|
"What I see everywhere in the world are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world." --Paul Hawken
Hello everyone! Our stories this week highlight ordinary people doing extraordinary things. In India, 10,000 women save a rare stork; in North Carolina, U.S., a florist gives Valentine's surprises to hundreds of widows; and in Europe, studies show planting more trees can literally save lives. Everyday, regular, ordinary people, like you and me, are meeting difficulties and challenges with waves of resilience -- all of which elevates our collective ceiling of potential towards a greater good. Wishing you and yours a wonderful week!
|
|
Voice of America | Wikimedia Commons
|
Amid devastation from the February 6th earthquakes in Turkey, ordinary citizens across Turkey are rushing in to provide support and deliver aid. "Our motivation comes from wanting to support our people, and that's what we're working for," Evin Seker, a 30-year-old sociologist who normally works for a law firm in Diyarbakir, told Aljazeera News. "I previously worked as a volunteer for an NGO helping children, and when the earthquake happened, we all came together to help the people who have lost everything." Across the city, restaurant owner, Sinan Guneri, put his business on hold while he and his staff distribute free meals around the city to rescue teams and survivors. From a small building of teacher's association offices in Diyarbakir's Kayapinar, volunteers form a human chain to pass aid supplies hand-to-hand to a lorry that is too big to access the narrow road. "We were here within three hours of the earthquake hitting," Yilmaz Tekin, a 32-year-old volunteer loading an aid truck told Aljazeera. "Although Diyarbakir is a big city, sometimes it feels smaller because everyone looks out for each other. We apply that spirit to the work we're doing now."
Read Full Story.
|
|
Gage Skidmore | Wikimedia Commons
|
During Super Bowl Sunday on February 12th, thousands of fans gathered to enjoy pre-game tailgating and watch parties near the football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., where the games took place this year. Tens of thousands of pounds of food was stored and prepared to be sold to fans in concession stands. When the much-anticipated game concluded, a massive effort unfolded to rescue leftover food -- complete with refrigerated trucks, pallet jacks, and lift gates.The National Football League (NFL) estimates as much as 140,000 pounds of donateable food and beverage is generated by Super Bowl events. "This year, we're still very mindful of the lingering impact that the pandemic has had for people and families across the country," said Erin Price, program manager with Food Recovery Network (FRN). The Super Bowl, she told CNN, offers a "great opportunity to increase food donations for people who are experiencing hunger and food insecurity in the ... area." FRN expected to collect nearly 3000 pounds of food (about 2500 individual meals). Arizona-based nonprofit, Waste Not, also was at the stadium, recovering loads of food and beverage to be sent to some of the 85 local nonprofits they work with, who feed vulnerable populations in Arizona.
Read Full Story.
|
|
Anne Pinto-Rodrigues
|
More than 10,000 rural women in the Indian state of Assam are part of the "hargila army" which works to protect one of the world's rarest storks - the greater adjutant, known locally as hargila. The group's founder, Dr. Purnima Devi Barman, began work to save the endangered stork by first honoring the owners of nesting trees as guardians. To get women out of their homes, she organized "baby showers" during the storks' breeding season and "happy hatching" ceremonies. Today, there are more than 1,000 hargila birds in Assam, the once-maligned bird has become a cultural symbol, and women earn an independent income, weaving fabrics from which they make bags and cushion covers. Barman has been named World Female Ranger, received the Whitley award and the Nari Shakti Puraskar, and recently was given the UN Environment Program's Champions of the Earth award.
Read Full Story.
|
|
Cyrill Bambilla | Pexels
|
Urban planners could save lives by planting more trees. A new study -- the largest of its kind and the first to look at premature death caused by higher temperatures in cities -- found that increasing the tree cover to 30% in 93 European cities could have prevented 2,644 heat-related deaths over a summer period. The study authors looked at mortality and temperature data between June and August 2015, in a total population of 57 million, modeling the temperature with and without the urban heat island effect. Increasing tree cover to 40% would cool cities by a half of a degree Celsius and prevent 3,727 deaths. The European cities that most stand to benefit are those in Southern and Eastern Europe, which saw the highest temperatures and the highest heat-related mortality rates. Average city tree coverage is currently 14.9%.
Read Full Story.
|
|
Ashley Manning via GMA
|
Experiencing Valentine's Day after the loss of a partner or spouse is universally difficult. In North Carolina, U.S., one woman and her team of volunteers spent the holiday delivering flowers and gift bags to hundreds of widows across their city. Ashley Manning, a mom of four, began the effort in 2021, after she shared the idea on social media. Within hours, she received dozens of nominations for widows to receive a bouquet, and hundreds of dollars in donations for the effort. In 2021, over 100 widows were surprised with the floral gifts on Valentine's Day. Among the recipients was Jordan Meggs, whose husband died of cancer at age 29 the year before, when she was 37 weeks pregnant with their first child. "I was shocked and so surprised by such a sweet thing," she told Good Morning America (GMA). The goodwill sailed on in 2022, when 300 volunteers assembled 13K+ flower stems to gift to over 400 widows. "The most important thing that I've learned through this whole outreach is that when you feel that tug on your heart for whatever it is ... actually listen to it," Manning told GMA. "The joy that giving gives your heart is just incredible."
Read Full Story.
|
|
|
