1.Saved from Bulldozers, Baby Bird Steals Hearts. Oh my goodness, this story is absolutely precious. A contractor, Roberto Navarez, was working on a levee project outside of Sacramento when he noticed a couple of fallen baby birds in the path of a bulldozer. He immediately took action and rescued them. One seemed to be ok and he was able to reunite him with his parents, but the other was sickly and seemed to be dying. He called his wife and they decided to take in Blu, the scrub blue jay. They spent several months nursing her back to health and today she is flying free and traveling with her own kind. She even came back for a visit to the Navarez house.
2. Story of Unsung Dutch Hero Who Saved Thousands From Nazi Holocaust is Finally Told 45 Years After His Death. Jan Zwartendijk, an ordinary Dutch salesman took over as a consulate in 1939. Jews fleeing Poland in 1940 sought his help and he secretly obtained Dutch passports for thousands giving them safe passage and escape from certain death from the Nazi’s. His story was long forgotten and overlooked, but thanks to his family it is now being shared.
3. Rent Winnie the Pooh’s Tree House in the Original Hundred Acre Wood at this ‘Bearbnb’. You can now stay in a replica of Winnie the Pooh’s treehouse in the Sussex countryside that inspired A.A. Milne’s original Hundred Acre Wood. It looks absolutely adorable and includes rules such as “strictly no heffalumps inside the house” and “hands are to be kept out of the honey pots”.
4. A Grocery Line Where Slower is Better: Super Markets Open ‘Chat Checkouts’ to Combat Loneliness Among Elderly. In the Netherlands, 1.3 million people are over the age of 75. The Dutch government launched a campaign a couple of years ago called ‘One Against Loneliness’–challenging towns, organizations and businesses to come up with solutions. The grocer giant, Jumbo, came up with Chat Checkouts. A checkout line in which the patrons can engage with conversation with their checker. It’s doing so well, that more are opening–over 200 stores will offer this in the next year. I absolutely love that not only did this nation recognize loneliness as a problem, but how innovative this grocer was to address it.
5. They Brought Scouting to 10,000 Afghan Kids and Just Got Permission to Continue by the Taliban. Back in 2010 Mohammad Hamkar decided to revive Afghanistan’s fledgling scouting program. They focus mostly on community service and those skills were instrumental in helping many Afghan refugees that showed up in parks during the recent reclaim of power by the Taliban. They gathered sleeping bags, tents, and emergency supplies and helped 45 families during a time of great chaos. At first the Taliban was suspicious of the program, but now has approved its continuation.
What good things have you heard about this week? Feel free to share anything you find and remember–keep smiling!