A community baby shower

Jonathan and Cindy Strawbridge live in York, Pennsylvania, and have a two year old son, so they know how expensive basics like diapers and baby clothes are.  Recently they put together 150 gift baskets, and gave them away to new moms and dads who are struggling or didn't get to have a baby shower of their own.

They call it a "Community Baby Shower" and they filled each basket with essentials, like formula and diapers. Cindy also attached personalized notes to every basket to let each mom know that "You matter. Your are loved, and so is your child."

Teacher goes "the extra mile"

There's a 10-year-old girl in Kentucky named Ryan Neighbors who has spina bifida. She's been in a wheelchair her whole life. Her school  never lets her feel left out, but recently planned a field trip to the Falls of the Ohio. It would require hiking. She's had to skip similar trips before, but not this time.

Jim Freeman teaches in a classroom next to Ryan's. She's not even his student, but he volunteered to carry her all day, just so she wouldn't miss out. Ryan's mom has a special backpack her daughter can ride in, so Jim strapped it on and hiked all day with a 10-year-old kid on his back. He downplayed it, and said he was happy to help.

Is kindness really good for you?

Thanks to a $20 million gift from the Bedari Foundation, the newly-established UCLA Bedari Kindness Institute will support world-class research on kindness. It will create opportunities to translate that research into real-world practices, and serve as a global platform to communicate its findings.

Housed in the division of social sciences, the institute hopes to use its research to empower citizens and inspire leaders to build more humane societies. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block says "this will allow us to have a real social impact of future generations."

School custodian goes the extra mile

Hollie Beliew-Shaw shared this photo on Facebook of school custodian Esther McCool with Hollie's daughter Kenlee, who has autism, when Kenlee became overwhelmed by the noise in the school cafeteria (we all remember how loud they were!). Miss Esther, as she's known during her six years at Passmore Elementary in Alvin, Texas, joined the fourth-grader who had laid down on the stage and covered herself with a blanket.

"She saw that Kenlee was having a bad day and the noise was bothering her, so she just laid down with her," said Rachel Moore, a communication coordinator for the Alvin Independent School District. Kenlee's mom shared the heartwarming moment on Facebook to show the compassion and love school district employees show to their students.

A crumb from suburban Atlanta, Georgia

Bikers like lemonade too!

In September, 2018, Daryn Sturch and her daughter Bryanne came across a bad accident involving several motorcyclists with the Milwaukee Iron Biker Group. Sturch is a nurse in Chili, Indiana, and felt compelled to stop and treat the injured. After leaving the scene, she reached out to the group on Facebook to check up on them. To her relief, all the injured bikers survived. Now fast forward to last month.

Sturch's daughter Bryanne had planned to lemonade stand. As soon as it opened, Bryanne was overwhelmed. Thirty bikers showed up to buy lemonade, including some her mom at treated at the accident scene. Sturch said, "It's a perfect example of how just because you don't look the same or dress the same or have the same hobbies and interests doesn't mean we don't have the same core values inside us. We shouldn't make assumptions about people. We should just love each other."

School bus driver loves her passengers

On his first day of kindergarten, Axel Johnson waited excitedly with his mother for the school bus. When it pulled around the corner, he fell silent, and when the doors finally opened, he began to cry. Axel's mother, Amy Johnson, was heartbroken to see her son in tears, but she didn't have to worry about him very long.

After Axel stepped on the bus, the driver, Isabel Lane, immediately reached her arm back from the driver's seat so she could hold Axel's hand. Touched by the gesture, Amy snapped this photo. Lane spent the rest of the bus ride chatting with Axel, and soon Axel stopped crying. Not only that. He has been eager to get on the school bus ever since.