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Reading or watching the news can be a difficult task, and before turning on the computer or TV, one has to prepare for a barrage of difficult and not-so-uplifting stories from around the world. While depressing headlines are all too common, there are sources of happy and heartwarming tales such as the awesome media platform HuffPost Good News. For an alternative to the norm, enjoy a dose of five happy headlines culled from around the world.
1. LOVE STORY
Claire Johnson and Mark Gaffey, who are both blind, met at a guide-dog training course, and their two seeing-eye dogs, Venice and Rodd, became instantly inseparable.
DOSE OF GOODNESS: With the two pups bringing them together, Johnson and Gaffey fell in love and recently got married. Both dogs were respectively ring bearers at the wedding.
2. GLOBETROTTING SURPRISE
An eighteenth birthday is quite a milestone, and Nicolas Foubert didn’t want to miss his sister’s Cynthia’s special day.
DOSE OF GOODNESS: After traveling for more than 19 months, Nicolas gave his sister the surprise of a lifetime in this heartwarming video.
3. STARS IN THEIR EYES
The country rock super star, otherwise known as Taylor Swift, is as generous as she is talented. As most celebs, she receives requests to visit kids who are sick.
DOSE OF GOODNESS: Swift had arranged to spend just an hour on the New York Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center pediatric wing visiting fans, but instead, the country crooner stayed for five! Brightening up the faces of the kids on the floor, Swift invested real time, energy and empathy making for an event to remember.
4. FAMILY BONDS
For the past thirty years, newscaster Gloria Campos used her position on local TV for good with her special segment Wednesday’s Child, which highlighted foster kids in need of loving homes.
DOSE OF GOODNESS: Campos decided to feature Ke'onte, a smart and talented young boy in foster care, twice on the program in the hope that someone would want to adopt him. Well the second time was a charm as Ke’onte was adopted by an incredible family who saw the segment. Everyone is a winner in this story, and the tearful reunion between Campos and Ke’onte will make your heart smile.
5. SOCIAL MEDIA FRENZY
While the power of Instagram to do good is steadily growing, this most recent hashtag phenomenon is mind blowing. Unclear of how it was initiated, social media users started posting photos of themselves with no makeup using the hashtags #nomakeupselfie and #cancerawareness.
DOSE OF GOODNESS: The good folks at Cancer Research UK seized the moment by encouraging users to post photos and use a special number to text their donation. To date over 8 million pounds have been raised towards finding a cure for cancer!
