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Joy

Woman went out of her way to buy 3-year-old a bike after his was stolen, inspiring others to help

The woman was living in her car and lived two hours away.

acts of kindness, good news
NEW CENTER Maine/Youtube, Rockland Maine Police Department/Facebook

Spider-Man might be involved in this story, but this woman is the true hero.

It seems there are few things people can agree on these days, but it's safe to say that stealing from a child is viewed pretty unanimously as awful.

We can also agree that when we see others do good, it often makes us want to do good in return. We can’t always expect reciprocation other than the intrinsic rewards of being good people, but stories like this prove that goodness can indeed be contagious.

A 3-year-old boy went into a store with his mom, leaving his Spider-Man bicycle outside. When he and his mother returned, the bike had vanished. Security footage shared by NEWS CENTER Maine shows a man riding off with it.

The Rockland Maine Police Department made a Facebook post describing the incident and requesting information about the stolen bike. A woman saw that post and was immediately inspired to help—an act of kindness she had no idea would spur many others.

The woman, who remains an anonymous hero, drove over two hours from where she lives in Oxford County the following day to donate a brand new Spider-Man bicycle, complete with a matching helmet and bike lock for good measure.

This good deed wasn’t necessarily an easy task—the woman told the police that she was living out of her car, having been unable to pay for her rent. But just as she decided to help a stranger, so too did others show support once they learned of her plight. In addition to her tolls being paid by a store clerk, the Mid-Coast Recovery Coalition began collecting donations and people have been calling in offering assistance. Many were inspired to supply even more bikes for children who might need them.

Rockland Police added the positive update, saying, “We thought it was important to share this heartwarming outcome with everyone and we are so lucky to live in such a wonderful community.”

Yes, there are bad people out there. But there are far more people who go above and beyond to help others. It’s important to highlight stories like this so that we remember our inherent humanity, no matter how many bleak and divisive headlines are hurled toward us.

Sponsored

O Organics’ delicious, easy-to-cook homestyle spaghetti recipe helps feed America’s hungry

O Organics is donating a meal for every product purchased at Albertsons stores, up to 28 million meals.

Mei and Kyong and a delicious plate of spaghetti and meatballs.

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When most people think about Korean cooking, they probably imagine the enticing aroma, colors, and flavors of a plate filled with kimchi and bulgogi or a hot bowl of bibimbap. But when cooking influencer Kyong reflects upon his childhood, he has fond memories of his Korean mother cooking him a delicious and easy-to-prepare spaghetti and meatballs recipe.

"My parents were busy running their dry-cleaning business and couldn't call off work or take long breaks like a traditional 9 to 5 job, so there wasn't a lot of time to cook,” he recalled. “So, my mom learned how to make quick-and-easy meals, and her spaghetti and meatballs were my favorites.”

Is there any better example of the American melting pot than a hard-working Korean mother cooking an Italian staple for her family?

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Pop Culture

Woman who lives on a cruise ship for free shares the 4 things she can’t do

Living on a ship isn’t perfect. It’s just close to perfect.

A beautiful ocean liner

Upworthy has covered a few stories about people who decided to live permanently on cruise ships because it's cheaper than living on land or in a nursing home. These stories have connected with millions because they say a lot about the modern cost of living but are also aspirational.

Christine Kesteloo has become popular on TikTok with over 680,000 followers because she shares what living on a cruise ship is really like. Kesteloo is the wife of the ship’s Staff Chief Engineer, so she gets to live on the boat for free. She only has to pay for alcohol and soda, which she gets for half off.

“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it's often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don't cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

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Albertsons

No child should have to worry about getting enough food to thrive.

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When you’re a kid, summer means enjoying the fun of the season—plentiful sunshine, free time with friends, splashing in pools and sprinklers. But not every child’s summer is as carefree as it should be.

For some, summer means going hungry. According to Feeding America, food insecurity affects 1 in 8 children in the U.S., largely because families lose the free or reduced-price meals at school that help keep them fed during the school year.

But back-to-school time doesn’t make food insecurity disappear, either. Hunger is a year-round issue, and with the increased cost of groceries, it’s gotten harder for families who were already struggling to put food on the table.

So what can be done—or more specifically, what can the average person do—to help?

The good news is that one simple choice at the grocery store can help ease the burden a bit for those experiencing food insecurity. And the even better news is that it’s also a healthy choice for ourselves, our families and our planet. When we’re out on our regular shopping trips, we can simply look for the O Organics versions of things we would already buy.

But wait—aren’t we all feeling the pinch at the checkout stand? And isn’t organic food expensive? Here’s the thing: Organic food is often much more affordable than you might think. The cost difference between organic and non-organic products keeps narrowing, and many organic and non-organic foods are now almost identical in price. Sometimes you’ll even find that an organic product is actually cheaper than its brand-name non-organic counterpart.

Since 2005, O Organics has helped give health-conscious shoppers more options by making organic food more accessible and affordable. And now, it’s helping those same shoppers take action to fight food insecurity. For every O Organics product you purchase, the company will donate a meal to someone in need through the Albertsons Companies Foundation—for up to a total of 28 million meals.

Look for the O Organics label in every aisle.O Organics

Here’s what that means in real-world terms:

Say you’re throwing an end-of-summer backyard BBQ bash. If you were to buy O Organics ground beef, hamburger buns, ketchup and sea salt potato chips, you’d be donating four meals just by buying those four ingredients. If you added O Organics butter lettuce and O Organics sandwich slice pickles, you’d be donating two more meals, and so on.

And where are those meals going? Albertsons Companies Foundation works with a network of national and local charities fighting hunger, and regional divisions choose organizations to fund locally. So every O Organics product you purchase means a meal on the table for someone in your area who might not otherwise have the nourishment they need.

No kid should have to worry about getting enough food to thrive. We all make conscious choices each time we walk down a grocery store aisle, and by choosing

O Organics, we can make a difference in a child’s life while also making healthy choices for ourselves and our families. It’s truly a win-win.
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In a post shared on LinkedIn, Ritter detailed his experience of working as additional cabin crew for a flight heading to Riyadh and Bahrain, taking care of passengers in business class.

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People are helping a dad explain his 'cheap' grocery purchases to his 11-year-old daughter

There's nothing wrong with buying generic products instead of brand names.

A dad with $5 in his wallet

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By age 11, children are fully conscious of brands and see them as the “dominant feature in their product categorization compared with other perceptual attributes.”

A father was recently embarrassed by his 11-year-old daughter at the supermarket when she called him out for buying generic products instead of brand names. He shared the story on Reddit’s Mildly Infuriating forum, where many commenters shared advice on teaching preteens about household economics.

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Sometimes we see things happen that seem a little weird. Sometimes they go beyond weird and look suspicious, and then we are presented with the decision to do something about it or ignore it.

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Seeing themselves represented helps kids feel connected to the world around them, so many parents attempt to do whatever they can in order to provide their children with the representation they need. Mom Wendy Wuu took it upon herself to make sure her 5-year-old son saw a part of himself in his favorite doll, Woody, from "Toy Story."

In a video uploaded to social media, you can see the mom molding something clear and malleable into Woody's ear. Turns out this creative mom was using fingernail acrylic to mold the shape of the doll's inner ear...well as much of an inner ear as a doll can have.

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Aniston revealed their closeness in an anecdote she shared in WSJ Magazine. "Aniston, who does not have children and has spoken openly about her struggles with fertility treatment, says Sandler and his wife [Jackie Sandler] send her flowers every Mother's Day,” the profile’s author, Ellen Gamerman, writes.

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