From death row to movie star

About a year ago, a dog named Monte was living at HALO Animal Rescue in Phoenix, Arizona. He'd been rescued from a kill-shelter in New Mexico,  and last year, he was adopted by Mark Forbes, who trains animals to perform in movies.

Disney is remaking a live version of "Lady and the Tramp." A pretty cocker spaniel named Rose will be playing Lady, but where could they find a dog to play the Tramp? Forbes recognized that Monte was a natural for the part, so he's been cast and is on his way to movie stardom.

"I remember my heart exploded for joy."

Back in 1991, Mevan Babakar and her family fled Iraq in search of a sanctuary. They traveled through Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan, where they finally settled in a refugee camp in the town of Zwolle. Mevan was only five years old, but still remembers a Dutch humanitarian worker at the camp named Egbert. He was very kind, and after she and her family resettled in Bergen an Zee, he surprised the family by making a 100 mile journey from the camp to their front door to give Mevan a brand new red bicycle for Christmas.

"I remember my heart exploded for joy!" she said. "I couldn't believe it was mine. When someone gives you something better than you deserve, you have to start to reassess what you're worth." After Mevan and her family eventually moved to London, she earned a Master's degree in bio-engineering, and recently she felt a need to retrace her steps as a Kurdish refugee. She was determined to track down Egbert, but nobody in Zwolle knew him. "We kind of gave up," she said. Finally she tweeted a grainy old photo of him and asked her followers to help. Within hours, social media users put her in touch with Egbert and soon she met him at his home in Germany. She says she really wasn't thanking him just for the bike. "The gift of the bike, and those feelings, eventually became the value of my own self-worth."

Once a teacher, always a teacher

There's a 30-year-old man in Waco, Texas, named Chris Barrington. He has a lot of special needs. He still functions on a 6th grade level, and his home life has never been great. The only person who took care of him was his father, who died recently. Police recently found Chris wandering down a highway all alone. When they asked him for family information, one of the names he gave them was Michell Girard, a teacher he has not talked to for many years.

He was her student for four years of junior high, and he never forgot how nice she was. So the police talked to her, and she agreed to take him in until other arrangements could be made. But then she learned he'd probably end up in an institution, so she just filed paperwork to take permanent custody of him. She learned he'd never had a birthday, so she just threw him his first birthday party, with his own cake, and she says the rest of the year will be all about new experiences.

School superintendent gets bonus, and....

College tutition isn't cheap, and there's also a fee for merely applying to a college. Mom and dad cough up $43 on average each time junior submits a college application. You know. It's for "processing" and all that. Even if junior is not accepted, the college still gets its nickel. Grant Rivera is superintendent of schools in Marietta, Georgia. His district has about 500 seniors graduating next spring, and he expects about 200 of them to apply to college.

So when he recently received a $10,000 bonus, he decided not to keep it. Instead, he's donating all of it to pay for his students' college applications. If all 500 seniors decide to apply, he'll pay for their applications too. But what if he has money left over? He'll use it to fund field trips to in-state colleges.

From Webster Groves, Missouri

While responding to a call recently, members of the Webster Groves Fire Department noticed a wheelchair bound resident had a very difficult time entering her home. Multiple stairs and uneven terrain unfortunately led to the resident falling over in her wheelchair while trying to enter the house. Luckily the patient was uninjured, but we saw an opportunity to help. 

This past weekend members of the Webster Groves Firefighters Community Outreach spent their days off digging out and pouring a new sidewalk for the resident. She will now will have a level pathway and ramp to gain access to her home. A huge thank you goes out to the members that spent their days off helping those in need.

Make way for turtles

The town of West Lafayette, Indiana, is dotted by many small ponds and lagoons. So it's not unusual to see turtles on busy roads. Many are hit by cars, and this broke the heart of second-grader Jack Wietbrock. He rescued one baby turtle, but saw others that were hurt beyond saving, so he wrote a letter to Mayor John Dennis. "Can you please put up a turtle crossing sign?" The mayor replied that the park department could create custom-made signs. He would request one for turtles.

And that's not all. Mayor Dennis said the sign would be presented at a town meeting, and he invited Jack to attend the meeting and unveil the sign. The signs were later installed along the street, and Jack's mother could not be more proud.

"May I hold your hand?"

Megan Ashley was flying from San Diego, California, to Nashville, Tennessee, last month when she overheard a 96-year-old woman say she was anxious because she hadn't flown for 15 years. When the plane began to take off, she asked the young man sitting next to her if she could hold his hand. According to Ashley, "This gentleman gladly took her hand, let her hold on to him, calmed her by talking to her and explaining everything that was happening.

He helped her stand up to go to the restroom and watched carefully as she walked down the aisle. After they got off the plane, he insisted on holding her bag, helping her into a wheelchair, and staying with her until she was reunited with her daughter. The elderly woman appreciated his kindness so much that she insisted on giving him her in-flight pretzels.