Here’s our favourite good news stories guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
We’ve had enough of bad news. So we’ve put together four stories that are inspiring, heartwarming, and show the wonderful resilience and hope of the human spirit.
We can all do with some good news right now. Yes, we hear you shout!
So we thought we’d collect a heap of good news stories that have come out of the crazy times we’ve been living in over the last few months.
Some will inspire you. Some will put a smile on your face. Some will make you cry (in a good way). All of them will just make you feel good.
So here we go.
The team at Stagekings Australia are usually busy creating staging structures for music and arts festivals, corporate events, brand activations and sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games. That all changed when COVID-19 hit, with all their planned work for the remainder of 2020 lost in a 48 hour period.
So what do you do? Thanks to a suggestion from a mate (I hope s/he get’s a nice dinner out of this), they quickly turned devastation into opportunity by turning their crafting skills into building flat-packed desks, stools, monitor stands and more including perspex counter guards for retail outlets. They’re also now working on a home range.
Made from birch ply, the goods simply click together – no tools required. Not only have they kept their business afloat and team employed, they’re also donating $10 from every sale to Support Act, an organisation supporting music workers impacted by the pandemic.
What legends!
Want to read more about the Stagekings story and see their work in action? Click here.
If you would like to donate to Support Act, please click here.
What a year 2020 has been. It’s hard to fathom that pre-COVID, Australia had just suffered through one of the most devastating bushfire seasons in history.
But like what we have seen many times this year, out of tragedy comes hope. In this instance, hope for many businesses came in the form of the social media campaign #spendwiththem – the brainchild of bushfire survivor Turia Pitt and content expert Grace McBride.
Turia knows the impact of fire devastation, having suffered burns to 65 per cent of her body when caught in a wildfire competing in an ultra marathon in 2011. So in January during the peak of the fires, Turia and Grace created the #spendwiththem instagram campaign as a way of putting money directly back into the pockets of the people and communities of fire-affected towns.
The campaign uses the #spendwiththem page as a platform for businesses to promote their products and services. Turia and Grace hoped that they’d get 1000 followers in their first 24 hours. Within three days they had 153,000 followers which has continued to grow to just under 200,000.
Some businesses experienced more orders in 24 hours than they would have in a year, with many attributing the instagram campaign to keeping their business alive during and after the fires.
And now with COVID, #spendwiththem is continuing to be a shining light for businesses to not only continue to trade through these incredibly challenging times, but also connect with people throughout Australia and the world.
Click here for an interview with Turia Pitt talking about the #spendwiththem campaign.
Explaining the complexity of the coronavirus pandemic to children is a big ask for any parent. It’s been a very scary time, with everything suddenly brought to a halt for kids including all their school and after school activities.
Gold Coast mum Errenn Ball had an idea. Why not get kids to explain the pandemic to kids through acting out The Stay Home Superheroes, a book created by UK author Sophie Marsh to help children understand the pandemic and the important role they can play by staying at home.
Click here for a copy of The Stay Home Superheroes, with 100% profits going to charities helping kids cope with anxiety.
With a background in running drama workshops, Errenn first filmed her son James – dressed as a green ninja – telling the story of the main character solving “a big problem” in the world by using his imagination while staying at home.
After getting the backing of Sophie, Errenn then posted her idea to Facebook in March and was overwhelmed by the response. What followed was 150 children from a dozen countries posting their own videos, which was compiled into a heartwarming video explaining the pandemic to kids, by kids. Try not to cry watching it.
Errenn’s fun and engaging video project has not only helped kids understand why these changes were happening in their lives, it’s also made them feel part of a global community facing these challenges together.
Click here to see Errenn’s Facebook video.
To see more initiatives by author Sophie Marsh, see her Facebook page here.
We’ve all been on a rollercoaster these last few months – especially the USA. So for a bit of light-hearted relief, we thought we’d share a cute and cuddly story that has made the world go loopy (in a good way).
The story revolves around The Giant Dipper rollercoaster at the Belmont Theme Park in San Diego. To keep the 95-year old ride in good shape, the maintenance crew had to keep the rollercoaster going even with the Park closed to visitors.
So, tired of seeing the ride go round and round unattended, the staff decided to have some fun by literally stuffing the seats with passengers – stuffed animals.
People from around the world have gone in a spin watching the videos and images posted of the fluffy friends taking on The Giant Dipper. And even as the ride welcomes back human passengers, the stuffed animals still have a very important job as very cute social distancing buffers.
See the video here.
The four stories above show the power of resilience and hope. To read more about the importance of hope at a time like this, please read an article we recently posted from clinical counsellor Olivia Sakamoto.
And if you have a good news story you would like to share, we’d love to hear it. Please comment below.
