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Pretty sure I couldn't run 100 miles in 30 days

Um. Pretty sure I wouldn't run. At all. Ever. Unless my favorite baker was about to close and I had to have some spritzkuchen. Then I might jog a bit.
 
https://www.philly.com/philly/educa...ered_childhood__hope_in_a_college_future.html

Valery Swope, 18, answered her phone one afternoon in March. It was Cabrini College, telling her she had been accepted.

"I feel so great. Oh, my Lord. I've got to tell everybody!"

First, she posed for a selfie. "I've got to take a picture of this face!"

Then she got on the phone.

The first six people she called were two caseworkers with the state child welfare agency, two social workers appointed by the court, a child-advocate in the public defender's office, and an FBI agent. She lamented she didn't have her guidance counselor's number.

This posse of public servants is Valery's rudder in life.
Valery's teenage mother gave birth to her in a bathroom, placed her in a plastic bag, and left her in a boarded-up building in the city's Frankford section, before dawn Jan. 4, 1997.


Read more at https://www.philly.com/philly/educa..._in_a_college_future.html#5ySp6yBSPZPjQemY.99
 
It's kind of sad how little attention this thread gets...

https://www.ocregister.com/articles/congregation-679848-temple-cohen.html

Dap to Matt Goodman and his fellow Mormon folks...

Rabbi Heidi Cohen chokes up as she speaks about what she and her congregation at Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana have been through over the last year and a half.

On Feb. 15, 2014, a malfunctioning refrigerator sparked a huge fire in the temple kitchen. It caused extensive smoke and water damage to the sanctuary and to the ornamental holy ark, which held six torahs including a 275-year-old scroll from the Czech Republic which had been rescued from a Nazi warehouse after World War II.
 
https://news.yahoo.com/young-nurse-asked-adopt-newborn-mom-dies-ebola-150518506.html?nf=1

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This 2005 photo of then Staff Sgt. Michael Maroney hugging a girl he rescued during Hurricane Katrina went viral earlier this year. Ten years after they met, Maroney and the girl, LeShay Brown, will be reunited.
 
https://wnep.com/2015/10/12/neighbors-rally-to-help-illinois-farmer-who-is-battling-cancer-2/

Excerpt:

GALVA, Ill. — In July, Carl Bates was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Doctors gave him just months to live.

Bates, a grain farmer in the town of Galva, Illinois, became physically unable to endure the rigorous hours in the field, according to CNN affiliate KWQC.

“It has progressed pretty fast as of late,” said his son, Jason Bates. “With all that acreage to pick, my dad was concerned about getting it done.”

So they tapped the shoulders of their neighbors — asking them to help out a bit here and there when Carl couldn’t.

The response was overwhelming. On September 25, people came from every pocket of Galva, hoping to help.
 
https://www.thespec.com/opinion-sto...g-my-daughter-even-though-you-got-laughed-at/

CAMBRIDGE- Editor's note: This letter is addressed to "teenage boy at skate park." It was initially circulated via Twitter, but the author submitted it to the Times for publication.

You're probably about 15 years old, so I don't expect you to be very mature or for you to want a little girl on your skate ramp for that matter.

What you don't know is that my daughter has been wanting to skateboard for months. I actually had to convince her that skateboarding wasn't for just for boys.

So when we walked up to the skate park and saw that it was full of teenaged boys who were smoking and swearing, she immediately wanted to turn around and go home.

I secretly wanted to go too because I didn't want to have to put on my mom voice and exchange words with you.

I also didn't want my daughter to feel like she had to be scared of anyone, or that she wasn't entitled to that skate park just as much as you were.

So when she said, "Mom it's full of older boys," I calmly said, "So what, they don't own the skate park."

She proceeded to go down the ramp in spite of you and your friends flying past her and grinding rails beside her.

She only had two or three runs in before you approached her and said "Hey, excuse me ..."

I immediately prepared to deliver my "She's allowed to use this park just as much as you guys" speech when I heard you say, "Your feet are wrong. Can I help you?"

You proceeded to spend almost an hour with my daughter showing her how to balance and steer, and she listened to you a feat not attained by most adults.

You held her hand and helped her get up when she fell down and I even heard you tell her to stay away from the rails so that she wouldn't get hurt.

I want you to know that I am proud that you are part of my community, and I want to thank you for being kind to my daughter, even though your friends made fun of you for it.

She left the skate park with a sense of pride and with the confidence that she can do anything, because of you.

Jeanean Thomas, Cambridge
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-34603435

Excerpt:

A 95-year-old invited into a BBC radio programme after calling in about being lonely has become a hit on social media.
Bill Palmer, from Southampton, called the Alex **** show on BBC Radio Solent about his life after his wife went into a nursing home.
**** immediately ordered a taxi to bring Mr Palmer to the studio to allow phone-in listeners to chat to him.
A recording of the call has been viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook.
 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/good-ne...t-living-animal-aged-184-has-first-ever-bath/

A giant tortoise living on the British outpost of St Helena is given a clean-up ahead of Royal visit.

The world's oldest living animal, a 184-year-old giant tortoise, has had its first ever bath.

Jonathan, a giant tortoise living on St Helena, was cleaned up by the island's vet in preparation for an upcoming Royal visit.

Almost two centuries' worth of grime was scrubbed off its back using a loofah, soft brush and surgical soap.
 
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