In A Girl of the Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter writes, “The world is full of happy people, but no one ever hears of them. You have to fight and make a scandal to get into the papers.” Here is your opportunity to hear the good news: Every day people like you build a grateful world through acts of creativity and compassion.

NOTE: We add new items monthly so if you read a piece of grateful news on a reliable website, please send us a link.

Prison Non-Violence Program

For most of its 160 year history, San Quentin has been known as a tough place to do hard time. But over the past two decades, this has begun to change. Thanks to thousands of engaged citizens in the surrounding community, a growing number of innovative programs aimed at reducing violence and recidivism are having an impact. One of those programs – GRIP - was started by Jacques Verduin. » See Video

‘Provoking Peace’ in Indonesia

Is it possible for Indonesia's Muslim majority to coexist with Christians and other religious minorities without an authoritarian hand on the tiller? The answer is clear: Yes. A brave group of local community leaders, Muslim and Christian alike, who have helped heal the wounds of war and today act as the first responders of harmony when the fragile peace looks threatened. » Full Story

Seeing The (Northern) Light: A Temporary Arctic Retirement

Instead of retiring all at once years from now, Winston Chen and his family decided to take one year of retirement early and spend it more than 3,000 miles away from Boston, on a small granite island jutting from the Norwegian Sea north of the Arctic Circle. One year that helped them find unexpected riches, personal and professional.  » Read, look, and listen

Tasty, and Subversive, Too

Fruit looms large in the California psyche. Since the 1800s. Now a cheeky trio of artists have turned fruit trees into cultural symbols as well. The group, known as Fallen Fruit, recently planted what is being billed as the state’s first public fruit park in an unincorporated community. » Full Story

Filling Up an Empty Nest

RETIRING from work? Then it might be time to think about raising a family. Some brave older adults are turning the idea of retirement on its head by choosing to adopt children — this when many of their peers are traveling, socializing, taking up intellectual or entrepreneurial pursuits, or just plain relaxing.  » Full Story

Ballet Returns to Harlem

In 2004, the Dance Theater of Harlem, crippled by $2.3 million debt, was forced to put its company on hiatus. This April, the dance company reopens.
» See Video

An Empathy Video That Asks You To Stand in Someone Else's Shoes

This video is about human connection. When we relate to those around us by understanding their back stories and their circumstances, we improve the way we work, the way we live, and the way we take care of one another.  » See Video

Opening Up, Students Transform a Vicious Circle

Mr. Butler’s mission is to help defuse grenades of conflict at Ralph J. Bunche High School, the end of the line for students with a history of getting into trouble. He is the school’s coordinator for restorative justice, a program increasingly offered in schools seeking an alternative to “zero tolerance” policies like suspension and expulsion.  » Full Story

Ukraine's youngest HIV campaigner

Ukraine is suffering from one of Europe's worst Aids epidemics but most people with HIV have no access to the drugs that would enable them to lead normal lives - a fact that Liza Yaroshenko, age 14, is keen to point out.  » Full Story

Why I Count Glass Eels

Akiko Busch counts eels in a nearby stream.  This is called citizen science, loosely defined as scientific research in which amateurs help experts gather data. This work teaches him that our sense of place is derived from everything we know — along with everything that causes us to wonder.
» Full Story