Santa Rosa youth grow career and life skills in neglected garden

Good News Notes: “When Curtis Short and his wife Patricia Seddon first saw the space where they were asked to help young adults with special needs and disabilities create a garden, they were dismayed. The small fenced area was a tangle of weeds, with only a rose bush and several small fruit trees — plum,…

SU alum Taye Diggs surprises Rochester school with $82,500 donation

Good News Notes: “Syracuse University alumnus Taye Diggs never forgets his roots. The award-winning actor surprised the School of the Arts (SOTA) in Rochester with a $82,500 donation on Wednesday, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. Diggs, SOTA’s most famous graduate, appeared in a video call to tell faculty that they would each receive up to…

Getting sober: The benefits of meditation through Dry July

Good News Notes: “Meditation is a good bridge between partying and sobriety because it takes you out of your mind and your thoughts into a place of peace,” Sydney-based Kinsella says. “It brings you to a state of balance, which means that compulsive behaviours will likely naturally start falling away.” He says Dry July, where people take…

In a Greek Detention Center, an Official Uses TV to Teach Prisoners

Good News Notes: “The director of a detention center in Greece is using television to teach the young men there who have no other way to get an education. Petros Damianos is the director of the school at Greece’s Avlona Special Youth Detention Center. He started the school in 2000. The men held at the…

Retired Italian teacher leaves fortune to hospitals, charities

Good News Notes: “A retired Italian teacher has bequeathed more than 25 million euros ($30 million) to hospitals and charities, stunning residents of the northern city of Genoa where she lived who had no inkling of her wealth. Marisa Cavanna died in December aged 96. She was described as a reserved woman who never got…

Lexington couple selling ‘Team Kentucky’ masks for charity

Good News Notes: “A Lexington couple is trying to make sure everyone has a mask to show off their Kentucky pride. Chris Gancio, his fiancée Susannah and their daughter Sofia are Team Kentucky through and through. ‘We both just loved Lexington so much we decided this is where we would start our family,’ said Gancio….

Teacher cares for student’s newborn brother, mom has coronavirus

Good News Notes: “An elementary school teacher in Connecticut ​says she is taking care of a newborn baby boy after getting a phone call from a student’s mother who was eight months pregnant, when she was hospitalized suddenly with Covid-19 symptoms. Baby Neysel turned 1-month-old over the weekend, but his parents, Zully and Marvin, have…