World War II veteran celebrates 100th birthday: “Every day should be for him”

By
Monica Pop
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It’s not everyday that we hear of people who reach 100 years old. Those who do, however, are the luckiest of all, and one World War II veteran named Benny Ficeto is definitely one of the most fortunate people there are. Not only because he got to live that many years, but also because he’s surrounded with people who love him unconditionally and make sure they remind him how grateful they are for his service every single day.

What is unusual about this special man is that he only retired from his job when the pandemic started. Up until then, he was going to work every single day. Before turning 90, Benny worked at a Stop & Shop in Bloomingdale, New Jersey. He then moved to Edison, New Jersey, for his last ten years of work.

“Working at my age gives you purpose,” Benny said, according to his nephew Daniel Reynolds who spoke to Fox News about his uncle.

Stop & Shop organized a birthday party and a parade for Benny to mark his milestone. There was food, music, and a number of people there. Benny’s co-workers, family members, and even customers gathered together to celebrate the special occasion.

“Always enjoyed seeing Benny when he worked in the Bloomfield store…always upbeat and helpful….I could always leave the store smiling if he was bagging for me,” one customer wrote on the shop’s post dedicated to Bartholomeo Benny Ficeto, whom everyone knows as Benny the Bagger.

“People would wait in line even if there was an open register, they would wait because they wanted Benny to bag their groceries,” the store’s spokesperson Stefanie Shuman confirmed.

Besides the party, the place had a special surprise for one of their most hard-working employees. Namely, in Benny’s honor, they designated a parking spot as veterans-only and dubbed it “Benny’s Spot.” What a thoughtful thing to do for someone who has dedicated a great part of his life serving the country and its people.

“It says in honor of Benny for his service to the store and his country,” Shuman said. “He knew the day was for him. Every day should be for him in my opinion.”

In fact, this isn’t the first time for Stop & Shop to organize a party for Benny. They have done beautiful things for him in the past. For his 98th birthday, they congratulated Benny through a number of media outlets. When he turned 99, the place organized a drive-by birthday parade.

The store is looking forward to Benny’s 101st birthday. “He’s still part of this family and we will continue to celebrate him,” Shuman added.

Happy birthday, Benny, and many more to come!

Woman’s belly weights 44 pounds and still growing, doctors fail to learn the reason why

By
Monica Pop
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Doctors from the rural Guizhou Province in China, as well as from nearby towns, struggle to detect the reason why a 36-year-old woman’s belly can’t stop growing. According to Huang Guoxian, who is a mother of two, her belly weights 44 pounds and is getting bigger and bigger with each passing day.

She finds it extremely hard to do her everyday activities and is unable to stand on her feet for more than 10 minutes. That means that her 10-year-old son has to take care of pretty much everything around the house while her husband works away from home. The grandparents also help.

Youtube: NYOOOZ

It all started when Guoxian first experienced pain some two years ago. Doctors gave her medicine which made her feel a bit better, but her stomach kept growing and hasn’t stopped ever since. Doctors ran a number of tests and tried different treatments but the reason behind her condition remains a mystery. CT scans, however, showed how she suffers from various illnesses, including liver cirrhosis, ovarian cancer, and an abnormal buildup of fluid in the abdomen and chest, according to the Daily Mail. It is still unknown whether any of this conditions affected the belly growth.

Guoxian is now hoping the specialist from a local hospital could operate on her, but the surgery would cost 30,000 yuan, or $4290. The helpless woman who has trouble breathing, eating and sleeping is begging the public to help her raise the money.

Youtube: NYOOOZ

The Daily Mail cited what Guoxian told the Guizhou Urban Daily, writing, “I used to do homework very quickly, but now my big belly has seriously impacted my normal life. My two children are still young. Their grandmother and grandfather are helping to look after them now. I hope to recover and become healthy as soon as possible.”

We honestly hope doctors will help Guoxian get her old life back as soon as possible. Check out the video below for more.

This is what Rachel Ward, who played Meggie Cleary in “The Thorn Birds,” looks like today

By
Monica Pop
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Every actor has a unique story to tell of their rise to stardom. This is the one of Rachel Ward, an incredible actress whose career has spanned for decades.

At the beginning of her journey to fame, Ward was a well-known fashion model who appeared on the covers of many influential magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s & Queen. This, along with the number of commercials she was featured in, opened her path to Hollywood. It was in 1979 that beautiful Ward appeared in her first movie, Christmas Lilies of the Field. What followed after this movie were a number of smaller roles. But eventually, Ward got her well-deserved breakthrough playing Meggie Cleary in the cult miniseries The Thorn Birds alongside great Richard Chamberlain.

Youtube/Vmutsuki

Choosing the right actress for this role wasn’t at all easy. One of the producers of the 10-hour-long series, Stan Marguiles, recalled the struggles. “She has to go from 18 to her early 50s. From a rather naïve, overly romantic young girl to a bitter woman in her 30s, to a woman who finally understands where she took the wrong turn when she reaches her 50s. There’s an enormous range of emotions and colors,” he told NFSA Australia.

Ward herself spoke of the time she got the role that changed her life forever. “They first started to age me, it was kind of scary,” Ward recalled. “I had these endless double chins. I sort of had a body suit underneath the clothes, I remember liking it when I grew older, I liked the outfits, there was slightly more masculine than they were in the beginning.”

“My audition was quite light and I had a sense of humor” the actress added. “I remember I was taking it seriously but I wasn’t acting with a capital A. It is so subjective, performances pieces, and I was probably spot on the first time. I got like 10/10 for looks and 4/10 for acting.” 

The series was a huge success and is considered one of the best ever by many. It received four Golden Globes, including Best Miniseries, as well as six Emmy awards. Ward was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Speaking to Closer, Ward opened up about her insecurities after many criticized her acting.

She recalled the New York Times writing at the time that she was a “miscast.” However, over the years, she realized she shouldn’t be harsh on herself as there were so many people who praised the way she presented the role. Among them was her daughter who has seen The Thorn Birds years after it first aired and told Ward, “Mom, you were fabulous.” “That was, for me, the most important response that I could’ve ever had,” the actress said.

Instagram/RachelWard

This miniseries didn’t only bring Ward fame, but also gave her the love of her life. It was when the cameras were off that the true love story took place. Ward and her on-screen husband, actor Bryan Brown, fell for one another on set. “What happened on screen was happening off it – that’s why our love scenes were so believable,” Ward told the UK’s Daily Express.

“Everyone on set realized they were falling for each other. “I’ve never seen two people more in love,” Chamberlain said. “She seemed to get happier and happier and her work got better and better.”

Ward and Brown got married in 1983 and have three children together. Until this day, they love one another as day one.

Ward is now 63 and she has never stopped acting. Some of the movies she took part in are The Big House, Martha’s New Coat and television series Rake, Devil’s Playground and The Straits. In 2001 she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the film On the Beach.

In 2019, Ward and Brown became grandparents for the first time when their daughter Matilda had her son Zan. What is very special is that both of them where present when their grandson was welcomed into the world.

Speaking of that moment, Matilda told Over Sixty: “When I was pushing Zan out at the end, dad was stroking my head and mum was cheering me on, crying, saying, ‘Come on, Till! He’s so close. It was pretty special that both my parents got to be with me through such a monumental time in my life.”

Besides acting, Ward, who looks as incredible as ever, is busy doing charity work. 2005, she was awarded the A.M (Member of the Order of Australia for “raising awareness of social justice through lobbying, mentoring and advocacy for the rights of disadvantaged and at-risk young people.”

Nursing student is devastated when she can’t afford a down payment for a car, but then a stranger gives her his

By
Monica Pop
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Offering kindness when needed can change not only someone’s day, but many times, their world as well.

Kayla Cooper is a nursing student who is working two part-time jobs in order to be able to pay for her studies. She doesn’t have it easy, but she’s doing her best.

It was in February of 2019 when this young lady decided to visit an auto dealership in order to get herself a car. Knowing just how busy she was working and studying she really was in need of a vehicle.

However, once there, she learned that the shop required a down payment. Sadly, it meant that Kayla was about to leave the place without the car she chose and liked very much.

At the time, there was another man at the auto dealership. His name was Dan Laguardia and he was there to trade in his Toyota. He happened to overhear the conversation between Kayla and the seller and decided to do something for the hardworking lady. He knew that trading his old car wouldn’t mean a lot to him, but it would certainly mean the world to the nursing student. So, he decided to simply give it to her for free.

“When I was doing my transaction, she was like at the table next to me talking to the salesperson, and I could kind of tell she wasn’t getting what she was there for,” Dan said.

When he offered his Toyota to Kayla, she was shocked. She just couldn’t believe there were still people like Dan out there who would go above and beyond for a complete stranger.

So this happened tonight…. there was a gentleman buying a BMW trading in an older Scion XB. About the same time young…

Posted by Seoul Fields on Tuesday, 5 February 2019

“I was shaking, because it’s something so unreal. It’s a whole car — how can someone be so generous to give their car away? When you think everything is really gonna come to an end, just wait and be patient because anything is possible,” Kayla said.

If you want to learn more of this incredibly uplifting story, check out the video below.

The tragic last photo of televangelist and actress Tammy Faye Bakker

By
Monica Pop
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Life is unpredictable, one moment you are at the top, and then, all of a sudden everything falls apart. And if you believe that things like these only happen to the ordinary people, you are wrong.

Does any of you remember the empire that Tammy Faye Bakker and her husband Jim Bakker built back in the day? This is their story.

Tammy was always a devoted evangelist who put her faith in God before everything. During her studies at the North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, she met her future husband Jim. It was said that they got engaged on their first date and soon tied the knot. However, both their love and life story would end in a manner no one really expected.

Youtube/Tammyfayetribute

In 1974, the Bakkers founded the Praise the Lord TV network, based out of North Carolina, which would soon turn into something very huge.

“What Bakker really wanted to do was create a Christian version of ‘The Tonight Show’,” John Wigger, author of PTL: The Rise and Fall of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s Evangelical Empire, told ABC. “Which was really the first of Bakker’s big innovations, the Christian talk show.”

The truth is that they reached everything they put their mind to and became loved nationwide. Soon after, the couple started asking for donations from fans and gifts and money started pouring. In fact, they said this was the same as they would run commercials or sell products on their show which was gaining more and more popularity with each passing day. “‘All of your favorite shows are asking you to give them money by buying their products. It’s no different,’” said former PTL security chief Don Hardister.

Youtube/ABC

The show became the highest rated religious show with many guest celebrities who spoke of their religion and faith in God. It included preaching and some bits of comedy too.

But then, scandals came along the way and the empire of the Bakker family crushed.

It was in 1987 that the whole nation was shocked by the news that Jim was having an affair with then 21-year-old Jessica Hahn. In fact, Hahn accused the televangelist of raping her while she worked as a secretary at the church. Rumors were he offered her $250,000 to keep her silent. This affair was the start of the fall of the Bakker’s empire.

Hahn on the other hand became a celebrity almost overnight and launched her modeling career. Throughout the late 1980s and into the 2000s, she was a frequent guest at The Howard Stern Show.

Youtube/ABC

Hahn also accused Jim of mismanaging the finances of Praise the Lord Network after which an investigation was launched. Jim was accused of 24 counts of fraud and was found guilty thus given 45 years in prison, a sentence later reduced to eight years. While he was serving his time behind bars, Tammy divorced him and re-married.

In 1988, after stepping down from PTL, Tammy, who was known for wearing heavy make-up wherever she appeared, started an acting career and got a role in the famous show Roseanne.

People often teased her for her make-up but she didn’t seem to care. In 1998, Tammy said during an interview, ”I just laugh at them, it’s just a face. I think everyone deserves to be who they want to be. Everyone should wear the face that they’re comfortable with. If you look good then you feel good about yourself. I think I feel ugly without it. I think that’s it, I don’t do it for you, I do it for me. And I feel prettier with it, then we all act pretty. How you look does have a lot to do with who you are and what you become.”

Youtube/Larrysadler

In 1996, Tammy was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died in 2004, at the age of 65 in her home in Loch Lloyd, Missouri. The last time Tammy went public was during her last interview with Larry King. Asked if she had any regrets she said, “I believe when I leave this earth, because I love the Lord, I’m going straight to heaven. I don’t think about it, Larry, because it’s a waste of good brain space.”

She was looking unrecognizable and visibly skinny. Despite that, she still had her trademark make-up on. The last image of Tammy shook her fans and people from over the country.

Rest in peace.

Five-year-old hero saves mother and brother from a life-threatening car crash

By
Monica Pop
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Bravery knows no age, and five-year-old Lexi Shymanski is the perfect proof of that.

One day, her mother, Angela, was driving Lexi and her baby brother Peter through the Canadian Rockies in Alberta. However, the mom was very tired and sleepy, and we all know that driving in such a condition could be a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, Angela fell asleep at the wheel and their car ended crashing down a 40-foot-deep embankment on the side of the road. Baby Peter hurt his head and experienced brain bleeding while Angela broke her back. Lexi was the only one who didn’t sustain life-threatening injuries.

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

Although she’s just five, quick-thinking Lexi knew her mother’s and brother’s lives were in her hands. She quickly unbuckled herself from the child seat and started trekking up the steep embankment to look for help. Going through rocks barefoot, Lexi managed to climb the steep terrain and get to the street. Once there, she started waving at the cars, and luckily, one of them pulled over.

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

It was Lonnie and Jeremiah Jurek who decided to stop and see what was going on. They knew something wasn’t right when they saw Lexi on the side of the road all by herself.

“Seeing her come out from a real, large embankment,” Lonnie said in an interview with Inside Edition, “I’m like, ‘Jeremiah, we have to stop!”

“She was standing on the edge of the road and just trying to get traffic to stop,” Jeremiah added, “she was screaming and motioning to traffic to stop.”

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

Not wanting to lose much time, the couple got down to the embankment and saw Lexi’s family. They called the paramedics, and soon after, Angela and Peter were airlifted to the hospital. They both needed surgeries. Luckily, they are now recovering.

Speaking of her daughter’s bravery, Angela, who used a wheelchair for some time and is now walking using a cane, told Inside Edition: “This little girl is the reason that I am alive, and that my baby’s alive and that my family’s together.” Lexi’s father added: “I just started bawling pretty much. I couldn’t believe what she’d done.”

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

The Edmonton police department rewarded Lexi with a bronze medal for her bravery. If it wasn’t for her action, her mother and brother would have died.

Source: YouTube/ Inside Edition

Great job, Lexi, you are a real-life superhero!

Smiling horse steals the show by photobombing couple’s maternity photoshoot

By
Monica Pop
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Every mom-to-be is overly excited to be expecting a little creature that will make her life better and happier. Amanda Eckstein, from Indiana, isn’t an exception.

As she was looking forward to welcoming her bundle of joy, she and her husband decided to have a maternity photoshoot and make the beautiful memories live forever. They hired Cincinnati photographer Kristen Zaffiro to take the pictures.

However, both Amanda and her husband believed the photos would turn even more beautiful if they included their horses in them. And boy, they a did great job doing that, because if they hadn’t, their photos wouldn’t gather so much attention by people from all over the country.

As they were trying to get the magnificent creatures to pose for the camera, one of them did something cute beyond words. “We finally got them turned around the correct way and I said, ‘At least you could smile,’” Kristen recalled. Little did she know that the horse named Buckshot would listen to her. Just as she snapped the photo, Buckshoot gave her a huge smile. “When I laughed, he smiled more,” Kristen said of the smiling animal.

Of course, looking at Buckshoot smiling and posing made everyone laugh.

Along with the photos Kristen shared on her Facebook page, she wrote: “I laughed so hard! Best maternity session ever.”

For some of the photos, the animals got into a “serious” mood. And in one of them, one of the horses nuzzled its nose into Amanda’s pregnant belly, and we have to agree, it looks totally beautiful.

It is obvious that this family loves their horses unconditionally.

Internet technician warms one mom’s heart after taking her blind son in his arms

By
Monica Pop
-

Being a mom means having a lot on your plate. But moms won’t be dubbed real-life superheroes if they don’t balance between all of their commitments. No matter how tired they are, their children’ needs will always be above their own, and that’s what makes them the most special creatures on Earth.

However, no matter how ready they are to always answer to every task that comes along their way, moms do need a helping hand every now and then.

Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News

Jessica Donnahoo is a mom of 3-year-old boy named Sailor whom she adopted shortly after he was born. Sweet Sailor was diagnosed with optic nerve hypoplasia and Chairi malformation of the brain at birth. Sadly, it means he’s blind.

One day, as Jessica was doing chores around the house while taking care of Sailor at the same time, Robert Kinney, a technician from Spectrum, came to their place to set up their TV for streaming.

Speaking to Good Morning America, Jessica explained that her son sensed someone was there, so he reached his arms towards Robert. Besides being busy fixing the TV, the kind technician took Sailor in his arms and continued working like that for the next 45 minutes. He only put him down when he needed to grab some of his equipment from the van.

That left Jessica with enough time to take care of the “chaos” in the house, and that included her laundry and a bunch of other things she pushed back before.

Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News

Sharing the heart-melting encounter between her son and the internet technician, Jessica told Good Morning America: “He would bounce Sailor using one arm to hold him and make internet adjustments with the other. As a momma, I was incredibly grateful for his kindness.”

She also posted a photo of Robert and Sailor on her Facebook page, and sent a letter to Robert’s company, Spectrum, writing: “He snuggled him close while I folded laundry. It was a huge relief to this tired momma. Robert could have walked in, rushed, and left but instead, he saw a need greater than internet and met it. That’s beyond customer service- it’s humanity at its best.”

Needless to say, Jessica’s post has been seen, shared, and commented on hundreds of times.

Source: Flickr – Will Buckner

“I think the reason that this act of kindness has resonated with so many people is that we can all relate — as parents, grandparents or just anyone who has been overwhelmed. In a world of mass shootings, political scandals, and drugs, we all need to be reassured that humanity and kindness still exist. Rob and my post did just that,” she shared with Good Morning America.

Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News

Robert, who is a single father of a 4-year-old, said he only did what everyone else would when a child approaches them. However, he had no idea how much his act meant to Jessica.

“For them to adopt him and take care of him on a daily basis is much more than what I did for a short period of time,” he shared with Good Morning America, “God really has blessed that family and will continue to do so because of the kind and gentle spirit they have. They deserve more recognition than anyone.”

Source: YouTube Screenshot – FOX Carolina News

What a beautiful story. For more check out the video below.

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