The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Airline Reunites Boy With Deceased Dad's 'Daddy Shirt'




A 7-year-old boy from Casselton, N.D., who lost his dad also lost his most prized possession -- his father's shirt -- on a March 27 Delta flight from Fargo to San Diego.

Cole Holzer's dad died two years ago when he fell hanging Christmas lights, ABC affiliate WDAY reported. The well-worn Nike shirt that goes with Cole everywhere was the one his dad, Bryan, was wearing when he died.

"Ever since he will lay out and spray his dad's cologne on it and cuddle up with it and sing the daddy song to go to bed," Tonya Holzer, Cole's mom, told the station.

But in the rush to leave the plane when it landed, the shirt was left behind. The family didn't realize it until they were driving away from the airport.

"I started to cry a little bit," Cole told the station.

A letter written to the airline by a family friend who was instrumental in the recovery of the shirt describes how Delta employees went above and beyond to get Cole's dad's shirt back, even digging through the garbage to find it. A copy of the letter was obtained by ABC News.

Kelly Cruchet's letter details the phone call to the Delta 800 number and how that employee called all over the San Diego airport looking for the shirt. The plane the Holzers had been on had just left San Diego for Minneapolis. Eventually, Cruchet got in touch with Delta's Lost & Found at the San Diego airport. Vicki Katseanes, another Delta employee, said she would check with the cleaning crew.

In the meantime, Cruchet sent out emails and posted on Facebook, hoping to find someone who would meet the plane in Minneapolis and see if the shirt was still onboard. Her request was seen by a Delta pilot, Mike McLean, who called her and said he would try to contact ground control and see if they could get in touch with the gate.

"I then got the heartbreaking call from Vicki that the cleaning crew never found it, I thanked her and we ended the call," Cruchet's letter said. "A short time later she called back and said she had been in contact with Alfredo, a Delta ramp supervisor. They wanted to confirm their names to confirm their flight and rows and said they were going to start looking through garbage!"

Thirty minutes later, the call came: They found the daddy shirt.

Cole and his mom went back to the airport to meet Vicki and get the shirt. "They cried all the way back to the airport," the letter said. It was then they were able to start their family vacation.

So what does Delta have to say? Spokesperson Michael Thomas told ABC News, "Efforts made to reunite this very special shirt with this customer and his family is another fantastic example of Delta people going above and beyond for our customers and truly speaks to the culture of our dedicated employees."

"We all miss Bryan so much," Cruchet wrote, "and I so wish Cole had his daddy here to watch him play flag football and baseball and basketball and wrestling – but we all know he is watching them from up above (and as Cole tells my son and all his buddies, 'my dad plays basketball on team heaven!'). I want to thank all involved today for what they did for this little boy they had never met – as a friend stated, 'Delta allowed a daddy to still be there for his little boy'…even if he can't be with him on earth. You all went so far above and beyond and the statement I made to Vicki goes to all of you: YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PEOPLE I HAVE NEVER MET!”

[Taz_Zoee]

Wow, that one ^^ brought on the tears. So sweet.

[kuhio98]

After years of searching, man reunites with beloved pet

BUTTE, Mont. - For the first time in a half a decade, Mike Taylor sees his bird Love Love

"I've been kind of looking for him this whole time," Taylor said.

The 25 year-old macaw he'd owned for years was stolen from his home in Great Falls, he said. Taylor spent more than five years searching.

"I've always kind of looked on Craigslist and everything," he said, about his efforts to find Love Love.

Then last week, Taylor's friend Steve Campbell told him something that gave him hope.

"I said, 'No I know that's your bird," Campell recounted. He said he saw Love Love at Montana's Parrot & Exotic Bird Sanctuary (MPEBS) in Butte.

Taylor immediately called them up.

"He started to describe various things that only he would have known," said MPEBS founder Lori McAlexander.

From one blind eye, to a funny growing beak and a backwards toe, to loving the game "peek-a-boo-" McAlexander said Taylor gave a spot-on description of the bird she'd been caring for. She knew it was Taylor's macaw.

Turns out, she thought Love Love was girl and named Scarlett- from the person who surrendered the bird to the sanctuary.

Now, Scarlett is back to Love Love- and can finally go back home.

"Hangs upside down already, let me grab his beak, does his peeky-boo, likes to tuck his head," said Taylor, about how fast Love Love picked up his old tricks again.

Taylor said it's been a long time, but he could tell the bird recognized Taylor right away.

"Very heart touching," Taylor said. "He's to himself again already, he really is. I mean, he [didn't] forget."

[kuhio98]

‘Random act of pizza’: Chicago Tribune buys lunch for Boston Globe newsroom

In what's being called a "random act of pizza" in the wake of last week's deadly bombings at the Boston Marathon, staffers at the Chicago Tribune ordered lunch on Monday for the Boston Globe.

"We can only imagine what an exhausting and heartbreaking week it's been for you and your city," the Tribune staff wrote in a letter addressed to the Boston Globe newsroom. "But do know your colleagues here in Chicago and across the country stand in awe of your tenacious coverage. You make us all proud to be journalists."

"We can't buy you lost sleep, so at least let us pick up lunch," the letter accompanying the 60 pizzas, salad and soda read.

A Chicago Tribune staffer told Yahoo News that the newsroom pooled funds on Friday for the order from Regina Pizzeria in Boston's South Station.

Hungry Globe staffers appreciated the gesture.

[cassiesmom]

Boston boat owner: Give cash to victims, not me

(NEWSER) – The Watertown man whose boat was destroyed after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in it is touched that people are raising funds to buy him a new one—but he wants them to save their money for bomb victims. "It makes me feel wonderful that people are thinking like that," but "I don't want that really," David Henneberry tells WCVB. "I would wish that they donate it to the One Fund Boston. They lost limbs. I lost a boat."


Read more: http://www.newstalk1130.com/articles...#ixzz2RUTlDTya

[kuhio98]

New swan arrives at Bay Indies

VENICE, Fla. - The lonely male swan at Bay Indies Mobile Home Park is lonely no more.

After weeks of fundraising, residents at the park purchased a new female swan for $1,000 from a seller in Wisconsin. The effort was in response to the death of the previous female. Residents say the swan was killed by a coyote or fox. The male was left by itself, until Monday afternoon.

The new swan arrived at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport around 4pm. It traveled on board a Delta flight. Gerri Monnier, a Bay Indies resident who led the effort to buy the new swan, was there to pick it up.

"We wanted to hurry this up. A lot of our residents are snowbirds. They are headed back up north and they wanted to see the swan," she said.

In its wooden crate, the swan was placed in the back of an SUV by a Delta employee with a forklift. When the swan arrived at Bay Indies, some of its feathers were ruffled after a long day of traveling. The swan jumped out of its crate, and chased a bystander down the road before it eventually jumped in the water. The male and female immediately noticed each other. As they approached, the swans bumped chests and made a heart-shape with their necks and beaks. It was love at first sight. Dozens of Bay Indies residents watched the two interact for the first time.

"It is wonderful. We have had one lonely swan, so it's wonderful to see the two of them together," said resident Joan Bodenlos.

"It's just marvelous," said resident Carol Sanders.

The hope is for the new female to provide safety and companionship for the male. Many of the residents are hoping the two will have some "little swans" in the future.

Now comes the difficult task of naming the pair. Residents at the mobile home park will vote. Right now, some of the choices are, Bay & Indie, Adam & Eve, and Lucy & Desi.

[lizbud]

I wanted to see the swans & found local news video coverage of them together.

http://www.mysuncoast.com/videos/7_s...b0b0dafe4.html