The good guys thread

[cassiesmom]

I saw this on the weekend ABC news last night, too. I think this is such a nice thing for the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York to do

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Tony and Jo Fioravante will celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary today the same way they spent their wedding night, with a stay at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan -- and the Park Avenue room will cost the couple just $15.75.

The Staten Island couple, who kept their original receipt from 1948, will pay the same rate this year, even though the room rates in 2014 start at $799.

The Fioravantes are cashing in on the hotel’s long-standing tradition of honoring the original rate for couples celebrating an anniversary of 50 years or more who spent their wedding night at the Waldorf and kept the receipt after all those years.

Deb Curl commented on Facebook, "My parents did that for their 50th and they were treated like royalty!"

[kuhio98]

Child with rare form of cancer gets a special day in preschool

A young girl with rare form of cancer has a wish granted to show up at preschool for her first time.

Ava Parker, 2, had seen bigger kids loading on to school buses and only wanted to join them. She was told she would have to wait until she got a little bit bigger.

Her mother, Kacy Parker, told Fox59 News, “So, she comes to me the next day and says “Mommy, am I big enough and I said, no not yet and she said Ok.”

On December 10, 2012, her life changed dramatically. What started out as a black eye and grouchiness, turned into a parent’s worst nightmare. Ava was diagnosed with a malignant tumor known as a Rhabdoid Tumor. This is what makes her day at preschool so remarkable.

Her parents reached out to Decatur Township to see if they would enroll her for just one day. Ava’s family wanted to make sure she didn’t miss out on just being another kid in the class.

The family says that words aren’t enough to explain what it meant to Ava to have this experience.

“My heart is really going to explode with joy. It’s beyond words could even describe how happy we are to see her,” said her mother.

She also left a valuable lesson for her fellow Hoosiers seeing this story.

“Just don’t take you children for granted,” she said, “cause anything can happen.”

[kuhio98]

Community coming together to build barn for horse

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) - A Connecticut Vietnam veteran and his horse, Melody, have honored other fallen veterans almost 600 times.

However, a recent storm has put that legacy in jeopardy.

"In the beginning when I told people I was going to do it, they thought I was little a fruit loops. They said, 'You're going to bring your horse to a funeral and people are going to laugh at you,'" said Sgt. Rick Kowalker.

Kowalker bringing Melody along was about honoring those who served.

"I can't ride the horse at the funeral," Kowalker said. "It has to be what they call a riderless horse with the boots in backwards in the stirrups and it's to symbolize a fallen hero."

Kowalker and Melody started this tradition several years ago and he knew from the start they'd share a special bound.

"[I] saw a sign that said horse for adoption," Kowalker said. "I didn't know what it meant, but I think that's why I checked it because I was adopted myself."

Recently that bond was tested after a winter storm destroyed part of Melody's barn.

"Around here you have to have a place for your horse," Kowalker said. "You just can't be keeping it out all winter long."

Just like other Marines did for him on the battlefield, neighbors started to come to Kowalker's aide. One donated his barn as a temporary shelter while others started an online campaign to build a permanent home.

The permanent barn will hopefully go just steps away from the final resting place for many veterans. It's also the same place where Kowalker and Melody conducted their first funeral.

Neighbors hope to raise $6,000 to ensure Kowalker and Melody can continue to give other veterans a proper sendoff.

"It sure is a good feeling to look out my back door and see my horse right there too," Kowalker said.

[Karen]

How nice, what a dear and touching sight they must be at each funeral.

[kuhio98]

The Burrito Boyz Serve Up Free Breakfasts for San Diego's Homeless

While most teens are impossible to rouse at the crack of dawn, the Burrito Boyz of San Diego, Calif., are out of their homes by 6:30 a.m. every Sunday.

Their mission: Making breakfast burritos for the city's homeless, something they've done for 167 consecutive Sundays since November of 2010.

Comprised of a core team of seven high school boys and a small army of volunteers, they've given away more than 51,000 burritos and counting.

"We show the homeless community that we're not giving up on them, so they shouldn't give up on themselves," explains Alec Johnson, 15, who started the Burrito Boyz nonprofit with his father, Michael, 49, and best friend Luke Trolinger, 16.

The Burrito Boyz (which includes classmates Nick Peeleman, 16; Joe Skvarna, 15; Cole Smith, 16; Justin McDonald, 16; and Julian Wahl, 16), along with the Burrito Babes (Girl Scout Troop 5273) have expanded their mission over the years.

They now also provide books, clothing, rain tarps, toiletries and have been known to host occasional spaghetti dinners for the homeless as well.

"It's heartwarming to know that someone cares," says Eddie, 60, a former construction worker who is now homeless and did not want his last name used.

"They treat us like human beings," he says. "They're not just a charity, they're our friends."

Says San Diego City Councilman Scott Sherman, who explains the homeless population, many of whom are veterans, has spiked dramatically since 2008: "These boys aren't just giving handouts, but a hand-up by showing them that everyday people care."

The nonprofit began after Alec, then 12, presented his Christmas wish list to his parents in 2010: an iPhone, MacBook Air and other pricey items.

"I thought, 'Holy cow. My son's growing up quick, asking for such mature items,' " explains Michael, a former sports marketer.

"My wife, Mehrnaz, and I instead decided to teach him what's important in life," he says.

The very next weekend, they handmade 54 breakfast burritos in the family kitchen – paid out of their own pocket – and greeted the less fortunate on the downtown streets with the hot meal, bottle of water and a touch of dignity.

"It felt like punishment at first when my dad told me the idea," Alec says with a laugh.

"But to see human beings sleeping on the cold ground outside, it really touched me," he says. "To realize how much they don't have, and how much we do. It's a huge part of my life now."

Trolinger agrees.

"We learned to see the person beneath the grit and the grime," he says. "They're just ordinary people down on their luck."

Cordaryl Johnson, 26, is one of those people.

"This is God working in mysterious ways," says Johnson, an unemployed construction worker who has been living out of two cars with his wife and five children for the past several weeks.

"Once we get on our feet," he says, "I'll be right back here helping to volunteer."

[kuhio98]

Waitress receives $6,000 tip for being happy

So it turns out that being nice can pay off. Who knew?

Abigail Sailors is a waitress at a Lincoln, Neb., Cracker Barrel. And despite the many, many obstacles in her life, Sailors is a cheerful waitress, not one who slings your food at you with barely disguised disgust. And her cheerfulness has paid off in a big way.

Two customers walked into Sailors' Cracker Barrel last week asking to be seated at a table of the grumpiest server in the restaurant, promising they could make that server laugh. The hostess refused their request and sat them with their cheeriest waitress instead. So the two customers found themselves at one of Sailors' tables, and she began talking. And talking. And talking.

It turns out that Sailors has had a troubled life, one filled with foster homes and abuse and families broken time and time again. When she was just 7 months old, she was involved in a major car crash from which her mother has never fully recovered. Her father was deemed unfit to be a parent, and she and her four siblings were moved to three different foster homes. They suffered abuse at one of the foster homes before Abigail and her siblings were adopted by the Sailors family nine years ago.

The more the customers, who remained anonymous, questioned Sailors, the more she shared about her ancient and recent history. She told them that she's currently enrolled at Trinity Bible College in North Dakota, but didn't have enough money to take classes in the spring. So she was saving money with the hopes of returning in the fall.

“I’m just thankful," she told the Lincoln Journal-Star. "Everything we went through, my attitude is: God blessed me with a lot of things. I’m doing good. That’s all that matters to me.”

Sailors' story and positive attitude moved her customers so much that they invested in her future to a significant degree. They wrote a check for $5,000 to Trinity for her to go back to school this spring, and another check for $1,000 for Sailors herself for daily expenses.

“I couldn’t believe it," she said. "I tried to thank them, and they said, ‘Thank God.’”

So there you go. You can gripe about your life, or you can spin it positive and hope a mysterious stranger rolls into town and tosses you a few bucks. Hey, you never know.

[Karen]

Sounds like a very nice person, and those were very special customers!