5 good things that happened in the world this week

Negative news is never fun to see. We’re changing things around, toss out some positive vibes, and talk about five good things that happened this week.

Lately, it feels like social media and news outlets are filled with a lot of doom and gloom news. Much like in our daily lives, we should to take a break from this negativity and recharge with some heartfelt news articles… like Disney campaigning to save the lions or Robert Downey Jr’s newest initiative to save the environment in the most Tony Stark way.

We’ve compiled five good things that have happened recently that you might not have seen, and if you have, it’s a reminder that good things still happen all the time. Enjoy!

1. Pilot pays for stranded teen’s airplane ticket

Robert Fonte, a United Airlines pilot, noticed 19-year-old Kiana Coffin looking distressed while talking to a TSA agent. The teen, who was on a flight back to school from visiting her family in Hawaii, became stranded in Seattle due to poor weather. Fonte said that Coffin reminded him of his own daughter who was about his age and decided to help her.

He came to the rescue and ended up purchasing a new plane ticket for the teen. Dave Coffin, Kiana’s father, was grateful for the kind gesture, saying “From dad to dad, there are no words that could express my gratitude towards Robert for what he has done.”

2. Father and son create organization to save the bees

BERLIN, GERMANY – MAY 17: A bee in flight approaches a flower on May 17, 2019 in Berlin, Germany. May 20 is World Bee Day, which is drawing more attention this year in comparison to previous years due to the strong and ongoing decline of bee populations in industrialized nations across the globe. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Australian father and son Stuart and Cedar Anderson are taking the bee keeping biz by storm. For decades, the Andersons have been involved with bee keeping and Cedar has taken things a step further. A fan of inventing things in their shed, Cedar and his father wanted to find a way to harvest honey from their hives that would be less stressful on the bees.

Their solution? The Flow Hive: an artificial beehive that let’s gravity do all of the work in collecting honey all in one place. Since their business took off, they’ve been responsible for doling out over 51,000 new bee colonies to bee keepers all over the world.

3. Joy Harjo becomes first Native American U.S. Poet Laureate

Joy Harjo, a musician and poet, just became the first Native American Poet Laureate for the United States.

“It’s such an honoring for Native people in this country, when we’ve been so disappeared and disregarded,” she told NPR, “And yet we’re the root cultures, over 500-something tribes and I don’t know how many at first contact. But it’s quite an honor … I bear that honor on behalf of the people and my ancestors. So that’s really exciting for me.”

A proud member of the Muscogee Creek Nation, Harjo is happy to be an ambassador for poetry.

4. Hong Kong billionaire promises to pay college students tuition

OXFORD, ENGLAND – MAY 03: Businessman Li Ka Shing, who according to Forbes is the eighth richest person in the world, addresses an audience in the newly opened ‘Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery’ at Oxford University on May 3, 2013 in Oxford, England. Mr Cameron was joined by Mr Li and the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Lord Patten, to launch a 90 million GBP initiative in ‘big data’ processing and drug discovery. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Billionaire Li Ka Shing will reportedly be paying the full tuition of the entire class of 2023 at Shantou University. This news comes just over a month after billionaire Robert F. Smith announced that he would pay off the student loans for the class of 2019 at Morehouse College.

Shing will be paying around $14 million a year until the class of 2023’s graduation. Shing’s foundation gave a statement saying that this donation was in the hopes to “encourage the pursuit of personal interests and further learning to better prepare graduates for the challenges of an increasingly complex global economy.”

5. Dog shelter starts dog happy hour for volunteers

AUSTIN, TX – MARCH 09: ?Clear the Shelters? Puppy Lounge and Xfinity Home at the Comcast NBCUniversal House at SXSW on March 9, 2019 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Comcast NBCUniversal)

Ever wanted a daily dose of puppy love but didn’t have a way to do it? Well an animal shelter in Washington D.C. could be the place for you. Humane Rescue Alliance started a “happy hour” program that allows volunteers to spend time and play with their furry friends in an effort to reduce the stress on a dog who is waiting for their forever home.

According to one of their volunteers, Moira Hopkins, “The happy hour is a very manageable, bite-sized thing to do. This is a great way to spend time with a dog and get them out of the shelter.”

Have you seen any good news that made you smile lately? Share with us in the comments below!