Nun in Congo overcomes blackouts with homemade hydroelectric plant

Good News Notes: “Sister Alphonsine Ciza spends most of her day in gum boots, white veil tucked under a builder’s hat, manning the micro-hydroelectric plant she built to overcome daily electricity cuts in her town of Miti in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. She works around the clock with a team of nuns and engineers,…

He Lost Nearly Everything To Addiction. Then An Arrest Changed His Life

Good News Notes: “Heroin started rewiring and taking control of Will’s brain in the early 2000s, as he turned 40. “Back then, if you used drugs people didn’t want anything to do with you,” Will recalls. “People gave up on me.” Will lost almost everything: jobs, his driver’s license, his car, his marriage and his…

Stillwater man adopts Minneapolis homeless camps

Good News Notes: “For a man who claims to be terrible with names, Bryan Ring seemed to have no trouble last week at the homeless encampment near Sheridan Memorial Park in Minneapolis. ‘Hey, Robert,’ he said to a man headed to the camp’s portable toilet while wearing just one boot. ‘How are you doing? Get…

Random acts of kindness through Christmas Jars –

Good News Notes: “A Charlottesville native is spreading joy during the holiday season with random acts of kindness. ‘Fifteen years, my family and I experimented with a little jar on the counter that we fill up with spare change. During the holidays, we picked a family to give it away to anonymously. We had no…

Osceola church giving away masks to help protect the community

Good News Notes: “One church in Osceola County is finding a way to make sure everyone can keep their faces covered during the pandemic. Pastor Jay McCaig said he figured the face covering order would be difficult to enforce, but he still thinks it is important to wear one and to encourage others to do…

Florida couple cancels wedding, gets married on Facebook live

Good News Notes: “One Tampa Bay area bride and groom decided to get creative with their nuptials after learning that their March 21 wedding date would have to wait.   ‘It’s crazy times right now. With everything going on, it was still important for us to do the ceremony,’ Madeline Beck said. Beck and her now-husband…

“Reel Hope” for Kids in Foster Care

Good News Notes: “For as long as Kaycee Stanley ’09 can remember, adoption had always been her ‘plan A.’ When she and her husband, Pete, started sharing their dreams of adoption with others, they received enthusiastic support. But when they explained they planned to adopt from foster care, they were met with skepticism and discouraging…

Community hopes to preserve historic Methodist church built in 1870

Good News Notes: “For Brett Merkley, entering the old Methodist Episcopal Church is like stepping into a frontier church of an old Western movie. The simple one-story brick chapel is lined with wooden pews and hymnals. Light shines through the stained-glass windows. A small pulpit and pump organ stand at the front of the chapel…