The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Tampa, Florida -- A mother will do most anything for her child and one Tampa woman proves that by getting her head shaved! But there's much more to Jasmine Barrios' buzz cut. She's making a difference for kids across the country, as well as her own son.

Her son Nester has been diagnosed with cancer. "Nester is 8. When he was 7, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer," says Barrios. "Thyroid cancer in kids is not very common. There's a one in a million chance for a child in his group to get thyroid cancer, therefore the awareness for it isn't there."

On average, 46 mothers each weekday learn their child has cancer. Barrios is part of the group "46 Mommas," a group that raises money for childhood cancer research. That's also how she ended up with her new hairdo. She traveled to San Antonio to take part in the 'Shave for the Brave' fundraiser.

"It's fun, it's liberating. You feel free and I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I am one of the 46 mommas," said Barrios.

Nester is doing well and Barrios said he wants to be a soldier like his dad, "He wears the uniform proudly and he wears it correctly so he shows the Army pride. I told him he already is a soldier, he's just a soldier fighting cancer."

Barrios has raised several hundred dollars already this year for childhood cancer research and knows there is much more to be done.

"I feel like we could at least tell our story and let people know there are kids out there who are fighting. We're fortunate that so far Nester is doing phenomenal, but there are kids out there who are losing their battles and that's why we fight."

Collectively "46 Mommas" IS making a difference -- raising more than million dollars over the last three years.

[kuhio98]

Bus driver who caught plunging Brooklyn child brushes off 'hero' talk
A veteran New York City bus driver on Tuesday played down any claims of heroism for snagging a 7-year-old girl who fell three stories from a Brooklyn apartment building a day earlier.

Steve St. Bernard, 52, says neighborhood children alerted him to the girl standing on top of a window air-conditioning unit, and he positioned himself underneath her.

"I asked God ... I said, 'Let me catch her, please. Don't let me miss,'" the 10-year veteran of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) told CNN. "I don't play baseball. I'm not a sportsman. I don't want to miss."

St. Bernard said the girl was up above him for an excruciating seven minutes before she fell into his arms.

The incident occurred Monday afternoon and was captured on amateur video, which soon surfaced online. It shows the girl, who neighbors said is a special-needs child, standing and apparently dancing on the air-conditioner, losing her balance and falling. One of at least two people standing on the sidewalk beneath her reaches out and catches her before she hits the ground.

"It felt like a ton of bricks ... like a whole bag of rocks on me," St. Bernard said. "We went down. She touched the floor but the impact wasn't on her. It was me and her going down. I guess I absorbed the blow."

Bernard and the girl were treated at a local hospital and released. Bernard hurt his arm and is now wearing a sling and can't go to work.

Neighbors and onlookers have since hailed the bus driver as a hero while police investigate the incident, authorities said.

The child apparently was able to get onto an exterior air-conditioning unit because the window guards were too small for the opening, said New York City Housing Authority spokeswoman Sheila Stainback. There are now child-proof bars in place and the air conditioner unit has been removed from the window.

The girl's mother told CNN affiliate WCBS that she thought her daughter was asleep and blamed the incident on the air conditioner, which she said was installed just a few days ago and was defective.

Deborah Reed, a witness who alerted the girl's mother that her child was standing on the air conditioner, was emotional about the whole ordeal.

"I am just so thankful that everything turned out well -- I really am," she said.

But most grateful was the girl's mother, who hugged and thanked St. Bernard on Tuesday.

Still, the bus driver is brushing aside the "hero" label.

"If you have kids or you love people, like me, it's something you jump into action real quickly," he said.

[kuhio98]

CONCORD, NC (WBTV) - Barbee Farms in Concord only harvests about two-thirds of their crops. Farmers typically will only harvest what they can sell, leaving thousands of pounds of perfectly edible food out in the fields. That food might go to waste if it weren't for groups like The Society of Saint Andrew.

The group organizes volunteers to come and pick the second harvest or "glean" the fields. Last year they took more than 50,000 pounds of food and donated it to food banks and shelters.

"Usually food that's in the field in the morning is on somebody's plate by the night," said Jean Siers, the area coordinator for the agency.

Thursday morning, students from Charlotte's Freedom School were the volunteers picking and loading corn into bushel sacks. Despite the mud and wet conditions, the kids were able to pick more than 1,000 pounds of corn.

Siers says the food comes at no cost to them and is a great way to turn what would go to waste, into usable food for the hungry.

Farmers like Tommy Barbee say it's a win-win because they don't have to see food go un-used. "Nothing does me any more good than to see that crowd leave with food to be distributed among the community, said Barbee.

The Society of Saint Andrew is constantly looking for volunteers to glean area farms and transport the food to local agencies. For more information check out their website at http://www.endhunger.org/