Less than a penny on the dollar

A reader in Bloomington, Indiana, shares the true story of Judith Jones, 80, and Carolyn Kenyon, 70, who live in Ithaca, New York. They know how medical debt caused by high health care costs can wreck people's lives. So they raised $12,500 during the summer and donated it to a charity called RIP Medical Debt. The charity was started four years ago by former debt collectors Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton. It is able to buy up overdue medical debt for less than a penny on the dollar.

RIP Medical Debt accepted the ladies donation of 12,500 and used it to erase $1.5 million in medical debt. 1,284 people whose debt was erased will receive a slim, yellow envelope with a letter telling them their debt is forgiven. In total, RIP Medical Debt has erased $434 million in past-due medical debt so far, although America's total tab is about $750 BILLION.

You're on the air!

Deke Duncan has always wanted to be a radio disc jockey, so in 1974 he set up a tiny radio station in the garden shed behind his house in England. For the past 44 years, he's been doing his own show. He's never affiliated with a actual radio station, so his only listener has been his wife.

Back in the 70s, the BBC did a story on him, and someone recently tracked down some of the footage. He was billed then as the radio host with the smallest audience in the world. But that's about to change. A BBC affiliate that reaches over 125,000 people each week is giving him his own one-hour Christmas special this year. And his wife is sure to be listening.

A cup of kindness?

A police "incident" you may have missed

It all started when two First District officers responded to a call about an endangered adult in Cleveland, Ohio. By the time they arrived, the 18-year-old had returned home. His name is Elvis, and his mother said he is often bullied because he rides his sister's bike, which is pink.

Once they learned of Elvis' torment at the hands of bullies, the officers decided to buy a new bike for him in his favorite color, red. The Cleveland Police Foundation, which took this photo, bought him a new bike and a special blue helmet with flashing lights. They said, "Elvis couldn't believe he had his own bike, and rode it proudly down the block."

As reported in the Washington Post

Hunter Shamatt, 20, had just arrived in Las Vegas on a Frontier flight from Omaha, Nebraska, when he noticed his wallet was gone. It contained $460 and his ID card. It was his sister's wedding weekend, so he borrowed money from his parents and tried to worry too much. He called Frontier to report the missing wallet, but it had not been turned in. "It being Vegas and all, I thought it was gone forever," he said.

A few days after he returned home, a package arrived. It contained his wallet, plus this note. Instead of being stolen, his wallet had been returned with extra cash! Proving that what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas.

Are you going home for Christmas?

This poem was written by Edgar Guest. The illustration is by Norman Rockwell.

He little knew the sorrow that was in his vacant chair;

He never guessed they'd miss him, or he'd surely have been there.

He couldn't see his mother or the lump that filled her throat,

Or the tear that started falling as she read his hasty note.

And he couldn't see his father sitting sorrowful and dumb,

Or he never would have written that he thought he couldn't come.

He couldn't see the fading of the cheeks that once were pink,

And the silver in the tresses; and he didn't stop to think

How the years are passing swiftly, and next Christmas it might be

There would be no home to visit and no mother dear to see.

He didn't think about it. I'll not say he didn't care.

He was heedless and forgetful, or he'd surely have been there.

Are you going home for Christmas? Have you written you'll be there?

Going home to kiss your mother and show her that you care?

Going home to see your father in a way to make him glad?

If you're not, I hope there'll never come a time you wish you had.

Just sit down and send an email -- it will make their heartstrings hum

With a tune of perfect gladness -- if you tell them that you'll come.

Would you buy a used car from this man?

Jeff Wine bought Great Bridge Auto Sales in Chesapeake, Virginia, earlier this year. He'd made a goal when he was 20 years old to give back to the world, so he put a nomination form on his Wine Automotive web site to give away one car each year. Eligible nominees had to live in Virginia or North Carolina and have a good story to tell.  This year, 15-year-old Taylin O'Neal's story caught Wine's attention.

Taylin told how his mom "does everything she can to make sure we are okay. The family must vacate their house because the landlord let it go into foreclosure. Mom's been waiting for her disability to be approved, and needs a vehicle to fit us all in at the same time." This year on Black Friday, Tiffany O'Neal thought she was going to Wine Automotive so Taylin could have a job interview. That's when Jeff Wine drove a 2011 Buick Enclave around the corner and handed Tiffany the keys. "Oh my God, thank you so much," she said. "I can't believe this!"