It started off in one man’s garage and has now to turned into midsized operation in a warehouse. Thousands of wheelchairs, modified mobile child seats and motorized carts have left Rock Hill, South Carolina over the past few years and ended up assisting the needy in the villages of Bolivia, Peru and elsewhere.

“We make happiness,” said retiree Dick Klaus, a volunteer with the Westminster Presbyterian Church Wheelchair Ministry.

“We take whatever is given to us, donated, or found,” founded Ron Bloomingdale said, such as a walker without wheels. Chairs with worn seats. “We’ll find what we need to make it work again.”

Members of the company included a retired foreign aid worker, a retired druggist, a carpenter, a salesman, a real estate seller and more.

“I know what a chair means to somebody,” says one volunteer. “Freedom.”

Many of us fear our retirement years, as if we’ll cease to exist because of our lack of work identity. But remember, people like this, who feel productive, happy and are truly contributing to the world around them.

If you’re like me, it’s hard to just walk by trash carelessly strewn on the ground.

I live at the Jersey shore and my daily walks end up being “littered” with picking up other people’s trash. Cigarette butts abound. Styrofoam bubbles. Coffee cups. Beer and soda cans. It’s difficult for me to understand the people who create the mess and almost equally challenging to understand people who just walk on by. It’s ALL of our business, so bend over and pick up!

The Ocean Conservancy recently stated that nearly seven million pounds of debris was collected during a single day last year from the world’s seas, waterways and shorelines.

According to the group’s report released Tuesday, nearly 400,000 volunteers scoured about 17,000 miles of coastline, river bottoms and ocean floors during its 23rd International Coastal Cleanup in September.

Cigarette butts topped the list of trash collected with more than 3.2 million. That’s followed by about 1.4 million plastic bags. Volunteers also collected 26,585 tires, enough for 6,646 cars - and a spare.

The next beach worldwide cleanup is Sept. 19!!!!

Top 10 debris items found worldwide during the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup in September 2008:

Cigarettes and filters, 3,216,991

Plastic bags, 1,377,141

Food wrappers and containers, 942,620

Caps and lids, 937,804

Plastic bottles, 714,892

Paper bags, 530,607

Straws and stirrers, 509,593

Cups, plates, forks, knives and spoons, 441,053

Glass bottles, 434,990

Drink cans, 401,412

Source: (CBS/AP)

During a time when we hear, almost on a daily basis, the imminent extinction of yet another species on our small planet, its refreshing to read about the discovery of a few new creatures.

The Washington D.C.-based Conservation International spent the past several months analyzing more than 600 animal species in  a remote, mountainous region of Papua New Guinea.

The critters discovered include a brilliant green tree frog with huge black eyes, jumping spiders and a striped gecko in addition to more than 50 new animal species

These newfound creatures have never been described in scientific literature before, the conservation group said.

This newly found loudmouthed frog is part of the Litoria genus. Frogs from this group call loudly for mates, with a sharp and ringing song that can be heard above the rushing water of torrential mountain streams. This frog was spotted in a rainforest during a 2008 expedition led by Conservation International.

Source: MSNBC

Their slogan?

“We don’t just grow plants. We grow people too.”

Their mission?

In 1992, The Garden Project was founded with a mission unlike any organization in the country: to provide job training and support to former offenders through counseling and assistance in continuing education, while also impacting the communities from which they come. Today, The Garden Project continues this mission – innovatively empowering both former offenders and at-risk youth through training and education while transforming the urban environment.

Garden projects have been taking off, not only helping feed communities but teaching people who have lost their way about the fundamentals of life and growth.

As Catherine Sneed, one of founders of the movement, puts it so well:

“Each person cares for particular plants and learns, by watching them grow, the true nature of this life: growth, renewal, and perseverance. Somewhere during the time spent quietly working the earth, something happens and something changes. Witnessing the cycle of growth and renewal allows the prisoners to see their own potential for growth and change. People often ask me what I did to inspire people to work. I tell them that it wasn’t me, it was the plants.”

The power of nature, working its magic once again. If you’ve had a bad day or are feeling lost, don’t underestimate the power of a garden or even a few houseplants. Plants are life forms and can add to your spiritual growth on a powerful level.

Last week, we talked about the importance of light in your life, adding positivity from the outside in. Today, I want to talk about colors. And what better example to use than last week’s Festival of Colors called Holi?

Holi is celebrated in India and other countries with large Hindu populations as a welcoming of Spring. People drop their inhibitions and run about playfully splashing a rainbow of colors on all they see.

Colors, like light, affect the way you see the world and how you feel. Here at Only Positive News, we don’t believe in imposing positivity when you’re not feeling it. That’s artificial and frustrating. What we suggest is making some external changes and noticing how they can subtly affect your state of mind.

I recently bought a pair of bright orange curtains for instance. Right now, they blow in the breeze and add a real vivid quality to my room. They naturally lift my spirits.

These photos from Holi, will hopefully do the same for you!

Photos courtesy of Boston.com

One expert recently postulated that if you start out the morning with a little “forced” positivity, it can start the day off right. That’s right, forced positivity. Fake it till you make it, baby!

If you think about it, the morning (and Monday) are natural beginnings. When you lie in bed, waking, slowly introduce some positive thoughts into your head. Again, you may be feeling a deep sense of malaise and dread at the approaching week, so it’s alright to make it up! Take a few deep breaths. Clear your mind. Relax. Say something positive, out loud if possible. “I’m grateful to be alive today.” “The sun looks beautiful through the curtains.” “My body feels good.” “I’m strong and healthy.”

Another great way to reinforce the “first morning positivity?” Exercise. If you can’t go for a small walk or run, try some deep breaths and gentle stretching. Put on some inviting classical or jazz music.

The message here? You don’t always have to feel positive to be positive. It’s a choice - a choice that isn’t always easy to make - but a choice nonetheless.

Wake up! Your life has begun.

By now, many of you have heard of Kindle, Amazon’s wireless reading device. Apparently, this will be the new wave in reading. No more books in the traditional sense. Instead, you will have a gadget where you can input your reading material and read it from there.

Of course, people are wondering…will this take off? It certainly saves in the production department. No more mass amounts of paper being used, no more heavy boxes to drag around when you move. Just one device for all of your reading needs.

Of course, the purists of us sigh. While I’d like nothing more than to save trees, a book is a book. There’s something tangible and beautiful about it. You can lie it on your chest and doze off for a few minutes. You can get lost in the crisp whiteness of the pages. You can hold it in your hand and leaf through it, like a paper treasure.

I have a feeling, in the long run, Kindall will take off. It may take a while but it will.

Saying goodbye to books…ouch.

In the meantime, I will take a hour or so this afternoon and relish the book, in all its virtual glory!

Prince William listens to families speak at a reception of The Child Bereavement Charity held at the Sladmore Contemporary Art Gallery, London. Photograph: David Bebber

Princess Diana is known alive and posthumously for her world-wide charity work. Her son, Prince William, is carrying on her legacy with his recent work with the Child Bereavement Charity.

“Losing a close family member is one of the hardest experiences that anyone can endure,” William said at event organized by the organization.

“Never being able to say the word ‘mummy’ again in your life sounds like a small thing. However, for many, including me, it’s now really just a word — hollow and evoking memories,” said William, the second in line to the British throne after his father, Prince Charles.

While it may seem that the world is made up of the “haves” and “have nots”, we all grieve the same. Losing a friend or family member strikes the deepest chord, resonating through a lifetime.

Reading that a man second in line to become King concerns himself with the word “mummy” is touching and intertwined with the human experience that we’re all part of.

From left to right: Julia Samuel - Founder Patron, Child Bereavement Charity, HRH Prince William, Ann Chalmers - Chief Executive, Child Bereavement Charity, and Jamie and Eleanor Wroath, showing the Prince photographs of their daughter Miranda who died suddenly aged 15 months in January 2008. Jamie, Eleanor and their son Samuel (4) have been supported by the Child Bereavement Charity.

Princess Di with her sons

Positive news starts with you.

We all know when we’re feeling more positive, we tend to naturally attract and create better things in our life. Conversely, a bad mood seems to feed upon itself, becoming a virtual negativity magnet.

One way to diffuse a bad mood or improve your mood overall is making sure you are breathing correctly. Most of us don’t really take the time to really explore our breath. We just assume it’s “doing its thing.” We don’t realize the interconnectivity of our mental and physical well-being and our breath.

Many of us breathe very shallowly, for example. Take a second to notice how you’re breathing right now. Even if you are breathing slowly, do you feel your breath is restricted to your chest and above?

Practice deep diaphragmatic breaths, ones where you see your abdomen expand. With your outbreath, expel any bad thoughts or negative energy.

A few minutes of good breathing a day can work wonders for your physical and mental health. All you need to do is get back in touch with it!

David Blancarte is a medical miracle of sorts. He spent the last 20 years wheelchair bound and is now able to walk, after a brown recluse spider bit him. He was forced into rehab because of the bite and when a nurse decided on a whim to check out the functioning of his leg, she found that he now had feeling where there once was none.

He is now walking with the aid of a walker and intends to reach a point of full recovery.

Makes one wonder how many times in our lives we feel cursed by something that inevitably becomes a blessing. Of course, it doesn’t feel like it at the time, but if you can let go of the feelings of victimhood and hardship, truly let go, you allow newness and health to replace that pain.

What’s your brown recluse? How can it bring positive news into your life?