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High school students restore veteran graves for Memorial Day.

Memorial Day is America's holiday to honor the brave men and women who lost their lives serving in the military. And one group of high schoolers in Cheektowaga, New York, located in the western part of the state, is doing their part to make sure the fallen veterans are recognized on the special holiday.

In honor of Memorial Day weekend, a group of high school students and community volunteers gathered to restore and raise veteran grave markers at Mount Calvary Cemetery.

Led by community member Paul Mueller, it is the second year the group has come together. "High school students uncovered and raised about 500 forgotten veteran grave markers at Mount Calvary Cemetery for Memorial Day!" news station WKBW captioned the video.

"You know, a lot of these people sacrificed so much. To see the memorials and not even be able to see the names on them, it's kind of depressing," one high school student shared with WKBW.

Mueller became inspired to lead the project for very personal reasons. "My dad is buried over here. He's a World War II vet, and I'd come out here every Father's Day. And I would notice that his headstone had sunk into the ground. And I'd bring a little bucket of stone with me and raise it up," he shared.

He continued, "I started looking around and seeing that there's a lot of other stones that are going down, down, down. And they don't have any family members that could come here with a bucket and raise it up. So I got in touch with cemetery, offered our services."

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

Mueller added, "To see these young kids giving back, they're reading the names on the stones. It's really great." Another student also shared, "It will be kind of cool to walk by and be able to say, 'I helped do that'."

In an interview with WIVBTV, Mueller also explained, "Many of us aren’t veterans, so this is our way of giving back to our country and to our veterans."

Army veteran Mitch Mayor, a volunteer with the group, told WIVBTV, "It just makes me feel good that I’m able, in my very small way, to give back to honor these ladies and gentlemen who served this great country of ours."

- YouTubeLearn more about the History of Memorial Day. #HistoryChannel Subscribe for more HISTORY: http://histv.co/SubscribeHistoryYT ...

There are over 2,000 veteran graves in the cemetery, and the group's goal is to restore all of them. Mueller shared that last year, the group restored a total of 900 graves. "Our goal this year is actually to finish this. We’ll be coming back hopefully one more time and we’ll be up to the 2,000 range," he said.

And many viewers were touched by the volunteer efforts made by all. "It’s important to remember them forever they sacrificed so much for all of us," one wrote. Another commented, "Such a great tribute to the service members who gave their lives!
Thanks!❤️❤️❤️"Another shared, "This is such a life experience for these kids to grow with!" And another also added, "Wonderful for these students to do this."

Painting by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis (modified) via Wikipedia Commons.

Painting of Benjamin Franklin from 1778 from the National Portrait Gallery.

Ben Franklin: He was a Founding Father, he loved to party, and he's on the $100 bill. But you might be surprised what else he's left behind.

Most people have no idea he created the civic triumphs that formed the foundation of American culture.


He and his friends created the first volunteer fire department, the first post office, and the first lending library.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

How'd he do it? He had the right attitude and a great group of friends.

historical paintings, early America, government, institutions

The founding fathers found ways to work it out.

Image via Wikimedia Commons, artist Howard Chandler Christy.

And I'm not even talking about his Founding Father friends. This is a totally different squad.

At age 21, Franklin got his friends together to form the Junto.

The Junto was a weekly meet-up or "mutual-improvement club" where he and his friends talked about how they could make both themselves and the world cooler.

There were certain questions Franklin asked his friends at these meetings. High jinks and civic innovations ensued.

The folks at 92nd Street Y, Stanford's Hoover Institution, and Citizen University are set on proving that Franklin's approach can be brought into the modern day. Out of the questions Franklin posed, the folks behind a new form of the Junto, called Ben Franklin Circles, have chosen the most effective — just nine simple prompts:

1. Is there something you need help with?

2. Is anyone here starting a new project and is there a way we can help?

3. Anyone who’s doing innovative work?

4. Is there anyone whose friendship we want?

5. How can we use our networks to help each other?

6. Is there anyone we can mentor and encourage?

7. Can we give one another any personal/professional advice?

8. Can we improve anything about the circle itself?

9. Are there ways the circle should be connecting with and contributing to nearby communities?

As you can see, there are a lot of hive-mind, lifting-each-other-up vibes. Honestly, I feel kinda good just reading these questions.

But what's really interesting is what Franklin did more than 20 years after starting this improvement club.

At age 42, Franklin took the Junto to the next level. Believing he already had enough money to last the rest of his life, he retired from work and dedicated himself 100% to his community.

As a profile of Franklin's uniquely non-monetary definition of success in The Atlantic states, "rather than cultivate the fine arts of indolence, retirement, [Franklin] said, was 'time for doing something useful.'"

fireman, art, community, volunteers, creators

Useful like a volunteer fireman creator.

Image via Charles Washington Wright/Wikimedia Commons.

Useful like a volunteer fireman creator. Image (modified) via Charles Washington Wright/Wikimedia Commons.

Not a bad way to spend retirement. Or life. One way to create that energy in your life is now available to everyone in the form of the Ben Franklin Circle.

Ben Franklin Circles are starting to pop up, and they're creating an amazing difference in people's lives.

Asha Curran, who's on the staff at the 92nd Street Y, says that her Ben Franklin Circle was one of the most profound parts of her past year.

"It is so rare to have an opportunity to be in a room of smart, thoughtful people where the focus of conversation is solely on our ethical selves. ... I was challenged to face things about my own habits that were painful but constructive, and I came out absolutely the better for it both personally and professionally."

Creating a sense of belonging can affect more than just happiness and well-being — it can even improve health as well. Sometimes for years!

Social psychologist and Stanford professor Greg Walton created a "belonging intervention" — basically an exercise that gives participants a sense that they’re not alone in their struggles —and found that it "increased subjects' happiness, improved their health and reduced cognitive activation of negative stereotypes for several years after the initial intervention." The Ben Franklin Circles have the potential to create similar results in the lives of its participants.

We humans have immense potential inside of us, and through helping each other, we can do so much — more than Franklin ever imagined.

This article originally appeared on 02.10.16

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Larissa Gummy was first introduced to the work of the Peace Corps in high school. All it took was seeing a few photos shared by her ninth-grade teacher, a returned Peace Corps Volunteer, to know that one day, she would follow in those footsteps.

This inspiration eventually led Larissa away from her home in Minnesota to Rwanda in East Africa, to give back to her family’s country of origin and pursue her passion for international development. Though her decision confused her parents at first, they’re now proud and excited to see what their daughter has accomplished through her volunteer work.

And just what was that work? Well, it changed from day to day, but it all had to do with health.

Mostly, Larissa worked for Rwanda’s First 1,000 Days Health project, which aims to improve the conditions that affect the mortality rate of kids within the first 1,000 days of being born (or almost three years old). These conditions include hygiene, nutrition, and prevention of childhood diseases like malaria and acute respiratory infections (ARI). Addressing malnutrition was a particular focus, as it continues to cause stunted growth in 33% of Rwandan children under the age of five.

In partnership with the local health center, Larissa helped with vaccination education, led nutrition classes, offered prenatal care to expecting mothers, and helped support health education in surrounding communities. Needless to say—she stayed busy with a variety of tasks.


But what she also liked to focus on was her personal project: one that aimed to help mothers find ways to provide their kids with proper nutrition. One idea she worked on was to start a savings fund that would allow mothers to buy chickens, which in turn would continuously provide a source of much-needed protein through eggs.

She fell in love with the beauty of Rwanda from the warm interactions she shared with its people. Not least of which being Marcella, aka Mama Kuku, Larissa’s “counterpart,” a local community member who worked alongside her as a cultural liaison. But after welcoming Larissa into her home, teaching her to cook, celebrating multiple holidays…Mama Kuku truly became an extended family member.

“She’s literally my favorite person,” Larissa gushed.

And while Larissa had dedicated a lot of time to nutritional education, she learned a few invaluable lessons herself.

“The Peace Corps has taught me that I am a lot stronger than I think I am,” she shared.

Larissa also added how traveling helped her, and can help anyone, get to know a different part of themselves and expand their worldview. All pretty handy skills, if you ask us.

“If you're thinking about [joining the Peace Corps] you should do it. Challenge yourself. It'll be worth it.”

Does reading this generate a little buzz of excitement, or pique your curiosity? The Peace Corps has immersive and fulfilling opportunities in over 60 countries. Learn more about becoming a Volunteer here.

Chef José Andrés talked about changing the world with Stephen Colbert.

If you're not familiar with Chef José Andrés or his World Central Kitchen (WCK), you're about to find out why the Spanish chef has become a beloved example of the best of humanity.

Chef Andrés founded WCK in 2010, a nonprofit organization that runs toward disaster and organizes people on the ground to make sure that those impacted by disaster are fed. Since then, he and his crew have shown up in the aftermath of tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, as well as places where communities have an immediate need for other reasons, such as viral pandemics and wars.

The idea for WCK came from Andrés and his wife Patricia, who decided that when people are hungry, you send in cooks. Not tomorrow, but today.


"Food relief is not just a meal that keeps hunger away," Andrés shares on the WCK website. "It’s a plate of hope. It tells you in your darkest hour that someone, somewhere, cares about you. This is the real meaning of comfort food. It’s why we make the effort to cook in a crisis."

It's practically impossible not to fall in love with Chef Andrés when you hear about his dedication to helping people. The passion and sincerity with which he talks about changing the world is infectious.

Andrés joined director Ron Howard on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" to talk about Howard's documentary film about the work of WCK. It's called "We Feed People" and will premiere on Disney+ on May 27. Watch the trailer to get a glimpse of what Andrés has brought to the world.

Seriously, in love, right? The man just oozes selflessness and service. And it is genuinely infectious—evidenced by Ron Howard's story of how his film crew kept getting caught up in being part of the operations by putting their cameras down to feed people, making it hard to get the film footage they needed to tell the story about the operations.

Colbert asked Andrés how people can help in their own way or collectively.

"Every one of you, you can become your own organization," he said. "You don't need to try to feed the world. You can do little things, such as helping an elderly couple in the supermarket, make sure that they can put their shopping in the back of their car. Maybe picking up a piece of paper to keep your cities clean."

He gave examples of how musicians in Ukraine are playing on street corners, "bringing hope to people just by playing a song."

He said that everyone has a talent that they can use to help others.

"We can all be part of not only feeding America and feeding the world, but believing in longer tables, not higher walls," he said. "We can change the world if we really believe in it."

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you, Chef Andrés, for reminding us what is possible and for serving as such a prime example of the difference one person can make.