At this joyous time of year its all to easy to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas as it approaches at the speed of light. And this year there is a new trend popping up all around us and it’s catching on just as fast. It looks like people are trying to light poles and trees more popularly fashionable, really they are tying scarves around trees and poles for something much more heartwarming than you would think!

Many people after people and from all over the place, nationwide are taking their old scarves, or making handmade scarves then securing them around the base of trees in parks, then light poles in city roads and neighborhoods. They are leaving them there for homeless people who are exposed to the cold perishing weather of the winter months. The cozy scarves are free to anyone who is in need and they are providing much-needed protection from the sub-zero temperatures.

The scarves are left with really kind messages like this one:

“I’m not lost! Please take me with you if you are cold. Stay warm. God bless!”

The people who are leaving these scarves are really the people who care deeply about the less fortunate and want to spread the holiday joy to the people who need it! People who take part in the project, like Elizabeth Sammons, knit scarves and create comfortable homemade scarves for strangers in need!

Elizabeth said that she thought it was simply amazing how it feels to help the homeless community to survive and hopefully feel a little better in these hard cold times. She said:

“I think it’s a great thing to be able to do for the community. [There’s] a lot of people behind it, a lot of support. It’s really nice.”

The very moments that the trend started in Seymour, Indiana, church groups, students and kind strangers from all over and every state then started helping too. They wanted to make sure that a many of the millions of homeless Americans can be that little bit warmer this winter time!

Learn more about this heartwarming new trend that has started by pressing “play” on the video below, and don’t be scared to join in!!

The world around us is a changing place, adapting to opinions of the masses, good and bad alike, recent media coverage has caused a lot of concern for police officers, as it would be expected. The violence towards police officers is higher than it has ever been before. The men and women in police stations are also keeping a careful guard more than usual due to the recent events that have happened. Once City that realized that they needed to be careful is Detroit, they are watching their backs more than ever before.

For quite some time now Detroit has been on a downward spiral, there is a lot of economic recession since back in 2008 and this is largely because of financial status, especially to do with motor vehicle sales and reduced distribution. Since then it’s like Detroit’s violent crime rates have soared! Just to make matters worse the war on cops and the racial issues have been on the rise too! The crime rate is really not helping in the established race war, Black Lives Matter and Police Lives Matter have been at the forefront of these issues also. All in all, Detroit is reputed to be dangerous and police lives have been targeted…

The Officers of Detroit’s Police Department are on edge constantly, so when a 9-year-old girl walks into the station with people behind her, not to mention she is also pulling something out of her bag, you can imagine the nervous reactions of officers. However, the announcement she made surprised everyone. The little girl, Samya McLaughlin, spoke to everyone and said this, it was her birthday… With her parents standing with her she pulled out of her bag several handmade lunches that she had made for all of the police officers in the precinct. She had birthday plans, with a cake and party too, but after seeing everything that was going on against the police in the news coverage, Samya decided to cancel her plans an to get straight to the police station!

Samya’s mommy and daddy did not want to soften the real world to her, they wanted to be honest about what was going on in the world and the current news, the war against the cops, everything… she gets a glimpse of the world how it is from time to time Seeing all of the negative things in the world around her and about the police force, she felt compelled to do something about the situation. With her own money, she made lunches for the officers, there were sandwiches, chips, fruit and a cookie for each person. She wanted to show the police officers that their lives do matter and that the things that they do are very important to the community. Samya didn’t want to have her birthday before she knew that the police officers really saw that they were really appreciated, and appreciated they felt that day!

Later on, Samya told shared:

“I was thinking that I should feed the police officers because I wanted to show them that I support them and I thank them for all that they do. I wanted to show them that all lives matter.”

After all this Samya wasn’t finished at all, she then went to the homeless shelter and passed out 30 more lunches to the homeless. All of the lunches that day were made by Samya made for everyone that day came from her own money, she didn’t buy anything for herself though. Samya’s parents are so proud of her, her father Sam Walker said:

“It makes you feel proud. She has a big heart and she knows how to care, and she knows how to appreciate what’s going on.”

To see a young girl like this do something so heartwarming is not just touching but deeply emotional, we should all take a lesson out of her book and the world would be a better place for sure! Watch this video to see more about Samya’s surprise.

The holidays are usually expected to be happy times so when there is a tragedy it’s even worse in a time of rejoicing. This Thanksgiving Holidays Oakley Debbs who was 11 years old ate a harmless, so he thought, dessert… Sadly he died, a son, a brother, a friend and a teammate, now gone, everyone is wearing his favorite color, red, to honor him and remind others not to let it happen to them. A student that achieved straight A’s across the board and from West Palm Beach, Florida, Oakley was a real top athlete even though he suffered from allergies and asthma. He adored football, soccer, tennis and was an avid marathon runner too! He was on vacation with his family over the Thanksgiving period, in Maine. His family and relatives ordered a gift basket, it had ham and pound cake for dessert! It was in the evening of Nov. 24th and Merrill Debbs, Oakley’s mother, said:

“We didn’t even see the cake; it had just been opened up and set on the island of the kitchen”

Oakley was allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, so he was good at checking labels, but in this instance, he didn’t see any nuts in the slice and ate it… Robert Dobbsn, the father, said:

“He thought it was just a piece of cake”

“But when he ate it, he come over and said it might have contained nuts”

His mother tried a little cake and decided that, yes, it tasted nutty, like it had walnuts in the cake in some fachon. Robert said:

“Merrill did what we usually do, she gave him Benadryl [pills]”

“And he came back and said he felt fine”

At the time, he just had once hive on hos lip, nothing too concerning, but that was about to significantly change! While he was getting ready for bed he noticed a tightness and pain in his chest, but he felt like his breathing was just fine. About fifteen minutes later he was violently vomiting! His mom thought that once he had got what was bothering him off his stomach he would be just fine again., but he just kept getting sick… His Mom said:

“He started throwing up and from there it was a tornado of issues”

“We called 911. By the time the ambulance got there – about 10 minutes later – he was blue”

Around an hour and half later, after eating the cake, his airwaves had completely closed shut and his heart had given up without the vital oxygen it needed to keep going… The family had an emergency plan for his asthma, but there was no plan for his food allergy, if they only knew that his death could have been prevented. They had been told by medical professionals that his nut allergy was mild and just needed to be treated with antihistamines, they had an EpiPen but had never been educated on the signs and symptoms of when to use it. The emergency medics arrived they gave him two successive doses of epinephrine but it was too late, he was officially pronounced dead four days later in the hospital. It’s such a shame he died, with a little more knowledge the parents could have saved his life. Hi mom said:

“I wasn’t aware, no one told me”

“I don’t think my beautiful, amazing, talented, adorable son should have passed away”

She says that they didn’t know that epinephrine was the only first-line drug for anaphylaxis. The family is quickly learning they aren’t the only ones that don’t know things like this. The family founded the Red Sneaker Foundation to do their best to turn tragedy into something positive, also to help educate others as to these dangers. People throughout their community are wearing red sneakers and hair ribbons to show their support for their friend and teammate Oakley Debbs. When you have mild symptoms to an allergy, medical professionals recommend epinephrine be used immediately, it can be the difference between life and death! Food Allergy Research & Education has a free Emergency Plan that you can download and use with your doctor in case of something like an allergic reaction. His mom said:

“The child of mine, he was a rock star, he was a good, good kid …And always in my heart of hearts, I knew that he would make a difference in his life – I just didn’t know it would be after he passed away. So that’s a big part of my driving force – the legacy of Oakley.”

Do you ever have that feeling when you walking sometimes that your being followed, or there is someone just behind you, well this woman really was being followed, in fact, hunted by her deranged ex-boyfriend…. She was terrified but she managed to find refuge in what seems like an unlikely place, her life was saved by three young men who became unexpected heroes that day! The woman remains anonymous, you can’t blame her for this, she was the office manager for a Chicago-based dentist… This one day she went to work blissfully unaware of what was to transpire that day. She was going to be terror-stricken, completely stunned with a blanket fear and a sense of panic that would almost paralyze her, but she found the strength to fight it and to happen on some saviors who helped her escape her ex-boyfriend’s clutches!   Her ex-boyfriend turned up at her office with a small assault rifle, although people there reported that he seemed calm, the weapon he was carrying seemed to say otherwise… She knew that her life was on the line and she had to do something quickly! She got up and ran to the back alley, by a stroke of luck she encountered three movers, Mike Zaininger, Josh Lara, and Cody Grandt. The three men, who ironically enough worked for a company called ‘Wisdom Moving Company’ showed some real bravery! Mike said:

“She knew she was being looked for, the way she was hiding. Our immediate reaction was, ‘Get in the truck.’”

They knew that the truck would give her the perfect hideaway, they got her inside fast! Lara recalled:

“We brought her into the truck, and there were stacks of boxes so we were kind of hiding behind the boxes”

They quickly ‘removed’ her from the scene, at the same time ‘delivering’ her to safety in the act. When Clint Engle, the perpetrator could not find the woman he took his own life, thank goodness he hadn’t found her …if he had done she would be dead for sure! She did after all only very narrowly escape him, the drivers of the truck really were her guardian angel that day. The petrified woman had endured a long history of abuse, domestic abuse, a the hands of Engle. Years ago he broke into her house and attacked her father, he was sleeping at the time, with a golf club, he believed her father would not allow him to date his daughter?? He had been in prison for over ten years for home invasion and aggravated battery as a result of the attack. When they released him he vented his anger at his ex-girlfriend, he had gotten worse, not-rehabilitated or better in the least bit at all. The Police said that the movers’ fast reaction had saved the woman’s life… Grandt said:

“If we weren’t there she would have been done, she would have been seen running down the alley”

Many months later the three were honored and the trio with their families got an official proclamation to thank them for their actions and their “remarkable display of courage and quick-thinking.” For the part that they played in the saving of this woman, they are very happy indeed to have done something which resulted in saving this woman’s life. Lara said:

“It was just our instinct to try and protect and help her”

It really restores my faith in humanity when I see a story like this, please let’s share in the positivity of this story and share it with everyone you know!

Getting old is really a mixed blessing, there are many benefits to growing older but there can be many downsides too! Some can find it very scary an lonely, while others like the freedom. On elderly lady learned the hard way about being lonely when she was abandoned at her local hospital. A lady called Ashley Cherry and was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital Fort Campbell, Kentucky and there she saw something she would never forget… Ashley was with her husband in the very same waiting room, there was a woman perched in a wheelchair.

The Lady in the wheel chair had been wheeled there because she had been discharged, she had said to the receptionist that she didn’t have any family to come or to take her to her home. With no ride and nowhere to go, that she was able to get to by herself she just sat there in the wheelchair, alone and helpless…. What Ashley said was she had seen something that was really upsetting that day, but there was one man who dived in to save the day! She said:

“I was saddened to see some (not all) of the employees’ lack of concern as to how she would get home. All of the sudden this AMAZING gentleman who had been waiting with his wife approached the lady and told her he would gladly take her home.”

The guy didn’t know the woman, he didn’t even know where she lived, he just happened to be at the hospital with his wife…

“This man not knowing her or having a clue where she lived volunteered his time to care of this lovely woman. She offered to pay but he kindly declined like any good man would.”

Ashley found out that from his wife that the man was called Jeffrey, he was a soldier who was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He left the emergency room to hop in his truck and gave the elderly woman a ride home, Ashely wheeled her outside.

Ashley and Jeffery carefully put the woman in the vehicle, she felt very good to see the compassion shown to a stranger who really needed help.

“As I watched them drive away my only thoughts were ‘There are still great people in this world’ ‘and ‘We have to care for our elders like this nice man.’ Not only does this man serve our great country, he serves his great little community. Thank you, sir…”

Ashley shared on her Facebook page about what happened that day and the story has really gone viral. Above all she hopes that Jeffrey would see her post and know that it was hos good deed that saved the day and that was really so appreciated by not just the Lady he helped, but everyone around him too!

To have lived a life where even though times have been hard, you have survived and always had a roof over your head, never too far from the edge. When you’ve been hungry and money doesn’t always stretch makes life very difficult. Seeing panhandlers with a sign, desperately seeking help, I’m not ashamed to say that whenever I can I give something to them, Just a dollar or two without too much thought about how they choose to spend it. If I was in the same situation I hope that other people would be as kind. When you give in life then karma dictates that at some point you will gain something, even if it’s just that satisfaction that you have made the world a better place! This story really started when a lady from Florence Township, New Jersey was driving along the I-95 towards Philadelphia. The Lady in question here is Kate McClure, 27 years old and before she could reach her destination she ran out of gas and was forced to stop. In a bit of a panic she was able to find her way to the side of the road in the car, then get out of the car, to walk to the gas station. She approached a homeless guy who said that she should get back to her car and lock herself in. Just a little time later the guy, Johnny Bobbitt Jr, 34 years old, returned with a filled gas can and emptied it into her vehicle, he had spent his very last $20 to get fuel for her! The Lady didn’t have any cash but promised that she would return with “something” for him to say thank you. It wasn’t too long before she returned with food, money, supplies and a gift card for her guardian angel and friend. She bought him cereal bars for him, he offered her one to eat, he was excited to take tot the gift card and case of water to share with “the guys”. With each visit she made, going down the I-95, with her boyfriend, Mark, the couple learned more and more about the gut who had such a kind heart. He had been homeless for about a year… He had started out with a night stuck on the streets but it turned into weeks, then months, he made some friends of other homeless men and since then they have looked out for each other and had each other’s backs. The homeless guy was once a paramedic who came to Philadelphia because of his work, it was a lead for a job, but it fell through, his savings getting smaller and smaller until they were all gone! It was about this time that, Johnny, unfortunately, lost his state-issued ID and his VA paperwork from being in the Marine Corps, that being said he could no longer prove he had a right to work. He simply didn’t have the money to replace the missing documents that he so desperately needed to. Looking through Johnny’s old Facebook photos the young couple could not believe how fast circumstances changed for the former first responder. Karen said: “It’s crazy, you can relate to that …You look through and think, -that could be me-” The couple felt touched by his story and wanted to do more than just drop off supplies to him, they really wanted to help him get back on his feet. Onward to Nov 10th and the couple have started a GoFundMe page on his behalf to make a start On Nov. 10 the couple started a GoFundMe page on Bobbitt’s behalf. The goal they set was $10,000 to cover expenses, a reliable car, plus rent, food, and utilities for a few months while he gets organized and back into the swing of things. When the funding page gathered its first $1,700 the couple visited him with the good news and a bottle of champagne to celebrate. He said: “That changes my life, right there …I’ve honestly met more good people than bad.” He is now in the process of getting his paperwork sorted out and he really wants to work for the nearby Amazon warehouse, then eventually his goal is to resume as a paramedic! Nov the 22nd arrived and the goals they set had been achieved and surpassed, they had raised over $21,000 from all the shares and coverage they got from social media. They have been touched by the support from social media and intend to continue to support him until he gets to the other side a success, a huge thank to them and the community for their generous support. At times when the headlines are filled with such negativity and terrible violence, humanity seems distant, but its acts like this that restore our faith in humanity and it really is a good feeling! Good luck to him and let’s share this wonderful story to spread the love and inspiration!