School honors its custodian

High school custodian Samuel James has been walking to work ever since his car gave out on him. But thanks to the kindness of a colleague, his days of traveling by foot are over. James was recently surprised with a Toyota Highlander SUV outside Citronelle High School in Alabama, and the emotional moment was captured on video and later shared on the school's Facebook page.

"Our custodian Samuel James has been without a vehicle for some time, and has also been down with an injury recently," the school wrote. "We at Citronelle High wanted to help him out and get him back on his feet. Thank you, Sam, for all your years of service and for keeping our athletic facilities and our grounds in great shape!"

The truck stops here

After watching news stories where truckers detailed the harsh realities of trucking in an age of Covid-19, like not being allowed to use restrooms, or being forced to stay in their cabs for several hours after crossing the border, Beverly Perrin and her husband Dick began delivering batches of 75 to 100 personalized thank-you cards every three or four weeks to a truck stop near their home in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. So far, they've delived about 1,000 cards.

"When I first started doing it, they just kind of looked at me like, 'Really?'" said Perrin. "One trucker asked me, 'How much do I pay you?'I told him it's just from me to you, as a senior, that we so appreciate you." One could say that, when it comes to acts of pure kindness, for this thank-you note writer, "the truck stops here."

Stray dog tries to steal unicorn

Animal control officers were called to the Dollar General in Kenansville, North Carolina, about 80 miles from Raleigh, after employees saw a Lab mix dart into the store every time a customer exited. Each time the stray dog got in, he ran to grab the same plush purple unicorn toy. Samantha Lane, the officer who responded to the store's call, was so taken by the dog's devotion to the unicorn that she bought the $10 toy for the dog.

The canine was happy once he had his beloved unicorn, and went with Lane to the Duplin County Animal Services shelter. The shelter posted a picture of the pup and his unicorn on their Facebook page. He was considered a stray intake at the shelter because no one came forward to claim him. He spent several nights curled up with his unicorn until a family came forward to adopt him, along with his toy. The shelter offered to buy the adoptive family several more toy unicorns, in case the first one wears out.

A crumb from Nigeria

For more than ten years, Zannah Mustapha has devoted his life to providing hope and peace for children caught in the Boko Haram insurgency. The militant group's name means, "Western education is forbidden," and its fighters have terrorized schools for years. Mustapha, a Nigerian-born attorney and humanitarian, started educating children affected by this ongoing violence in 2007. Now he and his staff teach more than 2,000 students from both sides of the conflict at the Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School in Maiduguri, Nigeria.

They includes orphaned children of insurgent fighters, and children displaced by the conflict. So far, he says 1,023 children have graduated and many have gone on to college. Mustapha did even more lifesaving work four years ago when he helped mediate the release of 103 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram.

Buzz Lightyear returns to owner in style

In the flurry of a last-minute, unexpected trip, two-year-old Hagan Davis left his Buzz Lightyear action figure on an airplane. His parents never expected to see it again, but they did, thanks to the Southwest airlines ground crew at Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas. Taking a cue from the Toy Story film, the Davises had inscribed Hagan's name on the sole of Buzz's space boot. Operations agent Beth Buchanan matched the name with an Elk Grove, California, boy on the passenger list. When her co-worker Jason William Hamm saw Buzz on Beth's desk, he made it his mission to get Buzz back where he belonged.

Hamm emailed the Davises that Commander Lightyear would soon be California bound, but he wasn't content to send Buzz home in a boring, empty box. So he posed the action figure at several airport locales, including a runway in front of a jet plane, and enclosed the photos along with this note. "To Commander Hagen. I am very excited to return to you upon completing my mission. I was able to explore the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, while I was away, and I have included photos of my adventure. My journey has taught me a lot, but I am so thankful to return to my buddy."

Sports is about more than winning

Matt Montie is a varsity forward basketball player for Marenisco High School in Wakefield, Michigan. After a recent game against the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts, he noticed that a player on Dollar Bay's junior varsity team was wearing the wrong shoes for the sport. Matt understands the importance of wearing the right gear. So when he spotted the younger player's inadequate shoes, he felt compelled to do something.

After taking off his red LeBron James Nike basketball sneakers, Matt handed them to a member of his school's JV team, who then passed them to the opposing team's athletic director. The JV player in question had alreaady gone home, but the shoes made their way into his hands later that night.

Teachers go the extra mile, literally

Middle school teacher Brandee Brandt pounded on the door of an apartment in San Antonio, Texas, for the third time one January afternoon. As reported in The Christian Science Monitor, she was searching for Davey, one of her students. Finally Davey's older brother opened the door. "You really aren't going away, are you?" he said. She asked him to get Davey, 13, who had suddenly stopped doing his online schoolwork. Brandee and fellow eighth grade teacher Emily Countryman from Rawlinson Middle School would spend all day knocking on doors.

Since school began, a squad of Rawlinson teachers have visited over 100 homes. Every few weeks, school staff make a list of kids who need a visit. Two teachers volunteer, and the school hires subs on the day they are door-knocking. The teachers' relentless pursuit of these kids is why Rawlinson averaged 99% attendance at Christmas break -- about 8% igher than the district middle school average.