Anonymous Man Donates $25,000 To Humane Society Of Durham Region 

This week, an unidentified man redefined generosity by anonymously donating a large sum of money to a Canadian animal shelter.

According to Canada’s Metro News, the mystery man dropped an envelope off at Ontario’s Humane Society of Durham Region on Tuesday. It contained a brief message about helping others and a donation of $25,000.

The shelter posted the following message on their Facebook page on Tuesday:

Today a wonderful young man came into our shelter to make a donation. He wanted no tax receipt and didn’t want to leave his name. He just handed us an envelope and left. Inside this envelope was a note that said “Life is a lot more valuable than anything money can buy! All I ask is that you help a stranger one day, with no expectation of gain.” In the envelope was a bank draft for $25,000.

Ruby Richards, an animal health coordinator at the shelter, tried asking the man what he wanted in return and he said, “I don’t want anybody to know who I am, I don’t want anything for this, I just want to help,” Metro reports.

According to its Facebook page, the Humane Society of Durham Region is a no-kill animal shelter that relies entirely on the charity of donors to fund its operations. Richards told 680 News that they’ve recently had to postpone surgeries due to a lack of funds.

Unable to personally thank the unknown man, the shelter reached out again on its Facebook page yesterday to let him know that the money has already been put to good use.

“We’ve had people donate to us in the past. They’ve wanted their tax receipts or they’ve wanted something up in the shelter or on our website,” Richards told 680 News. “But for someone to just come out of the blue and make this kind of a very large donation with absolutely nothing to gain from it was totally amazing for us. We had never seen anything like it.”

nbcnews:

Waitress gets a $446 tip - on a bill of $5.97

(Photo: WTHR)

Sometimes it pays to be nice. In the case of CeCe Bruce, a server at a Steak ‘n Shake in Indianapolis, it paid $446 – on a bill of $5.97.

Read the complete story.

Cheers for philanthropy: pubs donate profits to charity

At a time when charitable donations have slowed, some bars and restaurants are putting their profits to good use. These “PhilanthroPubs” let patrons choose charities to benefit during their night out.

NBC’s Brenna Williams reports.  

DiCaprio’s wildlife charity auction brings in $38.8 million

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie’s auction house raised $38.8 million through a charity art auction and donations, Christie’s said on Tuesday, with proceeds to benefit environmental and conservation causes.

The 33 works in The 11th Hour Auction organized by the star of the new film “The Great Gatsby” sold for $31.74 million on Monday evening and set 13 records for artists including Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Mark Grotjahn, Raymond Pettibon and Mark Ryden among others.

A $5 million matching donation for three of the lots and additional gifts from donors brought the overall total to $38.8 million for The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, according to Christie’s.

“All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you,” DiCaprio told the audience at the end of the auction.

Read more.

Coldplay are to receive the best British act award at this year’s Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards.

The Grammy award-winning group gained worldwide fame with their first top 10 track, Yellow, in 2000.

Since then they have sold more than 60 million records, had five number one albums and won several awards including eight Brit awards and seven Grammys.

Frontman Chris Martin said receiving the Silver Clef prize meant a “huge amount” to the band.

“Nordoff Robbins is an organisation that lies very close to our hearts,” he said.

“They provide life-changing music therapy for thousands of people each year and we’re humbled to collect this award in their honour.”

The band will receive their prize at a London ceremony on 28 June.

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Australian coach goes in to bat for India’s poor

Many young men in India and Australia share a common dream - to play cricket for their country, but for cricketers in India’s poor rural communities that dream is often out of reach.

In one small community in one of India’s poorest states, however, Australian Bruce Adams is doing all he can to make sure everyone gets a shot at the big time.

Six years ago, Bruce Adams was coaching students in the north Indian state of Rajasthan, when a friend suggested another place that could really use his help.

Now he stands on the boundary of the Indira Gandhi stadium in the rural Indian district of Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.

It’s here he’s built one of India’s biggest not-for-profit cricket academies.

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Barber, 82, offers haircuts for hugs in Connecticut park

Each Wednesday, barber Anthony Cymerys sets up his chair in the shade of an oak tree in Hartford’s Bushnell Park. For longtime clients, the homeless or those just down on their luck, the fee is always the same: a hug for a haircut.

The 82-year-old Cymerys, who is known as Joe the Barber, began offering his services 25 years ago after retiring from a career in business. He had cut hair for his family but decided to put his clippers to work for the less fortunate after being inspired by a church sermon about the homeless.

He wanted the homeless not to look homeless.

His clients line up on park benches, some of them also turning out for free meals provided on Wednesdays by a local church. One by one they take a seat in a folding lawn chair above a car battery Cymerys uses to power his clippers.

As he finished a trim on one customer recently, a loud squeal came from the battery. He gathered the mobile shop, connected the clippers to his car and picked up where he left off.

“It really is love. I love these guys,” Cymerys said. He paused and turned to his client in the chair, “You know I love you, right?”

“That’s what it’s all about,” Cymerys said.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his foundation have teamed up with Christie’s for a charity auction next week to benefit environmental causes.

Thirty-three works, many created for and donated to the auction by some of the world’s top artists, will go under the hammer on Monday in New York at The 11th Hour Auction, which aims to raise as much as $18 million to protect the last wild places on Earth and their endangered species.

“A lot of the works of this quality have never been at auction. We have what we believe are conservative estimates,” Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christie’s and the head of the sale, said in an interview.

“It is going to be the biggest one-time environmental fundraiser ever,” he added.

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All-women team re-roofs damaged homes

The women roofers of North Carolina say roofing is a “great way to get out frustration,” and in the process they have re-roofed more than 60 homes in North Carolina, and a handful in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.

NBC’s Stephanie Gosk reports.

Calgary community foundation receives $117-million gift from ‘Doc’ Seaman’s estate

The money has been quietly trickling in for a few years, discreetly accumulating at the behest of a larger-than-life character who asked that the magnitude of his generosity remain private upon his death.

But on Wednesday, the Calgary Foundation announced Daryl “Doc” Seaman’s $117-million donation – believed to be the largest gift to a community fund and the second-largest cash donation in Canadian history.

Read more.

guardian:

Fundraising manager Lauren Vincent with four out of the seventy Gromit sculptures which have been painted by celebrity artists, left to right, Paul Smith, Cath Kidston, Richard Williams and Simon Tofield, before they are placed around Bristol for public view as part of a charity initiative arts trail. After being displayed the sculptures will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity.

Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The Beastie Boys’ Mike D is fighting for more than the right to party — he’s been helping serve Hurricane Sandy victims warm meals from a food truck.

The musician, whose full name is Michael Diamond, spoke to GOOD Magazine on Tuesday about the project. Since the storm, more than 19,000 free meals have been served.

Seeing the damage to Rockaway Beach, he launched the Rockaway Plate Lunch truck with restaurateur and friend Robert McKinley.

The cooking expertise come from Sam Talbot of ‘Top Chef’ fame, who is working with teams at New York’s Spotted Pig and Fat Radish restaurants, to serve up rice, beans, chicken and vegetables.

In the Vimeo video above, Mike D explains that a food truck allowed easy navigation through the changing post-Sandy landscape. The team feeds anywhere from 200 to 500 people daily.

“The willingness to get involved has been amazing,” McKinley says in the video. “There’s been no egos and everyone is working really hard.”

goodstuffhappenedtoday:

TV star Anthony Head reopens flooded farm to Greyhound Rescue West of England’s Tellington TTouch training sessions

Anthony Head might be best known for his on-screen appearances but to dog welfare charity the TV star and his canine behaviour counsellor wife Sarah Fisher are a priceless sight.

The Greyhound Rescue West of England (GRWE) has long enjoyed taking dogs to the couple’s 96-acre farm in Farmborough for exercise and specialist training but extensive flooding during the winter closed the site; meaning the homeless hounds missed out.

Last week the Tilley Farm Centre reopened its doors to the greyhounds and lurchers, and to make up for the break the couple have offered to provide the dogs with a free TellingtonTTouch session.

Sarah said the treatment, which recognises the link between posture and behaviour, could help the animals the Radstock-based charity finds difficult to rehome.

She said: “The aim is to release tension, lower heart rate and respiration and to improve the posture of the dog using a combination of body and groundwork.

“This gives the dog a new experience and changes his expectation, which in turn helps him to override his habitual, and often instinctive, responses. By recognising early signs of stress and tension patterns in the body that may be triggering the behaviour you can help your dog develop greater confidence and self-control and take any necessary steps to reduce your dog’s anxiety or arousal levels before his behaviour escalates.”

Carol Baby, head of GRWE’s post-homing support team, acknowledged the value of Sarah’s work.

Mrs Baby said: “Often our dogs come to us having suffered abuse or abandonment. Many are scared of the human hand.

“With the help of TTouch not only do they learn that the hand is something not to be afraid of but they begin to enjoy and seek interaction with people.”

Last year the charity rehomed 761 dogs and was named one of the best in the country when it comes to finding the right animal for prospective adopters with less than five per cent being returned.

For more information about the charity and TTouch, visit www.grwe.com.

Unique African marathon offers hope to street children

There’s something stirring in Makeni. Here, in Sierra Leone’s largest city, thousands of street children are now being reunited with their families and given access to education.

This welcome change is all thanks to a small, voluntary-led charity, Street Child, and the runners who are brave enough to take on the charity’s challenging but hugely rewarding fundraising event, the Kiln Sierra Leone Marathon, now in its second year.

“I’m not aware of another marathon like it,” says race director, Lewis Aldridge. “The London Marathon is a fabulous race, with a lot of people raising money for different charities. But here it is totally integrated, with runners seeing the projects – and the children who will benefit from their fundraising – first-hand, before they run.”

The majority of this 26-mile course runs along hard mud roads and red dirt tracks, snaking through some of Sierra Leone’s most beautiful scenery. Occasionally, the trail changes to tarred, urban terrain as runners course their way through the more developed parts of Makeni in humid 33C heat. Local families line the roads to wave runners on – sometimes they’ll join in to show their thanks and support.

“It’s a fantastic challenge. The race itself is a personal challenge, but what really makes a difference is that most of the people taking part, everybody involved in it, are all raising money for the same charity,” adds Aldridge.

Read more.

[photo source]

‘Suspended coffee’ movement ignites widespread interest

A Facebook page has been set up to help promote “suspended coffee,” a way to pay-it-forward by purchasing a coffee for a stranger. Although the Facebook page was created a few months ago, promotion of the idea began heavily on March 27 and has received over 4000 Facebook “likes” since then.

The idea of suspended coffee is to purchase a coffee for someone who may seek a coffee later in the day, yet is unable to afford one.

On the “Suspended Coffee” Facebook page, a story is told about two friends sitting in a coffeehouse and watching patrons come in and purchase coffee for themselves, along with orders of suspended coffee. Eventually, a man donning shabby clothes enters the shop, asking if there are any suspended coffees available. Due to the kindness and generosity of others, he is able to enjoy a warm drink though he wasn’t able to purchase one.

According to Snopes, suspended coffees are an “old Italian tradition” and the concept has since spread to other areas. There are over 150 cafes throughout Bulgaria that have joined the movement and many are looking for ways to initiate it in other areas as well.

Comments on the Facebook page are positive with many people excited about getting involved. Jim and Patty’s Coffee in Portland, OR said they are “on-board” in a comment left on the Facebook page for Suspended Coffee, while many others have expressed interest and want to get their local coffee shops involved.