Ferguson Library

The Ferguson Public Library is just a block away from the center of demonstrations at the Ferguson Police Department. As we've reported, when violent protests this week led to the burning of more than a dozen businesses and the uncertainty caused schools to close, the library stayed open.

It has become a quiet refuge for adults and children alike in this St. Louis suburb. And the nation has taken notice. The outpouring of support for the library has reached "orders of magnitude" more than any previous amount, says library Director Scott Bonner.

He's the only full-time librarian there — and he started his job in July, just weeks before the town became an internationally known name. Bonner says the donations may allow him to hire another person to help.

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Scott Bonner, the Ferguson Public Library's director and its only full-time librarian, holds one of the "healing kits" that kids can check out.

Elise Hu/NPR

For community leaders and business owners, the library has become a place to convene.

"Whenever businesses have been hit, North County Incorporated needed a meeting space, and I said, of course, yes. Small Business Administration came in and did staging of emergency loans out of the library," Bonner says. "When there's a need, we try to find a way to meet it. I have a very broad definition of librarianship."

Since the latest unrest began Monday night, more than $175,000 has poured in. More than 7,000 people had given something as of Wednesday afternoon, many in $5 and $10 amounts. Donations so far this week are 10 times what they were during protests in August.

It all started with a few tweets from the library's account, which Bonner's wife helps with in her free time.

"Before I knew it, [there were] thousands of tweets with encouragements to donate, including retweets from people such as Neil Gaiman and LeVar Burton," Bonner said.

With the donations this week, Bonner plans to purchase more "healing kits" for children to check out. The kits include books about dealing with traumatic events and a stuffed animal that they can keep.

The level of support the library has seen this week can buy even more than healing kits.

"It means we can do a whole lot more programming that's focused on the community, [and] long overdue updates to the library. We have infrastructure needs that should have been taken care of 10 years ago. But what I really hope I can do is to get a full-time children's or programming librarian," Bonner says.

"No matter how much I work," he says, "it's not anywhere what a dedicated person who thinks about community all the time can do."

link to original story Here

The Chain of Love

A man was driving his car, when he saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road. He saw that she needed help. So he stopped his Pontiac near her Mercedes and got out. He smiled, while he was approaching her, still she was worried, as nobody had stopped for hours. Moreover, he did not look safe, as his appearance was so poor and shabby. He could see, how frightened she was, so he tried to calm her: „ I‘m here to help you, don‘t worry. My name is Bryan Anderson“. The tire was flat, so he had to crawl under the car. While changing the tire, he got dirty and his hands were hurt. When the job was done, she asked how much she owed him for his help. Bryan smiled. He said: „If you really want to pay me back, the next time you see someone, who needs help, give that person the needed assistance. And think of me“. A the same evening, the lady stopped by a small cafe. That place looked dingy. Then she saw a waitress, nearly eight months pregnant, wiping her wet hear with a towel. The waitress had a sweet friendly smile, although she had spent on her feet the whole day. The lady wondered, how someone, who has so little, can be so kind and giving to a strange. Then she remembered Bryan. The lady had finished her meal and paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress went to get change and when she came back, the lady was gone. She left a note on the napkin: „You don‘t own me anything. Somebody once helped me, just like now I‘m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, do not let this chain of love end with you“. The waitress found four more one hundren bills under the napkin. That night the waitress came home earlier. She was thinking about the lady and the money she left. She was wondering, how the lady could know, how much she and her husband needed it? Especially now, when the baby will soon arrive. She knew, that her husband worried about that, so she was glad to tell him good news. Then she kissed him and whispered „Now everything will be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson“.

Find original article here

Students to the Rescue!

Letter writing students ensure their teacher gets a new prosthetic hand

By Simon Meadows

Last updated 11/25/2014 12:26:53 PM

Letter writing students ensure their teacher gets a new prosthetic hand

Students at a school in the U.S. have used their letter-writing skills to secure a prosthetic hand for their former teacher.

The fifth grade class from Western Salisbury Elementary School in Allentown, Pa., wrote to Albert Chi, an assistant professor of surgery in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in East Baltimore, asking the trauma surgeon to make one of his pioneering low-cost prosthetic hands for Patti Anderson.

Patti has had the use of only one hand since an accident when she was teenager. The hand-written letters touched Prof. Chi and he rearranged his busy schedule to make it happen, using his 3-D printer to produce a prosthetic hand with a zebra print for Patti.

Prof.Chi and the whole office gathered around and took turns reading the letters aloud. They concluded, he said, "we have to make this happen, we have to build this hand for this teacher, we have to do this for these kids. The letters brought such joy to us.

" The students travelled with Patti to Johns Hopkins Hospital when she was fitted with her new hand and Prof. Chi showed around his facilities. He reflected happily: "Receiving those letters has to be one of the highlights of my entire career."

Find original article here

Big Pizza Tips

Pizza Customer Leaves Huge Tip in Workers’ College Fund

An anonymous customer at a pizza parlor in Wisconsin left a big tip for college bound employees last month.

According to Jane Schradle, owner of the Lake Country Pizza in Turtle Lake, a gentleman ordered a single order of spaghetti to take home on Feb. 10.  While waiting for his order, the man questioned the purpose of the tip jar labeled “college fund.”

He asked how many of Lake Country employees attend college, the Turtle Lake Times reported.

When he was told four, he left a tip of $400.

Perhaps he had just won big at the nearby St. Croix Casino.

Find original article here

Introduction

This blog is meant to be a collection of stories about people doing good things in the world.