Gusto, check. Passion, check. Adorable quotient, check. Love them! Thanks to my friend A for sharing. It seems like the entire world has already seen this, but I only saw it today.
Check out their blog at PS22 Chorus to see more. I especially enjoyed their “Eye of the Tiger”. 😀 I attended PS19 and PS13, so I feel some sort of proximate love for them too. 🙂
See video here. The news site’s embed code is broken…
The title of the article is Puppies save three-year-old boy lost in freezing Virginia woods. Yes, this story is as awesome as you imagine.
A toddler lost in the Virginia woods was back home safe Sunday thanks to two puppies who kept him warm through a harrowing night of freezing temperatures.
Jaylynn Thorpe, 3, wandered away from his baby-sitter at 4 p.m. Friday and was missing for 21 hours as hundreds of friends, family and law enforcement officials searched for him in the thick woods of Halifax County, fearing the worst.
[snip]
Officials said the lost little boy and the two family puppies wandered up to a mile in the dark, even across a highway, but it wasn’t until Saturday afternoon that members of the search team found him sitting by a tree, the two puppies nestled against him.
[snip]
“When I first saw him, he was like, ‘Momma, I got cold. I slept in the woods last night. The puppies kept me warm.’ He told me that … the dogs slept up against him. And I’m sure the body heat kept him warm,” said his mother, Sarah Ingram.
So glad you were found, little guy! And that your little puppy friends kept you warm and safe throughout the night. Your loyal puppies are made of happy!
Last year, this man’s program gave away 1,416 bikes to kids!Â
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Alex Cook provides bikes for less fortunate families.
Alex Cook remembers the disappointment of waking up on Christmas and not finding a bike, every single year of his childhood.
That’s why about nine years ago, he personally bought 10 bikes to give away to less fortunate families. Alex owns a barbecue restaurant in Tampa and stored the bikes there leading up to Christmas. When his customers started asking questions about the bikes and he told them what they were for, those 10 bikes turned into 182 bikes in just two weeks thanks to their generous donations.
via Christmas Bicycles Hero – Bay News 9.
I can imagine being one of the lucky kids. Thank you, Alex Cook, for being so very made of happy that you wanted to share it! 🙂
Ok, I’m joking about the title. 🙂 I stumbled upon a user on YouTube who took part in a challenge called Project For Awesome by Nerdfighters, which could only be made of awesome and perfect for this blog, so I naturally had to check it out.
There are a ton of Project for Awesome videos worth checking out, by the way.
The video I selected was one of the first ones I stumbled on. I have a lot of conflicted feelings on the nature & method of charity work abroad and particularly in the framing of the relationship between a first world nation and a third world nation (I don’t want to get political on this site, so please email me at gladmin@madeofhappy.com if you want to discuss this), but regardless of how I feel about any specific methods, I admire Sean’s conviction in deciding to change the course of his life by leaving grad school so that he can make a difference in other people’s lives. I have been looking for the full length video for the lecture that Dr. Jeffrey Sachs gave that Sean says inspired him, so if you know where I can find it, please leave me a comment. Thanks!
The Nerdfighters, Project for Awesome and Sean & his Uncultured Project are all made of happy and I am glad to have found them.
I’m sorry my title is so long. But man, are these folks awesome or what?!Â
“Toys for God’s Kids†is a non-profit organization that makes wooden toys, and sends them to children around the world.
To date, the group has made 148,000 toys and sent them to places like Afghanistan, Kenya and Colombia. U.S. soldiers also hand out the toys to kids in Iraq.
The Holly Creek Woodworkers, as they’re called, are mostly made up of World War II veterans, who know the dangers and consequences of war. They all live at the Holly Creek Retirement Community.
The linked article has more information, as well as a little video of them making the toys. I am totally choked up.Â
As an aside, I have to say that starting this blog has been so great for me. I feel like my faith in my fellow human beings has truly been renewed. There are so many good people out there.