At every home game, 70,000 people take a moment to honour the brave kids at the Iowa Children’s Hospital
It all started with a simple idea on social media. Iowa Hawkeyes fan Krista Young thought it would be cool if fans at Kinnick Stadium took a moment to wave to the kids at the Iowa Children’s Hospital which is located beside football team’s home stadium. And just like that, the ‘Iowa Wave’ was born.
A renovation at the hospital called the ‘Press Box’ was completed in 2017 just prior to the beginning of the season and saw the 12th floor of the hospital transformed into a common space for families and patients to congregate, watch the game, socialize and cheer on the home team.
Now at the end of the 1st quarter of every home game the entire stadium takes a moment to wave and cheer to the people inside the Iowa Children’s Hospital. It’s a fantastic new tradition and one that I hope will continue for a long time.
Below you will find photos, videos (check out the ones at night!) and an ESPN special report on this uplifting and beautiful tradition.
It all started over some burgers and fries with friends
Local McDonald’s in Houston
Like so many great ideas do, it started over some burgers and fries with friends. Jevh Maravilla, a 21-year-old college student at the University of Houston, had just seen the box office hit Crazy Rich Asians when he noticed a distinct lack of Asian representation in the in-store marketing posters at his local McDonald’s.
In store lifestyle marketingIn store lifestyle marketing
As he looked around the restaurant at all the various lifestyle shots, he chanced upon a big empty wall and jokingly thought, “I wonder how long a fake poster of us would last?”
A blank wall beckons
For most people, it would have ended there. Finish your food, laugh about it and move on. But for Jevh the idea lingered in his mind and he decided to do it. The first step was shooting the lifestyle shot, which he accomplished on campus.
McDonald’s mock photo shoot on campus
The next step was to edit the photo to look like the others inside the restaurant and then print a giant poster version of it.
Unwrapping the poster!
Next was to install the new poster without raising suspicion. The solution? Find a McDonald’s shirt for cheap at a thrift store and transform it into an official looking uniform with black pants, a walkie talkie and a tie; then make a fake identification badge and call yourself a ‘regional interior coordinator’; and finally, act like you belong there.
The uniformThe ID badge
Success! The poster was up, nobody noticed and it had been nearly two months until they decided to tweet about the prank and it went viral. Just look how many retweets and shares the post has!
The poster had been up for 51 days before they shared the prank on twitterThe poster had been up for 51 days before they shared the prank on twitter
The poster had been up for 51 days before they shared the prank on twitter
i noticed there was a blank wall at mcdonald’s so i decided to make this fake poster of me and my friend. It’s now been 51 days since i hung it up. pic.twitter.com/5OTf5aR4vm
When you go viral and get something crazy like a million likes and 250,000 retweets you know what happens next..
Obligatory Ellen appearanceObligatory Ellen appearance
And that’s when they found out they were not only going to be featured in an upcoming marketing campaign for McDonald’s but they were going to be paid $25,000 each for it!
And there it is. Enjoy your day. If you prefer a video recap of the prank check out the vid below 🙂
An amazing volunteer named Terry has gone viral after the Safe Haven Pet Sanctuary shared on Facebook the following message along with some priceless pics:
We are so lucky to have a human like Terry. Terry just came along one day and introduced himself. He said he’d like to brush cats. Eventually it became everyday. He brushes all of the cats, and can tell you about all of their likes and dislikes. He also accidentally falls asleep most days. We don’t mind – Cats need this! Terry is a wonderful volunteer.
Terry has been taken aback by his ‘Internet fame’ and doesn’t care for the attention, he just wants what’s best for the cats. So the shelter set up a Facebook fundraiser in his name which you can see here as well as find embedded below.
It could have ended there and still been hilarious, but people started replying and making observations and that’s when a bigger and better story unfolded. If you want to read the whole thread on Twitter (with much more dialogue) click here.
Reddit user jacques4801 recently shared an old letter he found that had been sent to his Mom and when you read it you can see why she decided to keep it.
Dear Mrs. Ruffin:
I have decided to forgive the rent on Jacques’ trumpet. You do not have to pay me any more for the trumpet. It is yours to play.
However, if Jacques drops out of band and stops playing the trumpet, will you return it to me so I can give it some other deserving student.
I have been through bad times like you. But remember Tough times never last, Tough people do.
Maybe, you can help some other student someday when times are better.
Sincerely yours,
James W. Jones
Jacques has been so moved by the letter and subsequent response from the reddit community that he set up a GoFundMe page for students wanting to learn to play an instrument, but are unable to so because of finances:
“I had no knowledge of this letter until I found it three days ago in the hallway closet. The letter touched my heart. Reading the letter brought me to near tears and I wondered how life would’ve turned out if it wasn’t for the kindness of James W. Jones. His act of kindness enabled me to participate in band throughout middle school and high school. The letter has inspired me to start this fundraiser for students in need wanting to learn to play an instrument. The money will be donated to local music programs to ensure that every student that is interested in learning to play an instrument will have the ability to do so.”
Last Spring, Fiona Presly was gardening outside her home in Scotland when she noticed a queen bumblebee at her feet. She quickly sensed that something wasn’t right as the bee seemed shaky and disoriented.
Afraid she might get stepped on, Fiona bent down and noticed the queen bee had no wings, she tells The Dodo.
Photo via Fiona Presly
Not sure how else to help, Presly offered the bee some sugar water and set her on some flowers, hoping she’d be able to eventually manage on her own. When she checked the spot a few hours later, however, she found the bee hadn’t budged. To make matters worse, a heavy storm was brewing — so Presly went one step further:
“I took her inside that night, kept her warm and fed her more,” she said. “I thought I would put her out the next day, but the weather was bad then too. So I kept her inside.” [source]
Photo via Fiona Presly
Now in recovery, Presly reached out to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust for help. They told her it was likely she had a virus known to cause wing development issues. Unable to fly, the chances of survival were slim.
Saddened, Presly decided that she would try to help the bee, making her a tiny private garden to live out her final days.
Photo via Fiona Presly
Fiona aptly named her new friend ‘Bee’ and built her a private little garden to pollinate. She enclosed the garden in netting so her winged counterparts couldn’t swoop in and deplete the garden.
Photo via Fiona Presly
Fiona continued to check on her friend daily, giving her sugar water whenever she seemed weak. Bee seemed to be adjusting to her new home and getting more and more comfortable around her new ‘friend’. [source]
Photo via Fiona PreslyPhoto via Fiona Presly
As the days continued, Fiona noticed Bee would emerge from the foliage every time she dropped by the enclosure. “She’d walk toward me and crawl on my hand,” Presly said.
“She seemed so happy to see me. It made me stop and think — there’s something going on here.” [source]
Photo via Fiona PreslyPhoto via Fiona Presly
According to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, queens typically spend spring and summer building a nest, mating, and starting a colony — eventually dying at the approach of Autumn.
Under Fiona’s care, Bee had outlived them all, but five months after being rescued Bee fell asleep one last time, never again to wake.
Photo via Fiona PreslyPhoto via Fiona Presly
“I was sad when she died, but I knew it was going to happen. She was already older than she should have been,” Presley said. “It had been very special to stay with a wee creature, like Bee. The fact that she lived more than just a few weeks amazed me. That was rewarding in itself.”
Afterward, Presly buried Bee’s body in her garden — joined by a favorite flower. [source]
Photo via Fiona PreslyPhoto via Fiona PreslyPhoto via Fiona Presly
Benjamin Lloyd has been dropping by the Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland to try and lift kids’ spirits
For the last few years, New Zealand artist Benjamin Lloyd has been dropping by the Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland to give kids temporary tattoos to try to lift their spirits and make hospital life more fun.
Lloyd uses an airbrush gun and non-toxic ink to apply the temporary tats. He and his team have done hundreds over the years and the ink can be washed off in the shower. To see more artwork by Lloyd check out his Facebook page.
The lanyard of some random musician on the 1980 Rick James tour
Kanye West, who is back on Twitter and tweeting profusely, recently shared this cool piece of music history.
It’s Prince’s lanyard when he was touring/opening for Rick James on his 1980 tour. As someone who would go on to become one of the most prolific artists in music history, it’s a great reminder that everybody starts somewhere.
Elementary school teacher David Arwood was looking for a way to show his class how diverse and connected the world is
David Arwood, an elementary school teacher in rural northeast Tennessee, was looking for a memorable way to show his students how diverse and large the world is.
He wanted his class to not only see how many different languages and cultures were out there, but get a glimpse into the different ways people lived. Yet despite our differences he wanted to demonstrate that we were all connected.
Postcards he thought. If he could somehow get people from other states and countries to send his class a postcard, his students could not only reply back but they could connect real people to a generic map of the world.
So he decided to start reaching out to every state and country-specific subreddit he could find on reddit and asked the community if they would consider sending a postcard to his school.
Arwood was persistent. He reached out to hundreds of online communities and before he knew it, the postcards came flooding in. His class was amazed and they started to track the results on a large wall outside their classroom.
Before they knew it, the project had overtaken an entire wall and now the entire school could see the fascinating postcards the class had received from all around the world.
To date, the class has received postcards from every single US state along with 90 countries around the world. You can see a higher resolution of the current wall here.
Imgur user dressgirl200 recently shared an amazing story of how she was able to give an injured monarch butterfly a wing transplant and restore the little guy’s ability to fly. You can find the step-by-step process and captions from the original post below.
The operating room and supplies: towel, wire hanger, contact cement, toothpick, cotton swab, scissors, tweezers, talc powder, extra butterfly wing. ( One of my little girls died a few days before and I kept her.) [source]
Ta-da! With a little patience, and a steady hand, I fit the new wings to my little guy. If you notice, the black lines do not match completely and it is missing the black dot ( male marking) on the lower right wing, but with luck, he will fly! ( The white powder on his right wing is the talc used to neutralize any stray glue and prevent his wings from sticking together.) [source]
