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Meet people helping others through rescues, volunteering and everyday care. Read positive stories about kindness, with names, places and sources.
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On 12 October 2026, brothers Maddox and Grant Larger, aged 15 and 14, pulled a grandmother and two young children from a retention pond in Carmel, Indiana. Neither the grandmother nor the 4-year-old could swim. Carmel public safety teams said the brothers' quick actions saved the life of the 2-year-old.
Pandora the cat escaped in 2020 when her family's car crashed in Perthshire while they were moving house. Six years later, a Cats Protection volunteer scanned a cat near Perth and found Pandora's microchip, with the family's details still on record. She is now back home.
J-P Mayhew, owner for 40 years, has donated the freehold of 34-35 Maiden Lane in Covent Garden, home of Rules restaurant since 1798, to the National Trust. The gift is valued at more than £11m. Rules will keep trading under its proprietor, who becomes a Trust tenant, and the rent will support conservation.
Zion Jerge rescued a father and his adult son from a Foster City swimming pool and performed CPR on the unconscious son; both survived. Cal Poly Maritime Academy reported the rescue, and KTVU later interviewed the senior cadet.
Nora Mubarak was wrongly accused online of trying to harm an injured seagull chick in Grimsby, after video of her rescue spread without context. North East Lincolnshire Council leader Cllr Oliver Freeston publicly retracted the claims and confirmed she was saving the bird, which was safely returned to its nest.
An Indian traveller's video showing strangers in Tokyo and Osaka walking her to train platforms and stations went viral in July 2026. India TV News reported that the encounters left the traveller, known online as Akankshaa, with what she called a memory she would cherish for life.
Metallica's charitable foundation, All Within My Hands, donated £20,000 to Cardiff Foodbank after the band's sold-out Principality Stadium show on 28 June 2026, days after the charity publicly appealed for help with empty warehouse shelves. Cardiff Foodbank's chief executive called it the largest celebrity donation the charity has ever received, and the BBC estimated the gift would fund roughly 9,000 meals.
Mohsin Qayyum, 22, and Mohammed Yusuf Iqbal, 20, rescued Sheila Robinson, 77, her husband, and their 14-year-old grandson from a house fire in Kirkstall, Leeds, on June 19, 2026. West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service confirmed two crews were needed to extinguish the blaze, and AOL News verified the family's account of the rescue.
Molly Selin, 27, met 81-year-old Maria on a New York subway in May 2026 and promised to help her fulfil her dream of visiting her native Puerto Rico. Selin's TikTok post about the meeting drew more than 3 million views. Delta and Hilton offered flights and a place to stay for a trip planned for July.
Twelve-year-old Markos Abaye took his sick chicken to Denbecha Primary Hospital in Ethiopia's Amhara region. A nurse's video of his visit drew 770,000 views on TikTok. The chicken was treated by a vet, and a poultry company said it would give Markos 100 chickens and training.
Vietnamese police dismantled a cat theft ring supplying the illegal meat trade in Ho Chi Minh City in mid-June 2026, rescuing more than 400 live cats and arresting nine suspects who had trapped animals across southern Vietnam for three years. Al Jazeera reported more than 40 cats were reunited with their owners, and veterinarians and volunteers are providing round-the-clock care for the rest.
Universiti Malaya's Department of Social and Preventive Medicine ran a free community health and dengue prevention day in Ampang, Selangor, on 13 June 2026, offering children aged 7 to 12 anaemia screening and dengue vaccination alongside games and health booths. The event was organised jointly with the DUN Lembah Jaya constituency office and Selangor's SUKA community health volunteers, and the outcomes were confirmed in a report published by the university's Faculty of Medicine on 15 June 2026.
Edinburgh Giants Inclusive Sports Club received over £26,000 in National Lottery Awards for All funding in June 2026 to train 12 coaches and run a 9-month wheelchair rugby league programme for around 100 disabled children and young people. The club became the first Scottish team to reach the top-flight wheelchair rugby league Super League in June 2025.
New Zealand Blood Service reported more than 25,000 New Zealanders donated plasma in the past year, the highest number ever recorded, announced during National Blood Donor Week (8-14 June 2026). Despite the record, NZBS said it still needs to recruit 4,000 more donors over the next 12 months to meet growing demand, with only around 4% of eligible New Zealanders currently donating.
The Islamabad High Court issued a ruling on 22 May 2026 permanently banning authorities from poisoning, shooting, or indiscriminately killing street dogs, instead mandating Catch-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release (CNVR) programmes and detailed record-keeping. Dog Desk Animal Action reported the judgment restricts euthanasia to exceptional cases — confirmed rabies, severe injury, or terminal illness — under veterinary supervision only.
Lorraine Bullar, a trained RNLI rescuer, swam 15 metres into freezing Stanley Park Lake in Blackpool on April 18, 2026, to free a seagull trapped in fishing line for more than five hours. Good News Network verified the rescue with Brambles Wildlife Rescue, which is now caring for the bird, named Patience.
Daily Bread Food Bank now distributes more than 35 million pounds of food a year from its Etobicoke hub across a network of 214 programs, as food bank visits across Toronto reached a record 4.1 million in the past year, CBC News reported. The food bank has already logged more than 920,000 visits since the start of 2026, ahead of last year's pace.
The Vancouver Park Board runs adapted and integrated recreation programs for children, youth, adults, and seniors with disabilities, including adaptive aquatics, day camps, and a Summer Sports Festival. Partner organisations extend the offering further: SportAbility runs Boccia, Power Soccer, and Para Ice Hockey, while Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports runs skiing and snowboarding at Grouse, Seymour, and Cypress Mountains.
These stories focus on people responding to the needs of others. Reporting notes explain what a source confirms and where an account still leaves questions.