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"Everybody has creative potential and from the moment you can express this creative potential, you can start changing the world." -- Paulo Coelho
Hello everyone! Our stories this week highlight creative ways that people are providing for each other: a farmer quietly pays for others' pharmacy bills, Ukraine soldiers care for dogs caught up in the invasion, and a new bike helps people generate electricity while working. Creativity enables us to cope with uncertainty, challenge long-held perspectives, and make positive changes. It moves us forward and shapes new ideas and inventions that reflect the power of human imagination! May your week be a creative one. :) Wishing you well!
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Tania Nix
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About 10 years ago, retired farmer Hody Childress walked into Geraldine Drugs and asked owner Brooke Walker if there were families in the small Alabama town who couldn't afford to pay for their medications. When she said yes, "he handed me a $100 bill, all folded up," and told her to use it for anyone who couldn't afford their prescriptions - but not to say where it came from. He repeated this for years, and by the time he died on New Year's Day at age 80, his $100 bills had added up to thousands of dollars. His daughter, hairstylist Tania Nix, told people at his Jan. 5 funeral, because he had confided in her before his death, and people were stunned. People in Geraldine who hope to keep his legacy of kindness going are now contributing with donations of their own for the Hody Childress Fund.
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Rebecca Campbell | Unsplash
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The fleeing of families in Ukraine after being displaced has given rise to many stray dogs. Ukraine's military units have given them shelter. Soldiers in Bakhmut take the dogs to their base and care for them. They built little dog houses and feed them. "... as long as we have food, we will feed the dogs," said one soldier. In return, the dogs give the soldiers unconditional love and distract them from the horrors they see and experience every day. "When you are at the edge of death every second and you can die anytime, you need to have love."
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Alex King | Unsplash
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A new program at Perth Children's Hospital teaches kids with chronic health conditions to surf to boost their physical and mental health. After a pilot for children with cystic fibrosis had positive outcomes for patients, the now permanent program is available to children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes, cystic fibrosis, burn injuries, arthritis, and post-sarcoma injuries. The patients' families also get involved, joining them on the beach during sessions, with some parents even learning to surf themselves. As a result, the program helps families recover together. According to PCH senior clinical psychologist Joanna White, who started the program, "There's a lot of emerging evidence about how the ocean … can actually make you feel good and give you a sense of wellbeing."
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Acer
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A Taiwanese electronics company, Acer, has designed a new bike desk for eco- and health-conscious individuals. The bike allows people to exercise and generate usable energy (75 watts from one hour of cycling at 60 revolutions per minute) while they work at a desk. It is equipped with the capability of recording and tracking how long riders have been pedaling, amount of calories burned, and how many watts of energy were generated. The self-generated clean energy can be used to charge laptops and other devices. Another environmentally-friendly feature of this bike is that its casing and desktop are made from post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic.
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Jermaine Ee | Unsplash
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A recent study of New York City's vegetation found that a remarkable amount of the city's vehicle carbon emissions – plus that of some neighboring areas – are absorbed by grasses and trees. On many summer days not only are all of the carbon emissions from buses, cars and trucks soaked up by the area's greenery, but some additional emissions are as well. The research team plans to expand their study of the city's trees to species types to uncover their specific benefits. "More trees are always going to be better, no matter what they are. But we could use an assessment of which ones are the best," said Dardan Wei, the lead author of the study.
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