positive news

Good News Friday: Company freely heating homes for winter

Don’t you love it when companies show their human side? Here’s how it goes down:

People are nominated for a new furnace before being selected by furnace maker Lennox Industries. From there, Lennox recommends a home in need to its local dealers, who ultimately choose the most deserving household.

“Most deserving”? Well, alright. But still, this has been a very productive plan and people are very thankful. One person the article focuses on:

Saturday Arlene House, of Tomah, was upgraded from her 1980s, oil-burning-style furnace to a new one. And she didn’t have to pay a dime. “I never expected it,” House said. House says when she received the call telling her she was getting a new furnace, for free, she was shaking like a leaf.

“I’m overwhelmed with it all. I can’t believe it’s really happening,” House said. House was nominated for the Heat U.P. Wisconsin program by longtime friend Connie Hurd.

“Arlene has just been a dear friend for a number of years, 20-some years, and I work for Don’s Plumbing and Heating, so when we came to do service on her furnace, being a fuel-oil furnace old parts weren’t available and I just thought she would be a very good candidate for the Heat U.P. Wisconsin program,” Hurd said.

Ain’t that sweet? I hope more companies do this, and do this a little more often. I keep hearing that this winter is supposed to be more harsh than recent years.

-Dante Writes

Good News Friday: $1,000 tip helps struggling mother

From The Good News Network:

Medical bills were piling up for Chrisi Kemp after her daughter got sick and an appliance had just broken at home, reports ABC.

The North Carolina waitress told ABC11 that she had a breakdown right before coming into work at the One Whirled Cafe in Raleigh last Thursday.

Her evening got brighter very quickly when a male customer, who wants to remain anonymous, settled his $14.01 tab by adding a $1,000 tip.

There is also a video in the link. The image of the receipt is a little funny to me for some odd reason.

-Dante Writes

Good News Friday: Firefighters donate crib

Who said firefighters only fight fires? They can do other things too, like giving a crib to a mother in need.

See, firefighters were responding to a distress call about a baby struggling to breathe. Turned out, the call wasn’t very serious. However, the firefighters saw that this baby didn’t have a crib. So, after talking to the mom about it, they…

“I asked her if she had a crib; she said no,” said Costa, “and I asked her if she would like one, and she was very positive and said that she would really enjoy it cause she had no other means to get another crib.”

“So, at that point it was 3 o’clock in the morning. We cleared that call and came back to the station,” said O’Shields, “got a crib, went back to the house, put it together, my partner put it together.”

That’s great. Turns out, this is something that happens.

“And if we find a baby who’s sleeping with their parents, and a mom is unable to find a crib, get a crib, borrow a crib, we’re able, through a partnership with the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies of Broward County and Cribs for Kids, to get them a crib,” said Carroll.

Awesome stuff. The entire story is neat.

Good News Friday: Passengers save man trapped by train

Ah, there’s something awesome about a group of people helping their fellow man.

A man was standing in the doorway of the train when he lost his footing and fell between the train and platform. The other passengers and station employees then proceeded to tilt the train to get the man out.

The whole thing was caught on video. I watched it and you can watch it here. It was freaking awesome.

-Dante Writes

Good News Friday: Cop saves man’s life after pulling him over

A police officer pulled over an 86 year old man for speeding. First of all, I guess the old man still has a heavy foot. Anyway, shortly after this, the man has a heart attack.

Police say Officer Michael Harrington quickly transitioned from writing out a warning for the speeding infraction to administering CPR. A second officer then arrived with a defibrillator.

Now, this story has a nice ending as the man made it to the hospital and such. The officer then goes on to say that “there’s no such thing as a routine stop” as if to say this happened for a reason. And, I love that storyline.

BUT…can I be real for a second?

I can’t help but find some humor in this. What if the old man faked it to get out of the ticket? According to our quote, the ticket wasn’t quite written. I’m just saying.

But then, I thought “I don’t think he’d fake it”. So then, I was like: What if the man had a heart attack over stressing about being pulled over? Hey, the man is in his 80’s. Any excitement could send him off.

But, ultimately, this was a nice story and I happen to agree with the original storyline.

Good News Friday: Toddler saved by folks after falling on subway tracks

A toddler in a stroller ended up falling on the subway tracks when her mother left the stroller to throw something in the trash. The stroller was not locked and the little girl was like “they see me rollin’; they hatin'”. All terrible jokes aside, she fell. Her mother went in after her but ended up spraining her ankle.

Just as the woman jumped down onto the tracks after the stroller, a few Good Samaritans, the subway cleaner, came to their rescue and helped bring the mother and daughter onto the platform.

Together, they got the girl and the mother out of there. The mother got treated for the ankle and the little girl had a few cuts and a bruise. Both are fine.

-Dante Writes