A Very Special Gift Drive: 5 Brilliant Stories This Week

A Chick-fil-A worker with an incredible work ethic and a story of a neighbor who really stepped up make this week's list of brilliant stories:

• She Was Evicted at 88, and Then a Neighbor Stepped Up: Angie Tyma had lived in the same Hudson, Fla., home for 35 years—and when the then-88-year-old was recently evicted due to foreclosure, her neighborhood came together. The bank booted Tyma from the home when an investment company bought it at auction—padlocking the door and leaving Tyma's belongings in the streets. Her neighbors went into action, making sure her belongings were stored and her two dogs had a place to stay. But one neighbor went even further.
• Chick-fil-A Worker Puts Everyone Else's Work Ethic to Shame: When Cameron Nelson stopped off at an Indiana Chick-fil-A to grab a bite last week, he was surprised by the teen working hard behind the counter with one arm in a sling and a neck brace on. That teen was Jakeem Tyler, and his dedication led Nelson to grab a photo and post it on Facebook. Jakeem had been in a car accident, but told Nelson he needed to work for the money—not just for himself and to buy Christmas presents, but for a much bigger reason.

• Black Model's Campaign Strikes a Chord: Deddeh Howard was flipping through a magazine when she noticed "there were simply no black models," she tells Mic. Howard, 27, had been rejected by agencies claiming to already have one or two black models—though they presumably had no quota on white models—but it was the final straw. Howard and her boyfriend, photographer Raffael Dickreuter, worked to recreate ads for "brands that truly never or almost never use black models" in what she dubs the Black Mirror project. The results have been "crazy exciting."
• Released From Hospital, 4-Year-Old Collects 3K Gifts for Kids Still There: After six months in the hospital, 4-year-old brain cancer patient Jillian Massey went home for the holidays. But she didn't forget the friends she'd made at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and wanted to give 50 presents to the kids still there. Instead, something much bigger will happen.
• New Neighbor Turns Out to Be Girl He Rescued 65 Years Ago: When he was 12, Ed "Kip" Malone was on his way to the store when he happened upon a house fire and heard a woman calling for help for her children. He ran inside and found two little girls, ages 3 and 5, and helped them outside. That was 1951, and the Canadian man always wondered what happened to them. Then, this November, Malone moved next-door to Margaret Fowler—and while trading stories, they realized Fowler was one of the two little girls Malone had saved 65 years ago. Their story is pretty amazing.

Click for more uplifting news, including a first-of-its-kind miracle birth and a little boy who helped save a little girl from a kidnapper. (More uplifting news stories.)