This story reminds us not to take our postal workers for granted.

Albeit, this is about a British postman, it nonetheless points out the importance of having our foot soldier letter carriers walking our streets everyday.

According to the scotsman.com, postman, Gavin Lewis saved the life of a 67-year old blind man from his burning home. Lewis was on his way to work when he spotted smoke coming from the man’s home. Lewis stopped his van in front of the burning house and saw the figure of the blind man in a hallway. He ran through a burning doorway to get to help, not knowing then that the man was blind. Surely, Lewis’ heroics saved the man’s life.

Lewis is quoted in the scotsman story that his wife is proud of what he did. Indeed, a feat worth its praise.

In December a friend of mine went missing for several days. It was a horrifying experience, but thankfully she was found as safe as she could have been. As a member of the search party, my job was to drive through northern california posting missing person flyers. I came in contact with sheriffs, forest rangers, bartenders, gas station attendants, shop owners, motel desk staff, etc. Every single person had a kind word. Every single person posted the flyer immediately. (Click the title above for the full story)

Sure sounds like one.

This story reported in the Maryland Northeast Reporter reads like the scene in the movie Crash, where Matt Dillon’s character pull’s Thandia Newton’s character out of a burning car. Except, this is real life and the heroes, Justin Zurilla and Officer Joshua Battaglia, risked life and limb to rescue a toddler boy and his father from the clutches of certain death at the hands of a flipped over and burning Jeep Cherokee.

I always wonder what I would do if ever faced with such a situation and often I conclude that I would jump into action just like Zurilla and Battaglia. But it’s so easy to say and not worth its weight until that moment comes. Meanwhile, these heroes are here and now and exceptional. Thank goodness guys like them are around.

I love these kinds of stories. Woman finds $600 cash in a Belk department store in Charlottesville, VA wadded up in a trashcan, returns it to its rightful owner, then gets rewarded with a dinner.

Read the story on the WAVY Channel 10 website.

Thanks to the cheery toll booth guy in the north bound toll booth on I-94, just north of Evanston, at around 9:15 a.m.

My buddy and I were on our way to ski the wicked slopes of Wilmot, WI and thought nothing when entering this toll. All of a sudden, this toll booth guy busted out a hearty, “How are ya?” It was a super nice gesture considering this dude probably sees a billion drivers a day.

D. — Chicago, IL

In Chicago for three quick days. I must say that the people here are quit nice. Having spent a couple of years living in Wisconsin, I know of the sensibilities and niceness of the general region. Chicago being our third largest city, however, one would expect a bit of the angry urban creeping into the mix. And certainly, Chicago has some of this.

But overall people are very nice here. People look you in the eye, say excuse me and even flash a smile now and again. It’s refreshing to see this niceness on busy big city sidewalks.

What’s also nice about Chicago is the Loop business district and various cultural attractions along the lakefront. My favorites are a few keen architectural installation in the new Millennium Park. In particular, there is a huge glass bean-shaped structure that makes funky reflections of the downtown skyline. It’s very cool. As soon as I build a good image display function for the site, I’ll post some cool pics.

I don’t want to sound too ignorant here, but I’m simply impressed with the humanity that seems to rest at the heart and soul of this city. The urban planning is on a more recognizable scale making the place feel warmer and more accessible to the senses. And the people are just nicer. Maybe it’s the Corn Belt / Heartland / Midwestern brand of nice, perhaps it’s just because I’ve been in the hustle and bustle of NYC for too long, whatever the case, Chicagoan’s got it going on.

This article by Misty Chybrzynski of the Valley News Dispatch tells of the exhaustive activities of 6 – 8 graders at Valley Middle School in Pennsylvania.

Working on their Random Acts of Kindness Week projects, the group gave away 150 cookies to seniors and preschoolers; raised $100 for a local homeless shelter; and collected 150 teddy bears for children recovering from surgery. With the teddy bear drive, the 30 student members of the project noticed that even the “rough” kids at school were bringing in stuffed animals, sometimes bringing in the biggest and the best.

So grateful were the seniors for their cookies and other treats brought to them by the students, they got together and sang “You are my sunshine” to the young ones.

It’s a big party of niceness in PA.

Oh, and the list will continue as the kids are raising money for Leukemia research and making care packages for troops abroad. Dy-no-mite!

This article by Ihosvani Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel does a good job summarizing the amazing love story of Herman and Roma Rosenblat.

Herman had been sent to Schlieben, a German concentration camp during WWII. One afternoon in 1942, famished after completing a hard day’s work of camp labor, the teenaged Herman spotted a little nine-year old girl on the other side of a barbed wire fence. He asked the little girl if she had any food to spare and she responded by tossing over an apple and some stale bread.

This went on for several months, the food actually helping to keep Herman nourished during his stay in Schlieben.

Herman was eventually transferred to another camp and subsequently freed, never seeing the little girl again.

Some 15 years and a whole lifetime later, Herman got set up on a blind date with a beautiful young woman by the name of Roma. Yup, you guessed it. Turns out Roma was the little girl who helped sustain Herman during those hard months in 1942. Shell shocked by the unbelievable fate that brought the two back together, Herman immediately proposed marriage. They have been together ever since.

Look for a movie coming out sometime later this year based on this crazy unbelievable story.

Also, a side story is that Herman Rosenblat — while in NYC last week to shoot some video for local new stations wanting to air the Rosenblat love story for Valentine’s Day — was met with an unexpected treat: A rabbi bar mitzvahed Herman after realizing that he in fact had never celebrated this right-of-passage due to his internment.

Read about this tidbit:

Newsday
Chicago Tribune
WFMY2

The tally is in and Bill and Melinda Gates were in unfamiliar territory playing the role of runner-up on a list of the wealthiest Americans.

On The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s 2005 list of the 60 most generous Americans, the Gateses took number two to Cordelia Scaife May of the Mellon fortune. May left a bequest $404 million to charities and her own Colcom Foundation, in Pittsburgh.

The Gateses transfered $320 million of their largess to their foundation last year, making good on a pledge from 2004. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest charitable entity in the country with assets well in excess of $25 billion, giving over $1 billion of that away per year.

Rounding up the top five on the list are Eli and Edythe L. Broad of SunAmerica ($300 million), George Soros ($240.1 million) and oil man Boone Pickens ($229.2 million, $165 million of which will go to Oklahoma State University).

NYC Mayor, Michael Bloomberg was seventh on the list giving away $144 million. Technology tycoons continued to dominate the list with the Gateses as well as Pierre and Pam Omidyar of eBay fame (#8, $133.7 million) and Larry Ellison of Oracle (#10, $115 million) also giving at extraordinary levels.

Although these may look like crazy levels of wealth being strewn about, 2005 showed an almost 60% drop in giving amongst our top 60 philanthropists. While 2004 saw those on the list donate $10 billion to charity, the 2005 tally settled down at $4.3 billion. Could this be a precursor to a cooling economy and a slow down in philanthropy for 2006? I hope not, but we’ll see.

View the complete list at The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Andrea Ball of the Austin American-Statesman reports on 15 women calling themselves The Shakedown Society.

These women got together in an effort to raise money for local charities. They new that as a giving group they could only raise so much, so they decided to reach outside of the inner circle and “shakedown” their friends and family for a much heartier booty. In the end, the group raised $25,000.

Something tells me they’re not done yet, so if any of you in Austin hear of more activity from this group, please let us know.