the last Friday of each month. You can join in any time over the weekend. Our co-hosts are: Susan Scott, Peter Nena, Shilpa Garg, Mary J. Giese, and Damyanti Biswas,

“Let us flood social media with peace and love, and “In Darkness, Be Light.”

For more information, visit:

https://www.damyantiwrites.com/we-are-the-world-blogfest/