1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:05,080 I mean a year. I'm Johnny Mack with five good news stories. Let's 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:07,639 start off the new year. We look at long weekends. We've got a 3 00:00:07,679 --> 00:00:10,199 lot of them this year, the way the calendar fell. Now the bad 4 00:00:10,199 --> 00:00:13,000 news. You're in the middle of one of them right now, New Year's 5 00:00:13,039 --> 00:00:17,480 weekend, but another one coming up January seventeenth, weekend of Martin Luther King 6 00:00:17,679 --> 00:00:22,480 Junior's birthday. Then in February we've got President's Day, March and April's a 7 00:00:22,519 --> 00:00:25,800 little thin long weekend for Memorial Day at the end of May, and then 8 00:00:25,839 --> 00:00:29,879 a few weeks later the juneteenth and National Independence Day. That'll be on Monday, 9 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:33,759 June nineteenth, part of that weekend, then two weeks later Tuesday July 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:38,079 fourth. Tuesday July fourth is awesome because then everybody get off Monday July third. 11 00:00:38,119 --> 00:00:41,280 That's a nice four day weekend. We got to figure out August somehow, 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,159 Labor Day weekend at the beginning of September. Some people get Columbus Day 13 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,920 off. I don't, but I hope you do. That's October ninth this 14 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,200 year Veterans Day again, one of those that depends what your job is. 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:54,119 That's November tenth, Thanksgiving a nice four day weekend, and then, of 16 00:00:54,159 --> 00:00:58,200 course Christmas this year will be on a Monday, so at least get three 17 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:00,560 day weekends out of that, all right. In the news, a stranger 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,239 has raised one hundred and twenty thousand dollars to help an eighty two year old 19 00:01:04,239 --> 00:01:08,760 Walmart worker payoff medical bills. Elizabeth Rizzo saw an eighty two year old woman 20 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,719 holding a cane and working at a Walmart in Arizona. She wondered why she 21 00:01:12,879 --> 00:01:18,120 was still working. Turned out that Carmen Kelly was working to pay off about 22 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,640 ten thousand dollars in medical debt only had fifty dollars in her bank account. 23 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:25,959 Elizabeth Rizzo made a TikTok video about her situation. That video went viral. 24 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:30,040 It's been viewed more than fifteen million times. To go fund me raisers she 25 00:01:30,159 --> 00:01:33,359 created and shared where her followers has raised more than one hundred and twenty nine 26 00:01:33,359 --> 00:01:36,959 thousand dollars for the eighty two year old. Rizzo tells today dot Com. 27 00:01:37,079 --> 00:01:38,480 I was surprised at the amount we were able to fund raise. I was 28 00:01:38,519 --> 00:01:42,200 really shocked, But I believe in the goodness of people, and I believe 29 00:01:42,239 --> 00:01:46,079 if you touch their heart in some way they'll come together. Rizzo has continued 30 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,120 to record her interactions with Kelly and shares them with the TikTok community. Kelly 31 00:01:49,159 --> 00:01:53,840 told Rizzo during one of the videos, there isn't enough words to tell you 32 00:01:53,879 --> 00:01:56,439 how I feel. It isn't just about me. It's the meaning of all 33 00:01:56,439 --> 00:01:57,879 this and what I really feel. It's about that joy. They live twenty 34 00:01:57,879 --> 00:02:02,079 minutes from each other and now good friends. Rizzle says she sees Kelly like 35 00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:07,359 your own grandmother. Kelly's still working at the Walmart because she loves her job, 36 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:10,199 but she does plan to cut back the hours. A man was reunited 37 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:15,319 with his mom forty four years after she thought that he died. Listen to 38 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,719 this. Two weeks after he was born in Jordan with some Mohammed got sick. 39 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:25,080 His Jordanian father and Egyptian's mother relationship was falling apart. His father told 40 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:30,360 the mother that the baby died in the hospital. The couple divorced. Mohammed's 41 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:34,080 mother returned to Egypt's capital. When Mohammed grew up, he started looking for 42 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,319 his mother. He didn't know if she was dead or alive. All he 43 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,120 had was her name from his birth certificate in a vague idea of where she 44 00:02:38,159 --> 00:02:42,759 had lived in Cairo decades ago. He had traveled to Egypt a few times 45 00:02:42,759 --> 00:02:44,960 hoping to find her, but that failed. She used to live in a 46 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:47,840 place in Cairo that was destroyed by an earthquake in ninety two. Finding someone, 47 00:02:47,919 --> 00:02:51,800 especially an older person, unlikely to be on social media in a country 48 00:02:51,879 --> 00:02:53,960 more than a hundred million people is no small feat. I only knew for 49 00:02:54,039 --> 00:02:58,159 sure that she was alive about four years ago when the lawyers told me they 50 00:02:58,199 --> 00:03:00,919 couldn't find a death certificate for her. Then and aunt and Jordan found some 51 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:05,360 photos of Mohammed's mother. She posted them on social media. One of her 52 00:03:05,400 --> 00:03:10,319 friends contacted an Egypt based Facebook group called Missing Children. Mohammed's story was posted 53 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,960 on the Facebook group's page with a photo of his mother in a caption reading, 54 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,680 your son is alive and looking for you. Within twenty four hours, 55 00:03:16,759 --> 00:03:20,919 Mohammed's mother was located through the page. He flew to Cairo the next day. 56 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:22,719 She met him at the airport. He said to his mother, you 57 00:03:22,719 --> 00:03:24,039 thought I was dead. She said, they told me so. He said, 58 00:03:24,080 --> 00:03:28,520 I'm sorry, I've been looking for you for twenty years. Angela Cole 59 00:03:28,759 --> 00:03:31,919 is about to become an internationally published author. She's eighty nine. She started 60 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,879 writing the book when she was twelve. To the math, that's seventy seven 61 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:38,360 years ago. She has been working on the novel titled La Familia for most 62 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:42,759 of her life, and according to her grandchildren, the contents of the story 63 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,400 had been around for as long as they can remember. It was mostly on 64 00:03:45,479 --> 00:03:49,719 hundreds of scrap pieces of paper. Angela's granddaughter, Heidi, became determined to 65 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,400 organize her grandma's work into a fully fleshed book. La Familia tells the love 66 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:57,120 story of Angela's mother and father and the life they lived in Egypt. Angela 67 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,400 said, if these stories were not written down or narrated to others, they 68 00:03:59,439 --> 00:04:01,199 would simply be washed away, like a grain of sand taken away by a 69 00:04:01,199 --> 00:04:03,599 wave. Growing up, I was mesmerized by them, and I started to 70 00:04:03,599 --> 00:04:05,840 write them down. I always love when somebody tells me a story and I 71 00:04:05,879 --> 00:04:10,039 write it down. Whether I like it or not doesn't matter. It's a 72 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,319 story real people. Granddaughter, Heidi, who's thirty, got working and has 73 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,879 secured a publisher after months of research, so the book will be coming out. 74 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:21,319 A woman in Fort Myers was cleaning up the beach and found a message 75 00:04:21,319 --> 00:04:24,879 in a bottle. Kathy Grace said, I started off kind of blue that 76 00:04:24,959 --> 00:04:28,360 day because I lost my husband like seven months ago and it was his birthday. 77 00:04:28,519 --> 00:04:30,160 She decided to participate in a beach clean up, hoping to feel a 78 00:04:30,199 --> 00:04:33,519 little better. She's about to wrap it up. She noticed one more bottle 79 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,560 to pick it up, and then she saw the letter inside of it. 80 00:04:35,639 --> 00:04:39,920 She opened it and sent a picture of it to her children and received a 81 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:42,439 response from her son, Michael. Michael was like, you're not going to 82 00:04:42,519 --> 00:04:46,120 believe this, but the dude in the bottle and I went to college together. 83 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,439 We both worked at DHL. Here's a picture of us in California last 84 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,279 year. On the beach. Grace said, how could it be all the 85 00:04:51,319 --> 00:04:54,720 millions of people that have been on board this beach since it was buried. 86 00:04:54,959 --> 00:04:58,000 I find it within minutes. We know who it is. Roman, who 87 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,839 wrote the letter, said, I'm grateful that Mi, because mom didn't just 88 00:05:00,879 --> 00:05:02,439 you know, throw away the bottle. Actually had a little curiosity in her, 89 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,519 you know, open the bottle and read the note. I was more 90 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,439 grateful for that because, you know, typical volunteer clean up the beach, 91 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,759 help and now could just thrown it away and moved on with their day. 92 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,680 Fort Myers is a place we always used to go down for many years just 93 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,480 to have that bottle come back to us and recreate some of those Fort Myers 94 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,600 memories. It was a bright spot in by day and I kind of want 95 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,759 to go back home now and watch the home videos again. That's your good 96 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,639 news for today. You have a great day.