Early in the COVID pandemic, a cardiologist traveled to Minnesota to help out at a local hospital. For whatever reason, she was speeding and she saw those red and blue lights flashing to pull her over. She told the state trooper what she was doing in Minnesota and waited while he went back to his car to run her license and plates. When he came back, he fussed at her for speeding – she could be in an accident. Then what would her patients do? Tail between her legs, she was ready to get her ticket and pay her fine, but he said we would give her a warning. She apologized and started to prepare to drive on when he reached out his hand and gave her five brand new, hospital grade N95 face protection masks. They came from his own supply that the state had given him. And she burst into tears as he wished her well and left. This doctor confessed on Facebook that she worried that medical staff wouldn’t have all the protective gear that they needed in this crisis – and here a perfect stranger reached out to her to help her and to try to make things just a little better.1
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I saw a piece about a sweet golden retriever that was trained by its owner to deliver groceries and mail to an isolated, chronically ill neighbor stuck in quarantine.2 And there’s this guy in England who was all signed up to run a half-marathon for charity on March 29th, 2020. The race got cancelled so the organizers suggested to the runners that they come up with local routes and post about them to raise money instead. But this particular guy had a girlfriend who had started to show signs of a fever and cough. They decided to quarantine at home in their apartment. Since he was still feeling healthy, he wanted to keep his commitment to raise money for charity. So, from his third floor apartment, he ran the same distance as a half-marathon back and forth on his balcony – 5,000 times back and forth. 5,000 times!3
[1] https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/doctor-cries-after-cop-gives-her-face-masks-instead-of-speeding-ticket/
[2] https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/dog-delivers-groceries-meals-to-senior-neighbor-in-quarantine/
[3] https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/man-completes-half-marathon-on-balcony-for-charity-during-shutdowns/