The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Little Rachel wants 900 pairs of shoes for her birthday...but not for herself

ATHENS, TX (KLTV) - Little Rachel Beets loves shoes, so it is not surprising that she wants shoes for her eighth birthday.

However, she is not asking for one or two pairs of shoes, she is asking for 900...and she wants to give them all away.

"Because other people can have some shoes too," 7-year-old Rachel said.

She is calling the project "Rachel's Happy Feet," something her mom was a little hesitant about taking on in the beginning.

However, Rachel was persistent and eventually mom started making phone calls.

"34 pair were donated, and she came in from school and just her face lit up like a Christmas tree. I should have jumped on it a little sooner," said Rachel's mom, Amanda Beets.

Rachel's birthday is January 31, and that is when all the shoes they collect will be donated to the Athens' Rainbow Room.

"When a child is removed from a home, usually they have nothing except for the clothes on their back. We work with Child Protective Services case workers so when they remove a child, they are able to bring them to the Rainbow Room and get new clothes or personal hygiene items," explained Rainbow Room board member and former president, Ann Hall.

The Rainbow Room is a non-profit organization that serves children from infants to 18-years-old.

On Wednesday, Rachel's family received a monetary donation to purchase shoes for their cause, bringing their donation count to 78 pairs of shoes.

Amanda knows this project is a constant reminder for her family of how blessed they truly are.

"I want my kids to know that greed is not an option at all in life. It's always better to give to people and have that willing, giving spirit, and that's what we are trying to teach them," she said.

The Beets family and the Rainbow Room hope others will be inspired by this 7-year-old's generosity, and together collect all 900 pairs of shoes.

[kuhio98]

Two Kittens Rescued from Brooklyn Subway After Stopping Service


It only took two kittens to stop New York's subway in its tracks.

Power was cut to the B and Q lines in Brooklyn for more than an hour after a woman reported Thursday morning that her kittens were loose in the nation's largest subway system, transit officials said.

The furry felines, one black and the other white with gray stripes, were finally found on the tracks and rescued nearly seven hours later.

How they made their way to the tracks was a mystery. But they were seen running dangerously close to the subway's high-voltage third rail.

Power was suspended between several stops – about half the Q line and the B line's entire length in Brooklyn – on both the local and express tracks for 90 minutes, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokeswoman Judie Glave said. The express line was later stopped another half-hour while workers kept searching.

But the skittish kittens disappeared again (and again) before being discovered Thursday evening under the third rail of an above-ground express track. Police officers removed the kittens in crates, Glave said.

Officials said workers and passengers in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood had been on the lookout for the kittens, and train operators were asked to proceed with caution. If they saw anything moving on the tracks, they were required to stop and notify the rail control center.

Though some passengers wanted to help by scouring the tracks, they were turned down by MTA workers citing safety concerns. The cats' owner did rush to a subway station with cat food, though, giving it to the transit workers who were dispatched to try and corral the elusive furballs.

While the effort on behalf of the kittens created delays for passengers, the Q operated a shuttle service between two of its normal Brooklyn stops, said transit officials, who couldn't immediately provide the cost of the extra service and rescue operation.

[phesina]

How wonderful that they did that and they found the kittens!

God bless!

[kuhio98]

[momcat]

On Friday morning around 11:00, two 8 week old kittens were seen running along the tracks in a Brooklyn subway station. Power was shut off and the station was closed while a police officer & a few transit workers grabbed a carrier and tried to catch them. No luck so the station reopened 2 hours later with a notice to all subway operators to go through the station slowly and watch for the kittens. The station was closed again later that afternoon. A few police officers and transit workers went to try another rescue. They saw the kittens run under a track so a transit worker, still wearing work gloves, reached under and got both kittens. Arthur and August were taken to a shelter where they're being cared for and checked over. They'll be transferred to another shelter for further care and socialization.

A very special THANK YOU to the police and the transit workers for caring enough to help these babies!

[phesina]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, and GOD BLESS to all those people involved in saving those kittens.

[kuhio98]

COURIER WILSON DAVIS, 27
Refusing to walk away

Walking along a side street near St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem on March 30 to visit his mother, Wilson Davis saw the shadowy figure of a man towering over a little girl. Ignoring her screams, the man had pulled her pants down and was straddling her. Another passerby just kept on walking. Not Davis. "I couldn't just walk by," he says. "That girl could have been killed."

Containing his anger ("I really wanted to hit the guy"), the amateur heavyweight boxer pinned the man, then yelled to a woman looking down from an apartment, "Call the cops!" The relieved 12-year-old hugged Davis, repeating "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Even the arresting officers embraced him.

A Virginia native whose family moved to The Bronx when he was 7, the imposing 6'4", 230-lb. courier spends most of his evenings at the gym, training for hours in hopes of winning a professional championship belt. As for his personal triumph last spring, Davis modestly shrugs and shakes his head. "I have a sister, I have a mom who lives in that area," he says. "It could have been one of them. Even so, I would have done it for anybody."