Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. The following is the story in its entirety.

In an incredible story of luck and survival, a Texan was pulled from her submerged car after 3 hours under the water.

The woman had been reported missing by loved ones but was only discovered because a fisherman happened to see the faint outline of a car roof sticking up out of the water in a Texas lake.

The call to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office came in on Friday morning, according to a press release. At Lake O’the Pines, a fisherman said he saw a Jeep about 40 feet from the boat ramp.

It took 18 minutes for deputies to arrive. They determined it was too dangerous to wade out to the vehicle and instead took the fisherman’s boat out to the car after a wrecker had arrived to tow it out.

“It was at that time they saw the woman,” Police Capt. Chuck Rogers told Business Insider. “The fisherman and wrecker employee was able to help the woman from the Jeep. They placed her into the boat, and she was brought to shore.”

Longview Police Department in Texas, located about 25 miles south of the lake, had the woman, whose identity was not released, listed as a missing person, though no reports have emerged as to why or when.

Emergency services arrived and treated her for hypothermia—it had been a brisk morning, and the water was not warm.

Regarding the woman’s survival, details haven’t been released as to how much water entered the Jeep, how much air was available, or how long she was under; she claims at least several hours.

As soon as a car begins sinking in water, a very limited amount of time exists to save oneself, but there are effective methods that everyone should know of. The first step is to try and open the door, though usually sinking occurs too fast, or the weight of the water outside prevents this. The second step would be to open the window.

A car door, if unlocked, can be opened once the car is fully submerged and the air pressure inside and outside equalizes. If there are passengers in the backseats, the first priority is to stay calm, unlock all the doors, unbuckle all seatbelts, and open all the windows. If no one can escape during the sinking, everyone should be able to open the door and swim out once the whole car is submerged.

In the case of the Texas woman, her car was not fully submerged, which removed the immediate risk of drowning but meant the door and windows were stuck shut. She managed to survive in the cold water for 3 hours.

In such a case as this, hypothermia becomes a real risk, especially for young children and the elderly. Breaking the windows should become a top priority if there is a tool inside that’s capable of doing so.

If oxygen is entering the car from outside, continuously move the limbs as that will help generate heat, but if air is not coming into the cabin, the best option is to remain as calm as possible, slow and control your breathing, and use a phone if possible to call for help.

The good news here is the woman fought to survive despite the odds. Today’s JohnKu talks about inner strength. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Heart by John W. Howell © 2023

When times get tougher,

Our internal strength remains . . .

The best hope for help.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

A Trip to Delaware Hardware Store Turns into Life-Changing Moment

When Lowe’s employee Dave Urban came across the Getty family in the PVC aisle, he thought he would be helping them find the right fittings or something like that.

It was after he heard what was being built and who it was being built for that he took the time to do more than just help.

The Getty family was building parallel bars to help their son William practice walking.

“He was born very prematurely, just 23 weeks, so as a result, he has quadriplegic spastic cerebral palsy, and one of our goals for William is to get him walking,” mom Jessica Getty told local news.

So inspired by young Will, Dave ended up spending half an hour cutting and fitting the PVC right there in the store, ensuring that everything was perfect to help Will get started finding his feet in the world.

“Then came the test. Will got up, out of his wheelchair, and grabbed hold of those bars. I think you saw that courageous smile of his. Sense of pride, ah, it keeps getting me,” Urban said, holding back tears.

The whole family saw how much it meant to Dave, and quickly made a lasting friend out of the man, who himself said the experience rewarded him “100 times back.”

The good news here is one man cares for others and takes the time to help. Today’s JohnKu talks about the highest form of giving.

Generosity by John W. Howell © 2023

When no one’s looking,

A good deed done selflessly . . .

Ranks as number one.

Here is the video.

Today’s good news is a local story about an American hero who lives here in Lakeway. Alan Babin was excited to become a Lakeway resident for many reasons, not the least of which is that he is able to leave his home independently in his wheelchair.

The Gary Sinise Foundation gave Babin and his family a smart home in 2018 adapted to his specific needs, a significant gift for the injured U.S. Army corporal who served as a medic in the 82nd Airborne Division. Due to the wounds he received 20 years ago, he has had to work hard to be able to do many everyday tasks.

On March 31st, the city declared it Alan Babin Day in honor of the 20th anniversary of surviving catastrophic wounds during his service in Iraq. Alan was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and Purple Heart for his actions to save another. The proclamation issued by the city tells more of the story.

There was a unique open house at the airpark to honor Alan, and we will be visiting that open house on Sunday. The good news here is that a community cares about one of its own who sacrificed his own health and safety for another. Today’s JohnKu talks about honor. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sacrifice by John W. Howell © 2023

Where do we find those,

Who are willing to give all . . .

To save another.

Today’s good news story comes from the Good News Network. So here it is in its entirety.

Recently Arrived Ukrainians in Minneapolis Head to Mississippi to Help Tornado Victims

The mainstream media is filled with headlines about how the United States is helping Ukraine, but under the radar is how some Ukrainians are returning the favor.

Having arrived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as recently as a few months ago, a group of 7 Ukrainian refugees has signed up for a 2,000-mile road trip to Mississippi to help with tornado relief.

Tornadoes tore a path of destruction across rural Mississippi and Alabama on the night of Friday the 24th. The nonprofit American Service is just one of several aid organizations heading to help the victims.

They quickly organized a team of volunteers and headed down to North Fork, MI, expecting to arrive on Tuesday.

American Service’s Director of Operations, Sofiia Rudenko, is a Ukrainian who has only been in the country since Christmas. Still, after receiving help settling in from American Service, she quickly dedicated her time to helping other new arrivals.

“Here in America, a lot of people helped me to establish here, and we have this kind of culture that we want not only to take but also to give back and to help the others,” Rudenko told MPR News.

“I found a group of people, Ukrainian, that is not working today and willing to go immediately, and now we’re packing and going. It’s so exciting. I hope we can do something great for this world.”

American Service has so far helped 80 Ukrainians like Rudenko find temporary housing, jobs, and a bit of community in Minneapolis.

Their first trip down to Mississippi is to bring water exclusively, and a second trip will follow based on whatever they discover is in short supply after the first trip.

The good news here is those who have been helped are repaying by helping others who need help. Today’s JohnKu talks about repayments. I hope your weekend is lovely.

Payback by John W. Howell © 2023

There are some who take,

With never a thought to payback . . .

Sowing yields reaping.

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network. Here it is in its entirety.

80-Year-old Woman Celebrates Doing a 5K Every Day Since Pandemic–1,000 in a Row!

By

Andy Corbley Mar 8, 2023

A Cherokee woman determined not to let the pandemic get her down began running or walking a 5K every day for 100 days.

Through lockdowns, Alpha, Delta, Omicron, and beyond, Mae Dean Erb kept on running until she completed her 1,000th 5K last Friday, two months short of her 80th birthday.

“I don’t know how she managed to do a 5K walk or run every single day for the last 1,000 days, but she did,” Erb’s daughter, Julie Erb-Alvarez, told GNN. “Her milestone was celebrated by a gathering of friends and family – even some virtually. She is our hero.”

A member of the Cherokee Nation, Erb lives with her husband of 56 years, Jim Erb, in a rural town called Blackgum, near her hometown of Vain, Oklahoma.

She has by no means stopped doing these continuous 5Ks, and in fact, at the time of publishing, she would be on her 1,006th, noting that good habits are as hard to break as bad habits.

“I don’t hurt anywhere. I have knee issues every once in a while, with, I guess, age, but it’s a really wonderful thing (walk/run) to do,” she told the Cherokee Phoenix.

“It’s just something you should do for yourself and your family, and when you have a 4-year-old grandson, you want to stay young enough to pick him up and run with him and catch him if he’s going in the wrong direction.”

She often runs and walks with her friends, who note that going out for a walk doesn’t even feel like a walk anymore unless it’s 5K.

Julie notes that Mae has become an inspiration to the whole community, not least to herself, who wants to be just like her mom when she reaches her golden years.

The good news here is it is never too late to pursue a dream or self-improvement. Today’s JohnKu talks about achieving goals. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Your Way by John W. Howell © 2023

Your life is for you,

To live it as you see fit . . .

Nothing should stop you.

Also, I’m at Story Empire today talking about the Day of Awesomeness. Come on over. Here’s the link.

Strangers around the country are rewarding a Michigan woman for her honesty after turning in nearly $15,000 cash to the police that she found at a gas station.

It turned out to be the contributions of guests to a pair of newlyweds, who were more than overwhelmed by her integrity.

65-year-old Dianne Gordon has been walking 2.7 miles to and from her job behind a deli counter every day since her Jeep broke down, and she didn’t have enough money to fix it. One day she decided to stop at a gas station for a snack and noticed a plastic bag. Inside there was a lot of money; turning it around, there were some greeting cards and a lot more money.

Just doing what she “was taught to do,” the grandmother of two called the police, who sent an officer to take custody of the sum.

Gordon could have walked into any dealership in the state and driven something off the lot that day, but knew because the money wasn’t hers, it wasn’t correct to take it.

“If it doesn’t belong to you, you don’t keep it,” she told the Washington Post. “I didn’t do anything special. All I did was return something that didn’t belong to me.”

Police Chief Dan Keller of the White Lake Township Police Department telephoned Gordon later that day to tell her they had used the information on the cards inside the bag to track down the owners. The happy couple was “overwhelmed” by Gordon’s honesty, as was Keller’s wife Stacy Connell.

“As a police officer’s wife, I typically hear the bad things, so this was obviously heartwarming,” said Connell. “I was hoping we could help her get a car since she could have walked into any dealership and used that money.”

Connell set up a GoFundMe, and in just 6 days, it raised four times as much money from people wanting to reward Gordon’s act of selflessness as she had found in the sealed bag that morning.

Grateful for the money and the words of encouragement from all the contributors, who celebrated with comments like “there are still good people in the world,” Gordon said she was stunned by the outpouring of generosity, which at the time of publishing, raised $82,000 and then closed.

On February 8th, Friends of Dianne wrote: “Dianne officially signed for her new Jeep Compass yesterday at Szott M-59 in White Lake Township. Along with the new car, she also got an extended warranty, maintenance, insurance, and plates/tabs.”

There was also an inspection done at her home to evaluate some much-needed repairs that will be done very soon.

The good news here is a beautiful story that shows, more often than not, honesty pays. Today’s JohnKu talks about honesty. I hope you have a wonderful weekend

Choices by John W. Howell © 2023

A choice to do right,

Or to select the wrong way . . .

Do we think it out?

Our Good news comes from the Goodnews Network. I have reported on this ocean cleanup system before, and now there is more good news. Here’s the story in its entirety, with major typos corrected.

Ocean Cleanup Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup.

By Andy Corbley

The co-founder of Airbnb.org has just donated $25 million to support the Dutch nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup as they prepare to assemble and deploy the largest plastic capture system ever developed for use in the ocean.

The Ocean Cleanup’s pilot-scale ocean cleaning system, System 002, has been deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) located between Hawai’i and California since late 2021. It has so far removed close to 200,000 kilograms, or roughly 440,000 pounds, of plastic that otherwise would have remained trapped for decades or more.

“I’m proud to partner with The Ocean Cleanup in their crucial work to remove harmful plastics from our oceans,” said Joe Gebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and Samara. “The Ocean Cleanup has created systems and technology that actually work at scale. In order for them to deploy across our oceans and rivers, they now need to scale their funding. It is my hope that this donation can inspire others to act.”

As the only group currently cleaning the trillions of plastic pieces in the GPGP, The Ocean Cleanup has streamlined its cleaning systems to be as cost-effective as possible, allowing their entirely not-for-profit income generation and any potential donations to go far.

Dutch wiz kid and Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat has been developing the capture system for a decade and has gradually enlarged and improved it based on fieldwork harvesting plastic from the GPGP. System 03 cleans ten times faster than the previous system and could clean all the plastic patches of the world’s oceans with about 10-50 systems.

“Joe’s continued support of The Ocean Cleanup’s mission has a direct impact on our operations all over the world,” said Slat. “Thanks, in part, to his generous assistance, we are able to scale up our work in oceans and rivers, helping us reach our goal of ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. On behalf of the world’s largest ecosystem, we are immensely grateful for the support.”

Slat’s work in the GPGP will go down as one of the greatest accomplishments in the 21st century. In front of him was a true leviathan of a problem—a patch of plastic trash twice the size of Texas swirling in International Waters where even the loudest climate-hollering nation-state had no desire to even crack an idea about how to clean it.

Relying only on his team and his vision of basic scientific deduction and elegant engineering solutions, Slat proved that the most absurd problem was nevertheless solvable.

His vision attracted millions in private contributions from philanthropists like Gebbia, even while government scientists sneered at his use of fossil-fuel vessels to pull the nets to capture the plastic.

Here is a photo of the system.

The good news here is that with additional funding, the oceans become closer to being cleaned. Today’s Johnku talks about this important project.

Funding by John W. Howell © 2023

To finally conquer,

The oceans plastic problem . . .

Money speaks loudly.

I hope you have a great weekend.