11 Good News Stories From The Heart Of America’s Communities

ACROSS AMERICA — The decades-long mystery of Karen Autenrieth’s lost wedding ring started unraveling with an innocent and unrelated comment on Facebook by a guy in suburban Chicago who lost his in a snowbank late last month.

It stirred a memory for one woman, who had dug up a wedding ring while gardening. In the online game of tag, the Ridge Historical Society picked up the trail, which eventually ended in San Antonio, Texas, where Robert and Karen Autenrieth live today.

On Valentine’s Day, he slipped the ring back on his wife’s finger on national television.

She had lost it in the snow in 1973. It slipped off the finger of the young mother with children ages 2, 3 and 4 as she brushed snow from her car. She looked but couldn’t find it. Her husband searched with her after the snow melted. Eventually, the ring was replaced.

Carol Flynn, a Ridge Historical Society researcher and writer, shares the story on Beverly-Mt. Greenwood Patch. As a reminder, Patch invites you to post on our open platform.

Below, read 10 more heart-filled stories reported and written by Patch editors across America.

This Kid Is All Heart

Donating all the toys he got for Christmas to Toys for Tots wasn’t enough for Mason Francisco. As Valentine’s Day rolled around, the Clark, New Jersey, 5-year-old got busy in the kitchen baking chocolate smash hearts, donating the money from sales to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Food Bank of Rahway. When he was 3, his parents introduced him to the concept of charity. “We started to explain to him how to donate and that we can’t be selfish,” said his mom, Nicole Francisco. “We taught him that it's not about having to donate but wanting to do it. We never forced him to do it.” By Alexis Tarrazi for Clark Patch

These Kids Have Hearts For Justice

Four Orland Park, Illinois, students know the power of books, and they want to make sure primary school students in Botswana, a county in Southern Africa, have the some of the advantages they have. Bostwana has made progress reversing centuries of abject poverty, but some schools lack the most basic of resources. Their Alliance for African Education was created from a single question: "We thought, 'How can we help them?' And then we said the best way to help would be to increase the quality of the education that students have there,” said one of the students, Joseph Dajani. By Yasmeen Sheikah for Orland Park Patch

Her Heart Beats With Kindness

Inspired by the story of a Black Alabama attorney who went to visit a white inmate on death row to show him some kindness before he was executed, Holly Myers wondered why exhibiting similar levels of care couldn't be put on display by her neighbors in Moorestown, New Jersey. That was in 1996, and Moorestown has been setting aside a week every year around Valentine’s Day to recognize acts of kindness — all because Myers has a big, soft and open heart. By Jeff Arnold for Moorestown Patch

Her Heart Filled With Joy Again

Summer Shatat was 16 when a car struck her mother and she watched her die. The experience changed her. How could it not? She lost herself. She worked as a stylist for a while, realized it was a temporary fix, and went into therapy with determination. She came to realize what a lifeline the job had been. “You're a retail therapist,” her counselor said. “You make people feel seen and heard through fashion." By Yasmeen Sheikah for Orland Park Patch

These Hearts Conspired For Joy

There is so much that isn’t fair in the lives of kids stuck in the hospital. With all they’re bearing on their little shoulders, not being able to play in the snow may seem relatively minor — but it’s a part of childhood a couple of nurses at a Livingston, New Jersey, hospital recognized would go a long way to making a little girl named Joy feel some normalcy in her life. They brought the snow into her hospital room so she could build a snowman. By Eric Kiefer for Lewiston Patch

This Heart Is Beating Again

The stars seemed perfectly aligned on Valentine’s Day. Megan Milota is splitting her time between the family’s former home in Maryland and the one they’re moving to in Raritan, New Jersey. The first lucky star is that she was in her new hometown that day. The second is that her son’s hockey coach had forgotten his mask, so she ran into a seafood market to pick up the lobster he wanted for a special dinner that evening. The third — and this is particularly lucky for the man sprawled out on the floor — is that she’s a CPR instructor and happened to walk into the store just as a clerk was telling a 911 operator, “I don’t know how to do CPR.” How Milota came to learn the lifesaving technique is a story in itself, and she firmly believes she was meant “to walk into that store at that time.” By Alexis Tarrazi for Hillsborough Patch

Hearts Full Of Hope

Little kids and big kids in Morristown, New Jersey, got snow days while a nor’easter pummeled the city with nearly 30 inches of snow. But volunteers for a small nonprofit feeding people inside a church pushed on, balancing the facts that leaving home wasn’t safe but neither is hunger. "If there's a chance of a snowstorm or it starts snowing, the lines at Walmart and ShopRite go from the back of the store to the front," said the Rev. Dr. Sidney S. Williams Jr., who runs Table of Hope. "Well, there's a significant number of people who have the same need but don't have the same resources to stock up." By Josh Bakan for Morristown Patch

Filling Stomachs Starts At The Heart

The coronavirus pandemic has changed life as we know it, affecting people, businesses, schools and nonprofits in unthinkable ways. High school seniors looking forward to the traditions and milestones of their last year have found themselves disappointed as activity after activity had to be canceled. But a group of high school seniors in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, found a way to lift their spirits and help others with a weeklong food drive competition to feed the hungry in the greater Annapolis area. The school has been holding in-person classes since September and wanted to do something special. By Kristin Danley-Greiner for Crofton Patch

“Squeezed Their Way Into Our Hearts”

A family at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Cranston, Rhode Island, again expanded this month, with the arrival of quadruplet river otter pups. The four babies — two male, two female — "squeezed their way into our hearts" earlier this month the zoo said in a statement. The pups will remain off-exhibit to the public for several more weeks as they continue to grow. Zoo staff check in on the babies daily, performing weigh-ins and making sure they look healthy. By Rachel Nunes for Cranston Patch

This Doggo May Already Have Your Heart

Bowie is the most famous police dog in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and he got another notch in his collar on Valentine’s Day when he took down a suspect in a burglary in progress. The award-winning canine police officer has been featured on reality programs and showed why on Sunday, when he sniffed out the suspect hiding between air conditioning units on a rooftop. By Doug Gross for Warminster Patch