【推荐1】It was in 1979 and 8-year-old Wendy McDowell needed to fly from Bismarck to Burlington. No one in her family could go with her, so her parents decided it would be safe for a 19-year-old family friend to accompany her. When they arrived for their layover in Chicago O’Hare, their connecting flight was canceled. The family friend bought herself a ticket back home and left the girl all alone in one of the busiest international airports in the country.

“You know that feeling of being a kid and looking around and every single face is a stranger’s face.” She remembers.

She felt desperate until a woman in white walked over to her. “She came and sat next to me,” she recalls. “And I immediately felt a sense of safety because someone was with me.”

The woman could tell something was not right and she got permission from McDowell to take over. After reassuring McDowell, the woman convinced her to share her mother’s phone number. And on the phone, she convinced her mother that McDowell would be safe with her. She was flying to Pittsburgh but she made a detour (绕道) to Burlington to drop off McDowell.

“The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve been thinking about her,” McDowell said. “Just knowing that she did all of that for a stranger. Something that maybe didn’t feel huge to her just completely redirected my life because I don’t think I have ever been treated as badly as I was by the person who left me.”

She has used that experience to teach her son about kindness. “I want him to know that people can choose to be beautiful and helpful and provide security and that people like this are out there,” she said. “So I just appreciate it more than words can really express.”

【推荐1】Timothy is a 5-year-old boy with autism(自闭症). In October of 2018, doctors told his parents that he suffered   brain tumor(肿瘤).

Two thieves who specialized in stealing packages from people’s front gates had no idea that one of those packages contained a WWE wrestling belt belonging to Timothy. At the time, the belt was on the front gate of Sergio Moriers’s house, whose job was decorating stuff. “Timothy’s father doesn’t make a lot of money. But he wanted to give his son an amazing gift, and I told him I would do everything for free. I said, ‘Just ship it over and I’ll do everything you want on the belt, and he’ll have the belt of a lifetime.’” He said.

When the belt was taken, Sergio was extremely disturbed, “I want them to know they took hope from a 5-year-old boy who is looking forward to that item coming back to him… You stole that from him. You broke a child’s heart.” Timothy’s father shared what that belt meant to his son, “Timothy would not go anywhere without that belt… Most kids have balls, while he had a belt.” All hope was lost.

Then something unexpected happened. “I saw two women appeared at the gate. They put down the bag there. My guard went over and I realized what was happening. That bag contained the stolen wrestling belt,” Sergio said. The two women apologized to Sergio. They said that they were thrown out of a friend’s apartment after the friend saw the news report of the theft on TV. In fact, they were trying to kick a drug habit. They cried with guilt and shame.

Seeing the returned belt, Timothy’s father said, “It’s one of those things you always hear about, those crazy stories about people, but you never think it’ll happen to yourself. I’m still taken aback, to be honest.”

【推荐2】No matter how many times Sandy has rescued an animal, she never gets over the casual cruelty some people display toward unwanted pets. When she lost her own “angel” dog, she started Logan’s Legacy to help other pets in need.

Sandy recently received a phone call about a small dog, possibly a puppy, that had been abandoned on a street. Since she was too far to help on, she called a friend who lives nearby to get there as soon as possible. When her friend Tom arrived, he found a tiny dog curled(蜷缩)in a tight ball with the chain firmly tied to a tree. Someone had left food and water for her, but the puppy was too frightened to eat or drink. Once gathered up in a blanket and placed into the back seat of the car, she began to get weak quickly from dehydration(脱水)and exhaustion.

The moment she got some water and food, the puppy made a rapid recovery, and her lovely and sweet personality could finally shine! “We have named her CiCi,” Sandy added, “She is feeling so much better. She has been observed at my place and she is doing great. This sweet baby girl will never feel fearful again, and won’t ever be abandoned again.” After winning hearts at Sandy’s office, CiCi has been approved for adopting and will soon leave for her new life. Sandy and her fellow rescuers are trying their best to find her the perfect family to love her and treat her with the respect all living creatures deserve!