Drive-Through Customers Pay it Forward
A customer in a Florida drive-through pays the bill for the customer behind him, and the chain continues throughout the day. Interestingly enough, the first act of kindness started with a response to anger: someone behind Arthur Rosenfeld was yelling and honking at him, so Rosenfeld decided to pay for the man's coffee! This news video shares more of the story.... posted on Jan 06 2008, 3,924 reads

Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions
The top resolutions for 2008 are the old standbys -- get out of debt and save more, lose weight and exercise. Getting organized and spending more time with family also top the list. But according to time management firm FranklinCovey, four out of five people who make New Year's resolutions will eventually break them. Experts say the real problem is that people make the wrong resolutions. The typic... posted on Jan 02 2008, 3,909 reads

Ordered to Eradicate Smallpox
A young man in his twenties, wishing to serve, gets a mandate from his teacher in a remote area of the Himalayas: "Remove smallpox from the planet." Dr. Larry Brilliant then embarks on repeated 17-hour bus rides to the United Nations. After a dozen fruitless trips, he finally gets his chance. And sure enough, he manages to lead a team of 150,000 health care workers to actually eradicate smallpox. ... posted on Jan 01 2008, 1,765 reads

Extreme Philanthropy
The 50% League is an unusual group of people who contribute at least half their income, business profits, or net worth to charity. Members from across the country have been welcomed into an elite circle of givers and asked to share their stories publicly, even if anonymously, to inspire other givers. Many are anonymous philanthropists, and not all of them have great wealth: Some are members of th... posted on Dec 31 2007, 2,294 reads

The Wondrous Origami Man
"My friend, Gayla and I were travelling to Phoenix from Chicago. I misread the ticket, and we missed our flight. I was busy being upset about my failed plans when Gayla suggested we just fly wherever we want instead, since we had the time. I think about missing my flight to Phoenix and going to San Francisco instead. It taught me a lot about being open to what is, not attached to what I want, and ... posted on Dec 28 2007, 3,292 reads

2nd-Graders' Top 10 Lists for Letterman
Concerned about the Writer's Guild of America strike that is affecting several popular television shows, some talented and caring second-grade students in Dayton decided to offer writing assistance to David Letterman, who hosts a late night talk show on CBS. In the spirit of giving, the young people of St. Anthony Elementary school composed a list of the top 10 good things you can do to be kind to... posted on Dec 27 2007, 4,263 reads

Secret Santa 2.0
Larry Stewart, Kansas City's original Secret Santa, anonymously wandered city streets doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they needed it. For about a quarter century, Stewart quietly gave out more than $1.3 million to people in laundromats, diners, and thrift stores, saying it was his way of giving back for all that he had received in his lifetime. Stewart died of cancer earlier this y... posted on Dec 24 2007, 1,395 reads

World's Fastest Literacy Program
Is it possible to help an illiterate rural woman learn to read in a week? According to Victor Lyons, founder of Tara Akshar, it is. Lyons, a 57-year-old Briton, has a background in mental health and IT, and has created techniques that do yield such results -- when the class size is 1 or 2. Interestingly, though, when the class sizes are scaled up, they can still teach the same population how to re... posted on Dec 17 2007, 1,688 reads

Kindness Among Kin in Somali Crisis
In the narrow streets that wind through Mogadishu, it is difficult to find even one encampment of displaced people or a family that has been turned away. This is particularly remarkable because after nearly a year of brutal urban war, an estimated 600,000 people -- more than half the Somali capital city's population -- have been driven into the countryside. The tired and hungry arrivals have been ... posted on Dec 15 2007, 1,515 reads

Unleashing Creativity
Paul MacCready, a pioneering inventor of the first practical flying machine powered by a human being, talks in this insightful keynote address at a Smithsonian event, about inventive creativity and the importance of socially responsible inventing for our collective future. "Civilization is in the midst of unprecedented growth. This presents unprecedented opportunity and responsibility. Creativity ... posted on Dec 11 2007, 2,876 reads