The good guys thread

[kuhio98]

Tuskegee girl, 5, boasts business license, sweet formula for helping others

TUSKEGEE, AL (WSFA) - Lots of kids build lemonade stands to raise a little extra money. It may go toward buying a new bike or video game, but few who aspire to profit from the sweet summertime time favorite take it seriously enough to get a business license like 5-year-old Tuskegee resident Alycia Leonard Amore.

The little entrepreneur with big ideas isn't growing her own business for herself, either. She's literally turning life's lemons into lemonade for those who have cleft palates, a birth defect that is caused when a baby's lip or mouth doesn't form properly during pregnancy.

Half of the profits from Alycia's business, called Lemon-aide A.M.O.R.E., are earmarked for a special cause that started after she saw SmileTrain, an organization that specializes in giving those with cleft palates a new smile.

For a dollar per cup, Alycia is quenching the thirst of customers at her grandmother's furniture store, and helping her fellow man. It's why her last name doubles as an acronym in her business title, "About Making Others Really Enamored".

Theresa Swain, Alycia's grandmother, says the pre-K business owner told her while helping around the store one day, "Grammy, you have your own business. I want my own business." What started with snacks to customers quickly bloomed with the girl bringing in $78, according to Swain.

Alycia says she wants to make everyone happy with her tasty drinks and her reasons for going into business should bring smiles to a lot of faces.

ON THE WEB: http://www.smiletrain.org/

[phesina]

How nice! And what a great young lady here!

Since I was born with a harelip myself, I especially appreciate her efforts.

Pat

[kuhio98]

Mom of Fallen Marine Comforts Grieving Families with Teddy Bears Sewn from Soldiers' Uniforms

It was Aug. 7, 2009, the first day of school. Math and science teacher Lisa Freeman was assembling packets of pens and paper in her classroom at Richmond Hill Middle School in Georgia when she saw two Marines somberly walking down the hall.

Her only son, Matthew, 29, a pilot in the Marines who had volunteered to serve on more dangerous ground duty, had arrived in Afghanistan only nine days earlier – and already had started a project to help Afghan children. He had asked his mom to help help round up school supplies.

He would never finish that project, and Lisa Freeman, as she learned that day, would never see her son again.

"It was always Matthew's dream to be a pilot in the military, just like his dad and grandfather," says Lisa, 62, now retired, of Richmond Hill. "It was so difficult to lose him. But I soon realized that I wasn't alone."

While condolences poured in to Lisa, her husband, Gary, and Matthew's wife, Teresa, Freeman noticed that well-wishers often overlooked Matthew's two sisters, Marybeth Macias, 28, and Virginia Wiedower, 26.

"Their big brother meant the world to them," she says. "Their lives changed when he died, too, not just mine."

Wanting to help grieving siblings, Freeman founded the Matthew Freeman Project, a nonprofit that creates teddy bears sewn from the uniforms of soldiers killed in action. To date, Freeman and her volunteer seamstresses have given away more than 100 stuffed bears.

But Freeman wanted to do more than provide comfort. So she started a college scholarship fund that so far has given away seven $1,000 scholarships to siblings of fallen service people and five $1,500 scholarships to seniors at Matthew's former high school.

"Though we can't run up to my brother and give him a hug, we can now hold on tight to a bear and remember him," says Jessica Frausto, 28, of San Antonio, who requested three bears so that her sons, Bruce, 7, Colton, 4, and Levi, 1, could remember their uncle, Army Spc. Shannon Chihuahua, killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

"The bears help remind me of the warmth, joy and light that my brother brought to our family," she says.

Freeman has now expanded her project to include families whose soldiers have died from combat-related related suicide.

"A bear is such a small thing, but it provides a lot of comfort," she says.

"It's a tremendous honor to be able to give somebody something they can treasure in their loved one's memory. Nobody who loses a sibling or a nephew or an uncle in uniform should be forgotten."

Teddy bears sewn from fallen soldiers' uniforms

[kuhio98]

Stranger's generous tip makes visiting Korean War vet's day

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCIV) -- Visitors at Patriot's Point Wednesday may have noticed a group of Navy veterans touring. It was part of a reunion for those who served on the U.S.S. Hyman.

It's always a memorable time for these sailors, but for one in particular it will always stand out in his mind.

The U.S.S. Laffey is the last destroyer of its kind left. It is very similar to the Hyman, which John Reilly served on during the Korean War.

“Kind of brings back some memories, the good old days,” said Reilly, who served on the Hyman from 1951 to 1955.

And talking about the good old days is one of the things that he enjoys the most about these trips.

“Unfortunately, the time I was on it there is only three of us that come to the reunion where the others are gone or couldn't make it, but it's good to see and talk to the guys and reminisce and tell sea stories,” said Reilly.

But on this trip he has another story to tell, a much more recent one about generosity.

“My family and I were having supper at the local Red Lobster, and it was a young couple diagonally across from us finished their meal and a gentleman came over and said, 'I want to thank you for your service,'” said Reilly. “I get that quite a bit. He said, 'I would like to help pay for your meal' and he put the bill down on the table. I said thank you and off he went. I figured it was $10, maybe $20. I opened it up; it was a hundred dollar bill. We were floored, great city with Charleston.”

But then they were floored again when a manager gave them gift certificates for their next visit to the restaurant.

“Made me feel great, glad I came,” said Reilly.

And all of the veterans are glad they came. Dick Leitch came all the way from Indiana.

“I saw the Laffey at Okinawa when it was hit, shortly after it was hit. This whole super structure was completely gone,” said Leitch, a World War II veteran who served on the Hyman.

It's stories like this he loves to share with his loved ones.

“I'm 94 years old and I love every day. I hope I live to be 100, and I hope to come back to several more reunions,” said Leitch.

And for all these families, reunions like these are priceless as they hear the sea stories first-hand from their loved ones. But for the Reilly family, it's also the generous tip that they will always remember.

[kuhio98]

RANDOLPH (CBS) – They are the gifts Mike Grinnell and his family wanted, but didn’t think they could afford.

“It means a lot to give my son something for Christmas when we’ve struggled so much,” Grinnell says.

A toy crib for his niece, an activity play set for his 18 month old son Aiden and a tablet for his wife. More than Mike could afford right now, but suddenly they are here on his table, and he doesn’t even know who to thank.

“I just want them to know what they did matters and what they have chosen to do with money is an amazing thing,” Grinnell says.

He put the stuff on layaway at Walmart for Christmas, and he didn’t think he would be able to afford it, until Walmart called him and left him a message. They told him someone acting as a Secret Santa paid off his bill and he was free to come get his toys.

“We were shocked and floored and almost didn’t believe it,” Grinnell said.

This father couldn’t believe his luck because they haven’t had much of it lately.

“My wife’s been out of work fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and so I’ve been working various second jobs to make ends meet,” he said.

But now, thanks to a stranger who calls himself Santa, this dad won’t have to work extra shifts, to give his family a Christmas this year.

“It’s just amazing cause the tough time we’ve had the couple last years, it’s really nice and a sigh of relief the presents are all set this year,” he said.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/video?aut...lipId=10929626

[kuhio98]

27-Year-Old Donates All Scratch-Off Ticket Winnings To Animal Shelter

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A 27-year-old who won $500 on a scratch-off lottery ticket, is giving all his winnings to the city shelter at Dallas Animal Services.

Bryce Vucekovich surprised shelter workers on Saturday, when he arrived with a pickup truck loaded down in food, litter and other necessities for the dogs and cats living there.

“I always kind of told myself, I always want to give to them if I ever come across extra money,” he said.

Vucekovich, who lives in The Colony, says he was inspired to give to the Dallas shelter because he found his own shelter dog, a three-legged mix named Fred, there last Christmas.

“I don’t think anybody wants to adopt a three-legged dog, but I made a bee-line for him,” says Vucekovich, who also owns a one-eyed dog. “That’s my goal in life is to have a bunch of adopted rescue dogs.”

With more than 600 dogs and cats waiting to be adopted or fostered, the shelter is always in need of donations, says manager Teresa Cleek.

She says Vucekovich’s donation is heart-warming, especially in this season of giving.

Vucekovich says he never considered keeping his winnings – he always told himself if he ever had extra money on hand, he’s pay it forward to the shelter.

“Just the mass amount of animals they have there, it can’t be easy to manage all them,” says Vucekovich.

It’s a blessing to say the least, for the shelter, which stays at capacity most of the year.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video?autoSt...lipId=10933657

[kuhio98]

'Layaway Angel' Pays for $20,000 Worth of Toys

Linda got the surprise of her life on Wednesday when Toys 'R' Us called her to let her know that the gifts she'd put on layaway had been paid off – by a stranger.

The "layaway angel," as she is being called, spent $20,000 at a Bellingham, Massachusetts branch of Toys 'R' Us, paying off more than 150 accounts, the Milford Daily News reports.

"I thought, 'You have to be kidding me,' " Linda told the paper of the moment when she heard the news. "I almost wanted to cry. It was only $50, but to me that's a lot of money, and that someone would go and do that gave me chills."

She added: "What she did was so caring and thoughtful. I feel like I was part of something special – touched by an angel."

The individual in question wishes to remain anonymous, but employees describe her as "bubbly older woman" who said that she would "sleep better at night" by doing the good deed.

And she's not the first: So-called 'Layaway Santas' are on the rise after a story by the Associated Press highlighted the do-gooders in 2011.