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Patrick Stewart and his dog, plus all-pink Starbursts: your weekly dose of good news.

Patrick Stewart and his dog, plus all-pink Starbursts: your weekly dose of good news.

The weather is kind of gorgeous across much of the United States right now.

Never mind that it's probably an ominous sign of our ever-changing climate — the sun is shining and life is grand!

I know it doesn't always seem like it, but there is truly so, so much to be happy about. Don't believe me? I'll prove it.

Here are 11 pieces of news from this week that will definitely boost your mood.

1. Holi, the Hindu festival of color, brings with it stunning photos in all shades of the rainbow.

This year, the Holi celebration will be March 12-13.

Photo by Dmitry Serebryakov/Stringer.

2. Starburst released a special single-flavor bag. (It's all pink. Duh.)

It's real and, frankly, long overdue.

3. A high school in Utah put in laundry machines and showers for its homeless students.

According to WGN in Chicago, East High School officials say they have up to 100 students who aren't able to shower or do laundry on a daily basis. And these aren't just "nice-to-haves"; evidence shows that when kids are embarrassed about their clothes or hygiene, they're more likely to skip school.

Bravo to the folks at East High for tackling the problem in the most direct way possible.

Image by Tim Boyle/Getty Images.

4. A sweet Facebook messaging robot is helping refugees navigate the difficult path to asylum.

Stanford University student Joshua Browder invented the technology to help people automatically fight parking tickets.

Now it's making a much bigger impact on people's lives by helping refugees figure out which applications they need, translating complex language into plain English for non-native speakers, and assisting in completing the necessary forms.

5. This touching photo of a young boy comforting his four-month-old brother with cancer.

"[Big brother] is here," he said, according to his mom, who took the photo. "Everything is OK."

6. These cute 'lil ramps are helping ducklings get in and out of a canal in Indianapolis.

Save. The. Ducks.

7. This professor whose kids wandered into the room while he was giving a live TV interview.

We are all the kid in the yellow shirt.

This professor’s kids hilariously interrupted his live interview!

This professor’s kids hilariously interrupted his live interview!

Posted by Daily Mail on Friday, March 10, 2017

8. This video of actor Patrick Stewart ("Logan") and his adorable foster dog, Ginger.

"Pibble" is dog-owner for pit bull, by the way.

9. This Facebook group in Ohio that is hiding painted rocks to brighten the days of random strangers.

Because who doesn't love a little mystery and surprise?

10. This dude who PADDLEBOARDED across the Atlantic Ocean.

Apparently anything really is possible.

11. And this dad who had a touching talk with his son about getting bullied for having long hair.

"Just because you're unique and don't look like everyone else doesn't mean you're weird or that being different is a bad thing," he told his son.

Talking to my son about getting bullied about his long hair. I'm going to read him the comments.

Posted by Isaac Irvine on Tuesday, March 7, 2017

See, good news is all around us, even when things feel bleak or scary or trying. You might have to look a little harder for it some days, but I promise you, it's worth it!

Family

Mother's viral story of taking her baby to a job interview hits a nerve with moms everywhere

via 314Handcrafted / TikTok

A mother's experience job hunting with a one-year-old child highlights the reality many parents face and how employers can be part of the solution.

Mother-of-two Maggie Mundwiller, 38, was laid-off six weeks after her one-year-old Mylo was born in the middle of the pandemic. Finding a job over the past year has been hard enough, let alone with a newborn baby.

"A lot of people are not able to pay for the childcare if they're unemployed even if there is one parent that is employed," she told WMUR. "You have so many other bills that you have to pay for."

Keep Reading Show less
parents
Family

Mother's viral story of taking her baby to a job interview hits a nerve with moms everywhere

via 314Handcrafted / TikTok

A mother's experience job hunting with a one-year-old child highlights the reality many parents face and how employers can be part of the solution.

Mother-of-two Maggie Mundwiller, 38, was laid-off six weeks after her one-year-old Mylo was born in the middle of the pandemic. Finding a job over the past year has been hard enough, let alone with a newborn baby.

"A lot of people are not able to pay for the childcare if they're unemployed even if there is one parent that is employed," she told WMUR. "You have so many other bills that you have to pay for."

Keep Reading Show less
parents
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The Elevate Prize
The Elevate Prize
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Want to be the change? Join an Elevate Giving Circle.

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If you've ever donated to a cause but worried that your contribution wasn't really enough to drive real change, you're not alone. As one person, it can be tough to feel like you're making a real difference, especially if you don't have a lot to donate or if times are tough (aka there's a worldwide pandemic going on.)

That's why, for years, the idea of philanthropy felt a little bit like a rich person's thing: if you had millions, you could donate and make change. The rest of us were just tossing pennies into a cup without really doing much.

But that's a problem: the priorities of a wealthy few don't represent the priorities of many, which means that good causes are often left underfunded, leading to a lack of meaningful action.

The thing is: it doesn't have to be like this. We can all make a difference, especially if we pool our money together.

Enter: Giving Circles. These are when groups of people with shared values come together to drive change. They do it by pooling their time and money together, then deciding as a circle where it should go. That way, they can cause a real targeted change in one place quickly in a very people-powered way by giving what they can, whether that's volunteer hours, money, or a mix of both. Best of all, Giving Circles are a social experience — you get to work together as a community to make sure you do the most good you can.

In other words, giving circles are a way to democratize philanthropy, making it more accessible regardless of your age, income, gender, or race.

That's why this year, The Elevate Prize, a nonprofit founded in 2019, is launching a new pop-up "Giving Circle" program so that problem solvers, budding philanthropists, and anyone that wants to do good can come together and drive real impact at a large scale. And you can do it all in just 90 minutes.

All you have to do is join one of the Elevate Giving Circles online. Learn about organizations doing good for the world, then pool your money together, and as a group, direct it where you think that donation could make the most difference.

But that's not all: every single donation made is matched by the Elevate Prize Foundation — basically guaranteeing that you double your impact for good. The theme for the first cycle is education, and Elevate Giving will match up to $75,000 in total donations for each cycle.

Ready to get involved? Elevate Giving experiences start June 26th, so sign up now for your spot to make a difference. There's no minimum fee to join either — so get involved no matter what you have to give. Now that's philanthropy for all.

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