All posts tagged: volunteers

3 Red Cross volunteers die of Ebola as number of cases rise in Uganda

3 Red Cross volunteers die of Ebola as number of cases rise in Uganda

Published by Sam Flores

Three Red Cross volunteers have died, believed to have contracted the Ebola virus during a humanitarian mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March, the organization said. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content. “At the time of the intervention, the community was not aware of the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak, and the outbreak had not yet been identified. They are among the first known victims of the outbreak,” the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said Saturday. The volunteers were identified as Alikana Udumusi Augustin, Sezabo Katanabo and Ajiko Chandiru Viviane. Vivaine died on May 5, Katanabo on May 15 and Augustin on May 16. Health workers wearing protective equipment gather to disinfect the isolation area for Ebola patients at the General Referral Hospital of Mongbwalu, Congo, on Saturday.Seron Muyisa / AFP via Getty Images They are believed to have contracted the virus while “carrying out dead body management activities” on March 27 during a mission unrelated to Ebola, the …

Faith groups, others joining hands to help neighbors in celebration of America’s 250th

Faith groups, others joining hands to help neighbors in celebration of America’s 250th

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — On Saturday (May 16) in Bakersfield, California, volunteers are planning a community festival, offering attendees food, haircuts and household goods. “It’s in one of the most impoverished parts of our community,” said Wendell Vinson, president of CityServe International and co-senior pastor of an Assemblies of God megachurch in Bakersfield. “The church is really going to their neighborhood, and then we’re mobilizing churches from that neighborhood to really get to know their neighbors better.” The event is one example of how nonprofits and volunteers are coming together for Good Neighbor Day America, a nationwide initiative on Saturday supported by America250, the Congress-created nonpartisan organization marking the 250th anniversary of the country. School and community beautification projects involving religious and secular volunteers are among the events expected to occur in more than 1,500 sites across the nation, accompanying a “kindness challenge,” an initiative that began in recent months to encourage small acts of kindness. “We want to empower everyone to be a good neighbor and do good,” said Gabe Bahlhorn of Love Has No Limits, …

A Vietnam veteran, a 7-year-old rescuer, NASA volunteers, and more good news today

A Vietnam veteran, a 7-year-old rescuer, NASA volunteers, and more good news today

Published by Jenni Sidey

When the news feels heavy, these stories offer a different kind of record: a veteran standing on a corner with his résumé, a child saving his mother, paramedics delivering a baby midflight, volunteers helping NASA, and strangers stepping in when someone else needed them. Each story is small in scale compared with the larger news cycle, but together they show people noticing, acting, and helping in ways that changed the day for someone else. Vietnam Veteran, Desperate for Work for 6 Years, Handed Out His Résumé on a Calif. Street Corner. Hours Later, He Had a Job George Silvey. (CREDIT: ABC10/YouTube) George Silvey was not asking for money when he stood on a California street corner in 2018. He was handing out his résumé. Silvey, a Vietnam veteran, had spent six years trying to find work. He had experience in maintenance, heavy equipment operation, painting and in-home healthcare, but nothing had turned into steady employment. So he tried something direct: he brought his résumé outside and offered it to people passing by. One woman noticed …

A single dad’s 47 foster kids, blind mom’s support, and more good news today

A single dad’s 47 foster kids, blind mom’s support, and more good news today

Published by Jenni Sidey

Some of the most meaningful stories rarely dominate headlines, but they’re happening every day. In these moments, a volunteer picks up a tool, a parent opens their home, a community gathers around a family, or a stranger decides to stop and help. The stories below move through different places and lives, but they share something steady—people stepping in when it matters, often without fanfare. Watershed Leader Encourages Year-Round Environmental Kindness Carmen Sledge is the board president of the Nature Preserve Foundation at the Watershed Nature Center. (CREDIT: Riley Hansen/The Intelligencer) Carmen Sledge came to the Watershed Nature Center through the same route as many people who rediscovered the outdoors during the pandemic: she needed somewhere quiet, open, and real. The Edwardsville preserve became that place for her family. Later, it became somewhere she wanted to serve. Sledge joined the Nature Preserve Foundation board in 2021 and now serves as its president, volunteering her time to help plan events, educate visitors, and connect people with ways to get involved. Her view of Earth Day is broader …

Trees Are Magic. in Newport, Volunteers Are Working to Expand Their Healthy Reach

Trees Are Magic. in Newport, Volunteers Are Working to Expand Their Healthy Reach

Published by Sam Flores

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — On Newport’s south side, historic and opulent mansions sit on an avenue with mature trees that help cool the neighborhoods, clean the air and foster wildlife. On the city’s poorer North End, where some streets are dotted with subsidized housing, big trees are a lot fewer and far between. “People in this neighborhood aren’t receiving the benefits of trees,” said Natasha Harrison, executive director of the Newport Tree Conservancy. “They need more.” The conservancy has planted hundreds of native trees to create a healthier forest in a 30-acre city-owned park, Miantonomi Memorial Park. Fifteen volunteers met staff from the conservancy at the park in the northern part of the city on Wednesday for Earth Day. Many native trees in the park’s forest have been crowded out by invasive plants, killed by disease or eaten by deer, rabbits and squirrels. This year, for the first time, the conservancy wanted to dig up native seedlings to nurture the trees in their nursery and replant them in the forest to better their chances of …

Baby Ember, Talia’s homecoming, Lunchroom Revolution and more good news today

Baby Ember, Talia’s homecoming, Lunchroom Revolution and more good news today

Published by Jenni Sidey

Even on days when the news feels heavy, small acts of care still keep showing up in powerful ways. Across the country, first responders, students, volunteers, families, and local organizations are helping strangers, supporting neighbors, and creating moments of real hope. These stories are not dramatic for the sake of it. They are uplifting because they are grounded in something simple and deeply human: people choosing to show up for one another. Clarksville first responders reunite with baby they helped deliver In the early morning hours on November 13, Rescue 10 and Engine 8 were dispatched to a first responder call that turned out to be something special. (CREDIT: WSMV) What began as a frantic 5:54 a.m. 911 call last November turned into a much calmer and happier reunion this week in Clarksville. WSMV reported that first responders were able to meet again with baby Ember, the girl they helped deliver after her mother went into active labor before the family could reach a hospital. Crews arrived within minutes, and Ember was born at 6:10 …

Scientists wired up volunteers’ genitals and had them watch animals hump to test a long-held theory

Scientists wired up volunteers’ genitals and had them watch animals hump to test a long-held theory

Published by José Betancourt

A recent experiment explored whether the simple visual cue of mating movements triggers sexual arousal in heterosexual men and women. The results showed that viewing muted clips of different animal species engaging in copulation failed to increase blood flow to the genitals or elicit self-reported arousal in either sex. These observations were published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Lucie Krejčová, a researcher at Charles University in Prague, and her colleagues developed this experiment to test existing theories about human sexual response. They wanted to understand the specific visual triggers that cause the human body to physically prepare for sexual intercourse. Physical arousal often operates independently from a person’s mental or emotional desire. Historically, studies have suggested a divide between how men and women react to explicit imagery. Men typically experience an increase in genital blood flow only when looking at individuals of their preferred gender. Their bodily responses tend to align closely with their stated sexual orientation. Heterosexual women often exhibit a different physical pattern in laboratory settings. Past experiments indicated that these …

Volunteers turn a fan’s recordings of 10,000 concerts into an online treasure trove

Volunteers turn a fan’s recordings of 10,000 concerts into an online treasure trove

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the inside track from Roisin O’Connor with our free weekly music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This Get our free music newsletter Now Hear This On July 8, 1989, a young music fan named Aadam Jacobs, with a compact Sony cassette recorder in his pocket, went to see an up-and-coming rock band from Washington for their debut show in Chicago. After a blast of guitar feedback, 20-year-old Kurt Cobain politely announced to the crowd at the small club called Dreamerz: “Hello, we’re Nirvana. We’re from Seattle.” With that, the band, then a quartet, launched into the riff-heavy first song, “School.” Jacobs surreptitiously recorded the performance, documenting the fledgling band in raw, fiery form more than two years before Nirvana’s global breakthrough with the album “Nevermind.” Jacobs went on to record more than 10,000 concerts, with increasingly sophisticated equipment, over four decades in Chicago and other cities. Now a group of devoted volunteers in the U.S. and Europe is methodically cataloging, digitizing and uploading them one by one. The …

Volunteers finally find Betty White—the rescue tortoise

Volunteers finally find Betty White—the rescue tortoise

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Betty White spent the winter hiding from the authorities. The roughly 20-year-old female Russian tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii) named after the iconic actress is one of Oregon’s Badger Run Wildlife Rehab resident reptiles. She went missing this past fall, only to be found months later underneath her enclosure by a volunteer named Rose. Russian tortoises like Betty White are found throughout Central Asia, including in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and China. After the fall of the Soviet Union, they became a popular export for former Soviet states.  “Almost all of the Russian tortoises in the pet trade are wild-caught and this has taken a toll on their species in their native territories along with habitat loss,” Laura Hale, a biologist and the president of Badger Run Wildlife Rehab, tells Popular Science. “They are considered endangered or threatened in much of their range.”  Betty White is a Russian tortoise, a species found through Central Asia. Image: Laura and John Hale …

Iranians Don’t Have a Missile Alert System, So Volunteers Built Their Own Warning Map

Iranians Don’t Have a Missile Alert System, So Volunteers Built Their Own Warning Map

Published by skeptic

Since Donald Trump’s war on Iran started more than three weeks ago, United States military forces have allegedly attacked more than 9,000 sites, creating a climate of fear and constant uncertainty for Iranians in Tehran and across the country. Without an advanced warning system from the government, and amid the longest internet shutdown in Iran’s history, Iranians are left in an information void. Even before Israel and the United States began dropping bombs, Iran’s lack of a public emergency alert tool and severe state-controlled digital oppression has impacted tens of millions of citizens. Since the 12-day Israel-Iran war last year, though, a group of Iranian digital rights activists and volunteers has been working to fill the gap with a dynamic, regularly updated mapping platform called Mahsa Alert. The project can’t replace real-time early alerts that could come from a coordinated government service, but the tool sends push notifications when Israeli forces warn about attacks, details some confirmed strike locations, and offers offline mapping capabilities. “There is no emergency alert in Iran,” says Ahmad Ahmadian, the …