9 Good News Stories: UPS Driver Saves 8; Neighborliness After Ida

ACROSS AMERICA — Nick Dirla had worked for UPS for only a few weeks when he earned his place in company lore, contributing to the package delivery service’s reputation for supporting communities and the people who live in them.

Hurricane Ida had turned Bridgewater, New Jersey, residential streets into swift rivers. “This was not your normal rain,” the 22-year-old said. He was nervous, but his delivery truck was large and he figured he’d be able to slog through the flooded streets. He wanted to finish his last delivery and call it a day.

Dirla was approaching an overpass when he ran into what he called “carnage”: a street filled with cars floating in water up to their windows. His decision to plow through the water hadn’t been a wise one — or was it?

Stranded himself, Dirla rescued a woman who pleaded “Help! Help! You gotta help me!” He pulled her into his truck. He did the same with an older couple, frozen with fear as their car filled up with water. Dirla rescued five more people that day.

Dirla didn’t think what he did was any “big deal,” but his mother, Patty Dirla, is proud of her son and thinks “people need to hear this nice story.” By Alexis Tarrazi for Bridgewater, New Jersey, Patch

A $3,000 Welcome To The Neighborhood

Ida dealt a devastating blow to New Jersey. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people in Cranford lost nearly everything when their homes were flooded. Julien, a 9-year-old whose family was new to the neighborhood, took it all in and wanted to help. He and other neighbors raised $3,000 for local charities. His mom said she was “overwhelmed” by the generosity shown in her new hometown. By Caren Lissner for Cranford, New Jersey, Patch

$31K In Goodwill For Flood Victims

The Hossain-Miu family of Millburn, New Jersey, was among those who lost almost everything to Ida, which slammed into the Gulf Coast last month as a Category 4 hurricane and slogged north with record amounts of rain. The family had to be rescued from their home, which filled with sewage and floodwater. It’s uninhabitable now and will be for some time, leaving the family of four — including two kids ages 5 and 3 —without a home. In just a day, nearly $31,000 was raised in a crowdfunding campaign to help the family. By Remy Samuels for Millburn-Short Hills, New Jersey, Patch

Spoiler: Boa Smaller Than A Thigh

As reasons for being late to a birthday party go, Bridget Moschetti has one that may be hard to top. She can blame a 7-foot boa. OK, the snake wasn’t much of a spoiler; it wasn’t “15-16 feet long and as big around as my thigh,” as Moschetti reported to police, who dismissed the constrictor as “wildlife.” She did her own detective work to help find the owner or, at least, someone who could rescue the snake after it slithered into a storm drain. The grapevine worked, and an experienced snake handler was soon on the scene of the great snake escape. By Lanning Taliaferro for Nanuet, New York, Patch

Mystery Woman A ‘Guardian Angel’

The Theodorou brothers — Georgie, 9 and Demetri, 11 — were on a shopping errand with their grandmother Kiki Gates when they met a woman they now call their guardian angel. When the younger boy choked on candy, Gatses tried unsuccessfully to dislodge it. After a clerk at the grocery store in Mokena, Illinois, made an urgent call over the store intercom for help, a mystery woman showed up, performed the Heimlich maneuver until the piece of candy popped out and quietly slipped out of the store befor anyone could get her name. But she reappeared, pressing a $5 bill in Georgie’s hand. “Here,” she said, “go buy soft candy so you don’t choke.” The family doesn’t know the woman’s name, something they’re hoping to rectify. By TJ Kremer III for Mokena, Illinois, Patch

Prescription For Loneliness

Hita Gupta, a 16-year-old Pennsylvania high school student, had an awakening volunteering at a retirement center in her hometown: Loneliness is an acute condition among many older people, and the pandemic was making it worse, creating anxiety and even panic among the residents long separated from their loved ones. To help, Gupta started a nonprofit, Brighten A Day Foundation, whose current project is to shower older adults isolated from their families with cards and letters, video messages and care packages to let them know they’re not alone. By Marlene Lang for Tredyffrin-Easttown, Pennsylvania, Patch

Finding Magic In 'Cotton Candy Clouds'

Bryanna Kitchen died in 2016, months after doctors diagnosed the Maryland 9-year-old with an aggressive form of cancer. She was the kind of kid who took pleasure in pretty and interesting things she saw in nature, like a line of ants that she remarked was probably “a family on their way home,” said her mother, Kristena Kitchen, who recently published a children’s book, “Cotton Candy Clouds,” a collection of the stories she spun for her daughter while she was hospitalized. She hopes it will lift other sick kids as it did her daughter and help them experience the magic of childhood. “You’re too sick to start thinking about fun things,” Kitchen said. “You're too sick to look outside your windows for unicorns.” By Colleen Martin for Silver Spring, Maryland, Patch

Huge Surprise On A Milestone Birthday

At 4, Chris Milecki (top photo) has more to celebrate than most kids his age, or even twice or three times his age. Diagnosed with leukemia before he was 2, Chris had been declared cancer-free just months before. His parents cooked up a big surprise: An Amazon delivery van would show up at his house with a bicycle. The surprise was on the entire Milecki family, though. Amazon worked with news stations to collect $6,000 worth of pajamas, games, baby rattles, pacifiers and other items that will be donated in the boy’s name to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. By Kristin Danley-Greiner for Columbia, Maryland, Patch

Return Of Woolly Mammoths?

Woolly mammoths didn’t survive the Ice Age, but Colossal, a Texas-based bioscience and genetics company, is making moves to bring back these extinct relatives of today’s elephants. Colossal’s technology not only has the power to bring back extinct species, but also help preserve critically endangered species on the verge of extinction. By Meagan Falcon for Downtown Austin, Texas, Patch

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