Addicts run Commonwealth Games 5K as a release

Watch this story: Addicts run Commonwealth Games 5K as a release

For a few of the Coventry Commonwealth Games 5k runners their journey began long before the starting shot was fired.
   
Six months ago, Matt Satterwhite and Matthew Mitchell had never laced up their shoes to hit the pavement.
   
Mitchell says, at least not for a race.
“Unless it was blue lights behind me, no,” Mitchell said.
   
Mitchell can joke now, but that’s because he’s on the right road.
   
After years of alcohol and drug abuse Satterwhite and Mitchell turned to the Roanoke Rescue Mission for help.

“I just needed a new lease on life, so I came to the mission to receive that,” Mitchell said.
“Before this (I was) just always in trouble using drugs and alcohol the whole time,” Satterwhite said.
   
Getting clean and sober doesn’t always mean getting fit and trim.
   
It just so happened Tammy Wiley approached the Rescue Mission with the idea of getting a group together to start running and eventually enter a race.

“I think it’s a sense of accomplishment, getting out early at 6 o’clock in the morning and running and then actually being able to participate in a race and finishing and completing the 5k,” Wiley explained.
   
Wiley says volunteering to help train folks in the substance abuse program is actually a blessing to her, and her fellow runners are now family.

However, Satterwhite says running is a gift.

“Depending on drugs and alcohol for the last 20 years as a stress relief you need something and running has pretty much taken the place of it,” Satterwhite said.

Sponsors helped pay for the Rescue Mission group to run in Saturday’s race.
   
Also, running shoes and clothing was donated.

Man Runs From California To Georgia Raising Funds For Juvenile Arthritis [VIDEO]

Patrick McGlade is running a marathon. But you won’t find a pack of competitors in front of him or behind him. He’s running this one alone. He’s raising awareness and money for juvenile arthritis.

The idea came to him when he was running a marathon. Actually I was in the middle of a 24 hour race and I decided well if I can run for 24 hours straight, I think I can run a marathon a day. That’s when I started looking for charities,” says McGlade.

The Arthritis Foundation welcomed him with open arms. The charity has been there every step of the way lining up support, food and shelter for McGlade.

“For the most part, it’s been a very good experience.”

But very challenging, says McGlade. He runs 30 miles a day. He stops to take photographs along the way. He was drawn to a sign on the 13th Street Bridge recognizing the 2006 Little League World Series Champions from Columbus. Once he snapped his photos, it was back to work.

McGlade’s Huntington Beach, California to Tybee Island, Georgia run is expected to end April 23rd. His goal is to raise $50,000. So far McGlade has raised $17,000. To see photos of his journey, his route, and to donate, visit http://patricksrunblog.blogspot.com/

SOURCE: Man Runs From California To Georgia Raising Funds For Juvenile Arthritis

Woman Opening Up Food Bank for Pets [VIDEO]

We have all heard of food banks and the impact they make on our community, but how about a pantry for pets?

It is the idea of Newberry’s Star Chappell, who within the last year learned about the special gift of owning
an animal.

“He’s truly changed my life, I mean he opened up my heart. I just never had to care for something that needed me that much,” said Chappell of her cat Trainor.

Last year Chappell was going through a very difficult time in her life when she found an  abandoned and very sick outside her restaurant.

She took him to a vet, where he needed a blood  transfusion and lots of tender loving care.

The cat’s name is Trainor and he’s all better now.

 
For as much as the animal needed a friend, Chappell did too.

Watch this story: Midlands Woman Opening Up Food Bank for Pets

Honolulu’s Internet vote considered 1st in nation

 

Voting has ended in what is being touted as the nation’s first all-digital election, and city officials say it has been a success.

Some 115,000 voters in Honolulu’s neighborhood council election were able to pick winners entirely online or via telephone. The voting, which started May 6, ended Friday.

City officials say the experiment appears to have generated few problems; it has even saved the financially strapped city around $100,000.

“It is kind of the wave of the future,” said Bryan Mick, a community relations specialist with the city Neighborhood Commission, “so we’re kind of glad in a way that we got to be the ones who initiated it.”

Web voting, which produces no paper record, cannot be used in city council or state elections because state law bars voting systems that do not include a vote verification process, said Warren Stewart, legislative policy director for Verified Voting Foundation, a nonpartisan advocacy group.

Lori Steele, head of Everyone Counts, the San Diego-based firm chosen by the commission to run the election, said Web voting will make it easier for civilian and military voters who live overseas or those who just don’t have time in their busy days to visit a polling place.

The commission’s move to digital voting was dictated more by a lack of money than a strong desire to use the Internet in new ways.

For at least two decades, the agency conducted mail-only voting, paying the postage to send the ballots to voters and to get them back. In a moneysaving effort two years ago, the commission gave voters the option of choosing candidates by mail or through the Web, but most voters chose mail ballots, Mick said.

Then the Honolulu City Council cut the Neighborhood Commission’s election budget from $220,000 to $180,000. That prompted the agency to shift to all-digital voting for this year’s races. Preliminary calculations show Web voting may cost only $80,000, Mick said.

Before the first day of balloting, voters living in 22 neighborhood board districts with contested races received a passcode that, along with the last four digits of their Social Security number, gave them access to an election Web site created by Everyone Counts.

Voting also was conducted by phone, with results electronically fed into the same computer system that collected the Web votes.

The results should be ready Tuesday.

Everyone Counts has used the system for numerous private and foreign elections, such as the presidential primary held last year by Democrats Abroad, an arm of the Democratic Party that represents overseas voters.

Source: Honolulu’s Internet vote considered 1st in nation

Steele said the computer codes in her firm’s system are available for auditing, and that each completed ballot is heavily encrypted, as is the overall system. The process is more secure than that used in Internet banking, she added.

Kate And Leo help last Titanic survivor

“Titanic” stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have pledged to help the last survivor of the sinking of the ocean liner.

The stars say they have thrown their support behind a fund that would subsidize Millvina Dean’s nursing home fees.

Dean was 2 months old when the Titanic sank beneath the waves on the night of April 14, 1912. She has been living at a nursing home in the English city of Southampton since she broke her hip about three years ago but has struggled to pay the fees.

In October she sold several Titanic mementoes to raise cash.

DiCaprio and Winslet said in a statement that they hoped Dean could rest easier knowing that her future was secure. The Millvina Fund was launched Monday in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Read more: Kate And Leo help last Titanic survivor

Honest taxi driver reaps rewards

The donations started after a website was set up in his honour calling for gestures of gratitude for what is seen as an extraordinary act of honesty.

So far the equivalent of $14,580 has been donated, according to the site.

Santiago Gori, a taxi driver in the coastal city of La Plata, found the money after driving an elderly couple.

They only went a short distance but when he dropped them off, they left a bag in the back of his taxi.

A few days later he managed to locate his passengers again and he returned the bag.

For Argentines used to corruption at all levels of society, this was an extraordinary story.

Two young advertising agency employees decided to set up a website to thank Mr Gori further for his exemplary behaviour.

Now thousands of people have accessed the site and have left hundreds of rewards and messages for Mr Gori.

One visitor offered to produce in his studio a song chosen by Mr Gori to kick-start a potential artistic career.

Another offered a snow-boarding lesson in Argentina’s ski resort of Bariloche, while an Argentine abroad promised to bring back a second-hand GPS satellite receiver for his taxi on his return.

“Thank you”, say many of the messages and one said it all: “I wish more people were like you.”

For his part, Mr Gori seems a bit bemused.

He said he only did what had to be done – and that he does not quite know what to do with all the things he has been offered.

Read more: Honest taxi driver reaps rewards

Girl’s dream to end childhood hunger gets national attention [Video]

Here’s one from one of my friends, Joey Sovine.

Ten-year-old Katie Stagliano dreams to end childhood hunger across the world.

The 4th grader from Pinewood Preparatory School in Summerville was recently featured in NBC Nightly News “Making a difference” segment.

Her dream began in her backyard where a 3rd grade project turned into a 40 pound cabbage.

“We decided that my cabbage was too special to be eaten so I contacted the organization fields to family. They are an organization that brings extra crops from farmer’s fields and other places to people in need and they told us that Family Crisis Ministries’ soup kitchen would greatly appreciate it,” explained Katie.

The 40 pound cabbage went on to feed over 275 people and triggered a dream that is spreading throughout her school.

With help from environmental science teacher Michael Newman, a garden has been constructed on the school’s property where Katie’s classmates help to grow food for the homeless.

Katie has now helped to feed over 800 people and hopes to inspire more people to grow food for those less fortunate.

Watch this story: Summerville kid dreams to end childhood hunger

Homeless man saves teen from drowning

 

A homeless Winnipeg man risked his life to save a teenager from the Red River on Sunday afternoon.

Faron Hall, 44, who lives on the banks of the Red in St. Boniface, said he saw the male teen fall from the Provencher Bridge above where he was sitting with friend Wayne Spence. Hall said the teen appeared to jump.

“He was saying, ‘It’s cold! Help me!’ and I just threw off my backpack and ran down and dived in,” said Hall, who is originally from Dakota Tipi First Nation but mostly grew up in foster care in Winnipeg.

Hall said he managed to get a grip of the teen about 30 metres from the bank but was afraid both would be swept away by the rapid, cold waters.

“He was fighting me and I told him, ‘Don’t fight me! I’m trying to save you. Otherwise we’re both going to drown’,” Hall said. “He was pushing me under and I had to slap him in the head. I hated to do it, but I said, ‘I’ll bring us to shore. Just trust me.’ He went limp and I got him to the grass.”

Hall said his friend Spence helped pull the exhausted and freezing Hall and the teen out.

“The firefighters said to me, ‘You’re a hero, you saved a life’.” Hall said. “I said, ‘Well, possibly, but can I get a blanket? I’m kind of cold.’ “

Hall downplayed the hero tag.

“I don’t think I’m a hero. I’m just a human being,” he said yesterday.

Hall was transported to St. Boniface General Hospital — along with the teen, whose condition is unknown — where he warmed up for several hours before being released. Before leaving the hospital, he visited the teen he pulled from the river.

“I just asked him, ‘Why?’ That’s all I said to him,” Hall said. “He just said he was sorry.”

Hall said he’d like to see the teen and his family in the future.

“I’m not ever going to forget what I saw,” Hall said of the incident. “That boy’s got his whole life ahead of him.”

Hall is no stranger to tragedy. His sister Kristi Hall, 36, was stabbed to death in a random attack in July 2007 in the North End.

“Maybe that’s why I didn’t want to let anyone else die,” he said of the river rescue.

Hall, who has been homeless for about seven years, said he spent Sunday night at the Main Street Project shelter on Martha Street but sleeps year-round along the banks of the Red near the rescue spot, where he said he plans to continue living.

“I just do my own thing,” Hall said. “I don’t bother anybody.”

After graduating high school, Hall said he worked as a teacher’s aide while studying education at the University of Manitoba for two years before his life took a turn for the worse.

“That’s when I hit alcoholism,” Hall said. “I’ve had so many pitfalls in my life.”

Hall said he last worked on construction jobs in Saskatchewan before returning to Winnipeg about 10 years ago.

Read more: Homeless man saves teen from drowning

Superhero patrols streets fighting crime [Video]

Here is great one sent to us from a reader!

Cincinnati police have a new ally in their fight against crime, whether they want it or not.

 

He calls himself Shadow Hare, and he wears a mask and a cape to conceal his true identity. He’s Cincinnati’s own version of a superhero fighting crime and injustice where he finds it.

 

“We help enforce the law by doing what we can in legal standards, so we carry handcuffs, pepper spray … all the legal weapons,” said Shadow Hare. “We will do citizen’s arrests. We will intervene on crimes if there is one happening in front of us.”

 

The man behind Shadow Hare’s mask is 21 years old and from Milford. Those are the only clues to his true identity that he will reveal. Shadow Hare said he was abused as a child and grew up in foster homes, perhaps leading him to a life helping others.

 

“My message to Cincinnati is that there is still hope and all we have to do is stand together,” he said.

 

Shadow Hare is not alone in his quest to fight crime. He heads up a group of men — and one woman — called the “Allegiance of Heroes.” The members communicate with each other in online forums. Among the members are Aclyptico in Pennsylvania, Wall Creeper in Colorado and Master Legend in Florida.

 

“I’ve even teamed up with Mr. Extreme in California — San Diego — and we were trying to track down a rapist,” said Shadow Hare.

 

The crime fighters will often pair up to patrol the streets. Even so, fighting crime comes with its share of hardship.

 

Shadow Hare said he suffered a dislocated shoulder two years ago while trying to help a woman who was being attacked.

 

And the authorities don’t always take him seriously. In one encounter with a Hamilton County corrections officer, Shadow Hare was greeted with a chuckle and a look of disbelief.

 

But Shadow Hare said he and his team are not deterred by the criticism. He remains focused on trying to make Cincinnati a better place, whether it’s fighting crime or feeding the homeless.

 

For now, the law is on Shadow Hare’s side.

 

It is legal in Ohio and Kentucky to make a citizens arrest, however, the arrester does face possible civil litigation if the person arrested turns out to be innocent.

Read more: Cincinnati Superhero Patrols Streets Fighting Crime

FDR secretly pushed to get Jews to safety during Holocaust

Newly uncovered documents reveal that President Franklin D. Roosevelt worked quietly in the late 1930s to find havens for European Jews, contradicting the view that he ignored their plight in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

 

Roosevelt was “a master politician who tried to carry out some humanitarian steps while juggling political and military considerations,” writes historian Richard Breitman, co-editor of Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald (1935-1945) released today. The book draws on papers at the Center for Jewish History in New York City.

McDonald was chairman of Roosevelt’s advisory committee on refugees. He met Adolf Hitler in 1933 and was convinced the Nazi planned to exterminate Europe’s Jews, prompting him to sound warnings. He later was the first U.S. ambassador to Israel.

Despite FDR’s popularity with Jewish Americans, the influential 1984 book The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust argued that he did little to save their European brethren.

Breitman says McDonald’s papers soften that view, showing that in 1938, Roosevelt:

• Cut red tape that kept immigration quotas from being filled, allowing entry for 27,370 Germans — most of them Jews.

• Hoped to resettle millions of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe to other countries, mostly in Latin America. He called an international conference to line up money and support.

• Promised to ask Congress for $150 million to help resettle refugees if Britain allowed more Jews into Palestine and private funds could be raised.

Read more: FDR pushed to get Jews to safety in 1930s