mobanmarketFinding good news in California, where parts of the state have been ravaged for weeks by wind-fueled wildfires, hasn’t been easy, especially for Patty Shale and her family. Their homes have been eaten twice by wildfires, in the recent Getty Fire that scorched 750 acres and the Bel-Air Fire that burned nearly 17,000 acres in 1961.
But Shale’s mother’s diamond wedding ring survived both catastrophes — a glimmering message of hope that Shale believes was sent from her mother, who died a year ago of Alzheimer’s disease.
The Shale family’s home was the only one destroyed on that section of the street. On the front walkway, Los Angeles firefighters found the only thing that survived, a box containing the ring “sitting there all by itself.”
Read the full story on Pacific Palisades Patch.
Scroll down for more good news stories last week from Patch editors across the country.
Tiny Houses, Big Heart: Homes For The Fire Victims
The one-year anniversary of horrific Butte County Camp Fire is hardly cause for celebration. It killed 85 people and destroyed much of the Northern California town of Paradise. But there is something to cheer:
Alyssa Nolan knows what it’s like to lose a home. She lost hers to a wildfire a decade ago. In January, she launched Tiny Homes For Camp Fire Survivors, a charity to provide tiny homes to fire victims.
Read more about what it means to people who lost everything in the fire on Healdsburg Patch.
Austin Pair Named World’s Longest Living Couple
Speaking of wedding rings, John and Charlotte Henderson, 106 and 105 years old, respectively, have been wearing theirs for almost eight decades. Their 80th wedding anniversary is Dec. 15, and Guinness World Records just named them the oldest living couple in the world.
They met at the University of Texas in 1934 and married in the midst of the Great Depression, spending $7 on a hotel room for their honeymoon.
Read more about this enduring love story on Downtown Austin Patch.
Co-Workers Buy Her A Car To End 24-Mile Trek For Work
Darlene Quinn’s work ethic is something to be admired. After the 66-year-old South Carolina woman’s car broke down, she walked 12 miles a day for her job, worked a physically demanding shift, and then walked another 12 miles back home.
“You have inspired so many of us to do great things, about going to work, supporting ourselves and doing what we have to do,” co-worker Josh Lewis said after he and others at the FedEx facility where Quinn works secretly organized a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to buy her a new car.
Her response was perfect. Read more on Greenville Patch.
Homeless Vet Not Only Gets New Wheels, But A Home, Too
Of the approximately 6,860 people in Orange County, California, who are homeless, 222 of them are military veterans. They include a man named Vern, who was living in a rusted out van with curtained windows.
Deputy Dana Chaney, whose job involves working with homeless residents, noticed a sign in one of the windows that asked, politely, that it not be towed. “I served to protect your homes and way of life; now it is your turn to return the favor,” it read. “I live in this van (my home).”
Read what happened on Mission Viego Patch.
Charity Packs Compassion In Every Box For Soldiers
Jim Rathschmidt made a disturbing discovery in 2007. Not all soldiers deployed in Iraq got the same care packages from that his son, Luke, did. So he and his family set out to rectify the situation, standing outside stores in Putnam County, New York, asking for donations.
They collected enough to send care packages to 200 soldiers. Since then, their homegrown charity has just grown and grown.
Read how many boxes they packed for the 2019 holiday season on Southeast-Brewster Patch.
Celebrities Go Big To Make Sick Kids’ Wishes Even Bigger
Aerosmith front man Steven Tyler and “Burn Notice” alum Gabrielle Anwar act tough, but they’ve got soft hearts. Anwar emceed the 25th annualInterContinental Miami Make-A-Wish Ball while Tyler headlined the event in downtown Miami.
Anwar was introduced to the foundation that grants wishes to critically and terminally ill children by her husband, Shareef Malnick. “When I met him he was already very much ingrained in the Make-A-Wish fabric and has lured me in,” Anwar told Patch. “I think I might be here to stay.”
Tyler is hooked on the foundation, too.
Read more about the wishes they’re helping to fulfill on Miami Patch.
College Tuition Worries Evaporate With Half-Court Shots
There’s no way to know how much sleep college students lose worrying about how they’ll pay their tuition bills. But for a year, a student at the University of Nevada, Reno, and another one at the University of Oklahoma can rest easy.
Both won a year’s worth of tuition during their schools’ season-opening basketball games when they made half-court shots.
See the videos on Across America Patch.
At 33, This ‘Person’ Finally Has Freedom Of Choice
The Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, Florida, is where orangutans and chimpanzees once forced to perform, act as guinea pigs for lab tests or kept as pets go to live out their lives in peace and freedom.
The newest resident is Sandra, a 33-year-old orangutan granted legal personhood by a judge in Argentina, who ordered the apes release from a zoo in Buenos Aires. Sandra has never been afforded freedom of choice and is adjusting to her new life, where she can visit other orangutans at her pleasure and participate in other activities.
Read more about the ape’s new life on Lakeland Patch.
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