Only Positive News

Mike McCoy is not just any sheriff.  He is a sheriff with a kind heart and a lot of endurance.  This Peoria, Illinois sheriff runs for the kids at the St. Jude Hospital in Memphis.  McCoy says that he runs for them because they can’t.  McCoy began staging runs in 1982.  Back then their goal was $25,000 and they were unable to meet it.  Today, their goal is $1 million and they should top it in pledges and donations. 

McCoy has always said that nothing would keep him from running for the kids.  However, this year McCoy’s pledge was tested when he was hit by a truck in January.  The truck hit both him and another runner shattering McCoy’s pelvis and almost killing him.  The doctors believed that he would never be able to run again but McCoy wasn’t going to let that happen.  He may be slower than he was in the past, but he is more motivated than ever.  He believes that he has been given a second chance for the children he dearly loves and cares for.

Comments(0)

There aren’t words enough to express the intense sorrow felt in the wake of the 9/11 attacks five years ago.  Some people felt the grief more deeply than the rest of the country.  They lost immediate family: children, parents, spouses.

But even after tragedy, the human spirit perseveres.  This month, a book written by four of the victims’ widows will be released.  Pattie Carrington, Julia Collins, Claudia Gerbasi and Ann Haynes collaborated on a work entitled Love You, Mean It.  It details how friendship gave them the strength to carry on with life, making them more aware of others around them.

Despite the overwhelmingly horrific loss of their spouses to a terrorist attack, these women embody the best of humanity, opening up their lives and hurt to others so that they too can overcome what life may bring.

Comments(0)

The CLIMB Wyoming program gives single mothers the opportunity for better paid jobs.  It trains single moms for the workforce and helps them find jobs substantial enough in pay to support their children.  Their training is for non-traditional jobs with increased pay scales.  After a two year pilot program, the average pay for the single mothers in the program has increased $5 an hour.  The program also seeks to close the gender wage gap in their state.

 
A positive program meeting the needs of the state and the people ought to be modeled across the country, allowing its single mothers to hold their heads high and climb above the shackles of the poverty level.  Programs like CLIMB Wyoming are a great first step.

Comments(0)