The Laundromat with a Big Heart
The Indian Express laundry shop resembles an average laundromat in the bustling metropolis of Mumbai, India. The piles of neatly folded clothes and smiling faces of the shop's workers reflect their expert and efficient service in cleaning people's garments since 1940. A closer look, though, reveals a softer, warmer side to the shop: cats. Big and small, these furry creatures are often rescued from... posted on Jun 9, 15204 reads

The Elders: Veteran Diplomats Unite
Melding serious statesmanship and a dose of audacity, Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, and a clutch of international figures are announcing an alliance to diplomatically tackle the world's most intractable problems. The alliance, unveiled during the events marking Mr Mandela's 89th birthday, is to be called the Elders. It includes the retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu, th... posted on Jul 20, 1450 reads

Bamboo Bicycles: A New Way To Pedal
Ten years ago, Luna the dog was gnawing on a piece of bamboo growing behind Craig Calfee's bicycle shop in California. Luna was adept at crushing wooden sticks with her powerful jaws. But the best she could manage with the hard, round stalks of bamboo was a tooth mark or two. Calfee wondered: If bamboo was strong enough to withstand Luna, why couldn't it be a bicycle frame? Calfee since has built ... posted on Jul 1, 2459 reads

The Value of Outlandish Ideas
"When I founded The Body Shop I just wanted a means to support myself and my two daughters. When I applied for a loan to start a small shop in1976, the man behind the desk looked as if I’d asked him to shave his head. A woman? Running a business? How preposterous, he obviously thought. My company went on to show how business can be done differently worldwide, proving that women can indeed run su... posted on Jun 7, 2987 reads

Shop Class As Soulcraft
Matthew Crawford was on what most people would think was the "right track." Then he left his job as executive director at a think tank in Washington to open a motorcycle repair shop. In his new book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, he makes the case that our society has placed too great a value on white-collar work and not enough value on the trades.Crawford tells host Guy Raz that the mechanical arts ha... posted on Jan 5, 3237 reads

Shop Class As Soul Craft
"Matthew Crawford was on what most people would think was the "right track." Then he left his job as executive director at a think tank in Washington to open a motorcycle repair shop. In his book, Shop Class as Soulcraft, he makes the case that our society has placed too great a value on white-collar work and not enough value on the trades. Crawford tells host Guy Raz that the mechanical arts have... posted on Mar 28, 2973 reads

Former Dress Shop Owner Feeds Thousands Through Gardening
What started out as a simple gardening project for a grad student has now grown into a multitude of flourishing gardens, and a community coming together. This is the story of how the Randolph Street Community Garden came to give nearly 2,000 people access to fresh fruits, and vegetables and become a place where food, fun, and friendships grow.... posted on Jul 21, 7121 reads

Trading Guns for Nail Polish
In the most dangerous neighborhood of Guayaquil -- Ecuador's largest and most crime-ridden city -- a dozen youths are busy working in the Paz Urbana Print Shop. By the entrance, a young man designs a T-shirt logo with graffiti paint. In the back, amid the hip-hop music and paint fumes, tattooed young men with baggy pants and baseball caps compile an order of worksheets for schools. The print shop ... posted on Feb 21, 3309 reads

Untitled
British biologist Rupert Sheldrake has documented on videotape how some dogs appear to anticipate the arrival of their owner. Regardless of the time of day that the owner begins their journey home, some of these dogs appear to sense their human companion coming without receiving any known physical signals, and wait for them next to the door or window.... posted on Jun 5, 1024 reads

A Dog with Infinite Patience
Are you the kind of person who has a hard time waiting for anything? Here's some inspiration for you: Hachiko, Japan's most celebrated canine. A dog who walked his owner to the train station every day and came back to receive him in the evening after work. When his owner died one day while at office, this faithful dog refused to go home and waited patiently at the station -- for ten years(!) -- un... posted on Apr 22, 5227 reads

Homeless Man Rewarded By Honesty
Charles Moore stumbled across $21,000 worth of savings bonds while rummaging through a trash can for reusable bottles. The 59-year-old homeless man off the streets of Detroit turned the bonds in at a homeless shelter that then tracked down their rightful owner. Moore was given $100 by the owner for his honesty. But citizens from around the country moved by his integrity have stepped forward to han... posted on Aug 4, 2462 reads

Growing Seeds In Silence
"This story I'm about to share with you has been growing in the heart of many people on Cape Ann, where I live. It is the story of Jude, a young deaf man with green thumbs and a big heart who recently opened a plant store in our community called The Silent Seed. I first heard about him from my friend Nana who had noticed the new store during one of her walks and was so inspired by the owner that s... posted on Dec 13, 3969 reads

Superhero Animal Stories
A retriever fights off a cougar that attacked its 11 year old owner. A pot-bellied pig blocked traffic to get attention to its heart-attack stricken owner. Planet Green recounts these and the other top uplifting stories of "superhero" animals rescuing their owners. Watch to hear some amazing stories from both traditional and non-traditional pets.... posted on Jan 28, 3872 reads

Owner of the World's Friendliest Restaurant
"As anyone who's ever made a habit of eating out can tell you, restaurant service can be unpredictable, unnerving and off-putting. The food can be late. Servers can be rude and management can sometimes seem indifferent to your complaints and needs. This isn't the case at Tim's Place in Albuquerque, N.M., where every meal is accompanied by a hug from owner Tim Harris, who has Down syndrome.At Tim's... posted on Apr 27, 6005 reads

Donor Match Over Coffee
Annamarie Ausnes is known for holding up the line at her favorite coffee shop, carefully counting out her coins to pay for her "short drip, double-cupped" daily jolt. Over the years, Sandie Andersen, a friendly barista behind the counter, has taken these morning moments to make conversation, to make friends. And then there was the small talk that day last fall. "She reached over the counter and sa... posted on Mar 7, 2838 reads

The Blind Mechanic & His Apprentice
Larry Woody shares his automotive know-how twice a week with his apprentice, though he's never seen the young man nor spoken directly to him. Woody is blind. His apprentice is deaf. Woody lost his sight five years ago in a near-fatal accident. With more than 30 years of fixing, racing and restoring cars, Woody vowed to return to work. With help from his wife, Della, and the Oregon Commission for t... posted on Mar 23, 2324 reads

Finding Perfection in the Unexpected
"On a recent afternoon, I went to a pottery shop outside of Tokyo and happened to meet the head potter who had stopped by to check on her staff. After looking around the shop, I asked the potter if she had a few minutes to chat and explain her work to me. The first thing she talked about was how a potter never knew what was going to wind up coming out of the kiln. "Each kiln opening," she said, "w... posted on Oct 25, 4133 reads

Removing Stigma One Idli At A Time
A small idli shop in south Tamil Nadu, India, is the talk of the town. At daybreak, people crowd around to buy idlis and dosas from two women who are HIV positive. Despite the stigma of HIV/AIDS in their town, the customers are aware of their condition and continue to patronize their shop. With community support, Vijayarani and Sumathy have overcome the devastating news, "look as healthy as any... posted on Feb 8, 2342 reads

A Tea Shop Making A Difference
Sometimes the issues ailing our world seem so huge, and our ability to resolve them so small. The story of Katrell Christie, however, and her ability to react with a sincere generosity in the face of a seemingly challenging social issue, gives hope and inspiration. After listening to the story of three orphaned girls on a trip to India, she promised to return and help -- and though she did not k... posted on Nov 24, 8861 reads

Chai With Love
Meet R. Sekar, a reserved man who sells tea for a living in his little tea shop in India. With his meagre earnings, this man with a golden heart shows us that you do not have riches to help others. "I am happy with what I have and can do with even less. I do not need more. What will I do [with more]?" he asks. Read about how this big-hearted man touches the lives of those who visit his tea shop.... posted on Feb 15, 27664 reads

Saving the Kind Barber and His Street Cats
With two hefty sacks of cat food in her arms, Manuela Wroblewski can't stop smiling as she whisks toward the familiar shop. Hussein, the Turkish barber, clasps his hands in gratitude as he eyes the bags of food and the two hurry over to the tiny food dishes lined up in the alley. Soon the sound of kibble clinks against the bowls and several stiff tailed cats begin to appear. But Hussein was in tro... posted on Dec 17, 186360 reads

New York's Pop Up Repair Shop
Your lamp broke? Oh well, buy a new one. Your toaster oven broke? Again, just buy a new one. Are you one of those people who are more apt to throw out older, broken household items and just buy new replacements -- instead of perhaps thinking about giving it a chance to be fixed? Well, for Sandra Goldmark and her husband Michael Banta, they finally wanted to try and create a solution that "aimed at... posted on Oct 6, 14076 reads

The Magic Shop of the Brain
James Doty is a Stanford brain surgeon and a leading convener of research on compassion. In 1968, he wandered into a magic shop and met a woman who taught him what she called "another kind of magic" that freed him from being a victim of life circumstances. Now, James is on the cutting edge of knowledge of how the brain and the heart talk to each other -- both metaphorically and physically. This fa... posted on Apr 17, 30667 reads

The Boy In The Magic Shop
"Dr. James Doty is the founder and the director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at the Stanford University School of Medicine of which the Dalai Lama is the founding benefactor. He also happens to be a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Stanford and the New York Times bestselling author of Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeons Quest to Discover t... posted on Feb 1, 11877 reads

More Than Your Average Cup of Joe
A popular coffee shop in Denver is making a difference, and not just through their drinks. The Purple Door Coffee Shop, founded by Madison Chandler and Mark Smesrud, helps support youth coming out of homelessness by offering them jobs behind the counter, and teaching them skills such as customer service and budgeting. Moved by the overwhelming number of homeless youth in the region, Chandler and S... posted on May 16, 2475 reads

Former Orphan Creates Safe Haven For Street Kids
Crouching in the back of a van is a young boy with a fresh injury. He'd been hit with a bottle when he got into a fight. Stanislas Lukumba, a tall, good-looking, fortyish nurse, checks for shards of glass as the driver shines his cell phone on the wound. For the past eight years, Stanislas has made nightly trips in the van, a mobile clinic that runs in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.... posted on Jan 6, 15302 reads

Peace is Possible: The Remarkable Story of A Prison Friendship
"For more than 50 years, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (in Spanish, FARC) have been fighting a guerrilla war for social justice. In response, the rich and powerful created paramilitary forces to defend the existing social order. On both sides, those doing the fighting are mostly poor villagers and workers." In this interview, we learn of an extraordinary and unlikely friendship betwe... posted on Apr 26, 7940 reads

Kelly Orians: Getting Out and Staying Out
Kelly Orians, co-founder of Rising Foundations and attorney at The First 72+ has dedicated her life to helping the less fortunate, with a focus on the injustice and failing policies of the correctional system. In this interview Kelly discusses the unique challenges facing former inmates as they attempt to reintegrate into society, and the people and organizations attempting to change that for the... posted on Jul 16, 7318 reads

Gandhi 3.0: A Grand Rehearsal of Unconditional Love
In the heart of Mahatma Gandhi's homeland, is a modern-day experiment of the timeless Law of Love. They call it Gandhi 3.0, where "Gandhi" stands for the age-old principle of leading with inner transformation, and "3.0" represents the many-to-many networks that are popularized by Internet. In January 2018, around the 100th anniversary of the Gandhi Ashram, the experiment culminated in a global ret... posted on Oct 2, 3036 reads

People Helped You Whether You Knew It Or Not
In 1964, William "Lynn" Weaver, joined 13 other black students in the integration of an all white high school in Tennessee. From the first day he was told he did not belong and he started to believe it until Mr. Hill, his former seventh grade science teacher, started tutoring him outside of school. Some of his other former teachers joined in this effort. Years later he discovered that Mr. Hill wa... posted on Jun 26, 2559 reads

Jack Healey: Create Your Future
Jack Healey, a former Franciscan priest and former head of Amnesty International-USA, has pioneered the use of music activism to exponentially raise the visibility of human rights and inspire nonviolent action by youth. Called "Mr. Human Rights" by U.S. News and World Report, Jack over a 60-year career has "helped move the topic of human rights from closed-door diplomatic negotiations to widesprea... posted on Aug 24, 2141 reads

Why to Get Published
"Anyone who publishes a book is immediately asked versions of the same question, "How do you get published?"I have been asked by everyone from colleagues and former students to healthcare providers and complete strangers. Behind the question used to be the assumption that the published author has access to some secret, insider knowledge. A former editor of mine spoke occasionally at conferences, a... posted on Nov 29, 2471 reads

Untitled
Who says a dog is man’s best friend; this cat saved his owner’s life during a house fire.... posted on Mar 2, 583 reads

Dog's Life Over Christmas
Josie was in bad shape by the time the veterinarians at the University of Minnesota saw her after her accident: broken back, dislocated hip, internal injuries. Surgery would be expensive, they told the dog's owner. Death would be much cheaper. But Stella Twedt borrowed $3000 from her Dad, explained to her 14 and 5 year olds that they won't get Christmas gifts this year, told her 15 year old that ... posted on Dec 24, 971 reads

Newman's Own
It started off as just an idea, and then just sort of took off! Paul Newman, as sole owner of Newman's Own, donates all his profits and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes. To date, he has given over 150 million dollars to thousands of charities.... posted on Jul 10, 784 reads

Rags to Riches to Kindness
He's been a burglar, a crack smoker, a state prisoner, an alcoholic and, for the past three years, a panhandler in San Francisco. But now he's also an art benefactor. Don's long-estranged mother recently died, unexpectedly leaving him $187,000! The first thing Don did when he got the money was cut a $10,000 check to the art gallery he has sat in front of for two years, panhandling and begging f... posted on Jul 23, 1964 reads

An Honest Cabbie
He makes $80 a day as a cab driver in New York. But on July 16, a passenger in Nestor Sulpico's cab left a backpack stuffed with black pearl jewelry worth $70,000! It was his chance to pay off his back rent, go to college and pay his overdue bills. Instead he decided to the "right thing" and returned the pearls to the owner. As it turns out, he regained his Filipino citizenship, the president ... posted on Aug 24, 915 reads

In a New York Minute
All it takes is a New York minute. A business exec taking time out to give bi-lingual train directions to a woman in need; a bureaucrat and tattoo parlor owner sharing a light moment in the elevator; a man discovering his stolen bike and then loaning it to the rider for the day; an ex-pat New Yorker living in Hawaii discovering a most unlikely connection between homes old and new. In the fast pace... posted on Nov 19, 1434 reads

Ford's Fortune
Bob Ford didn't let the pine tree that Hurricane Katrina hurled through his roof, narrowly missing him, slow him down. After the storm, the Jackson Mississippi golf-course owner and caterer took the food out of his freezer and drove to the Mississippi Coliseum to feed some 1,200 New Orleans refugees. When provisions ran out, he went on local television to plead for more donations. When the Red Cro... posted on Sep 14, 1368 reads

Good News Garage
"Most needy people are poor because they don't have jobs," car mechanic Hal Colston declares. And they are often jobless, because they can't to get work. In 1996, a single mom of two children approached Hal in tears; she had just bought a car for $500, her brakes started failing on the way home, and the previous owner refused to cooperate. Not only did Hal fix that car, but he gave birth to Goo... posted on Jan 2, 1798 reads

Sleep It Off
Got a tough problem to figure out? Try sleeping on it. German scientists have shown how the brain can crack complex mental puzzles while its owner is sleeping. Their research suggests that brains restructure information from the previous day during sleep in such a way that problems are easier to solve. ... posted on Jan 12, 1936 reads

Leading With Kindness
A new way of managing is emerging. Some of the world's most successful companies are realizing that the better they treat their employees, the more productive they get. College opportunities, flexible schedules, advanced health care plans or transparency between ranks are only a few examples of a new phenomenon known as leading with kindness. Businessmen and professors William F. Baker and Michael... posted on Oct 27, 5965 reads

Teen Returns $24,000 Found in Theater
Imagine stumbling upon $24,000 in cash. What would you do with the money? The untraceable wad of $100 bills, rubber-banded together inside a zippered bank pouch, tumbled unnoticed from the purse of RoseMarie Limoncelli, a business owner, as she sat in a theater with her 8 year-old daughter. On the way home, she realized what had happened. "My heart stopped," she said. "My whole body was shaking." ... posted on Dec 21, 1781 reads

Rottweiler Adopts Newborn Lambs
Rottweilers have a fearsome reputation, but a dog named Molly is proving that the breed has a softer side by helping rear two lambs! After a complicated birth on an English farm, newborns Lucky and Charm needed some extra attention, and it was Molly who unexpectedly stepped up to the plate. Her owner Maria Foster says Molly stayed close to the pair at night, and even protected them from other anim... posted on Feb 6, 3306 reads

Successful Communities Leverage Unsung Heroes
The most effective local initiatives engage people whose informal networks reach broadly and deeply across sectors and organizations. Such people are often unsung heroes in a community. They might include a uniformed policewoman who sets up a system to link diverse services for victims of domestic violence or a bakery owner who designs training for immigrant employees in partnership with the local... posted on Feb 19, 1637 reads

A Homeless Man's Gift
"On New Year's eve my husband and I stopped in San Francisco for dinner on our way back from a retreat. While eating we felt that we should do something different this year. I took a $20 bill and asked the restaurant owner to give me $5 bills." So begins this heart-warming real-life story of a couple who ventured out on the streets to give and in the process received. ... posted on Jun 25, 5404 reads

Black Is The New White
When thirteen-year-old Andrew Davey read a blog by a leading expert in green computing, explaining how changing from a white background computer screen to a black one could save energy, he decided to put the theory to the test. He is now the proud owner of an environmentally-friendly search engine called Ecosmartsearch.com -- a search engine with the motto "We are saving energy, now it's your turn... posted on Feb 26, 5056 reads

The Tale of A Lost & Found Camera
Rhonda Surman and her husband were hiking around some Bronze Age ruins in western Scotland when they found an Olympus digital camera, lying on the ground. The couple turned the camera over to the local police but when it was returned to them unclaimed they took matters into their own hands. Ms. Surman posted several of the 600 pictures on the camera on the Internet and, organized a group of amat... posted on May 1, 2666 reads

Two Dogs,Two Thousand Miles
Two dogs are walking more than 2,000 miles from Austin, Texas, to Boston to raise awareness, and maybe some money, for canine cancer research. It would be hard to miss these two, for they are very large, very white Great Pyrenees. Murphy and Hudson are traveling with their owner, Luke Robinson, 38. He conceived the Texas-to-Massachusettes trek after the death of a beloved dog "changed my life," he... posted on Jul 12, 3865 reads

No Laptops Allowed At This Cafe
A North Oakland cafe is trying something revolutionary. No, it's not fat-free croissants or half-price lattes. The owner is asking customers to leave their laptops at home and actually speak to each other! "When we opened this place we wanted to create a community. Instead it's just been a room full of laptops," said Sal Bednarz, who opened Actual Cafe six weeks ago in Oakland. "I don't have anyt... posted on Feb 18, 3452 reads