Scott Jacobs was driving near Spearfish, South Dakota, when he noticed something hanging from a barbed-wire fence beside the road. It looked like a dead hawk, and he mentioned it to his wife, Sharon, as they drove past. Sharon immediately told him to turn around. She’d rescued horses, cats, and dogs before, and she wasn’t … Read more
Gay Masters saw the photograph in an adoption magazine and could not forget the little girl staring back at her. Oksana was living in Ukraine, had severe limb differences and had already been passed over by other prospective families. Gay did not see a list of medical problems. She saw the child she wanted to bring home. Getting Oksana out took roughly two years of paperwork, delays and persistence.
In February 2016, wildlife authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo rescued a baby gorilla who had been taken from the forest and offered for sale by poachers. Her name was Lulingu, and she was only about 18 months old. At that age, a young gorilla would normally still be living close to her … Read more
When Jan Koum arrived in America as a teenager, he and his mother had very little money. They relied on food stamps to get by, and Koum took a job cleaning floors at a grocery store to help support them. Years later, he applied for a job at Facebook and was turned down. But that … Read more
Four swimmers were enjoying the water off a New Zealand beach when seven dolphins suddenly appeared and began circling them. At first, the swimmers thought the animals might be playing. But the dolphins were behaving strangely, swimming in tight circles and pushing the people closer together whenever they tried to move apart. One of the … Read more
Growing up in the South Bronx, Geoffrey Canada knew what it felt like to be afraid in his own neighborhood. Children could be attacked walking down the street, and fights were so common that learning how to protect yourself became part of growing up. His father had left the family when Geoffrey was just four … Read more
When a student brought a loaded shotgun into an Oregon high school, football coach Keanon Lowe found himself facing a situation no teacher ever wants to encounter. He moved toward the student, took the weapon away and handed it to another staff member. Then, instead of backing away, he turned toward the young man and … Read more
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Eugene Bullard already had something the American military badly needed. He was a trained fighter pilot with experience flying for France. Bullard was American, born and raised in Georgia. He wanted to serve his own country, so he applied to join the U.S. Air Service. … Read more
Fauja Singh was 89 years old when he decided to run his first marathon. He had spent most of his life working as a farmer, and he had never imagined becoming a long-distance runner. Eleven years later, at the reported age of 100, he crossed the finish line of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He had … Read more
Sanduk Ruit grew up in a remote Himalayan village in eastern Nepal, where reaching the nearest school meant walking for nearly a week. Getting medical treatment was even more difficult. When he was 17, his older sister died of tuberculosis. It was a devastating loss, especially because the disease could be treated if someone received … Read more
Sheldon Yellen was in his final year of high school when his family nearly lost their home in Detroit because of unpaid property taxes. His mother was raising four boys on welfare, and money had been tight for as long as he could remember. Yellen had been working since childhood, but his part-time earnings weren’t … Read more
For nearly ten years, Scott Harrison made his living promoting New York City nightclubs. He knew how to throw a party, attract a crowd and convince people that they absolutely had to be somewhere on a Saturday night. It was a successful career filled with expensive drinks, exclusive guest lists and late nights. But eventually, … Read more
In the summer of 1940, hundreds of Jewish refugees gathered outside the Japanese consulate in Kaunas, Lithuania. Many had already escaped Nazi-occupied Poland, but the war was spreading, and they were running out of places to go. Inside the consulate was a Japanese diplomat named Chiune Sugihara. The people waiting outside needed his help to … Read more
In 1994, Canadian businessman Lloyd Cenaiko traveled to Ukraine with his father to visit the places their family had come from. He wanted to meet relatives, learn about his family’s history and see a country he’d heard about for much of his life. At the time, Lloyd had a successful career in commercial real estate. … Read more
In 1938, Károly Takács was one of Hungary’s best pistol shooters. He had spent years developing the speed and accuracy needed to compete at the highest level and had already been part of a world championship team. Then, during a military training exercise, a grenade exploded in his right hand. The injury destroyed the hand … Read more
In 1957, Momofuku Ando was 47 years old and facing financial ruin. A credit union he’d been involved with had collapsed, taking nearly everything he’d worked for with it. All he had left was his home in Ikeda, a city near Osaka, Japan. After years of trying to build successful businesses, he was suddenly facing … Read more
On August 4, 1998, Jo Ann Altsman was alone in a vacation trailer near Lake Erie when she suffered a heart attack. Her husband, Jack, was out fishing, and there was nobody nearby to help her. She called out, hoping someone would hear. The family dog started barking, but nobody came. As the minutes passed, … Read more
On January 14, 2008, 20-year-old Jonny Benjamin was standing on Waterloo Bridge in London, going through one of the worst moments of his life. He had recently been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, and he was struggling to see any kind of future for himself. Hundreds of people were making their way across the bridge that … Read more
Dean Forbes thought professional football was going to be his future. As a teenager growing up in southeast London, he was playing in Crystal Palace’s youth system and working toward a career in the sport. But injuries and his eventual release from the club ended that dream when he was just 17. His family was … Read more