I know life lately seems like a giant cluster of terrible news constantly being thrown at us.
Turning on the TV, opening social media, or even catching up in conversation with someone is often a bombardment of negativity, anxiety, or anger, all rooted in the seemingly never-ending headlines.
I have felt this way for years but had no idea it would ever get this bad.
For a few years now I have had a link in my Instagram bio to a website entitled “Good News Network.”
It is exactly what it sounds like! Daily good news, and ultimately, a catalyst of hope in these difficult times.
Here are some recent hits on the website to remind you that there is always SOME good news.
1. dogs are the best.
A 10 year old Doberman named Night was walking the trails around his home with his owner, as he frequently did, when the pair encountered a bear and her two cubs.
The bear readied to attack, and Night’s owner realized he would not be able to get to his bear spray in time.
Just as things seemed hopeless, Night sprung to action, putting himself between the bear and his owner, and ultimately scaring the bear away.
This heroic action from this furry friend earned him the title of the “Dog of the Year” award that also inducted him into Purina’s Animal Hall of Fame. He was honored in a ceremony, got a medal, and a year’s worth of free dog food from Purina themselves.
Night took “Man’s best friend” to a new level.
2. Zero emission tourism is in our future!
The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, just debuted a ferryboat, that is completely electric!
It cuts through the water as a method of saving energy, is 80% covered in solar panels, and can still hold 32 passengers for a low price per passenger!
The city is already planning on expanding their inventory of boats like this, hopefully setting a trend for the future!
3. A powerful story regarding pizza
This story stems out of Minnesota, where a pizzeria owner noticed that people without a home were eating out of his dumpsters.
Initially, he tried posting signs asking them to stop but then transitioned to urging them to please come and ask for food instead.
He even ensured methods to allow these people to maintain their privacy if they were feeling embarrassed about their situation. When posting about the situation, he went viral and raised around $4,000 to cover the costs of the free pizza he was leaving out.
He has helped over 100 people gain access to food since first stumbling upon the dumpster situation.
4. A worthy lottery winner
A lottery winner in Virginia won $150,000 in the lottery and almost immediately donated it to three of her favorite charities.
Her first gift was to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, which is a charity that supports those affected by early dementia and their families. This donation was in honor of her late husband, who had dementia.
Her second donation was to Shalom Farms, a farm that makes great efforts to provide food for underprivileged communities and those with low incomes.
Her final donation was to the Navy-Marine Relief Society which provides a series of programs and resources for both active and former Navy Sailors and their families.
Generosity moves mountains in these times, and lottery winner Carrie Edwards gets it.
5. DoorDash for good
An app designed with the same format as DoorDash called Food Rescue Hero is a food delivery app aimed to ensure that no food gets wasted!
Over 25,000 volunteers used the app in a DoorDash kind of format, to deliver food that was marked as “not sellable” and brought it back to where the magic happens; the Good Food Project kitchen in Pittsburgh.
The team uses these deliveries to max out at sometimes 600 meals a day and ultimately have saved millions of pounds of food that have been rescued over the course of many years.
They have since created more locations for this wonderful work to be made possible.
There is always enough to go around.