5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week

Including one about a town throwing Christmas early for sick boy
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 3, 2013 5:13 AM CST
5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week
In this Oct. 28 photo, a sign in front of the Christmas tree in Adams Park in Port Clinton, Ohio, wishes Devin Kohlman a "Merry Christmas."   (AP Photo/News Herald, Jonathon Bird)

An Ohio town's moving Christmas gesture and some thoughtful 8th-grade football players make the cut this week:

  • Entire Town Throws Early Christmas for Dying Boy: Port Clinton, Ohio, sounds like a pretty incredible town. Devin Kohlman, one of its own, is dying of brain cancer, and he may not live long enough to see Christmas this year. So the 13-year-old's hometown has come together to start the holiday season early for him.
  • 8th-Graders Devise Secret, Inspiring Touchdown Play: Talk about a touching touchdown: Sheridan Hedrick was about to hit the end zone at an Olivet Middle School football game in Michigan on Oct. 5 when he stopped at the one-yard line. Why? He and his teammates then executed a play that resulted in a TD for a classmate with learning disabilities.
  • Bus Driver Stops, Pulls Woman Off Ledge: A Buffalo bus driver is getting the hero's treatment after stopping his bus to get a suicidal young woman off a bridge overpass. Darnell Barton spotted the woman on the wrong side of the ledge, seemingly about to jump into traffic, and did what other passersby wouldn't: He helped her down.
  • Kind Gesture by Fellow Diner Surprises Single Mom: It's not uncommon to hear about someone picking up the check for a total stranger in a restaurant, but this one's a little unusual because it also involves a three-page letter that moved the recipient to tears. It happened in North Carolina, when a Raleigh single mom took her 4-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son out for pizza, and a fellow diner showed how much he appreciated her parenting skills.
  • Lou Reed's Wife Places Tender Obit in Local Paper: Not so uplifting this week was news that rocker Lou Reed died. But the obituary by wife Laurie Anderson added some perspective with lines like this: "Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life."
Click for more uplifting news. (More uplifting news stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X