My mother just sent me the link to your website. I am so grateful to read all of the good news! It’s especially meaningful to me since I just had my first baby; I need to know there’s hope for his future, and this site reminds me there is! So thank you. It will now be the first thing I read when I turn on the computer 🙂
March 29, 2006
I came accross the Goods News website and just had to peruse. I have to say, I am so happy to have found this wonderful place. I learned so much about matters that I am interested in.
Keep up the good work ! Thanks so much !
Louise
March 28, 2006
I read the news on the web every morning before I start work. My job is running a sustainable construction company so I am always interested in news that involves sustainability and the like. Given the state of things in the U.S. lately, I have really gotten down from reading the news so I decided to stop all together.
Today I typed in good news out of frustration and found your website. Thank you for giving me this option. I have been reading it all day and forwarded the link to my friends. You are doing a much needed and important thing. I appreciate you.
Sincerely,
Myrick Rozier
March 24, 2006
I was just saying to my husband last night "wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was a news website that reported ONLY good news, instead of the fear-driven horrors we see on normal news sites". So I did a quick search, and here you are.
Have enjoyed looking through some of your stories, particularly the "Good Things the Muslims Gave Us" which was a great antidote to the transcripts of the cockpit voice recorders from one of the planes that went down on 9/11 which I was reading last night.
Keep up the great work.
Joanne
April 13, 2006
A newborn baby in Germany owes its life to a cat’s persistant meowing after the infant was abandoned on a doorstep while temperatures fell to around zero degrees. The cat would not stop its loud wake-up call until someone checked to see what was the matter and found the baby. Police in Cologne called the cat a hero.
On September 11, thousands of Good Samaritans were inspired to generosity, kindness and helpfulness. In turn, we were inspired by them.
When all North American airspace was closed on 9-11 following the terrorist attacks in New York and DC, Delta flight 15 and 52 other airplanes from all over the world were diverted to Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.
Under the direction of the Red Cross, the town of Gander and surrounding small towns and communities sent convoys of school buses to ferry 10,500 stranded passengers to high schools, meeting halls, and lodges where they were given cots, or mats with sleeping bags and pillows. Families were kept together. The elderly were taken to private homes. Women’s-only facilities were made available. High school kids worked to take care of the “plane people”.
A flight attendant recalls, “When passengers reboarded, it was like they had been on a cruise. They were swapping stories, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight to Atlanta looked like a party. The passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers and addresses.”
“Then, one of our business passengers stood up and stated he would like to do something for the town of Lewisporte, 30 miles east of Gander, where several hundred people stayed. He wanted to set up a trust fund under the name DELTA 15 to provide college scholarships for their high school students. He asked for donations. When the paper came back with names, phone numbers, and addresses, it totaled $14,500!”
Good News Stories Stories About 9/11
The gentleman, who was a Virginia doctor, said he would ask Delta headquarters to donate. He promised to match each donation and start the fund’s administration.
The choreographed care the Red Cross provided for the 10,000 stranded airline travelers reportedly was a plan some 40 years-old constructed in case of nuclear attack against New York City.
[2013 Editor’s Note: Wikepedia today reports that 6,600 passengers from 38 planes were stranded in Gander. The numbers in this original article came from news reports of the day.]
DENVER (Reuters) – A San Francisco teenager who raised $18,000 by running in a road race Tuesday presented the check to one of the most seriously injured victims of the Columbine High School massacre.
Rashad Williams, 15, was so moved by the plight of Columbine student Lance Kirklin — whom he had never met — that he decided to run in San Francisco’s annual 7.5 mile “Bay to Breakers” race last month in a bid to raise money for him.
Kirklin, 16, almost bled to death and had to learn to walk again after two Columbine students, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, went on the rampage on April 20, killing 13 people and wounding 23 before killing themselves.
Williams, an athlete at Archbishop Riordan High School, had expected to raise only several hundred dollars but a columnist at the San Francisco Examiner wrote about the teen and he raised $14,000. People kept giving and the fund grew to $18,000. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown declared May 24 Rashad Williams day.
“I was tired. I just kept thinking about Lance,” Williams said, describing what kept him going in the grueling race.
The money will be deposited in a trust fund to help pay medical bills that stand at $250,000 and are expected to grow to $1 million. Kirklin faces four more operations on his face.
Kirklin was walking out of the cafeteria at Columbine High School in Littleton with his friends Sean Graves and Dan Rohrbough when all three were shot. Rohrbough died in the attack and Graves was seriously wounded.
Surgeons initially took a bone and skin from Kirklin’s leg to help rebuild the left side of his face. When he first spoke to reporters a month ago, he could not take his favorite drink, apple juice, because “there’s a hole in my face and the juice drips out.”
The Kirklin family has no health insurance and Lance’s father Mike has let his small tree cutting business lapse so he can take care of his son.
Dr. Stephen Batuello called his patient a “healing machine” and said he expects to see Kirklin and Williams run a race together soon. “I’ll pass out after I run one block,” quipped Kirklin, who is known for his jokes.
A landmark summit convened yesterday in San Francisco that marked the first time the global Muslim community has engaged the Dalai Lama in an effort to address religious extremism. The Dalai Lama was joined by approximately 100 world-renowned scholars, teachers and leaders of Christian, Hindu, Jewish and other faiths who met with their Muslim and Buddhist counterparts to celebrate unity and denounce religious intolerance.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama broke his regular schedule, normally planned seven years in advance, and accepted an invitation from the Muslim community to discuss the most momentous issue of our time — how to mitigate religious intolerance and promote understanding and compassion among Muslims and peoples of all faiths.
The summit participants joined the Dalai Lama in changing previous commitments in order to participate in the historic discussions, even though it occurred during one of the most religiously significant weekends of the year — The Prophet’s birthday, Easter, Passover.
The Organizing Committee said in a statement:
“Religious intolerance, and the violence that tragically attends it, have masqueraded as a legitimate expression of religious conviction and have grabbed the world stage from the majority voices of reason. Those attending this gathering want to rectify this imbalance… and are committed to acting in their communities to promote compassion and counter divisiveness.”
His Holiness pointed to Tibet’s long history as an example of the exemplary relationship between Muslims and Buddhists and said, “Personally, I can tell you that in Tibet, Buddhists and Muslims have lived together for more than four centuries. Very gentle, very peaceful; no reports of quarrels,” he said.
The statement from the summit concluded, “Never before have so many of the world’s prominent and influential religious leaders come together at one time for such an imperative and specific purpose. The message of peace and understanding that will emanate from this conference and the solidarity powerfully represented by these great and compassionate thinkers speaking in unison will help heal the world. That is our purpose.”
The summit included Robert Thurman, Ph.D., professor and first western Tibetan monk; Rabbi Jack Bemporad, director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding; Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, founder of Zaytuna Institute; Huston Smith, distinguished professor of philosophy and religion and author of several books, including, Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World’s Religions, among others.
Photo: Christopher Michel, CC
The fourth annual Volvo for Life awards were announced and the 2006 grand prize winner is Dr. Ingida Asfaw of Pontiac, Michigan. Asfaw is a medical doctor who has galvanized over 550 medical and non-health professionals in the U.S. and Canada to give their time and talents to address the profound health care crises in Ethiopia. With donations of money and time, he founded the nonprofit Ethiopian North American Health Professionals Association (ENAHPA). His prize, awarded on April 12, is a new car from Volvo for the rest of his life. One hundred semifinalists were also chosen from more than 4,000 nominations.
A humble man but a brilliant surgeon, Dr. Asfaw has led volunteers from the health profession into Ethiopia on semi-annual medical missions since 1999.
During the May 2005 mission, the delegation performed nearly 100 surgical procedures; conducted advanced training for 250 Ethiopian health care professionals; donated 32,400 books; and provided lifesaving medical equipment, instruments, and supplies to several specialized hospitals, three universities, and a leprosy research training center.
Dr. Ingida Asfaw embodies the American dream of the impoverished immigrant who achieves extraordinary success and skill in their adopted land. But he also has educated a generation of health care professionals back in his native country and inspired others to reach beyond borders to bring hope to those in desperate need.
ENAHPA serves 1700 adults and children living with HIV/AIDS by providing free anti-retroviral treatment and soon will include 8,000 more. The group supports orphans and maternity wards (with donations of sterile maternity kits) and is building a new Maternal and Child Health Care Center in the city of Awassa.
In 1958, at the age of sixteen, Asfaw traveled two weeks from Ethiopia to America aboard a cargo ship, arriving with little money, but a big dream: to become a doctor and return to Ethiopia with healing hands. He has achieved his dream against extraordinary odds, always returning to his homeland to tend the needs of so many of its impoverished and suffering citizens.
Ethiopia is the land of beautiful faces. Get involved with the many projects at ENAHPA to help an orphan, save a baby, or help extend the life of someone with HIV/AIDS. 
Read the Good News Network report featuring the 2005 Volvo Hometown Hero, Hope Bevilhymer, from Utah, who helps people in developing countries to receive prosthetic limbs. The Limbs of Hope Foundation was born out of the difficulties in her own life raising money to buy a prosthetic limb when it was not covered by insurance.
Volvo invites you to nominate your hero for 2008. They could win a Volvo for Life.
Big companies like DuPont are putting serious money into developing "bio fuel" — motor fuel that is processed from the waste of corn stalks. DuPont wants to replace many of the current factories that use oil, with biorefineries like the one they will open later this year, in Loudon, Tenn., that will use corn to manufacter the chemical used for its Sorona carpet fiber. Corn-derived fiber will be cheaper yet still durable. DelawareOnline details many of the advances and challenges for governments and business on our road to energy independence.
[Apologies for the notification that just went out to GNN fans today, March 10, 2016: We didn’t mean to send the alert! This story is from 2006 archives…]
All I need to know about Rebecca Eddlemon, who died March 31 in Grand Prarie, Texas, is captured here in the first two paragraphs of a Dallas Morning News obituary I stumbled upon:
Rebecca Eddlemon looked for good in everyone, even the two gunmen who surprised her and husband Oscar Eddlemon in their food market in the mid-1970s. “They had Daddy laying face down and had Mother down on her knees,” said Johnny Eddlemon, 54. “They took her purse and just about everything in the register.”
“Afterward, Mother said: ‘You know, I think they were good boys. They just got in with the wrong crowd,’ ” … That faith and love of people was her trademark.
Newsday reported April 13 on the trends, surveys and recent news that indicates, "The job drought that has plagued information-technology workers since the dot-com bust in 2000 finally appears to be ending. A raft of good news indicates a turnaround."
UPDATE (2007/09) Tech Workers Remain Optimistic (WallStreetandTech.com)
At first, I will admit, that your news articles weren’t that interesting to me! Often, I’ve found myself skimming the articles, thinking “so what?!” But I believe this reaction is just from the desensitization that occurs with sensational news in the mainstream media. So I decided to continue receiving your RSS feed and guess what? Your daily stories have allowed me to rekindle a certain appreciate for the good things in life. The truth is, I was passing up a lot of good things in my life without realizing it. They just don’t reach out and bite you on the butt like bad events do. But they are everywhere, just waiting to be noticed!
Please keep doing what you’re doing. It is making a huge difference in the way I see my world.
Trey Aubrey
April 11, 2006
In the category of "you can do anything you set your heart to," comes this world record: A former soldier who lost his sight in an attack has set a new world record for downhill speed skiing reaching 100.94 mph. Kevin Alderton, 34, from Kent, England, "channeled his fear into determination" to set the record at Les Arcs in France.
British doctors have revived a 12-year-old girl’s dormant heart after 10 years to reimplant it after her transplanted organ began to cause problems. It appears that because the heart had been given a chance to rest it became healthier and more able to sustain life. Read about the stunning turn of events, and the good news for Hannah Clark, from South Wales.
Look at the Cool Robot! That’s the name for the new solar-powered mobile science station built by Dartmouth students and faculty to specifically withstand the harsh conditions of the Antarctic plateau. The finished product is designed to navigate itself over 1000 km, using the abundant solar energy of the Antarctic summer, and carry out an array of scientific experiments without human intervention. WorldChanging.com is an excellent site and has the story and links.
At least 1,000 homes will be open for residents maybe as soon as 2010, all powered entirely by renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and the burning of waste. The mayor of London made the announcement today and GreenPeace will play a role.
Magdalene is a two-year sanctuary for women with a criminal history of prostitution and drug abuse. It provides safety, discipline, and “an unconditional love that the women have never known — it has apparently worked wonders.”
The community has grown from one to four houses, plus a new beauty-products business where a number of the women work. More than 50 women have turned their lives around – to be “clean,” hopeful, and productive. . . Today’s Christian Science Monitor alerts us to this terrific news.
Magdalene enjoys a 87 percent success rate for its residents and illustrates at least five of the seven values represented in our good news philosophy: Responsibility, Integrity, Compassion, Cooperation and Generosity. Donate to their Capital Campaign, or learn more about the program here.
The EPA reported that chemical pollution released into the environment fell more than 4 percent from 2003 to 2004, due mostly to the metal mining, electric utility and hazardous waste industries.
