The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

First dog saves man from fire, then man saves dog

DES MOINES, Iowa —As a Des Moines man slept Tuesday morning, a fire was growing just 10 feet away.


Paul Kemp's dog, a 3-year-old Sheltie named Sheba, was the first to spot it. Kemp said he awoke on the living room couch to Sheba jumping onto his chest.

"It was unusual, and startled me -- and then I saw the fire," said Kemp. "So, I went and got my coffee pot, and threw some water on it and it didn't help, and it just grew really quickly."

Kemp ran outside and assumed Sheba was with him like always, but she wasn't.

"I was yelling outside for her, and I didn't see her and I figured she had to be back in the house, so I went in the house and yelled for her, and then she came running and ran outside," said Kemp.

Co-workers were shocked to see Paul and Sheba at work just hours after their ordeal, but at the Animal Lifeline this story of dog saves man, man saves dog goes hand in hand with the mission of the no-kill animal shelter.

It's where sick, injured and abused animals get a second chance.

"I love her, she's my little girl. I mean I've always loved her but now she saved my life, ya know," said Kemp. "She showed me that she's my best friend, because she was worried about me. I mean she wasn't running around when she first saw the fire. Her first instinct was to wake me up, ya know, thinking about me first."

Kemp suffered some burns described as minor in the fire.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Authorities said the home is a total loss.

Kemp and Sheba are staying in a hotel. Kemp said he had homeowner's insurance.

[kuhio98]

Little girl has big heart for books

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - There's a little girl with a big heart for books.

Addie Bleu Short says reading is her favorite past time, and she wanted to find a way to share that love with kids across the world.

Over the past several months the third grader has collected enough books to donate a "entire library" to a village in Africa.

But now there's one thing standing in her way - enough funds to pay for the shipping.

Addie Bleu Short is a tall order, and she loves books more than an average third grader.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," she says. "I really like fiction with adventure and mystery in it."

According to her mom, the love has been there since picked up her first book.

"I started out only wanting books for presents on my birthday and for Christmas but then I thought, I have so many books!"

So Addie Bleu wanted to something special with all those books she had, to spread the joy she finds inside the pages of the books.

it's a part of the African Library Project, and the goal is to send 1000 books to a library for kids in Africa.

"She was excited because she could send a whole library and that idea was really neat to her."

The books are sent to rural parts of Africa, with project partners to organize the libraries in various African communities.

So far she has collected enough books for an entire library.

"Right now there are 1,600 books in the living room of the Short family, all waiting for enough money to ship them out to Africa."

The books must be sent by Dec. 10, but without enough money to cover shipping that day could come and go.

But the 9-year-old is far from being done.

She is asking for even more books to be donated to help spread the love of reading.

She's also trying to raise $2,500 for the Addie Bleu's African Library Project.

You can donate used children's books to the YWCA or Rush Elementary.

To donate or find more information, visit

http://www.gofundme.com/addiebleusafricanlibrary

https://www.facebook.com/addiebleusALP

[Sairentonen]

I love reading these! Goes to show that there's a lot more good out there
than we think!! (:
Thank you so much for posting such heart warming and inspirational stories!

[kuhio98]

I love reading these! Goes to show that there's a lot more good out there
than we think!! (:
Thank you so much for posting such heart warming and inspirational stories!

Thank you. Feel free to share any postive stories that touch your heart.

There have always been many more good people than bad in the world. I'm sick of the bad ones getting all the attention. Power to the good guys!

[cassiesmom]

I love the Batkid story! I heard about it on the radio first, then in the newspaper and twitter. What a great thing to do!

[kuhio98]

I have to confess that when I heard about this story, I figured that "management" would come up with a million and one reasons why a wedding couldn't be performed at the airport. I am beyond happy to hear that, instead of hendering the process, they helped make it happen. And how wonderful to see a couple to understands that the important thing is to be together -- not where the wedding takes place. Gives me hope....


Navy Sailor Marries High-School Sweetheart in Reno Airport



A U.S. Navy sailor told his high school sweetheart he wanted to marry her the moment he laid eyes on her after an 11-month deployment off the coast of war-torn Syria.

Seaman Apprentice Dylan Ruffer got his wish Tuesday shortly after stepping off a plane at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.

Ruffer and Madison Meinhardt, both 19, tied the knot just after midnight under a tulle-covered arch in front of the arrivals escalators. More than 200 invited guests, passengers and others looked on.

"Seeing her for the first time, it was amazing," Ruffer told reporters.

A reception followed in the baggage claim area.

"We were expecting a little wedding in the corner," Meinhardt said. "This is definitely more than we could have ever asked for."

The couple, who met at Chester High School in Northern California, initially planned to marry in October but had to postpone the wedding when Ruffer's deployment was extended, according to KOLO-TV.

The bride inquired about the possibility of an airport wedding about three weeks ago, and businesses and community members quickly rallied around the plan. The Peppermill casino offered a spa package so the bride could prepare, while the Eldorado casino donated a honeymoon suite and limousine.

The airport catering service prepared food for the reception, which was held in a fully decorated section of the baggage claim area and featured a deejay.

"A lot of people were absolutely stunned to see a wedding in the terminal," airport spokesman Brian Kulpin said. "It's not something you see in the airport every day."

[kuhio98]

Oral Lee Brown Has Sent More than 150 Children to College

Back in 1987, Oral Lee Brown, an Oakland, Calif., realtor, made a seemingly crazy decision.

She decided to offer 23 first-grade children at Brookfield Elementary School a full-ride to college with no realistic expectations that they would even graduate from high school.

In a school district with a 54 percent high school graduation rate, Browns' kids are beating the odds. Out of that first group of 23, 19 graduated from high school and enrolled in college.

"They didn't want to fail me," she says of their success. "I believe love can turn anything around."

Brown, 68, later established the Oral Lee Brown Foundation. To date 90 to 95 percent of her classes have graduated, with around 150 kids going to college.

"I don’t have a magic wand," she says. "It is hard work, determination and love. I can't allow mine to fail."

Michael Tatmon, 32, is one of her grateful kids from that first class.

"Ms. Brown was always in my corner," says Tatmon, who graduated from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., with a degree in criminal justice in 2007 and a BA in criminology. "I appreciate her guidance, her wisdom. She taught us you can make it out of the hood."

She was also there for them on a personal level, he says.

"She was like a mother," says Tatmon, who recently started his own clothing, marketing and promotion company. "Out of my family members, I can say I'm one of the few who have never been in jail. That's a result of Ms. Brown in my life."

It all began when a young girl asked Brown for a quarter outside of a grocery store. Instead, she offered to take her inside and buy her something. Expecting her to pick out candy, the girl bought bread, bologna and other sandwich supplies.

Brown kept returning to the store to look for her. Then she decided to try the local elementary school. Three girls were absent from the two first-grade classes that day.

"The principal said, 'I'll give you a call when all the kids are there,'" Brown recalls. "So I get a phone call that all students are here today and I went through thinking I'd finally see her."

She didn't.

"So I just blurted out, 'Can I adopt one of the classes?'" she says. "'Give me the class you don't think will make it.'"

Brown also started Saturday school for the children and is trying to raise money to start a boarding school that will be a safe haven for these children, housing about 480 students.

"With the boarding school, my kids will be safe, with no bullets coming into their dorm," she says.

LaTosha Hunter, 32, who received a bachelor of arts degree in accounting from Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss., says she wouldn't be the person he is today without Brown.

"Everyone has a purpose in life," she says. "And her purpose was that we had a better life."