10 heartwarming stories of 2014

SINGAPORE - Kindness begets kindness - sometimes it's true.

This week, a British student raised £21,000 (S$43,000) for a homeless man in Preston, England, who offered her his last few pounds to a taxi home.

The homeless man, known as Robbie, offered £3 to Ms Dominique Harrison-Bentzen when she lost her bank card after a night out. She later found that others had similar stories to tell about Robbie - how he returned wallets to pedestrians and offered others his scarf to keep warm, the Guardian reported.

She asked people to donate 3 pounds each to Robbie, and as part of the fund-raiser, she and some supporters spent a night out on the streets.

Robbie has since found a home, and has insisted that some of the money be used to help other homeless people, according to the "Help Robbie, Preston's Homeless Hero" Facebook page.

Stories like these go viral because they warm our hearts and remind us that there is still plenty of good in this world.

Here are some heartwarming stories from Singapore and around the world to brighten up your day:

Foreign workers rescue cat from drain

A video posted on Facebook by user "Yvonne Hairstyles" earlier this month shows a group of foreign workers scooping a bedraggled cat from a drain gushing with water.

In the video, one of the men carries the cat out of the water, while another man provides a traffic cone which they place the cat into.

The woman who did not mind getting her hands dirty

Ms Noriza A. Mansor did not move away from a stench at the FairPrice supermarket at Toa Payoh HDB Hub, where she works. Instead, the bedsheet promoter got as near as she could.

The smell was coming from Mr Tan Soy Yong, who had soiled himself while grocery-shopping with his wife, who moves around in a wheelchair, in October. He had faeces on his shorts and shins. There was also a small lump of faeces on his sandals.

Armed with a pail of water and tissue, she cleaned him up, and even sent the couple all the way to their home in Potong Pasir.

The mysterious shoe rack

When a shoe rack appeared outside the new home of Mr Priveen Raj and his wife in November, they were mystified.

It turned out to be a gift from Mr Raj Kumar, a contractor with Straits Construction Singapore. He wanted to thank the couple who often gave food and drinks to him and other workers who worked on their building project.

Four help disabled man cross road

Four people rushed to help a man who was having difficulty crossing the road in front of City Plaza in this incident that happened in October.

The disabled man was using his hands to drag himself across the road, and two shop assistants came to help him. Two pedestrians then ran over to help as well.

A motorist filmed the kind deed and submitted the video to citizen journalism website Stomp.

Motorists waited patiently for the man to cross the road, even though the traffic lights had turned green.

Not one, but seven bystanders help man hit by lorry

Seven people stopped to help a man in his 60s who had been knocked down by a lorry in Joo Chiat in April.

One staunched the flow of blood from his mouth and nose, another tried to reassure him, others directed traffic away, and called the ambulance.

"The lorry driver immediately went over to check on the man, and a number of passers-by stopped to help," said an eyewitness, Mr Goh.

Dozens of people lift car to extricate woman in China

In a video that went viral in November, dozens of strangers came to the rescue of a woman pinned under a car.

The CCTV footage of the accident in Zhejiang province showed a car mowing down a motorcycle. It ran over a woman who was riding pillion on the vehicle.

Dozens of people rushed over to lift the car, and get her out. She survived, Chinese reports said.

Couple in New York snowstorm gets help delivering baby

During a massive snow storm in New York in November, Bethany Hojnacki and her husband stopped to help another trapped driver.

The heavily pregnant Bethany went into labour early, and luckily for them, the driver they had helped turned out to be a paediatric nurse, according to media reports.

Baby Grace was delivered at a firehouse - with the help of a maternity nurse who also happened to be stranded there due to the snowstorm.

Officer buys shoplifting woman eggs

An Alabama woman stole five eggs to feed her starving family two weeks ago, but was caught when they broke in her pocket.

The police officer who was called in by the shop bought her the eggs, and gave her a hug. Last Wednesday, Officer William Stacy and his colleagues dropped by Helen Johnson's house to give her two truckloads of food.

Man gets a new kidney via Facebook

American Raleigh Callaway had kidney failure and was in need of a transplant, according to USA Today. The police officer posed for a photo with his wife and their daughters holding a sign that read, "Our daddy needs a kidney!". It went viral.

Chris Carroll, a health care consultant from Texas, ended up being a match, US media reports said. The transplant operation in February was successful.

Briton who did a good deed a day for a year

Luke Cameron started his daily good deed challenge last January in memory of a close friend who died from cancer in 2013.

Deeds include buying meals for strangers, making lemon drizzle cakes for friends and family, and doing chores for the elderly.

His personal campaign became a profession when he won a contest organised by Utility Aid for "The Nicest Job In Britain". The consultancy for not-for-profit organisations engaged Cameron as their National Philanthropy Manager, and he gets to travel around Britain helping a different charity each week.

This article was first published on December 20, 2014.
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