I'll keep it brief, folks — we've got a blooming garden of good things for you today! I'm really excited about these stories: There are big-hearted people doing good, brave things (and, of course, animals that inspire awe and awws). Funny how good news finds us when we need it most. Enjoy! Here are some good things that happened this week. |
An airline employee goes above and beyond |
Frequent Delta Air Lines flyer Bruce Gamble has gotten to know the lovely employees of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport quite well over his 30-plus years of traveling. But part-time Delta agent Jill Hickey has become "more like family now," Gamble told CNN. Hickey doesn't only pass out free water bottles and help passengers get from point A to B — she gave Gamble a kidney. The pair got to know each other at her customer service counter over the years when, in late 2022, Gamble shared that he needed a kidney transplant. At an average wait of three to five years for an organ donation, he'd likely age out of eligibility for a transplant procedure. In stepped Hickey. She got tested with a few coworkers to see if they'd make suitable donors for Gamble. And to her surprise, she was a match. She didn't hesitate to go forward with the procedure, an act of kindness that earned her an award from the airline. Hickey's kidney was transplanted into Gamble around Christmas last year, but the pair haven't let each other go yet. With their spouses, they went on a joint vacation to the West Coast, with plans to keep traveling together as far as Delta — and their healthy kidneys — will take them. |
Jake Brooker/Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust |
A stylish chimp sets trends |
This summer's hottest trend? Dangling a blade of grass from your ear. Don't take my word for it, though — chimpanzees have been doing it since 2010. It all started 15 years ago, when researchers at the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust chimpanzee sanctuary in Zambia noticed that when a female chimp started sticking objects in her ear, the rest of her group eventually followed suit. There was no practical need for grass and sticks to belong in their ears, researchers noted — they were merely following a trend set by the most fashion-forward chimp among them. More than 10 years later, chimps in a different group at the same sanctuary also started wearing grass and sticks in their ears, and these chimps lived nine miles away from the trendsetting group. It turns out, the same caregiver had taken care of both groups despite their distance and he had a habit of cleaning his ears out with twigs. It's an exciting addition to the ever-growing dossier on chimpanzee intelligence, researchers said, and evidence that trends can go viral even among primates. If chimps are studying human habits and replicating them, then what are they picking up from other species? |
A nonprofit pays refugees to learn to cook |
Emma Lazarus' poem "The New Colossus" is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty as an immortal monument to the freedom and promise of immigrating to the US. Her legacy lives on through Emma's Torch, a program where refugees new to New York learn to cook, with the goal of joining the city's vibrant culinary scene and gaining financial independence. The 500 students at Emma's Torch are paid to receive culinary training through the nonprofit, where they also learn how to read a paycheck, understand their legal protections and navigate the job market. Customers win, too, because students at Emma's Torch get to help build the mouthwatering menu at the program's cafés, where items range from North African shakshuka to black-eyed pea fritter salad. The program also helps provide chefs-in-training with health care, shelter, food and access to immigration lawyers. The reality of immigration is far less rosy than Lazarus' poem made it sound. But Emma's Torch aims to make refugees' move to the US as painless — and delicious — as possible. |
Teen kayakers find family on the river |
Ruby Williams celebrated her 18th birthday in the middle of a river. Williams, of the Karuk tribe in northern California, just completed a month-long kayak trip through the Klamath River, which is flowing freely for the first time in a century. The 310-mile trip is no small feat for any explorer, let alone Williams and her fellow paddlers, all young indigenous people. But it's an intensely personal journey, too: The Klamath River was once the lifeblood of several indigenous tribes between southern Oregon and California who lived along its path before several hydroelectric dams were built, cutting off salmon from traveling upstream and eating away at the habitats along the river. Members of Williams' and paddler Keeya Wiki's tribes have fought the dams for decades, and the final one was removed in the fall of 2024. The river habitats are already transforming, and the salmon are celebrating, too: Within days of the fourth dam's removal, chinook salmon were spotted in a segment of the river for the first time in more than 60 years. "It's our greatest teacher, our family member," Williams said of the river. "I think we're all just so grateful, knowing that the salmon can finally go from the mouth to the headwaters, and that we can go from the headwaters to the mouth too." |
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Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/AFP via Getty Images |
Lost stuffed animals are saved |
Stuffed animals go through some of the most formative moments of our lives with us. They're snuggly, reliable, beloved — and our very favorite stuffies are often irreplaceable. That's why Ashley Reckdenwald founded Land of Lovies, a nonprofit that seeks to reunite young victims of natural disasters with the stuffed animals they lost. Whether that means cleaning and repairing a toy found in the devastation to finding an exact match of a special teddy bear, Reckdenwald and her colleagues are devoted to restoring that small but pivotal provider of comfort for children living through catastrophes. She's recently teamed up with locals along the Guadalupe River in Texas to reunite children with toys lost in destructive floods earlier this month. "It's not just any stuffed animal," Reckdenwald said of the toys they replace. "It's the stuffed animal. The one they've experienced everything with." |
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CNN Hero Debra Des Vignes spent more than a decade on TV covering local crime. Now, she's encouraging prison inmates to tell their own stories. Des Vignes created the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop, a 12-week creative writing program for inmates in Indiana, Illinois and Alabama. In her class, students write fiction, nonfiction, poetry, plays — whether they're writing to work through trauma or explore the possibilities beyond prison walls, Des Vignes says her program is all about the freedom of expression. "People just let their souls bleed out of their pens onto that paper," said Jordan Dabbs, who's serving a 10-year sentence at a correctional facility near Indianapolis on drug-related charges. "For two hours a day, everyone can just truly be themselves." Click here to learn more about the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop! |
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| | This week on CNN's 5 Good Things podcast: New tech inspired by pinecones could change how we fight wildfires. After disaster strikes, these volunteers make sure kids get their lost stuffed animals back. Plus, from Cape Town to London, this runner's journey was powered by purpose. |
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Bats are beautiful. They pollinate plants, eat pests and, unfortunately, frighten a great deal of people. Ecologist Rodrigo Medellín is working to change minds about Mexico's diverse population of magnificent winged mammals. Click here to learn more about these cuties. |
may your days be filled with good things |
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