16-Year-Old Girl Grants Elderly People Their Dying Wishes

Caitlin Crommett, 16, started Dream Catchers, a make-a-wish style project that helps those who are terminally ill.

Caitlin got the idea last year, after watching the movie “Patch Adams.” In it, Robin Williams plays a doctor who is all about making his patients happy. In one scene, he fills a wading pool with spaghetti for a dying woman to jump into. After thinking about the movie for a few weeks, Caitlin told her parents she wanted to try and grant the wishes of elderly people in hospice care. They weren’t surprised.

Caitlin’s parents had put away enough money to send her to JSerra, a Catholic high school in San Juan Capistrano. The cost is about $12,000 a year. However, Caitlin wanted to go to Tesoro High in Rancho Santa Margarita, where her friends were going. This meant that there was an extra $48,000.

Caitlin’s parents agreed to give her some of that money to grant wishes until she could raise some funds on her own. Caitlin came up with a name: Dream Catchers. She then came up with a make-a-wish-style form that she began handing out this summer to Hospice Care of the West nurses, asking that they pass them on to patients and their families.

The first form she got back was from the wife of a man named Bernie Klein. He was in a wheelchair and could no longer speak, but was aware of everything around him. Bernie had sailed his whole life, and his wife wrote that it would be so great to see him out sailing on the ocean one last time. Caitlin chartered the schooner Curlew out of Dana Point Harbor for $600. Bernie’s family insisted she come along. She made ham sandwiches for everyone and served them herself.

Over the summer, Caitlin visited a hospice patient named Pat Wahlstrom every Sunday. A social worker had suggested that she help Pat put together a slide show of her world travels to share with other residents at the assisted living home where Pat lived. Caitlin and Pat spent the summer sifting through boxes of slides of Greece, Japan and Russia. Pat would sit in a chair with a remote and click through her projector, telling Caitlin the stories behind each photo that appeared. Caitlin would take notes so that she could later narrate the slide show. They decided to do the entire slide show on Pat’s favorite trip: China. Caitlin made up fliers for the big day. “An armchair tour of China,” they read. “Explore China again with Pat!” Unfortunately, Pat didn’t make it to the showing.  But the experience and the timed shared was the true treasure. “She laughed a lot when she told me stories,” Caitlin says. “It was just really great to listen to her.”

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves. -James M. Barrie

To learn more about Dream Catchers, email Caitlin at caitlincc@cox.net.

Source: www.ocregister.com

Mint Tea as Effective as Aspirin Scientists Find

A cup of mint tea could be as effective as an aspirin for pain relief, according to scientists.

Research showed that the herb Hyptis crenata, known as Brazilian mint, reduced pain as much as a soluble form of the conventional painkiller. In Brazil, the plant has traditionally been used to treat mild pain, including headache, stomach ache, fevers and menstrual pain. Until now, it had never been subjected to scientific testing.

The study was presented at the Second International Symposium on Medicinal and Nutraceutical Plants in New Delhi. Researchers plan to carry out further studies to determine which pharmacological compounds in the plant give it its painkilling properties.

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Food Backpacks Help Kids in Need

Hungry elementary school students in Moberly, Mo., who might not eat much between lunch on Friday and breakfast at school on Monday, take home backpacks full of food.

Every Friday afternoon, backpacks are placed carefully on the floors of the hallways in the elementary schools of Moberly, Mo. There are 106 of them, each with no child’s name and with no individual owner.  The backpacks are there because the school staff realizes that without them, the children for whom they are intended might go hungry between the last bell of the day on Friday and the first bell Monday morning.

The backpacks are each filled with food. The idea is that the children who need the food will blend in with the hundreds of other boys and girls who get enough to eat at home and that the 106 children will feel no stigma.

“We began to realize that some of these children go home to houses where they literally may not eat over the weekend. And we couldn’t just sit back and not do anything to help them,” said Francine Nichols, the school staff member in charge of the backpack project. “So, three years ago, the backpack program started…We make sure that the food is the kind that a young child can prepare himself or herself, if need be. Because some of these children live in single-parent homes, and when that parent works, not only does it mean that there may not be enough food in the house, but there may not be anyone to fix the meal for the boy or girl.”

Moberly is far from the only school district in the country to have a program like this. Quietly, they exist all over the nation. The weekend-food programs are not run by the federal government, but by local communities that simply can’t stand the idea of children going without enough food. Much of it is provided by the Central Missouri Food Bank in Columbia.

Francine Nichols noted that some parents whose children have been helped by the backpack program contact the school when they have found work again and say that because they are back on their feet, they no longer need the assistance. “And then they begin to provide food for the program; they bring food to school to help other children.”

Source: www.gnn.com

Health Clinic Lets Patients Work Off Bills

A low-cost health care clinic in Goshen, Indiana, has come up with a business plan that allows patients to pay for treatment with something other than money. At the Maple City Health Care Center, patients can help pay off their medical bills by performing community service.

Last fall, when the unemployment rate in Elkhart County, Indiana, topped 10 percent, clinic workers began noticing that patients weren’t showing up for appointments. Money just wasn’t available for office visits. So James Gingrich, the clinic’s medical director, decided to tap his patients’ skills and resources instead. The clinic began offering $10 an hour toward health care, if a patient volunteered at another non-profit organization.

“The More Than Money program has been a lifeline,” says Stephany Celis, new mom who wondered how, without health insurance, she would pay for her prenatal care.

To date, More Than Money participants have logged about 350 hours of community service.

Source: www.npr.org

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Finally Arrives

The perfect solution to Los Angeles traffic?

Skycar Flies from London to Timbuktu

A dune-buggy type car equipped with a massive rear propeller and the ability to deploy a giant fabric parasail when its driver and passenger decide to take to the skies successfully traveled from London to Timbuktu, Mali, in West Africa earlier this year. The trip included successful flights over the Straits of Gibraltar and the Sahara Desert.

The car goes from 0 to 62 mph in 4.2 seconds and drives at a top speed of 140 mph. It takes to the skies at 37 mph and soars at 100 mph. If the engine fails mid-flight, the Skycar can glide to safety. Skycars are on sale for about $80,000. First deliveries are expected in late 2010.

Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Thought for the Day

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

 -Desiderata

 

New Evidence That Dark Chocolate Helps Ease Emotional Stress

‘The “chocolate cure” for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online in ACS’ Journal of Proteome Research. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. Everyone’s favorite treat also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. Sunil Kochhar and colleagues note growing scientific evidence that antioxidants and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate may reduce risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Studies also suggest that chocolate may ease emotional stress. Until now, however, there was little evidence from research in humans on exactly how chocolate might have those stress-busting effects. In the study, scientists identified reductions in stress hormones and other stress-related biochemical changes in volunteers who rated themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate for two weeks.’

For the full text article visit: http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/pr900607v

9-Year-Old Warms Hearts (and Feet) of Homeless

“On a chilly Thanksgiving Day in 2004, a young Hannah Turner was helping her mother serve meals at a homeless shelter when she saw something worrisome: a man with ripped shoes and no socks. Pulling off her sneakers, she offered him her tiny pink socks. The next day, she and her mother donated 100 pairs of brand-new socks to the shelter.  Hannah’s Socks was born. A nonprofit organization with the philosophy that ‘no man, woman or child should go without something as basic as a pair of socks,’ Hannah’s Socks has already collected and donated 100,000 pairs of socks to neighbors in need.  It’s all a continuing effort to realize Hannah’s wish: “I want them to know we care.”

 To find out more about donating socks, go to hannahssocks.org

 Source: Better Homes and Gardens November. 2009

Inmates Come to Guard’s Aid in Jail Attack

Deputy Kenneth Moon was alone at his station at a county jail facility near Tampa, when an inmate attacked him with no warning, putting him in a rear-naked choke hold.  And then, a surprising event ensued. A surveillance video of the Monday attack showed other inmates ran to the rescue. The other inmates joined the fight on the guard’s side, pulling the attacker away from Moon and punching him in the head. One inmate grabbed Moon’s radio immediately and called for back-up.

Col. James Previtera, commander of Hillsborough County’s Department of Detention Services, told reporters he believed that the inmates “saved the deputy’s life.”

“The response of the inmates in this case, I think, speaks volumes as to the fact that we treat these men and women … in our facilities with a lot of respect.” -Previtera

Source: www.cnn.com

Revolutionary Water Filtration System Designed to Save Lives

 

Inventor Michael Prichard with his lifesaver bottle, which converts contaminated water into drinkable water.

Inventor and water-treatment expert Michael Pritchard, watched the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina in 2005 leave many without clean drinking water in the wake of horrific natural disasters, leading him to develop the Lifesaver bottle.

The Lifesaver bottle is a self-contained system that does not require the use of chemicals or tablets to be added to the water, and instead uses a nano-filtration membrane so thorough it can block viruses, bacteria, parasites and microbial pathogens that filters water in seconds.

This revolutionary water-filtration method could drastically reduce the tragedies suffered from a lack of access to clean water. Lifesaver bottles can clean up to 6,000 liters of water per filter. The traditional method of shipping clean water to disaster areas is not only extremely expensive, but has been scrutinized for taking too long, leading to a tragic loss of lives. These bottles can also provide a source of clean water for the many areas of the world that are in need of clean water to drink, as well as aid soldiers and marines. 

Source: www.odemagazine.com  

For more information about the Lifesaver bottle, visit www.lifesaversystems.com

30 Top Surgeons Give 200 Kids a Better Life

30 top surgeons from India, UK and the USA will begin their efforts to conduct about 30 surgeries a day, free of cost, for children in need.  200 poor children have come to Bangalore (Bengaluru, Karnataka India) to receive care. 

The Sparsh Hospital welcomed the foreign specialists who had flown down at their own cost, bringing with them their medical equipment. Some of the complex musculoskeletal abnormalities that will be tackled include: club foot, cerebral palsy, congenital dislocation of the hips and gross deformity correction. Sparsh Vachana, the initiative inspired by Lakshmi Tatma, aims to bring the world’s best medical care to the doorsteps of those who are in great need.

“We had successfully operated on an ischiopagus conjoined twin called Lakshmi Tatma in November, 2007. The entire cost of the treatment was written off by the charitable wing of the hospital, SPARSH Foundation. Since then, we have had a large number of children come to us from very humble backgrounds with complex problems. So we embarked on a massive operation…’’ – Chairman and chief orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Sharan Patil

Humpback Whale Population Continues to Grow

Feds Consider Taking Humpback Whale Off Endangered Species List

The US government is considering taking the humpback whale off the endangered species list in response to data showing the population of the massive marine mammal has been steadily growing in recent decades.

Humpback whales were nearly hunted to extinction up into the middle of the 20^th century. But the species has been growing steadily since an international ban on their commercial whaling was placed in 1966. The National Marine Fisheries Service, a NOAA agency, received results last year from an extensive study showing that the north Pacific humpback population has been growing 4-7% a year in recent decades.

There are an estimated 18,000-20,000 humpbacks in the north Pacific, up from just 1,400 in the mid-1960s. A survey in the early 1990s of humpbacks in the north Atlantic showed the population at 10,600. The global humpback population is estimated to be about 60,000 now.

Charter for Compassion

Thought for the Day, Ideology for Life

‘A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.’

                                                -Albert Einstein

Hope for Change, Hope for the Future

Whether you have volunteered in the past, donated to a charity or found yourself aiding a stranger in need at the local grocery store, you have felt the satisfaction of knowing you are helping someone else.  Many of us have reached out for help of some kind at one time or another in our lives and it feels good to give back.  All great charities and service organizations have started from an inspiration to give, with one or two people having a vision about how they would like to serve others.  These organizations enable inspired people to contribute in meaningful ways to the world around them.  Today’s highlight is Women for Women International.  

Women for Women International ‘mobilizes women to change their lives through a holistic approach that addresses the unique needs of women in conflict and post-conflict environments.’ They begin by ‘working with women who may have lost everything in conflict and often have nowhere else to turn. Participation in a one-year program launches women on a journey from victim to survivor to active citizen. As each woman engages in a multi-phase process of recovery and rehabilitation, she opens a window of opportunity presented by the end of conflict to help improve the rights, freedoms and status of women in her country. As women who go through the program assume leadership positions in their villages, actively participate in the reconstruction of their communities, build civil society, start businesses, train other women and serve as role models, they become active citizens who can help to establish lasting peace and stability.’

Women for Women International has also been supported by the efforts of Oprah.  Oprah.com has listed a “For All Women Registry” on her website presenting organizations and charities that are making profound impacts on the lives of women in need all over the world.  Direct aid for medical care for mothers and infants, healing rape survivors, protecting women against slavery, offering an education as well as providing resources for women to start their own businesses, are each needs that have been addressed by the efforts of these organizations and the many individuals who are working diligently to make a difference.(http://www.oprah.com/package/oprahshow/oprahshow/pkgregistry/20090925-tows-registry-girls-women)

To learn more about Women for Women International and how you can be a part of their purpose to ‘help women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency’ visit: http://www.womenforwomen.org/

Jobless Man Uncovers Buried Treasure

Recent discovery from 7th century Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia astounds archeologists.

An unemployed British man discovered a treasure worth millions with a used metal detector he bought for about six dollars.  This discovery is one of the most amazing finds of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever unearthed.  Eleven pounds of gold and five pounds of sliver make up the 1500 exquisitely crafted gem-encrusted pieces.  This historic treasure includes golden military helmets inscribed with biblical scriptures.  They tell a story of England in the 7^th century and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.  This is the stuff of treasure hunters and archeologist’s dreams.

To watch the msnbc video coverage of the story visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33017394#33017394

Coldplay Donates £1 Million to Charity

The Band Coldplay Helps A London-Based Children's Organization

British rock band Coldplay has just donated £1 million to a children’s charity called Kids Company. The South London based charity works to give educational, emotional and practical support to inner-city kids. The band made the generous gift after many visits to the charity’s various centers.  Coldplay also mentioned plans to give music lessons to the children.  Founder Camilla Batmanghelidjh reported that she ‘got the feeling the donation was something they had planned from the start of their careers.’

Kids Company, running since 1996, works with children and young people who live in severe deprivation with little or no support from parents or guardians. Their aim is to provide an environment where relationships of empathy and attachment can be fostered between children and trusted adults. More than 12,000 children and young people have accessed their services.

Source: www.spoonfed.co.uk

Eye Care By Air

ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital has directly treated more than 9.7 million people.

The ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital is literally a hospital with wings that brings together dedicated eye care professionals and aviators to give the gift of sight to developing countries around the world. ORBIS is a nonprofit, global development organization whose mission is to eliminate avoidable blindness in developing countries. The majority of ORBIS projects concentrate on avoidable blindness among children. Onboard the refurbished DC-10 jet aircraft, local doctors, nurses and technicians work alongside ORBIS’s international medical team to exchange knowledge and improve skills.

 Since its first flight in 1982, the ORBIS Flying Eye Hospital has traveled to more than 70 countries and has directly treated more than 9.7 million people for blindness-related diseases and conditions. By training local doctors and eye care workers, who in turn teach their colleagues, ORBIS is strengthening the capabilities of local health care communities in blindness prevention and treatment.

 Source: www.orbis.org

Best Days for Shopping Discounts

Of course you don’t want to pass up the “on sale” offers, but there is a pattern to be aware of for the best shopping discounts.  By choosing the right day of the week to make your purchases, you can make your money last a bit longer. 

1. Airplane Tickets: Wednesday Mornings
2. Hotels: Sundays
3. Gas: Thursday Mornings Before 10am
4. Buying a Car: Monday Mornings in September
5. Dining Out: Tuesdays
6. Groceries: Sundays
7. Entertainment: Wednesdays
8. Clothes: Thursday Nights
9. Department-Store Wares: Saturday Nights
10. Books: Thursdays

 For descriptions of why these days are best, watch the ABC News special @ http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8552636

Hubble’s Deep Space Photos Amaze

A celestial object photographed by the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope

A refurbished Hubble Space Telescope is showing Earth the sharpest photos yet of cosmic beauty. NASA unveiled the first deep space photos taken by Hubble since its expensive repair mission last spring that included installing two new cameras and other advanced instruments. “Hubble is back in action. Together, NASA and Hubble are opening new vistas on the universe,” said astronomer Heidi Hammel.  The brilliant glow of light resembles a cosmic butterfly.  It is a stellar nursery or nebula not too far away. The astronauts who helped repair Hubble basked in the celebration of the new photos.

“What I see is the grandeur of creation, however it got there.” -Dave Leckrone, Hubble senior scientist

 

Bobcat and Fawn Find Friendship after Fire

While thousands of firefighters devoted their time to containing the Jesusita wildfire raging near Santa Barbara, one group of rescue workers worked around the clock to help displaced pets and wildlife. Thanks to the tireless dedication of volunteers from the Animal Rescue Team (www.animalrescueteam.net) and the Santa Barbara Wildlife Care network, a 3-week-old bobcat kitten and 3-day-old fawn became an unlikely pair of friends. 

Although predator and prey, these babies simply took comfort in each other’s company, snuggling under a desk at a dispatch office for hours. The bobcat and fawn would not normally be placed together, due to regulations, but the rescuers had no choice.  They snagged the bobcat kitten first, finding it dehydrated and near death.  Later, they brought in the fawn and discovered they didn’t have a crate large enough for it.  No matter – the kitten ran right over to the fawn, and the two became fast friends.