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"You can’t live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." --John Wooden
Hello everyone! Our stories this highlight the deep caring and resiliency that is alive in our world! In Japan, there are over 600 'dementia cafes' created to support people with cognitive decline. In California, it's been discovered that redwood trees burned in recent fires are coming back to life. And a Canadian barber, inspired by the story of a US barber giving free haircuts, began offering them as well in Ontario. Ripples of kindness, caring and love continue to extend out. ... May we be strengthened and inspired by the many good works alive in our world. Wishing you well!
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Samantha Beattie/CBC
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On Saturdays, Gore Park in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, becomes a barber shop. Collin Alfred, 28, has cut the hair of more than 50 people during the year since he started offering his skills to people in need through his community outreach organization, Beating the Stereotypes. Alfred saw the power of a good haircut when he visited his friend Joshua Santiago in Philadelphia last year. Santiago founded Empowering Cuts, a non-profit organization offering the same services in the US. Then over Thanksgiving dinner in 2022, Alfred and some friends arrived at Philpott Memorial Church in Hamilton with 20 sandwiches and basic equipment. "We gave out two haircuts and that's how it started," Alfred said. Alfred wants to scale up his work by creating a mobile barbershop truck that he'll use to travel between Toronto and Hamilton, as well as to the US, offering free haircuts to anyone in need along the way.
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D friends Machida
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In Japan, with 29% of its population over 65, 8,000 registered dementia cafes are helping keep its elderly population healthy and reduce dependency on institutional care. "Our D-café services are having a positive effect. Many families have stopped paying for additional medical treatment and have reduced visits to nursing facilities," says Hiromichi Takeuchi, who owns D-café in Tokyo. There are expected to be 7 million elderly people with dementia by 2025 -- about 20% of the population aged 60 and over -- and the government budget for dementia prevention and support has risen from 12.7 billion yen ($89.2 million) in 2022 to 13.2 billion yen ($92.7 million) this year. Delaying onset of dementia in people in their 70s by one year from the current rate, will decrease the proportion of people with dementia by about 10%. Japan also is dealing with the severe lack of caregivers, estimated to reach only 320,000 by 2025.
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Mike Krejci | Pexels
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After a massive wildfire swept through California's Big Basin Redwood State Park in 2020, the state's iconic trees seemed to be dying. But then tiny sprouts began to peek through the charred remains. Now, a new study shows that the trees tapped into ancient carbon reserves and bud tissues that formed 2000 years ago, when the giant trees were still saplings. To accurately date the carbon being used to fuel new growth in the coast redwoods, the researchers used a form of radiocarbon dating. The trees' stores of carbon include a mix of newer and older carbon. Newer carbon is absorbed and used faster, and whatever is left is saved up and left relatively untouched. The latest findings suggest the state's redwoods are more resilient to wildfires than previously thought.
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Tierra Mallorca | Unsplash
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NFL star turned philanthropist, Warrick Dunn has been making dreams a reality for single-parent families through the nonprofit he launched in 1997, Homes for the Holidays. Witnessing the struggles of his own single mother, Dunn was inspired to help break the cycles of generational poverty by assisting in homeownership. The nonprofit provides furnishings, down payment assistance and more, and has so far, turned over 220 houses into homes. As Dunn says, "One, I saw her work ethic. And two, I saw, when we didn't have anything as a family ... she would give her last to people... for me, that set the example". The charity is part of a larger initiative, Warrick Dunn Charities, dedicated to strengthening communities and combating poverty. The joy of a 'fresh start' is the result, as one grateful recipient put it.
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Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz | Quintas
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The anillo verde or green ring, 30km (19 mile) of parks and cycle lanes, encircles Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the Basque region in northern Spain. It is a global leader in urban green policy, having pedestrianized its city center and created Spain's first network of cycle paths early in the 1990s as its population quintupled from 52,000 in 1950. The city was named 2012 European Green Capital by the European Commission and in 2019, a Global Green City by the UN. The city has been creating "superblocks", sections of the city closed to through traffic, since 2006, helping to raise the city's pedestrian areas from 31% to 71%. The city now is helping to coordinate the NetZeroCities project, a network of 53 cities in 21 European countries which aims to create a total of 112 intelligent and climate-neutral cities by 2030.
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