As we wind down July we’ve gathered some great Feel Good Friday stories for you to enjoy and lift your spirits.
1. Passengers arriving at Philadelphia International Airport last night were startled to see a raccoon emerge along with the luggage on the baggage carousel. It turns out he or she was just headed for the exit. Airport officials said the raccoon probably was exploring a baggage tunnel and was just trying to get out. In a similar incident last year, a raccoon emerged from a wall vent and stole a package of Twizzlers.
2. It’s not clear where this happened, but some kid walked up to a random person’s doorbell camera just to tell them, “You matter.” He said, “There’s always gonna be somebody who cares about you, and you’re a good person.” (Here’s the video.)
3. A surfer in Australia found an old Rolex watch at the bottom of the ocean and got it back to its rightful owner. It turned out another surfer lost it in 2019. So it had been down there for four years, but it still works. (It’s pretty banged up, but the same watch in good condition could sell for over $10,000.)
4. McPherson College in Kansas only has about 800 students. But an anonymous donor just gave them $1 BILLION. It was part of a fundraising campaign where they pledged to give $2 for every $1 raised. Last fall, the school only had about $50 million in its coffers. Now it has the largest endowment of any small college in the country . . . over 1.5 BILLION.
5. An 11-year-old pit bull named Vanessa just got adopted from a shelter in Louisiana. It’s a big deal, because she’d been there her whole life. Someone who’d adopted from the place before is taking her. They live in Delaware now, so the shelter is sending her there. (Here’s a then-and-now photo.)
6. A guy in New York proposed to his girlfriend at a Weezer concert, and surprised her with some special guests. Her parents and friends were sitting right behind them in wigs and sunglasses. When she said yes, he told her he still had to get her dad’s blessing. Then he yelled, “Hey, Dean! Can I marry your daughter?” . . . and the dad stood up and said, “Yes, you can.”
7. A woman in Washington named Ivy Jacobsen got married this month, and had 15 important men in her life walk her down the aisle. They included her brother, her uncles, some old coaches . . . and the cop who arrested her DAD. She had a rough childhood, and her dad was abusive. She helped get him locked up when she was a teenager, and wanted the cop who put him in jail to be there. It sounds like he made a big impact on her life in more ways than one too . . . because she’s ALSO a cop now, and so is her new husband. (Here’s the video.)
8. A guy in Northern Ireland broke a world record by playing the drums for 150 hours straight. That’s roughly six-and-a-half days. He did it to raise money for pancreatic cancer research, and a mental health charity called Mind.
9. A cat in England caught a mouse but didn’t kill it, or even hurt it. It just brought it home . . . hung out with it all night . . . and the owner’s “cat camera” got it all on video. (Here’s the footage.)
10. A dad in Arkansas made good on a big promise he made to his stepdaughter. He used to joke that if he ever hit the lottery, he’d give her the winning ticket. In last Monday’s Powerball drawing, he matched four numbers, plus the Powerball. And he’d paid a buck extra for the “multiplier,” which upped his prize from $50,000 to $200,000. He showed up at her home to surprise her, and said he had some good news and bad news. The good news was he gave her the ticket. The bad news was she has to start paying her own cell phone bill.
11. A cop in Maine helped rescue a peregrine falcon that chased a pigeon into a toy store and couldn’t get out. He joked that it’s not really a situation they train you for at the academy. He released it outside, and it’s okay. No word on how the pigeon’s doing.
12. An artist in Toronto was riding his bike this month when his sketchbook fell out of his basket, and he didn’t realize. It had a decade’s worth of art in it, so he was devastated. He put flyers up everywhere, and no one turned it in. But then someone posted about it on a neighborhood Facebook page, and the guy who found it got in touch. He refused to accept any reward and told him, “My reward is your happiness.”
13. Turns out two of the winning numbers in this month’s big Powerball drawing were staring us right in the face. A woman in Massachusetts didn’t hit the jackpot, but matched all five numbers without the Powerball to win a million bucks. Two of them were “7” and “11”, which she chose because . . . 7-Eleven sells lottery tickets. She didn’t actually buy the winning ticket there though, oddly enough. Her other three numbers were inspired by her favorite race car drivers.
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