By: Priya MigneaultWhen I realized the time had come for this volume of Your Weekly Dose of Hope I honestly didn't think I'd find much, but I was wrong. Even though the events of this past week have been very depressing for many, we must remember people are constantly doing good in our world and trying to make it a better place. This week there was so much good news, but I'm going to only be able to tell you about a few of my favourites, so let's get right to it. Over the past 10 days Scott Rudes, the principal of Booker T. Washington High School, traveled 1,500 miles to honour the entire graduating class of 2020. He wore a full cap and gown and went to all 240 seniors' houses to hand deliver them their diplomas. He says, "One of our core values at our school is to ignite joy, and that is what I saw on the faces of my seniors and their families. Just a few minutes of joy in the midst of all this uncertainty." Booker T. Washington High School is a school of performing and visual arts in Dallas, Texas. "Whatever presents in life, find the opportunity with that and run with it," says Rudes, "That's one of the things I think we do best at a school like ours with artists, to teach them to view the world from multiple perspectives and to be creative and expressive. I think that's what gets them through the hard times." This hybrid floating ocean platform that can generate power from wind, solar, and wave energy was just launched and it's the first of its kind. The prototype for this creation is stationed off the coast of Greece, and is believed to potentially help enable isolated islands to have clean, renewable energy. The hybrid was designed by the German company, Sinn Power, and was patented two years ago. The piece is a lightweight, scalable, durable, and easy to fix structure for maximum efficiency. It generates 26 kilowatts of energy that is mostly created through waves. The design creates the most energy through waves because it is able to move up and down depending on the tide for the maximum absorption of energy. Many nations have already visited the prototype and seem interested in its capabilities. Sinn Power is hoping to release the hybrid onto the market in the Fall of 2020. When prom was canceled for Curtis Rogers babysitter he thought otherwise. Curtis, who is seven years old from North Carolina, invited his babysitter, 17 year old Rachel Chapman, to prom. He held a mini social distancing prom in his backyard for her. Rachel had been babysitting Curtis for over a year before the COVID-19 outbreak and had become a large part of the Rogers family. Little Curtis took the phase 'go big or go home' to the max when he donned a purple suit to match Rachel's dress, used a giant handmade banner to invite her, and danced with her from six feet apart. He set up a fancy dinner table in the backyard and ordered her favourite food from Chick-Fil-A. Rachel was very surprised with the lengths Curtis took to make her mini-prom amazing and special. Curtis wins prom king in my books this year. As always stay safe everyone, Priya
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By: Priya MigneaultYour Weekly Dose of Hope is a segment dedicated to good news and uplifting stories, if you have any good news you like us to share let us know in the comments below. Let’s get right into the good news from this past week. Despite the pandemic and social distancing orders people are still connecting. Last Friday Calgary’s United Churches held their monthly youth worship service through an Instagram live call and a zoom meeting. For the past five months the services have been talking about the five love languages with each language getting its own one hour service. We all need love, especially now and Calgary’s United Churches along with other places of worship everywhere have been continuing to provide a sense of boundless love and connection to their members and community. 10 year old, Chelsea Phaire, has donated over 1,500 kits of art supplies to youth shelters across America since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chelsea is from Connecticut, USA and she runs the ‘Chelsea’s Charity’, which she started in August 2019. Her mom says, “Since she was seven, she was begging me and her dad to start a charity," According to CNN. Before the pandemic Chelsea would personally deliver the art supply kits and teach a class to youth living in the centre, but since then she has switched up her approach and started mailing the kits. Chelsea’s art kits have been sent to foster homes and homeless shelters across the country. The Government of British Columbia purchased the Comfort Inn hotel in Victoria for $18.5 million this past week. They did this to open the facility up as a shelter to those experiencing homelessness during this time and to create jobs in the area. The facility is equipped with social supports and sanitation supplies, and those who are going to work in the shelter are re-hired workers who had been laid off due to the pandemic. The municipality of Price Rupert, B.C. also recently purchased a hotel and converted it into a shelter for low income individuals. Both of these purchases are apart of a province wide goal to build 3,000 low income housing units for seniors, ingenious people, low income families, students, women & children trying to escape abuse, and those who are or those who are at risk of experiencing homelessness. Over 200 individuals have come through the shelters already. Remember there is good in this complex world and you contribute to it. Priya By: Priya MigneaultCanada Health has approved the first trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine to be tested in clinics. The process of getting vaccines approved usually takes years, but has been accelerated in this situation. Even though this information was just released there are over a hundred Canadians ready to volunteer to be test subjects. Although, only 100 subjects, ages 18-55, are going to be in the first phase and closely monitored for six months. Canada is not the only country trying to develop a new vaccine with multiple countries also trying to develop new research on COVID-19 and a vaccine. There are new scientific strides on COVID-19 everyday and we will find a solution together. Greta Thunberg recently received an award from Human Act for her fight against climate change, which entailed $100,000. All of the money she was given, she donated to UNICEF to help them in their fight against COVID-19. Both Human Act and the Greta Thunberg Foundation partnered up with UNICEF because they believe that COVID-19 can and will create child rights violations unless youth are protected. Human Act also contributed another $100,000 to match Greta Thunberg's donation. UNICEF has stated that the money will all be going to COVID-19 relief, which includes sanitation kits, hygiene products, and medical supplies. The Calgary Zoo will be reopening to the public this Saturday with permission from Alberta Health Services (AHS). There will only be one entrance to the zoo and all tickets need to be pre-purchased online. The Calgary Zoo and AHS have been working very closely to reopen the animal exhibits to the public and have designed safe and engaging activities for visitors to follow while there. Buy your timed tickets online here. Stay safe everyone, Priya By: Priya MigneaultThis past Sunday John Krasinski with Some Good News hosted a virtual graduation for all the graduates of 2020. He had those who signed up hop onto a zoom call with him and move those tassels to the other side to mark this milestone in their lives. On twitter he asked for graduating students to submit questions that would be answered during the ceremony and to everyone's suprise he didn't answer them. John had Malala Yousafzai, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, and Jon Stewart answer the questions for him. It is so nice to see someone looking out for and celebrating all those who have made it thus far in their academic careers, so thank you John. If you are interested in watching the full video click here. Last week was my neighbours 9th birthday and she got the parade to back it up! But it isn't just my neighbourhood getting livened up, 100's if not 1000's, of people received a birthday parade this year just for them. Proving that we can still party and celebrate with each other while apart. To show that there is still beauty and community on the grey days, stores across the city have been putting up rainbows to show that there is still colour during these days. At my local grocery store the rainbows were painted by the youth council and are accompanied with the saying 'It will be okay'. It is nice to be reminded that during these times we are not alone, and we can all find strength and connection within our communities. As all ways, I hope all of you are well. Priya |
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