Feel Good Xmas Story

Who doesn't love a feel good Christmas time story?! Here is a brand new one, and something that NNW is all about!

Anonymous Donors Pay Off Kmart Layaway Accounts 

Spread the holiday goodness and do something good for someone else. You never know who may be looking out for you in the future

Happy Holidays!

Another Random Act of Kindness

Hey there! I haven't forgotten about Nobody Need Wait. I guess I just took a little break. But when I say this video, I knew I had to post. Maybe this has been circulating for a while (I had at least heard of the story last year), but I saw it for the first time just yesterday. What a cool story, and really well done. And I love this guy's attitude...

 

Touchdown!

Hey readers! Happy Friday. Today's submission (the first of its kind!!) comes from Tara. She writes:

The "Life of Reilly" column in Sports Illustrated, written by Rick Reilly, way back in November 2002 was a story of absolute awesomeness. I came across it again recently and had to share it.

The article tells the story of 17-year-old Jake Porter, a special-needs high school student. His school's football team and the opposing team team-up to give him a chance to score a touchdown. It also tells of how it reverberated through the communities and inspired other acts of kindness. A very sweet story that brought tears to my eyes and warmed my heart.


From the Sports Illustrated Column:

Jake Porter is 17, but he can't read, can barely scrawl his first name and often mixes up the letters at that. So how come we're all learning something from him?

In three years on the Northwest High football team, in McDermott, Ohio, Jake had never run with the ball. Or made a tackle. He'd barely ever stepped on the field. That's about right for a kid with chromosomal fragile X syndrome, a disorder that is a common cause of mental retardation.

But every day after school Jake, who attends special-ed classes, races to Northwest team practices: football, basketball, track. Never plays, but seldom misses one.

 That's why it seemed crazy when, with five seconds left in a recent game that Northwest was losing 42-0, Jake trotted out to the huddle. The plan was for him to get the handoff and take a knee.

Keywords being, that WAS the plan...

Read More 



Thank you so much for sharing this Tara. It is so inspirational and heart warming. What a perfect story to end the week on. 


Come on, you have an idea, a submission, a Good Samaritan story to tell, don't you!? I'd love to hear them and feature them right here on Nobody Need Wait.

A Small Act

We were in the mood for a movie last night, and I was really feeling like a documentary. So I searched the top documentaries in the last year and came across this amazing story. 

A Small Act, released in 2010 by HBO Documentary Films , is such a moving and awesome story. Here is the blurb taken from Roger Ebert's review. I can't wait to watch it!


"This heartwarming documentary centers on the life story of Chris Mburu, who as a small boy living in a mud house in a Kenyan village had his primary and secondary education paid for by a Swedish woman. This cost her $15 a month. They had never met. He went on to the University of Nairobi, graduated from Harvard Law School, and is today a United Nations Human Rights Commissioner.

The film shows Mburu seeking the Swedish woman "who made my life possible." She is Hilde Back. She is now 85 years old, a German Jew who was sent to Sweden as a child. Her family died in the Holocaust. She never married, was a school teacher, has lived in the same apartment for 35 years, is a tiny woman, but robust and filled with energy.

She is flown to Kenya, serenaded by the choir from Mburu's village, feasted, thanked, gowned in traditional robes. In the village the students study by the light of a single oil flame. The schools are not physically impressive; crowded classrooms with simple board benches and desks. A gym? Don't make me laugh. Hilda Back is asked if, since she never had children, she thought of Chris as a son. We see in the film that they stay in close touch. "But I have had children," she replied. "I was a teacher. I had many, many children." And one lived in a mud house in Kenya."

You have to watch the trailer!

So touching that such a small act could really change the life of a person, and therefore thousands of people. You can read more on the review here: A Small Act.

Have a great weekend, and remember, start now, nobody need wait!