These good news stories are a tribute to Niagara Region
It’s the weekend after the long weekend. It’s hot outside, really hot. We could always pick an issue and pontificate on it.
But a roundup of good news might hit the spot better right now.
It’s a good time to give credit to some of the people whose uplifting stories we’ve been able to tell in the paper over the past week.
Like Michael Jacques. He’s active in Special Olympics, has worked at a local grocery store for the past eight years and, at age 27, has already published his autobiography.
All that, despite living with autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability. The Fonthill man cannot read or write so, undeterred, he used voice-totext technology to keep a journal that turned into his book. It took him several years, but he persevered. Now he wants to write another one and hopes to land a spot on the Ellen DeGeneres TV show to share his inspiring story. Would you bet against him?
Then there was Lynn Salvo, the Virginia woman who rode her bike into St. Catharines this week.
At 69, she already holds two Guinness world records for cycling across Canada and the U.S. (about 12,000 kilometres combined).
Her latest ride is taking her from the southern United States up to North Bay. Eventually, she wants to complete what would be a loop route, combining her previous treks into what will resemble a peace symbol shape.
It wasn’t until she was 49 that she really started thinking big – “I was thinking … I don’t want to be what 50 typically means. So I started my PhD, I started a business and I started running. All at once.”
The thing is, she made it happen. At a point in life when most people are starting to slow down, she decided to speed up.
Theresa Forte, whose gardening column appears each week in the Niagara daily papers, received major honours this week in the 2019 GardenComm Media Awards.
She was named the top writer for all of North America – yet when she first tried her hand at column writing more than 21 years ago, it was supposed to be for a six-week run only.
She joked that back then, “I showed my dad the first article and he said, ‘man if you can pull this off you’re brilliant.’ He didn’t have much confidence in my writing either.”
She pulled it off, though, and then some. Good on her.
Finally, two parents’ brave decision in the face of unbearable tragedy last weekend should inspire us all.
Six-year-old Darien Hicks drowned in a backyard swimming pool in Fort Erie last Saturday. The pain for his family must have been crushing.
Yet his parents, Kalena Chamberlain and Christopher Hicks, donated his organs and now five other children’s lives have been made better due to their choice.
Meanwhile, a community campaign to raise money to help Darien’s family through the tragedy was so successful it surpassed its $10,000 goal.
At last count, the GoFundMe account has been pledged $12,700 as people chipped in to help.
It’s inspiring to know so many are ready to step up to help when a neighbour is down, and a credit to the people of Niagara.
There’s a lot of unhappy stuff happening in the world. An awful lot of noise.
But there are positive things going on, too, all around us. On a summer day such as today, it’s good to think of them.