Giving is Good for Your Health

Came across this post at Operation Nice, one of my favorite blogs out there.

It's about Cami, the fabulous founder of the 29-Day Giving Challenge. This NY Times article explains how giving is good for your health. Volunteerism, generosity, helping others can all have positive effects on a person's well-being.

> Read More at Operation Nice

Snowy Surprise for Toddler

This is such a profoundly moving story.

A 4-year-old girl who is fighting for her life got her Christmas wish a little early: Despite living in Georgia, a state that doesn't get much snow, Sophia awoke to see a winter wonderland.

A cancerous tumor was found in Sophia's brain just before her third birthday.

She has gone through months of chemotherapy and radiation, undergone four brain surgeries and lost some of her sight and most of her hearing.

In October, she was given two weeks to two months to live.

Employees from a state park heard about the girl and her story and wanted to do something for her. They used a snow machine -- and 30 pounds of snow and four dump trucks -- to give Sophia a gift of snowy white.

Chicago 911 Dispatchers Save Christmas

This story was posted in the "odd news" section of United Press International yesterday - It's a great story, but sadly it is "odd" in the sense that it's rare. Don't you wish that helping out those in need wasn't "odd?"

I think this is a beautiful story of some co-workers coming together and transcending their everyday lives - and daily grind - for a greater purpose.

From UPI:

Chicago's 911 dispatchers say they rescued Christmas this year for a family whose distraught grandmother had called for help.

Shirley Bell, 61, called 911 Christmas Eve morning for her very upset 8-year-old grandson, Malik Parish, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Sunday.

"It was something about that grandmother's voice, and that child and his candidness. He said, 'I don't have any toys for Christmas,'" said 911 dispatcher Pamela Jenkins.

Bell, who has custody of five children, said she recently suffered a stroke and a heart attack, and support checks from the state had not arrived.

Jenkins alerted co-workers and dispatched police officers, who found a nice, clean home without a single sign of Christmas, the Sun-Times reported.

Within hours, the 911 dispatchers and their families had gathered $200 for new presents to go with nice toys and clothes donated by their own children, Jenkins said. Malik got a G.I. Joe and a PlayStation 1 and groceries were delivered to his family Christmas Day.

"There are countless times we want to help,'' Jenkins said. "I enjoyed it, and I wished we could help people more than we do.''

Watch a CNN video interview with the dispatchers:

Hard Times, a Helping Hand

A friend passed on this wonderful story about a gracious man who helped others during the depression.

IN the weeks just before Christmas of 1933 — 75 years ago — a mysterious offer appeared in The Repository, the daily newspaper here. It was addressed to all who were suffering in that other winter of discontent known as the Great Depression. The bleakest of holiday seasons was upon them, and the offer promised modest relief to those willing to write in and speak of their struggles. In return, the donor, a “Mr. B. Virdot,” pledged to provide a check to the neediest to tide them over the holidays....

> Read the full wonderful story here in the NY Times and pass it on.