The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Tiny Chihuahua Saves Family from House Fire

Somebody get this super dog a cape!

A tiny Chihuahua named Chloe from Federal Way, Washington, barked until her sleeping family woke up during a house fire – and she's being credited with saving their lives.

"My mom's little 5-lb. Chihuahua started barking when she saw the smoke," Devon Whittlesey told ABC 13 News. "Smoke was pouring into my room. I dropped down to my hands and knees and crawled to the front door."

Whittlesey and two other residents made it out fast thanks to the barking, but Chloe wasn't so lucky.

When part of the home collapsed in flames, they thought the dog was gone forever. An hour later, firefighters discovered the pooch alive in the rubble, covered in ash, according to ABC 13.

"Chloe saved us," Whittlesey said. "We wouldn't have lived. If the flames wouldn't have got us, the smoke would've."

Despite her size, Chloe is being hailed a giant hero. "She's got 250 lbs. in that little 4-lb. body," said Chloe's other owner, Tracie Fox. "No doubt she saved us."

[kuhio98]

Return of an Earth Angel
After being rescued two years before, she prayed that she might one day thank the young man who came to her aid. It was a prayer quickly answered.
By Helen Chade Mahshi, San Clemente, California

Waves lapped against the shore as I walked along the beach. The ocean was calm, but looking out at it I shivered, remembering a day two years before. I’d left my daughter, Anastasia, relaxing on the sand while I went for a swim. I got caught in a riptide that swiftly took me deep into the ocean.

The harder I fought, the more exhausted I got. But I didn’t get any closer to shore. Was Anastasia going to watch me drown? “God, I need help!” I gasped, barely able to keep my mouth above the water.

A young man appeared in the surf. “Hang on to me,” he said. He sliced through the water with powerful strokes. We rode a wave in together until we stumbled onto the sand, his arm supporting me as I collapsed into the embrace of my daughter.

I hugged Anastasia tight and gulped in sweet sea air. By the time I looked up the man was gone. Anastasia couldn’t say which way he went.

I hope that man knows how grateful I am to this day, I thought, turning away from my memory. I stepped aside as someone came jogging down the beach–a young man who looked very familiar.

“You may not remember, but you once saved my life!” I said when he got close. “Thank you!”

He grinned, shyly. “You’re welcome!”

With another prayer answered, he was gone.

[kuhio98]

Kansas City woman sews Angel Gowns for parents using donated wedding dresses

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - If you frequent garage sales around town, you may have run into John Wright. Address list in hand, the 81- year-old Kansas City grandfather plots out his stops in advance of walking up homeowners’ driveways filled with treasures they’re hoping to sell.

John has been going to garage sales for a decade. Upon his arrival, it doesn’t take long for him to locate the homeowner to ask one simple question: "Do you have any wedding dresses?"

“I went to a garage sale in Belton one day,” John explained to 41 Action News. “I was talking to the lady and I showed her a little flyer and she said, 'Stand right there, don’t move.'"

The woman went inside her house and brought out an old, used wedding dress. It was exactly what John was seeking.

“She was married to the man for 18 years and it turned out he wasn’t a very nice fella,” John said. “She said she can’t stand to look at the wedding dress, so she couldn’t think of a better use to put the dress to than make something meaningful.”

Along with collecting coffee mugs and toys he donates to people in need, John gathers wedding gowns to give to his wife, Diane. She then washes them, cuts them apart, and sews them into tiny gowns.

Delicate gowns that are about to serve a new purpose as burial gowns for deceased newborns.

“I’ve probably gotten 15 out of one dress,” Diane said. “But most of the time it's closer to eight and I try to do the four different sizes.”

Diane makes various different sizes to fit babies at various stages of gestation. She also makes a small little pocket, or wrap, with ties for the newborns that are too small to wear clothes.

“There’s always a variety. And then after I do some then I go back and any little scrap I have left will take whatever pattern I have and see what will fit and make that particular size."

Diane donates gowns she makes to area hospitals, like Saint Luke’s East. Nurses then give them to parents whose newborn babies did not survive.

“I’ve had a miscarriage and we’ve lost a child so I understand that grief,” Diane told 41 Action News with tears welling up in her eyes.

Diane and John also revealed they recently lost a son who drowned during a military exercise.

Angelee True is a nurse in the labor and delivery unit at St. Luke’s East Hospital in Lee’s Summit, Mo.

“Not all families have a happy experience when they come here. We do have families that lose babies due to miscarriage or still birth or at all different stages of gestation,” Angelee explained.

“We have been trained to take care of those families and it's always difficult,” Angelee said while standing in an empty patient room. “It’s never easy by any means.”

“We get patients who come in for an induction or just a regular appointment who say they haven’t felt the baby move as much as normal and the baby has passed and it's a total shock to them."

It’s a shock that's a bit less painful for parents thanks to people like John and Diane.

“The parents would have to go buy something,” Diane said. “I can’t imagine how hard that would be to go and buy a burial gown.”

John added, “When I look at them I just … my throat closes up. I get so emotional about it.”

Diane says a prayer over every gown. She’s never met the recipients of her gowns or Angelee, but hospital staff has witnessed the parents’ overwhelming response.

“What they’re doing is extremely important and what they’re doing means a lot more than what they can ever know,” Angelee said.

“If you have faith in God and faith in helping other people, then that’s what we’re here for,” John added while sitting in his living room.

“I’m 81 years old. I don’t know how much time I have left, but I’d like for it to have meaning.”

If you have a wedding dress you’d like to donate to John and Diane Wright, send it to Grandview United Methodist Church, 12613 Grandview Road in Grandview, Mo.

You can also contact the volunteer coordinator at Saint Luke’s East Hospital at 816-347-8532.
http://www.kshb.com/news/kansas-city-woman-sews-angel-gowns-for-parents-using-donated-wedding-dresses?hpt=us_bn9

[kuhio98]

Two young girls donate nearly 500 inspirational bracelets to cancer patients

HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) - Two young girls who are best friends know what it is like to have a mother diagnosed with cancer. They've now banded together to put a positive spin on a challenging situation.

Five years ago, Lindsay Mosamery, 11, found out her mother Julie Mosamery was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer.

This past May, Lindsey's friend Keeley Joyal, 10, found out her mother Katie Joyal was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.

Both Lindsey and Keeley, from Somers, wanted to give Joyal something inspirational to take with her to chemotherapy treatments, so they decided to make rubber band bracelets that Joyal could wear throughout her treatments.

Now, after the girls involved their classmates in their efforts, they have been able to collect hundreds of bracelets with inspirational messages attached to give to cancer patients at Hartford Hospital.

The girls have named their cause "The Bouncing Back Club," and on Thursday they donated close to 500 bracelets to cancer patients at Hartford Hospital.

"I think it makes them feel good. You know, it's nice to see children giving back to the community and bringing cancer awareness to their friends and to patients," Julie Mosamery said.

[kuhio98]

Heroes Among Us
Bill & Muriel Elliott Help Crack Down on Drunk Drivers to Honor Their Son

The knock on the door that changed Bill and Muriel Elliott's life forever came at 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 22, 2000.

It was the police – with some devastating news.

"They told us our son had been killed in a collision with a drunk driver," Bill, 64, tells PEOPLE. "My wife went down to answer the door because we were asleep and I heard her screaming."

John, 22, had graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, just two months earlier and was working there as an instructor. That night, he got off duty around 10 p.m. and headed north to his parents' home in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, to celebrate his mother's birthday. The accident happened in Woodstown, New Jersey.

The driver of the car that hit John died in the accident. He had been drinking for 10 hours straight – and had a blood alcohol level of 0.23 at the time of the crash. The man had been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated two hours before the accident but was released to the custody of a friend, who let him drive again.

"We experienced every parent's worst nightmare," Bill says.

But the Elliotts were determined to make some good come from the tragedy. That same year, they founded the HERO Campaign, a nonprofit devoted to cracking down on drunk drivers.

"Out of that incredible heartbreak, we wanted to do everything we could to prevent this tragedy from happening to other families," says Bill, a retired hospital vice president.

The HERO Campaign promotes the use of designated drivers by registering volunteers to drive home those who have been drinking. It partners with law enforcement agencies, colleges, bars and taverns, restaurants, sports teams, state divisions of highway safety, the U.S. Naval Academy and community chapters across the country.

Rodney Brewer, commissioner of the Kentucky State Police, says he's seen a drop in fatality rates since partnering with the nonprofit in December 2012.

"I can't let the HERO Campaign have all of the credit, but I will tell you I think they are a major part of the equation," Brewer tells PEOPLE.

Bill and Muriel also worked with the New Jersey State Police to get John's Law passed in 2001. The legislation gives police there the authority to seize the vehicles of suspected drunk drivers and hold them for up to 12 hours.

Laura and Michael Horne, who lost their son Chad to a drunk driver in January 2010, say they are grateful to the Elliotts for all their advocacy efforts.

"When you lose a child in such a tragic way, it can either make you or break you as far as staying together as a family," Laura, 49, of Freehold, New Jersey, tells PEOPLE.

"I attribute the survival of my family to Bill and Muriel Elliott and this campaign because I don't know if we would have done without it, honestly," says Laura, who volunteers for the group.

Muriel says the HERO Campaign has helped keep memories of their son alive.

"John was always a positive person; he made you laugh," says the retired first-grade teacher, 64. "John would probably laugh at some of the funny things along the way, like being grand marshals at the NASCAR race – we know that he probably would have loved that."

Bill says drunk driving should be taken more seriously because it can devastate anyone out of the blue – just like it did to to them.

"I think the view is like lightning could strike and it will happen to somebody else but it won't happen to them," says Bill. "But lightning struck our family when they came knocking on our door that morning."

[kuhio98]

Heroes Among Us
Houston Socialite Kristi Schiller Helps Cops – and Dogs! – Fight Crime

In December 2009, Kristi Schiller saw a story on the local TV news that devastated her.

The K-9 unit dog of Deputy Constable Ted Dahlin, of Harris County, Texas, had been strangled to death by a burglary suspect.

"This poor officer," Schiller, 44, tells PEOPLE. "It was a member of his family, and this dog died protecting him."

So Schiller – a Houston wife, mom and animal lover whose four dogs go everywhere with her – decided to get him another one.

In December 2009, Kristi Schiller saw a story on the local TV news that devastated her.

The K-9 unit dog of Deputy Constable Ted Dahlin, of Harris County, Texas, had been strangled to death by a burglary suspect.

"This poor officer," Schiller, 44, tells PEOPLE. "It was a member of his family, and this dog died protecting him."

So Schiller – a Houston wife, mom and animal lover whose four dogs go everywhere with her – decided to get him another one.

Keep up with your favorite celebs in the pages of PEOPLE Magazine by subscribing now.


"I didn't want the dog to die in vain," she says.

She soon found out it wasn't that easy.

After pitching her idea to as high up as the Texas governor, Schiller quickly learned that an individual can't just give a police department a K-9, due to complex departmental policies coupled with the steep price of training. It costs a minimum of $10,000 to purchase and train one dog, and K-9 units are usually the first go in budget cuts.

But Schiller didn't let that stop her.

In 2010, she created K9s4COPS, a nonprofit that provides K-9s trained in narcotics, explosives and firearms detection to police across the country.

To date, 60 of her trained dogs are catching bad guys for police departments in 17 states, and she has a waiting list with no fewer than 85 officers on it.

Some $47.6 million worth of narcotics and 97 guns have been seized with the help of K9s4COPS dogs.

"This is a great thing she's doing," says Charles Mesloh, a K-9 expert and criminal justice professor at Northern Michigan University. "I'm not aware of any other [program like Schiller's]."

Schiller, meanwhile, says it's a labor of love.

"I sat on 13 different boards when I started this," reveals Schiller, a native Texan with a colorful past as a radio broadcaster and Playboy model, "and I got off every single one because I felt so passionate about moving forward with this."

Barking Up Funds
Initially funding her mission out of her own pocket, Schiller has since raised more than $2.4 million for her charity.

That support has gone a long way.

When Houston County Deputy John Walker's longtime partner, Bosco, retired, his department didn't have funding to replace the dog.

Walker faced the possibility of finishing his career as a dogless patrolman when Schiller came to the rescue, donating Gorbi, a German shepherd, to him in 2011.

"He's a part of me," Walker says of his new partner.


Class Act
Schiller, a gun owner and NRA member, is also deeply opposed to an effort in Texas and other states to allow teachers to carry guns in schools, fearing they will do more harm than good.

Prompted by the December 2012 Newtown school shooting, Schiller started K9s4KIDS, which donates gun- and drug-detecting dogs to protect schools.

So far, K9s4KIDS has placed trained dogs in five Texas schools, and another is being trained for a private school on Long Island, New York.

Westside Elementary School music teacher Parrish Gayle says that having a dog around her Angleton, Texas, school "adds tremendously" to the safety procedures put in place after Newtown.

"A dog makes you pause, and he's a huge deterrent that helps you feel safe," she says.

When Schiller first contacted Dahlin following the loss of his dog, he was skeptical of the socialite's idea. That perception quickly changed.

"She is an amazing person," says Dahlin, who no longer works with dogs but sits on her board of directors.

"I could never have imagined something this great coming from such a tragic situation."

[kuhio98]

Praying with Mimi
Who would have thought that my most consistent prayer partner would be a four-legged friend?
By Anne Simpkinson, New York, New York

I start my day with prayer. Centering prayer, in which, rather than saying prayers aloud, you sit in silence, letting go of thoughts and distractions and resting in God. The point isn’t to talk to God, or even to listen to him, but to simply be with him.

Early every morning after I feed the cats, I settle into the big gray overstuffed armchair tucked in a corner of my bedroom by a window.

First I read a devotion from one of the books I keep beside the chair. Then I put the book down and hit the start button on the meditation timer app I downloaded onto my phone. A soft bell chimes, signaling the beginning of my 20 minutes of prayer.

I close my eyes, repeat a sacred word two or three times then sit in silence. The sixteenth-century mystic Saint John of the Cross wrote that God’s first language is silence. I’ve chosen centering prayer as a way to connect with God–beyond words, beyond thoughts, beyond emotions.

Centering prayer has been my spiritual practice for almost 20 years, one that’s seen me through many changes–my divorce, my parents’ deaths, several moves, new jobs. A constant through the inevitable ups and downs of life.

I was content with my practice. But then one day a friend and I were discussing our prayer lives. She happened to mention that when she sat on her sofa to pray every morning, her cat joined her. My reaction was instantaneous... and not very Christian. I was green with envy!

My friend certainly hadn’t trained her cat (who can?), so I reasoned that she must exude such a peaceful aura that her cat couldn’t resist basking in it. Obviously, I was less holy, less spiritual than she was.

My two cats did nothing like that when I prayed. They nibbled at their breakfast. Stood sentinel at the window, watching for birds. Lounged in their favorite spots in the living room. Groomed themselves. They did what cats do.

And I did what we humans often do. I let my feelings of inadequacy niggle at me for a while. I wondered why my connection to God was somehow lacking. Then I got caught up in the busyness of my day-to-day life and forgot about my friend’s feline prayer partner.

Until one morning about a year ago. I was sitting in my big gray chair, eyes closed in prayer, when I felt one of my cats leap onto its overstuffed arm and slowly walk across my lap.

I kept my eyes shut, trying to stay centered. But it was hard not to be distracted when my cat turned and walked across my lap the other way. Which cat was it? I took a peek.

It was Mimi, my nine-year-old tuxedo cat. She stretched out next to me, settling herself against my left side, and rested her head on my thigh. She lay there, completely relaxed. Completely still.

I closed my eyes again. I listened to the gentle rhythm of Mimi’s breath. I let the soft warmth of her body seep into me. And something about her stillness seeped into me as well, lulling me, pulling me deeper into silence, into peace.

Since that day, every morning when I sit in my comfy chair to pray, Mimi has joined me. As soon as the meditation bell chimes, she pads into the room, jumps up on the chair and nestles against me. Then we both settle down, close our eyes and rest in the presence of God.

After all, didn’t Jesus say, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”?