9 Good News Stories, Starting With Boy Who Mimicks His Way Into A Play Date With White Sox

ACROSS AMERICA — It’s been said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and when a 7-year-old from Tinley Park, Illinois, mimicked the Chicago White Sox again and again, the club took notice.

Brooks Johnson is “obsessed” with the White Sox and has mimicked almost every member of the team in one way or another, his mother says. The second-grader got so good at mimicking pitcher Liam Hendriks that his mom thinks it improved his game.

“Mommy,” he told her, “I throw a bunch of strikes when I imitate Liam Hendricks when I pitch, so I’m gonna kept doing it.’ ”

Brooks did his best Liam Hendriks for a video posted to social media, and the Australia-born pitcher saw it and commented. It didn’t end with the social media exchange, though. Before he knew it, Brooks was on the home turf of the White Sox pitcher, asking a question of Hendriks that puzzled him — “Why do you scream like crazy when you pitch?” — as they played catch in the Major League Baseball stadium. By Yasmeen Sheikah for Tinley Park, Illinois, Patch

Near Deportation Ignited A Fire

Theresa Maughan, New Jersey’s 2021 “teacher of the year,” has never forgotten what it was like to almost be deported. Her parents’ visas expired when Maughan was in seventh grade. Her social studies teacher stepped in to prevent her from being sent back to Belize, providing a real-life civics lesson that inspired her own career as a history teacher. By Eric Kiefer for West Orange, New Jersey, Patch

Correcting A Grave Injustice

For his Eagle Scout project, Vikram Ravi is setting out to correct a grave injustice at the Alamo-Lafayette Veterans Cemetery. Many of the 200 graves lack markers, “and the ones who do only have tiny and improper pointers not fit to represent those who died for our country,” he said. He’s raising money for proper grave markers, and also is building an interactive online map so visitors can easily find the veterans who are buried there. By Bea Karnes for Lamorinda, California, Patch

Why She Runs

This year's Boston Marathon is intensely personal for Lisa Raeke. She plans to run for her friend’s son, Greyson Beauregard, who was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident last fall two weeks before his 13th birthday. But she abandoned the official Boston Marathon course and created her own through her town of Walpole, where she aims to raise awareness of the Goals for Greyson charity. “We really want to encourage the community to participate in any way that they can,” she said. “If you would like to walk or jog a bit of the way for me, that's great. To me, this is not about a race. It's about a community effort." By Mary Ellen Gambon for Walpole, Massachusetts, Patch

Ink Deal With Students

Slippery Rock University President William Behre wants nothing more than to get a tattoo — though it’s hardly been his lifelong desire. Whether he gets inked depends on students at the Pennsylvania college: If 75 percent of them get their COVID-19 vaccinations by Dec. 1, Behre will get a Slippery Rock-themed tattoo on his bicep in a campus event. By Eric Heyl for Pittsburgh Patch

‘I Do’ In The Middle Of An Ocean

Well, who doesn’t want a wedding with dolphins whistling and leaping nearby? Catarina Salvador Espírito Santo Cristovão Neto, 31, and Zeal Barclay Levin, 30, exchanged wedding vows while sitting atop their surf boards. Meanwhile, a pod of dolphins just happened to be swimming in the area. By Alexis Tarrazi for Bridgewater, New Jersey, Patch

A Grand Prize ‘I Do’

The run-up to his wedding was fraught with worry for Joseph McCloud. He was fretting about how to pay for the wedding, postponed by COVID-19, while also worrying about his fiancee, Emilia Gonzalez, a nurse working on the front lines of the pandemic. He won a $30,000 wedding at a Napa, California, resort in a contest for front-line workers. “I swear, I swear,” he said, “this is the most touching thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life.” By Jeff Arnold for Castro Valley, California, Patch

Community Power Restores Power

Blair Watts has had a rough go of it. He’s the man behind Birdie’s Kitchen, known around Spring City, Pennsylvania, for making the best wings, collard greens and soul food in the borough. The pandemic put him in arrears on his utility bill, but he figured out how to make what he owed and more at a weekend festival. Still, the utility shut off power to his restaurant when he missed a payment, putting the future of his entire operation on the line. But backed by the power of his community, a crowdfunding campaign raised enough money to pay the bill in full. By Marlene Lang for Limerick-Royersford-Spring City, Pennsylvania, Patch

Creating Lasting Memories

A Frankfort, Illinois, woman has come up with a way to help her neighbors cope with the loss of a pet before the animal crosses what’s commonly known as “the rainbow bridge.” Victoria Vazquez is offering free “Rainbow Sessions” — end-of-life photography shoots. "My whole life is about dogs," Vazquez said. "So, I figured why not help out the community and people in need, especially with something so tough." By TJ Kremer III for Frankfort, Illinois, Patch

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