Photo by Mary Hammel on Unsplash
To download these free stories, please enter the newspaper publication you represent with your email address.
We will email you when we add new stories each month. Thanks!
Note: We are committed to keeping your e-mail address confidential. We do not sell, rent, or lease our contact data or lists to third parties.
Please see our privacy policy for details.
Please enter your organization and email above before downloading these articles.
Download PDF
Word .doc
Download Photo .jpg
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the volunteers have moved on but the residents are still there, David parks his car beside an apartment building. The light is waning. The building is made of stone, one of the few on this side of New Orleans. He opens his trunk, drags out four grocery bags of food, closes the trunk with his elbow and enters the building.
It’s Wednesday, the day he regularly arrives after work. He doesn’t look back at his car. He doesn’t worry about it anymore. At first, someone would scratch the side of his door with a key or a rock every time he left it for the hour he was making visits. But the anger in the neighborhood has subsided, and he has become a regular. The scratches remain, and he just shrugs. It’s only a car.
The apartment building is home to four widows. They live week to week and look forward to David’s visits. He brings each a bag of food beyond the necessities, a box of cookies, fresh (not frozen) meat, cans of instant coffee, new dishrags and laundry soap. But mostly, he stays to talk.
They tell him that each storm seemed to take a little more of the neighborhood away. That people are angry at the world. That their community is trying to come back, but it’s taking some time. What they all miss is the sound of children playing in the street. They hope that comes back someday soon.
Cleaning up after a hurricane takes time. It’s more than pumping out the water and mucking out the mud. It’s more than replacing moldy carpets and furniture. A violent storm can test a community’s bonds. It leaves residents numb, with barely enough energy to take care of themselves, let alone help somebody else.
There’s always an initial push when they all clean up together. That first response is encouraging, life-affirming. But then the doldrums hit. The sails are no longer filled with optimism. David knows this. He has spent his life helping grieving people. So when he leaves the office on Wednesday evening, he stops by the grocery store, picks out favorite cookies and sauces, and drives to the apartment building where loneliness is a constant storm. He hikes up the damp stairs and delivers a smile, a hug, a long conversation and a few tokens of friendship.
This Wednesday, when David arrives at his car in the dark, a young boy is standing there. “I watched your car,” the boy says. “Nobody did anything.”
David looks at the boy and smiles. “You did something, young man. You did a good thing.”
The boy lights up. A little encouragement is rare these days; seems it, too, got swept away in the storm. Without warning, the boy hugs David, the tall stranger who quietly brings groceries to the widows and tells them everything is going to be all right.
And it is. Everything is going to be all right.
Encouragement... PassItOn.com®
Copyright ©2023 The Foundation for a Better Life. All rights reserved. Available under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License (international): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
The Foundation for a Better Life, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, gives your newspaper permission to publish these stories in print and electronic media (excluding audio and video), provided the stories are published in their entirety, without modification and including the copyright notice. For any modification, permission must first be obtained from the Foundation by emailing media-relations@passiton.com. Thank you.
Your CommentsTaking Responsibility.
How one high school student supported her family during the pandemic.
Education is for Everyone.
Reading and writing are the basics of an education. See why a 90-year-old Kenyan great-grandmother went back to primary school.
Bear with Me!
The story of Wojtek the bear, who joined the Polish Army in WWll.
Going the Distance.
Why top collegiate and professional athlete Dillon Shije will never stop running for his people.
Courage in a New World.
The story of Stagecoach Mary, the first Black woman to deliver mail in the Wild West.
Don’t Let a Bad Day Trick You Into Believing You Have a Bad Life.
Allie Newman not only survived cancer but also helps hospitals better meet the needs of teenage cancer patients.
Overcoming Our Own Worst Mistakes.
Kaelin Clay made an unpardonable error in football. And he owned it.
From First Response to 11 Years of Friendship.
How EMTs saved a life and then enjoyed living it together.
Give Peace a Chance.
How a Mexican-American Marine negotiated peace speaking Japanese during WWll.
You’re Never Too Old to Make a Difference.
British WWll veteran Captain Tom Moore raised over $45 million for charity at age 100.
To Stay or Run?
The courageous story of a collegiate wrestler who fought a grizzly bear to save a friend. With thanks to the Cowboy State Daily.
Lift Your Voice, Use Your Mind, Lift Others.
How a spark plug of a teacher ignites possibilities within her students in classroom 161.
Never, Ever Give Up.
The incredible story of the 12-year-old cancer patient who brings joy to half a million children fighting cancer.
Using the Write Words
How an African American Woman Wrote her Way to Freedom.
Sometimes the Wrong Direction is the Right Way.
How a wrong number, a wrong text and a mix-up led to long-lasting friendships.
The Art of Pitching.
A little confidence at the right time goes a long way.
Bringing the Moon to your Living Room.
How 14-year-old Philo Farnsworth tinkered his way to the technology that broadcast the moon landing.
The Brotherhood in Sports Goes Beyond the Field.
How a men’s rugby team supported one of their own.
The History of Us.
How a football coach develops young men by teaching them their own history.
A Legend On and Off the Court.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sold his four championship rings and three MVP trophies for $2.8 million. Then he donated all of the money to support youth education programs
If You Don’t Know Anything About Orangutans, You Don’t Know Jack.
Meet Jack Dalton, Gloria Barron Prize Winner and the nature conservationist who started by saving the orangutans at age 8.
A Diamond in the Making.
How an everyday superhero saved the day by taking time to go through the garbage to find a stranger’s wedding ring.
Laughter is the Best Medicine.
While filming ‘Schindler’s List,’ weekly calls from Robin Williams helped Steven Spielberg ease the weight of directing such a heavy film.
Beatrice Shilling
The motorcycle daredevil who became a mechanical engineer and saved the lives of countless pilots in WWll.
The Birth of Superman.
How two awkward teenage boys dreamed up the world’s most popular superhero.
Rescuing a Vessel — and a Family’s Memories.
A boat at the bottom of the lake for 30 years and a renewed appreciation for life when it is restored.
Teamwork that Saves Lives.
How a high school baseball team lifted a car off one of their classmates pinned underneath.
Cross Safely.
How one man made sure his retirement years were spent helping kids move safely through life.
The Future Belongs to Kids.
So far, things look pretty bright.
Listening to the Music Inside.
The long journey of Maria Tallchief from the Osage Nation in Oklahoma to prima ballerina in New York City.
Taking the Fear Out of Surgery.
How one doctor helps children face their hospital fears by dressing them up as superheroes.
How Far Would you go for a Friend?
The story of Dindim, the penguin who travels 5,000 miles every year to visit with its rescuer.
Matter In Motion.
How a physics professor is igniting the scientific passions of her female students.
The Taming of the West Featuring Diamond Kitty.
It’s time to give cowgirls their due. Kitty Canutt was a bronc rider in the early 1900s who wore a diamond in her tooth that she occasionally removed and pawned when she needed contest entry money.
Everybody Gets on Base.
Measuring the victories of life, one single at a time.
Photographs that Changed the World.
How the searing photographs of Walker Evans’ America during the Depression created a national change in attitude toward the poor.
How To Be Free.
Eliza Zenger teaches dance, music and arts to adults with disabilities. Their performance is the most beautiful you will ever see.
Fix it Yourself.
How one couple moved hundreds of miles from home to run a center for pregnant teenage girls.
Including Everybody Means Everybody.
How Inclusion Films is making movies using crew with developmental disabilities.
The Curse of Texting and Driving.
How one father turned personal tragedy into triumph for thousands of teenagers by creating the Honor Connor Scholarship Fund.
Beyond the Moon with an Eye on Mars.
The story of a young woman who dreamed of pushing the boundaries and now designs launch systems for NASA.
Road Trip Across America.
A discovery of what unites us.
To All who are Lost: You will be Found Again.
The amazing story of the missing marathon runner who turned up 54 years later.
Living Alone doesn’t Mean you Have to be Lonely.
How a community in Maine supports those who want to be left alone.
The Last American Explorer.
Norman Vaughan trekked Antarctica with Admiral Byrd, completed the Iditarod 13 times and climbed the 10,000-foot, icy mountain named after him at age 89.
No Strings Attached.
How a 7-year-old girl brings joy to neighbors with her violin.
Our Local Heroes in Scrubs.
How health care workers saved the day.
Playtime is for Everybody.
A dad sells off his business and builds a theme park for disabled kids.
Not Out of the Way, Along the Way.
Taking the long way to school makes for a long friendship.
The Art of Doing Good.
How 18-year-old Gloria Barron Prize winner Austin Picinich is saving the salmon of Seattle by painting community murals.
To the Coaches of Pint-sized Athletes.
All year round, you’ll find brave dads and moms standing in the rink, on the field and in the gymnasium — surrounded by eager eyes and short attention spans. Here’s to the volunteers in our communities who teach our kids life lessons and never forget the orange slices.
Dream Big.
How a young artist from a remote mountainous tribe came to illustrate one of the most popular books of our time: ‘The Archer,’ by Paulo Coelho
The Mistakes We Learn From and Build On.
Every year, a handful of students in prisons across America take stock of their lives and make changes. Many earn their diplomas, ensuring better options and choices when they get out.
Born to Make a Difference.
Kids who are changing their world.
Bee Productive.
17-year-old Gloria Barron Prize winner Anna Devolld is helping small things make a difference: Pollinators.
Running to Win isn’t Always Running to Come in First.
Jacqueline Nyetipei Kiplimo demonstrates what really matters in life and in sports.
From Homeless to Johns Hopkins.
Life is never fair. But if you work hard enough, and help someone along the way, you give yourself a better chance to make it.
Something Healthy for All of Us
How 17-year-old Gloria Barron Prize Winners Annie and Shirley Zhu provide fresh food for 1,400 people a year.
The Little Things that Make the Biggest Difference.
How one man created a forest the size of Central Park by planting one tree a day.
Finding a New Family at the Mountain Man Rendezvous.
How a Vietnam vet pulled himself out of drug addiction by going back in the past.
Everybody Can Be a Hero.
How window cleaners brightened the day at a children’s hospital.
The Legacy of Dorothy Vaughan.
The Hidden Figure who Helped Put a man on the Moon.
The Least Likely to Help.
How a bedridden attorney still fights for the rights of others.
A Most Unlikely Friendship.
How the war in Ukraine brought two families together from opposite sides.
A Hero for Accessibility.
How an 8-year-old girl captured the attention of the nation and motivated Congress.
Stay Curious.
The remarkable underwater life of Jacques Cousteau.
More Than Just Dancing
How inclusion helps overcome mental illness.
Overcoming Fear Sometimes Requires a Patient Friend.
How a flight attendant took the time to comfort a passenger who was having panic attacks.
Let the Music Move You.
Bob Geldof has spent a lifetime seeking harmony in the world.
How to Land an Airplane Without Landing Gear.
17-year-old Maggie Taraska landed her airplane without landing gear on her way to flying solo cross-country.
Respecting Your Customers.
As the Great Depression impoverished the country, many families stretched their budgets by making clothes out of flour and seed sacks. What companies did next may surprise you.
No Matter Who You Are, You Can Always Help.
The day Muhammad Ali rushed to save a stranger who was about to take his own life.
Bigger than Life.
How Premier League superstar Sadio Mané is changing the world beyond soccer.
Turning Tough News Into Hope.
How 11-year-old Jordan Phillips raised $120,000 to help fund cancer treatment.
Taking Care of the Most Vulnerable.
Pam Tully dedicates 6 months a year to rescuing baby flying foxes alongside the volunteers who help her.
The Science of Happiness.
How a high school senior made sure an entire elementary school got Halloween.
Are You Smarter Than a Seventh-Grade Business Owner?
How Kidpreneur Alejandro Buxton is making money for college and helping others.
A Custom of Respect.
How the Japanese soccer team brings sportsmanship to the game.
Ramping Up to Help those in Need.
How a community came together in a time of tragedy.
Reach for the Stars…
No Matter How Long it Takes.
When the World Says You Can’t, Listen to the Inner Voice that Says You Can.
The legacy of Susan La Flesche, the first Native American to earn a medical degree.
If You Love Dogs, You’ll Love this Story.
A German shepherd slept at his owner’s gravesite.
A Lesson We Should Never Forget.
The incredible story of American POWs smuggling rations to Russian prisoners at Stalag-B.
Being a Mother…
The roundabout journey to a dream fulfilled.
For the Cost of a Box of Cereal.
How just noticing makes all the difference in the world.
How to Honor Your Mother.
Warrick Dunn played in the NFL for 12 seasons. His most impressive stat: He’s built 200 homes for single mothers. And he’s not done.
Finding Our Way.
Using the natural elements around her, Kala Baybayan Tanaka navigates the ocean in a canoe for up to three weeks using nothing but observations of the natural elements around her.
Billy Mills
The story behind America’s first and only 10,000-meter Olympic champion.
Recognizing the Need.
How a neighbor took a disaffected young man under his wing and taught him how to be a man
The World Awaits You.
The story of the first woman to circumnavigate the world.
Going Deep to Deliver Kindness.
Free-dive record holder Enzo Maiorca rescues a trapped dolphin, then watches as it gives birth.
An Impossible Journey.
How John Wesley Powell navigated the Colorado River and Grand Canyon in wooden boats.
Laughter is the Best Teacher.
How humor and history go together in this classroom.
Understanding Our Universe.
In a suburban neighborhood, the angst of the world still reaches a group of elementary kids. Bob stares at the stars with them and explains the universe and how there is order to everything.
It’s Not Your Lifespan, it’s Your Wingspan.
How one girl’s 16 years of life impacts thousands.
The Last Person you Think of Should Probably be the First.
How a group of high school boys practiced the art of inclusion.
Never Give Up.
Lessons learned from Preston Tucker, creator of one of the most innovative cars in American history.
Let the Kids Give it a Try
How 17-year-old Dasia Taylor developed sutures that detect infection.
For Soccer Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, Every Day is Mother’s Day.
Fortune and fame have allowed the soccer great to take care of his mother after all she has done for him.
Taking Care.
How one woman turned a life of neglect into a lifetime of taking care of people.
Love Rules.
How Rick Moranis shrunk his role as an actor to be with his kids.
Trusting Those Who Guide Us Through Life.
The amazing brotherhood of aviation navigators.
Click the like button above to access our facebook page, then ‘like us’ to get a dose of positivity in your feed.
No thanks