11 Good News Stories: ‘Color Me Mortified’; Kismet At The Kennel

ACROSS AMERICA — A library in Ohio is reporting another case of patron’s remorse.

“Color me mortified,” the person confessed in a letter accompanying a copy of an E.E. Cummings poetry collection checked out from a Cleveland Heights library so long ago that it was forgotten in a box packed for a move. “I’m so very sorry."

A crisp $2 bill was attached as well, though fines for overdue books were suspended a couple of years ago.

Heights Libraries spokeswoman Cheryl Banks wonders if the customer was motivated to come clean after learning another patron had returned a Bob Dylan album that was nearly a half-century overdue. By Chris Mosby for Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Patch

Kismet At The Kennel

It doesn’t happen this way often, but a family looking for their lost dog and another one hoping to find a stray’s owner showed up at the same time at a shelter in Georgia. The shelter staff said the “perfect reunion of happenstance” illustrates “that we truly rely on you, the community, to provide happy endings for the pets in our care.” By Michelle Rotuno-Johnson for Brookhaven, Georgia, Patch

‘Put Me In, Coach! I’m Ready To Play!’

The John Fogerty anthem “Centerfield” could’ve been written for Alexia Jorge, the first woman ever to play on the Saint Elizabeth University baseball team. “No, Dad, I want to play baseball,” Alexia Jorge told her dad, her tee-ball and baseball coach when he asked her young self if she’d rather switch to softball. “And I was 4 or 5, so it was just straight passion and love for the game.” By Josh Bakan for Morristown, New Jersey, Patch

Sweet Taste Of Success

There's nothing quite like the feeling Jake Lukens and Michelle Anderson get when the doorbell rings at the Moose and Me home-based bakery and it's time for them to present a customer with the cakes or cookies they've created. A $63,000 Kickstarter campaign means bakery owner Megan Elder will be able to move the business to a storefront, where she will be able to hire more adults living with disabilities. "Our goal is not only to make delicious things with adults with disabilities, but to create an environment where our employees and community members can have positive interactions," Elder said. By Lisa Marie Farver for Naperville, Illinois, Patch

Where All Things Thrive

Tucked in a little corner of farmland in Frankfort, Illinois, exists a place where all things nature thrive: fruits and vegetables, animals, and people. As abundant as the acres of farm are the smiles on the faces of the visitors who go to Navarro Farm, run by a nonprofit group that aims to provide a space for children with special needs to grow, to learn, to share in the enjoyment of each other's company and to spread that growth throughout the community. By TJ Kremer III for Frankfort, Illinois, Patch

Fresh From The Good News Garden

Here’s a cornucopia of good news for people living with food insecurity in Fairfax and Prince William, Virginia: The Good News Community Kitchen is able to extend its hunger relief efforts to more people with the produce grown in the Good News Garden. It’s also good news for students at Lake Braddock Secondary School who are learning the value of service. By Emily Leayman for Burke, Virginia, Patch

A Cut Above

The Orange County firefighters and medics who responded when a 93-year-old man collapsed while mowing his lawn decided the gentleman shouldn’t have to worry about an unkempt lawn when he returned home from the hospital. Several of them stayed behind to finish the chore. Word of their good deed quickly spread, but an Orange County Fire Authority spokesman said being involved in the community is part of the job. By Ashley Ludwig for Los Alamitos-Seal Beach, California, Patch

Police Answer Pizza 911

Another example of public servants going above what’s expected of them was found in Prince George’s County, Maryland. A police officer personally delivered a pizza he found in a crashed delivery car that had been abandoned. The customer was in the throes of a genuine pizza emergency — the pizza was already an hour and a half late. By Jacob Baumgart for Bowie, Maryland, Patch

Here Comes The Bride

2020 was like a messy divorce for the wedding industry, and especially so for bridal consultants like Luzette Njweipi. Most of her business came from bridal shows, which came to a halt with the pandemic. More than anything, Njweipi needed a physical space for brides to try on their dresses. She cut recently the ribbon on Lulu Bridal Shop and Global Events — an act a Dulles Virginia, Regional Chamber of Commerce official said was a positive sign after “a year and a half of hell for all businesses — small, medium, and large sized businesses.” By Michael O'Connell for Herndon, Virginia, Patch

A Dreamer’s Dream

A “Dreamer” who came from Pakistan to the United States with his parents as a child, Umaar Ehsan’s residency is safe for now under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. And he’s making the most of it. The Fairfax City, Virginia, man plans to be in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the start of the fall semester of a one-year accelerated master’s degree program at Harvard University. He’s raised some of what he needs to pay the $75,000 tuition and plans to apply for scholarships. His citizenship status puts financial aid off-limits. "I don't have the same opportunities that my counterparts do," Ehsan told Patch in July. "I'm American in every sense of the word, except for this fact that I don't have a piece of paper that says I am." By Michael O’Connell for Fairfax City, Virginia, Patch

It’s About Time

Corey Gray and his mother, Sharon Yellowfin, are using her translation of materials related to the detection of gravitational waves — something Albert Einstein predicted more than a century ago — into the Blackfoot language as a platform to discuss the harmful cultural effect of residential schools for indigenous people. By Beth Dalbey for Across America Patch

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