The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

There are many other wonderful, inspirational pet stories here: http://www.guideposts.org/inspiration/pet-stories

A sweet video: http://www.guideposts.org/video/pet-.../rescue-at-sea

[kuhio98]

The Kind Stranger

One day I was riding home and my bicycle broke. There weren't many people around and I was pretty scared being all alone, but I stopped and tried to fix it nonetheless. A complete stranger, also riding a bike, stopped by and fixed it for me. It's such a small thing, didn't take more than a minute, but he was so reassuring and nice - even offered me a handkerchief to clean my hands. It was over a year ago and we'll probably never meet again, but I still pray for his safety and wellbeing every night. A random act does change many things!

[kuhio98]

Little Bird

My children laugh at me as I always pick up worms or other small creatures that are stranded on the footpath when we are out walking. I maintain that if we are kindest to the smallest of living things we will also view all life as precious. Well as I returned home from walking my dog outside my front door I saw a small sparrow lying on its back by the side of the road, with its legs twitching in the air. Seeing it was in danger of being crushed, I carefully picked it up and took it inside with me and seeing it had no obvious injury I put it in the garden where I leave the bird seed for our feathered friends, happily within an hour it had recovered and flown away. I know this is a small thing but it made me feel happy all day.

[kuhio98]

Pulling children out of Nepal's prisons

Pushpa Basnet doesn't need an alarm clock. Every morning, the sounds of 40 children wake her up in the two-story home she shares with them.

As she helps the children dress for school, Basnet might appear to be a housemother of sorts. But the real story is more complicated.

All of these children once lived in Nepal's prisons. This 28-year-old woman has saved every one of them from a life behind bars.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world -- according to UNICEF, 55% of the population lives below the international poverty line -- so it lacks the social safety net that exists in most Western nations. Space is extremely limited in the few children's homes affiliated with the government.

So when no local guardian is available, an arrested parent often must choose between bringing their children to jail with them or letting them live on the streets. Nepal's Department of Prison Management estimates 80 children live in the nation's prisons.

"It's not fair for (these) children to live in the prison because they haven't done anything wrong," said Basnet, who started a nongovernmental organization to help. "My mission is to make sure no child grows up behind prison walls."

Basnet is one of several in Nepal who have started groups to get children out of prison. Since 2005, she has assisted more than 100 children of incarcerated parents. She runs a day care program for children under 6 and a residential home where mostly older children receive education, food, medical care and a chance to live a more normal life.

"I had a very fortunate life, with a good education," Basnet said. "I should give it to somebody else."
Basnet was just 21 when she discovered her calling, she said. While her family ran a successful business, she was studying social work in college. As part of her studies, she visited a women's prison and was appalled by the dire conditions. She also was shocked to discover children living behind bars.
One baby girl grabbed Basnet's shawl and gave her a big smile.

"I felt she was calling me," Basnet said. "I went back home and told my parents about it. They told me it was a normal thing and that in a couple of days I'd forget it. But I couldn't forget."

Basnet decided to start a day care to get incarcerated children out from behind the prison walls. While her parents were against the idea at first -- she had no job or way to sustain it financially -- eventually they helped support her. But prison officials, government workers and even some of the imprisoned mothers she approached doubted that someone her age could handle such a project.

"When I started, nobody believed in me," Basnet said. "People thought I was crazy. They laughed at me."
But Basnet was undaunted. She got friends to donate money, and she rented a building in Kathmandu to house her new organization, the Early Childhood Development Center. She furnished it largely by convincing her parents that they needed a new refrigerator or kitchen table; when her parents' replacement would arrive, she'd whisk the old one to her center.

Just two months after she first visited the prison, Basnet began to care for five children. She picked them up at the prison every weekday morning, brought them to her center and then returned them in the afternoon. Basnet's program was the first of its kind in Kathmandu; when she started, some of the children in her care had never been outside a prison.

Two years later, Basnet established the Butterfly Home, a children's home where she herself has lived for the past five years. While she now has a few staff members who help her, Basnet is still very hands on.
"We do cooking, washing, shopping," she said. "It's amazing, I never get tired. (The children) give me the energy. ... The smiles of my children keep me motivated."

Coordinating all of this is no easy task. But at the Butterfly Home, the older kids help care for the younger ones and everyone pitches in with household chores. The atmosphere feels like an extremely large family, a feeling that's fostered by Basnet, who smothers the children with love. The children reciprocate by calling her "Mamu," which means "Mommy."

"I don't ever get a day off, but if I [didn't] have the children around me, it would be hard," she said. "When I'm with them, I'm happy."

All the children are at the Butterfly Home with the consent of the imprisoned parent. When Basnet hears about an imprisoned child, she'll visit the prison -- even in remote areas of the country -- and tell the parent what she can provide. If the parent agrees, Basnet brings the child back.

She is still eager, however, for the children to maintain relationships with their parents. During school holidays, she sends the younger children to the prisons to visit, and she brings them food, clothing and fresh water during their stay. Ultimately, Basnet wants the families to reunite outside prison, and 60 of her children have been able to do just that.

Parents like Kum Maya Tamang are grateful for Basnet's efforts. Tamang has spent the last seven years in a women's prison in Kathmandu. When she was convicted on drug charges, she had no other options for child care, so she brought her two daughters to jail with her. When she heard about Basnet's program, she decided to let them go live with her.

"If Pushpa wasn't around, (they) could have never gotten an education ... (they) would have probably had to live on the streets," she said. "I feel she treats (them) the way I would."
Tamang's oldest daughter, Laxmi, said she can't imagine life without Basnet.
"My life would have been dark without her," said Laxmi, 14. "I would've probably always had a sad life. But now I won't, because of Pushpa."

In 2009, Basnet started a program to teach the parents how to make handicrafts, which she sells to raise money for the children's care. Both mothers and fathers participate. It not only gives them skills that might help them support themselves when they're released, but it also helps them feel connected to their children.
"Often, they think that they're useless because they're in prison," Basnet said. "I want to make them feel that they are contributing back to us."

Making ends meet is always a struggle, though. The children help by making greeting cards that Basnet sells as part of her handicraft business. In the past, she has sold her own jewelry and possessions to keep the center going.

Her biggest concern is trying to find ways to do more to give the children a better future. She recently set up a bank account to save for their higher educations, and one day she hopes to buy or build a house so they'll always have a place to call home. Their happiness is always foremost in her thoughts.

"This is what I want to do with my life," she said. "It makes me feel (good) when I see that they are happy, but it makes me want to work harder. ... I want to fulfill all their dreams."

[kuhio98]

Because Online Friends Make a Real Difference

"My 4-year-old son, Cole, has lymphoma. I've gotten a lot of support from the women at CafeMom.com, but one mom, Linda, is amazing. For Cole's birthday she got people from all over the country to send him cards. The response was overwhelming. With a sick child every smile is precious, so I'll always be grateful for these moments of joy."
-- Michelle Chunn, Sacramento, California

[kuhio98]

Help Find Missing Pets
There is nothing worse than losing a pet. The next time you see a sign on a telephone pole or even an ad on Facebook, take down the details and pass them along to others. The owners might not know you did it, but you'll feel good at least knowing you helped reunite a lost pet with its owner.

[kuhio98]

Traveling is always a challenge because my 7-year-old son has Asperger's syndrome. At the end of one stressful trip we had a three-hour delay at the airport. When we finally boarded we discovered that we were in the last row, next to the engine and with no window. I could see a meltdown coming on. I was on the brink of tears myself, so I desperately approached two women several rows up and offered them $20 to trade seats. They graciously refused the cash and said, "Of course we'll switch -- no problem at all." I don't think they'll ever understand how much I appreciated their kindness.
-- Tracy, Fredonia, New York

[cassiesmom]

NILES, Mich. -- It was 1953 and then-Pvt. Bob Rodgers had just arrived at Fort Campbell, Ky., for basic training when he sat down to write a letter to his wife after the post's power went out.

Sixty years later, that letter finally turned up, when the U.S. Postal Service gave it back to Rodgers, who's now living in southwestern Michigan.

In the June 13, 1953, letter, the 20-year-old told his wife, Jean, about the routines of life in boot camp. "All you do is march, KP, shine boots, shine boots and shine more boots and brass and more brass," he wrote.

On March 7, New Carslisle, Ind., Postmaster Connie Tomaszewski hand-delivered the letter to Rodgers, now 79. She did so the same day it arrived at her office, she told the South Bend Tribune.

Rodgers was bemused by the return of the letter.

"I asked if they had found the remains of the horse and rider and got the letter out of the saddle bag," he said, smiling. "She just shook her head."

Tomaszewski said it's hard to even guess what might have happened to the letter over six decades.

"There are a million possibilities. ... It could have sat at Fort Campbell," she said. "The important part of it is it did get delivered."

Mary Dando, spokeswoman for the Greater Indiana District of the U.S. Postal Service, said the letter may have actually been delivered, then ended up at a flea market or antique store where a collector latched onto it.

In such cases, people sometimes put them back in the mail for reasons unknown, Dando said.

Rodgers said even if his wife didn't get the letter, it wasn't a big deal.

"She didn't miss it, and I didn't miss it, because I wrote her about every day," he said.

Jean Rodgers died of cancer eight years ago.

The letter bears a Fort Campbell postmark and the date June 15, 1953. It also features two 3-cent stamps.

Asked what her reaction would have been to the letter's final arrival had she still been alive to receive it, he said, "She'd have got a kick out of that."

[kuhio98]

Cop Shuts Down Busy Highway to Save Dog’s Life



These are the kinds of stories that restore your faith in humanity.

A La Porte, TX officer shut down traffic on a busy freeway in a successful effort to save a lost dog’s life. Cujo the rat terrier had escaped his owner on Monday, February 11 and wound up stranded on a busy highway with a bad hip that causes him to limp.

When police officer Kyle Jones saw the tiny pooch while driving in the opposite direction on the freeway, he knew the dog was in a dire situation and could end up as road kill unless he did something. So he turned his car around, turned his lights on and halted all traffic to retrieve the dog and get him out of harm’s way.

“He kind of looked at me and said, ‘Man, I’m glad you’re here.’ He let me pick him right up. Stuck him in the back seat of the patrol car,” officer Jones said of the incident.

Luckily Cujo had an identification tag on his collar, which helped an animal control officer reunite him with his worried owners Monday evening.

“He was all wet,” owner Jeremy Zapalac said. “He was soaked [from the rain]. We got him in, wrapped [and] dried him up and he just slept in his bed all day.”