Inspirational News StoriesExcerpts of Key Inspirational News Stories in Major Media
Note: This comprehensive list of news stories is usually updated once a week. Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.
Since the coup in Burma three years ago, over 3 million people have been displaced and thousands have been killed. Not only was there heavy fighting between resistance forces and the Burma Army, but the Burma military regularly attacked civilian populations. Local pro-democracy resistance groups, the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) and Karenni Army, asked us to provide medical support as they tried to push the Burma Army out of the town of Shadaw in Karenni State. We went to help treat any wounded from the battle. 33 Burma Army soldiers were brought out of the camp. We told them, "Don't be afraid, we're not going to hurt you. See, this is what the people of Burma have been facing these last three years. For the ethnic people it's been over 70 years! The cause of the dictators is lost. Please give up on that idea, rooted in force, control, greed, and hate. We are not better than you. God has made us to love each other and help each other. We'll take care of you, but we first have to survive this attack together." As the jetfighters came in, screaming over us and releasing their bombs just over our heads, I gathered the couple to me with both of my arms and shielded them with my body the best I could. Our team followed my example, shielding their former enemies with their own bodies. One of the wounded had lost a lot of blood so one of Rangers, named Barnya, volunteered to give his blood to the Burma Army soldier. He lay down and looked straight at his former enemy as he gave the blood. The medics ... administered the transfusion, saving the soldier's life. This was blood given for the enemy out of love, not spilled by the enemy in hate.
Note: Don't miss the powerful pictures of those providing medical care in the jungle to victims of this conflict at the link above. This article was written by the director of Free Ranger Burma and former US Army Special Forces officer David Eubank. Free Burma Rangers is a humanitarian service movement for oppressed ethnic minorities of all races and religions in the Burma, Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Sudan war zones. Explore more positive stories like this on healing the war machine.
By the early 1990s, extremist Hutu propaganda had started to spread in newspapers and on the radio, radicalizing Rwandans. Over the course of just 100 days [in 1994], about 800,000 Rwandans, primarily Tutsi, were killed. On April 22, 1994, [Hussein] Longolongo recounted, he and an armed group of men entered a chapel where dozens of Tutsi were hiding. "We killed about 70 people," he said. "I was brainwashed." Eventually, more than 120,000 Hutu were arrested on charges of participating in the genocide. In prison, [Longolongo] was forced to take part in a government-sanctioned reeducation program. He initially dismissed much of what he heard. "But as time went on, I became convinced that what I did was not right," he told me. Longolongo also participated in more than 100 of what were known as gacaca trials. Gacaca–which roughly translates to "justice on the grass"–had historically been used in Rwandan villages and communities to settle interpersonal and intercommunal conflicts. Now the government transformed the role of the gacaca court to handle allegations of genocide. Many survivors were initially reluctant. "They would say, â€How can you forgive those people?'" [Albert] Rutikanga told them that these conversations weren't something they should do for the perpetrators. "Forgiveness is a choice of healing yourself," he would say. "You cannot keep the anger and bitterness inside, because it will destroy you."
Note: Read how a Rwandan woman forgave the man who killed her husband during the 1994 genocide and allowed his daughter to marry her son. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.
Seven first responders from across the US traveled to Mexico seeking a therapy they hoped would transform their lives. Over the course of three days a team would guide them through ceremonies with psilocybin, the psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT and tobacco. The retreat ... offered a chance at healing that had eluded the first responders through years of counseling, medication and meditation. The US is in the midst of a mental health crisis, and it is particularly acute among first responders – including police, firefighters and paramedics – who are at greater risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and suicide. A wide body of peer-reviewed research from scientists across the world has found that supervised use of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, can be a powerful tool to treat symptoms of depression, PTSD and other conditions. During the days-long event, [Angela Graham-Houweling] took psilocybin and later five doses of 5-MeO-DMT, a powerful psychedelic. The ... session was grueling, she said, describing it as one of the most difficult things she'd ever done. She felt a sense of tranquility and a less frantic, reactive brain. "Two weeks [later] I still was able to be calm with [my son] and everyone. I remember thinking: â€Wow, is this how everyone else gets to feel all the time?'" That sense of peace and the tools Graham-Houweling gained during the retreat, such as practicing mindfulness and staying aware of her emotional state, changed her. She felt better.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on psychedelic medicine.
A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love." -Rebecca, age 8. "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." -Billy, age 4. "If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate." -Nikka, age 6. "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." -Bobby, age 7. "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." -Jessica, age 8. Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.
Each link of that paper trail carries a handwritten message of love and kindness. These 360,000 chain links were created with used paper – homework assignments, old tests, artwork, paper bags, cereal boxes – by students from schools in all 50 U.S. states and on all continents. You get the gist of this colossal undertaking by Kids for Peace, a global nonprofit based in Carlsbad. Instead of stretching the paper chain from Carlsbad's Pacific Rim Elementary School to Westfield UTC, however, they arranged the strands into a giant heart on the football field. This paper chain project, more than 18 months in the making, came to fruition on Nov. 13, World Kindness Day. "It was started because of the pandemic," explains Jill McManigal ... who co-founded and heads Kids for Peace. Students, isolated for months at home, needed to find ways to connect and to remain optimistic during this uncertain time, she says. "By doing this paper chain, they were symbolically connected." The recycled paper "love links" were written in several languages, including Chinese, Farsi, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Swahili and Tagalog. One message read "love" in Braille. Messages sent from other states and from abroad were stapled and assembled into chains by local student volunteers. Among thoughts shared were: "You're loved," "Kindness matters," "Have faith," Care for each other," "Have a good day," "All we need is hope," "Stay Strong!," "Be the source of someone's joy" and "Learn to dance in the rain."
Note: Don't miss the pictures of this incredible event at the link above. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division.
A video game is helping thousands of vulnerable young people turn their darkest moments into moments of creativity and hope that they can pass on to others. Apart of Me is designed to help children and young adults open up about their loss and trauma in a safe and supportive environment. The game, co-founded by Manchester psychologist Louis Weinstock, is now a charity and has helped 44,000 people in the UK, and 160,000 worldwide to understand and process their grief. Created in 2018, [Apart of Me] is designed for 11-18-year-olds who have been affected by a loss which is potentially impacting their mental health. Set on an island, users can play the 3D game anonymously as it introduces characters who each have a grief-related struggle they are finding hard to deal with. It is the user's task to help the characters find a way through and this is done by collecting objects, with each object informing the user about different aspects of grief, Mr Weinstock explains. The game also allows the user to ask questions they may feel scared or uncomfortable to talk about generally. "It gives young people an outlet to have those conversations that otherwise might be difficult to have," he added. Mr Weinstock said the original idea for the game came from young people themselves as "not all want to sit in a room with a stranger and talk about their feelings". He met with young people at a hospice who all expressed the idea of a game to help them with their bereavement.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.
A former 'true atheist' has come forward to tell his story of the dramatic near-death experience that made him a believer and left him with a 'deep sense of love.' Jose Hernandez, from Canada, said his journey to the other side began with a brutal accident as an electrical engineer tending to roadside power lines. When his colleague crashed their utility truck on January 6, 2000, the then 46-year-old Hernandez was left with multiple broken ribs preventing him from breathing as emergency medical technicians raced him to intensive care. Despite his disbelief in the afterlife, Hernandez said that he spent those moments of deep physical pain seeking help from a higher power. Hernandez said his consciousness was soon transported through a dark otherworldly portal that led to a mysterious transitional realm of living light and color. He spent three minutes clinically dead, came back but fell back into the same state for another two minutes, which he said felt like hours as he watched his lifeless body in the hospital. [A] spirit-like figure [offered] him words of comfort as he transitioned to 'the other side.' 'I heard the voice next to me say 'Think of the your body as a car, and that car has like five million miles on it, and there's nothing we can do to fix it anymore. So you have to now say goodbye to your body,'' he remembered. This realm allowed him to reconcile with his deceased father. 'It was even more amazing because me and my father had a very hard relationship,' Hernandez noted. 'We had a lot of clashes and I don't ever remember saying to my father in life, 'I love you,' or he to me.' But all that changed when they met again in this realm. When I met my dad on the other side,' he told the podcast, 'I realized sometimes we may not be able to say something here, [but] we're gonna be able to say it somewhere else.'
Note: Watch a video of Hernandes talking about his experiences. Read more about the fascinating study of near-death experiences. Explore more positive stories like this on near-death experiences.
Dannion Brinkley says he has seen the other side at least three times. Brinkley was a U.S. Marine and a successful businessman, not very interested in spiritual matters. That changed in 1975 when a bolt of lightning struck a telephone pole, traveled down the phone line, and slammed into his body melting the phone he was holding. "It went into the side of my head above my ear, it went down my spine," Brinkley said. He left his body, floated along with the ambulance as it raced to a hospital, and watched from above as doctors declared him dead. 28 minutes later he awoke in the hospital morgue. During those 28 minutes, Brinkley says his consciousness traveled through a tunnel, where he encountered a spiritual being of light, and underwent a grueling replay of his entire life. And then, in a flash, he says he was back. "If I didn't go to hell ... nobody's going to hell, okay," Brinkley said. "So, when you learn you don't die, when you learn you're a spiritual being, you're not going to go to hell. That's enough to inspire you to change." Brinkley put his beliefs into action. For decades, he's been counseling ... his fellow veterans, assuring them they have nothing to fear from death. He has spent tens of thousands of hours at the bedsides of the dying. He has been with more than 2,000 people as they passed on. His passion led him to create a program called the Twilight Brigade ... to ensure that no military veteran should die alone.
Note: Read more about the fascinating study of near-death experiences. Explore more positive stories like this on near-death experiences.
A 2021 study published in Explore suggests that past life experiences have been reported across various parts of the world. Children often begin recalling past life memories around the age of 2 and gradually stop discussing them by about 9, when they're well into their schooling years. Many children describe events, names, families or places from their alleged past life. Many also recall violent or unnatural deaths in their previous life, and about 20% participants mention an "intermission" period between lives, with an average gap of 16 months between a previous death and rebirth. Children can also display skills or behaviors they haven't been taught, such as xenoglossy (speaking a language they've never learned). Research on near-death experiences, published in the Journal of Near-Death Studies, also suggests that survivors sometimes experience past-life memories, similar to those that young children in past-life recollection studies recall. Mr. David Moquin ... was in a coma and hospitalized with double pneumonia. "During that time, I experienced at least two events that felt like past lifetimes. The one that has haunted me for the past 24 years was that of burning to death in an airplane crash. Many years later a psychic told me that in my last lifetime I died landing a fighter plane on an odd single digit day in November 1944. I was born December 21, 1944," Moquin explains. "My daughter, hearing the recording of the reading, googled and found that Captain Fryer was the only pilot that died on an odd single digit day that November, and that he died trying to land his burning P-51 Mustang. My favorite plane has always been the P-51. The model sits on my desk. My daughter asked me questions and I seemed to know the names of my wing commander, squadron commander, mother and father."
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on near-death experiences.
When Marco de Kat starts planning his meals, he doesn't need to travel far for fresh food. Right outside his house is an 800 square metre plot with all sorts of produce – apples, pears, peppers, basil, beets and cauliflower, to name a few. Oosterwold, where de Kat has lived since 2017, is a 4,300 hectare (10,625 acre) urban experiment located east of Amsterdam, in a suburb of the city of Almere, where de Kat works as a municipal councillor. The area, which has about 5,000 residents and a growing waiting list, is completely self-sufficient. Residents can build houses however they like, and must collaborate with others to figure out things such as street names, waste management, roads, and even schools. But the local government has included one extremely unusual requirement: about half of each plot must be devoted to urban agriculture. Some, like de Kat, have turned their gardens into an Eden of sorts to provide for their own household unit. Other residents just plant a few apple trees or outsource by owning plots of land on site that are tended to by professional farmers. Others, such as Jalil Bekkour, have been able to capitalise on it. "I never had experience gardening my own food or anything like that," he said. But he taught himself how to garden, and three years ago he opened his own restaurant, Atelier Feddan, where 80% of the food is directly from Oosterwold. His newfound excitement for gardening and agriculture is palpable.
Note: Learn about the community-powered movement that's transforming yards into microfarms in Los Angeles. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division and healing the Earth.
Portugal has a life expectancy nearly four years longer than the U.S. despite spending 20% of what the U.S. does on health care per person. According to the 2021 Global Security Index, which measures the ability to respond to pandemics, Portugal ranked third out of 195 countries in providing access to affordable health care. The United States ranked 183rd. Portugal has a national health care system, entitling every resident to free or very low-cost health care. It embraces innovative programs such as "social prescribing" that expand the boundaries of what is considered health care, while progressive laws on drug use and treatment have been credited with driving down overdose deaths, even as they rose in the U.S. In the 1990s, Portugal had one of the highest rates of heroin use and fatal overdoses anywhere. In 2001, the country not only decriminalized the use and possession of drugs, but also, in partnership with several non-governmental organizations such as Crescer, created a network of mostly free inpatient and outpatient treatment centers and mobile street teams that seek out drug users to provide medical care, clean needles, and support to enter addiction programs. Two decades later, drug overdose deaths have fallen sharply, from one per day to about 70 to 80 per year. New Jersey, with a smaller population than Portugal, sees 3,000 a year. HIV infection rates have dropped dramatically, too.
Note: Read our Substack to learn about social prescribing and other inspiring remedies to the chronic illness crisis ravaging the world. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division and healing our bodies.
When large swathes of invasive seaweed started washing up on Caribbean beaches in 2011, local residents were perplexed. Soon, mounds of unsightly sargassum – carried by currents from the Sargasso Sea and linked to climate change – were carpeting the region's prized coastlines, repelling holidaymakers with the pungent stench emitted as it rots. Now, a pioneering group of Caribbean scientists and environmentalists hope to turn the tide on the problem by transforming the troublesome algae into a lucrative biofuel. They recently launched one of the world's first vehicles powered by bio-compressed natural gas. The innovative fuel source created at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Barbados also uses wastewater from local rum distilleries, and dung from the island's indigenous blackbelly sheep which provides the vital anaerobic bacteria. The team says any car can be converted to run on the gas via a simple and affordable four-hour installation process, using an easily available kit, at a total cost of around $2,500 (Ł1,940). "Tourism has suffered a lot from the seaweed; hotels have been spending millions on tackling it. It's caused a crisis," Dr Henry, a renewable energy expert and UWI lecturer, [said]. The idea that it could have a valuable purpose was suggested by one of her students, Brittney McKenzie, who had observed the volume of trucks being deployed to transport sargassum from Barbados' beaches.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on technology for good.
Science is revealing that ... giving thanks might be more powerful than we ever imagined. Research shows that expressing gratitude doesn't just make us feel good momentarily – it actually reshapes our brains in ways that enhance our well-being. When you take a moment to count your blessings, your brain releases dopamine and serotonin, chemicals that create feelings of pleasure and contentment. But what's really fascinating is that this isn't just a temporary boost – these moments of thankfulness create a positive feedback loop, training your brain to look for more reasons to be grateful. Brain imaging studies have captured this process in action. When people express gratitude, they activate the prefrontal cortex, the brain's command center for decision-making and emotional regulation. This triggers a cascade of beneficial effects, including sharper attention and increased motivation. Think of it like building a muscle – the more you exercise gratitude, the stronger these neural pathways become, making it progressively easier to access positive emotions. Perhaps even more remarkable is gratitude's effect on stress. When you focus on appreciation, your brain actually dials down the production of cortisol, your body's primary stress hormone. Research conducted at Indiana University found that practicing gratitude can actually change the structure of your brain, particularly in areas linked to empathy and emotional processing. Even simply pausing throughout the day – my favorite practice – to notice and appreciate positive moments can help reshape your neural circuitry.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing social division and healing our bodies.
In a recent Gallup poll, 20% of U.S. adults said they felt lonely "a lot of the day yesterday." While there might be many steps we can take to encourage connection, on both individual andĂź societal levels, a big new study suggests there is one step anyone can take right now to blunt the pain of isolation: giving thanks. College of Charleston researchers James B. Hittner and Calvin D. Widholm collected 26 studies of gratitude and loneliness involving nearly 10,000 people around the world. Then [they] conducted a "meta-analysis" of all the studies together, which can provide stronger evidence for a finding than one study alone. Their results suggest that grateful people tend to be less lonely–no matter their age, their gender, or whether they live in the U.S. or elsewhere. If someone was above average in gratitude, they had a 62% chance of being below average in loneliness. Loneliness, research suggests, is ultimately about how we perceive our relationships and whether they measure up to what we want. And "if one is grateful, then what that should be facilitating are richer, stronger social relationships," says Hittner. One study found that grateful people were more "psychologically flexible," able to nimbly cope with adversity and act in service of their values and sense of meaning in life. Hittner believes that this openness to taking in new ideas, meeting new people, and having new experiences is one good antidote to loneliness.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this about healing social division and healing our bodies.
In 2023, Courtney Dauwalter became the first person, male or female, to win the Triple Crown, the three most iconic 100-mile races in the world, in a single season. Dauwalter does not have a coach or a strict training plan. She's never been on Strava and doesn't plan races far ahead of time. She runs in long shorts and baggy clothes because, she says, they are more comfortable. She eats candy while training and drinks beer afterwards, because that's what makes her the most happy. "If I'm happy, the engine works way better." While her philosophy may sound casual, the results say otherwise. In the last decade, Dauwalter has won more than 50 ultras, often in dominant fashion, and is widely considered the greatest of all time. Without a coach or set training plan, Dauwalter trains entirely on feel. Her days are structured loosely, which allows for adaptability. She makes decisions intuitively, like how many hill repeats to run or how big her loop should be that day. Curiosity led her to ultrarunning, but success didn't come immediately. In 2012, Dauwalter dropped out of her first 100-mile race, which initially made her doubt herself. "I remember thinking I was a joke for trying it, but that moment was a key part of my path. It taught me about the mental side of ultrarunning and how important the things you tell yourself are, especially in the hardest moments." Years later, Dauwalter's mental fortitude is what truly sets her apart.
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If doctors prescribed fruits and vegetables like medicine, could people improve their health through diet alone? That's the theory behind a growing number of programs in the U.S. that deliver free produce. These produce prescription programs aim to combat heart problems and obesity-related diseases by either preparing free bundles of fruits and veggies for participants to pick up on a regular schedule, delivering fresh batches of produce to people's homes or giving them money to buy produce. Carol Grand ... joined one such program in late 2022 after she was diagnosed with diabetes. Grand signed up for FreshRx Oklahoma, a nonprofit food prescription service for people with diabetes. The yearlong program distributes bags of locally grown fruits and vegetables, along with recipes, every two weeks. Participants also receive free health screenings. Grand said her blood sugar dropped to nondiabetic levels and she lost 50 pounds. Before the program, she said, she regularly ate junk food because it was more affordable: "My diet was horrible: anything quick, anything loaded with sugar." Now, Grand said, she cooks recipes like sauteed tofu and sweet peppers. Recent studies support the benefits of these programs. "The prescription, instead of going to the pharmacy, goes to the farm," said Lisa Goldman Rosas ... at Stanford School of Medicine. "It's sending the message that food is part of your health because your provider cares about it."
Note: What if the negative news overload on America's chronic illness crisis isn't the full story? Check out our Substack to learn more about the inspiring remedies to the chronic illness crisis! Explore more positive stories like this about healing our bodies.
The waiting room in the basement of Boston Medical Center looks like any other. But when patients here are called in ... they're welcomed into the Preventive Food Pantry. Over the next few minutes, staff members tailor a grocery cart to each patient's needs. Someone with a renal condition won't get foods high in potassium, like oranges or potatoes. If they're diabetic, they'll get whole-grain pasta and brown rice. And everyone leaves with vegetables, fruit and other fresh ingredients. The pantry opened in 2001 after doctors raised the alarm that many of their patients reported not having enough food for their families. Setting up on hospital premises, the pantry was an early pioneer in incorporating access to nutritious food directly into the medical system. The pantry was initially expected to serve 500 people a month. Today, it serves more than 6,200. Addressing hunger isn't just a question of quantity of food, but also quality. Healthy produce, fresh meat and dairy products tend to be more expensive, so for families trying to stretch their dollar, those foods are harder to afford. Faced with high costs of treating conditions linked to food insecurity, medical systems, health insurers and government programs have become more interested in ways to support nutrition access. A [Greater Boston Food Bank] survey found that among people who were screened for food insecurity in a medical setting, 87 percent followed up on recommended resources.
Note: Read about how German hospitals are offering patients the "planetary health diet," a plant-based, whole food approach that's also in service to the Earth. Explore more positive stories like this about healing our bodies.
On a sweltering summer's day ... a group of people with Parkinson's Disease began rock-climbing on the Carderock Cliffs of Maryland. It's all part of their therapy, says Molly Cupka, the no-nonsense instructor and cheerleader for this community. She started this program, called UpENDing Parkinsons, as a non-profit twelve years ago. "There's a lot of balance involved, mobility involved, strength, cardio, and then there's the cognitive part, where you have to look at the hold, and figure out how to get your body to move to get to that hold," she said. There's no cure for Parkinson's, which usually affects mobility, coordination, balance, and even speech. Some people with Parkinson's, like Vivek Puri, get dyskinesia (involuntary jerking motions). Puri ... was only 38 when he found out he had Parkinson's. "Fine motor skills have kind of really suffered dramatically," he said. "When I don't climb for some periods of time, I get worse." But once he gets on the wall, he calls himself Spider-Man. "Honestly, I climb like a monkey," he said. "I get my finger strength moving, which gets my fine motor skills – maybe not back, but kind of keeps that in motion." Cupka joined forces with Marymount University last year to study patients climbing for the first time. "We have people literally walking and carrying weights, you know, walking and looking, multitasking," she said. The study found that, in so many words, if you climb, you may walk better.
Note: What if the negative news overload on America's chronic illness crisis isn't the full story? Check out our Substack to learn more about the inspiring remedies to the chronic illness crisis! Explore more positive stories like this about healing our bodies.
In the city of Nanchang, in an alleyway near a cancer hospital, two senior citizens run a "community cancer kitchen" to support those caring for their loved ones. Wan Zuocheng and Hong Gengxiang have been doing this charity work for two decades. "No matter what life throws at you, you must eat good food," Mr. Wan told South China Morning Post. For just 3 RMB, the equivalent of around $0.32, anyone can use the kitchen spaces they've set up in the alleyway to cook meals. Sometimes it's for the patients so they can eat something familiar rather than hospital food, while sometimes it's for the people who care for the patients. "There was a couple who came to us with their child," Wan said, talking about the day in 2003 they decided to start their charity kitchen. "They said he didn't want treatment, he just wanted a meal cooked by his mom. So we let them use our kitchen." As time passed they added more utensils, appliances, stoves, and ovens to their stall. This came with gradually increasing use of water, electricity, and coal, but as the costs rose, so too did the community, supporting the couple and their efforts to provide the invaluable service they relied on. Donations began to outpace expenditures, and now nearly 10,000 people come to cook in the cancer kitchen. It's been thoroughly observed in medicine that the odds of beating cancer can be improved with positivity, and what could be more positive than a loved one bringing you a home-cooked meal?
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing our bodies and healing social division.
Giving for basic needs such as food or housing has risen for four years despite economic changes. Such giving for "human services" now ranks second to donations for religious institutions. Americans are trying different ways to be generous without relying on established charities. One popular avenue in recent years has been "giving circles." These are small groups of individuals who gather to seek out local needs and then pool money to meet those needs. The growth of giving circles has been explosive. Their numbers have risen from roughly 1,600 seven years ago to nearly 4,000 last year. Their total giving has jumped from $1.29 billion to more than $3.1 billion, according to a report ... by Philanthropy Together. The report found that 77% of people in a collective giving group say their participation gave them a "feeling that their voices mattered on social issues." The report attributes such results to five "T's": time, treasure, talent, ties, and testimony. This sort of bottom-up philanthropy relies heavily on trust, equality, and selflessness; a virtuous circle that draws in more individuals who see the inherent worth of those in need in a community. Giving circles are also "schools of democracy." Participants must often listen to and learn from those who hold opposite views on social problems. The report predicts that the number of giving circles will double in the next five years. New ways of giving are not only creating new ways of gathering. They are also pointing to higher concepts of joy.
Note: Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division and reimagining the economy.
Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news stories on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.