Some days we look around and we wonder what has happened to our world … where are the good people???  But, if we just shut out the noise for a while and go looking for them, those good people are not all that hard to find.  The thing is, you won’t see them on the nightly news tooting their own horn, for they are too busy going about their lives, helping others … and most of all … caring.  I never have trouble finding the good people for these Wednesday posts … it’s almost as if they drop into my lap once I clear my mind of the daily detritus.  I apologize that this morning’s ‘good people’ post is somewhat shorter than usual, but I am a bit under the weather tonight and need to get to bed.  Still, I think you’ll find these two good people to be heartwarming …

Liem Kaplan is on a mission to help the homeless people in and around his community in the area of Seattle, Washington.  Thus far, Liem has collected some 12,000 masks and donated the masks along with hand sanitizer, clothing, hygiene products, and food to the homeless.  What’s so remarkable about this is that Liem is only 13 years old!

Born in Vietnam with physical challenges, Liem, one of seven siblings, was adopted when he was 11 months old.  According to his mother, Nancy, he began worrying about the homeless back in April and came to her one day saying he wanted to collect masks for people.  With mom’s help, he began acquiring product-and-cash donations from individuals, businesses, the city and community groups to distribute to shelter programs and organizations that serve vulnerable populations.

To date, Liem has distributed more than 12,000 masks, 2,000 lunches, 6,000 peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, 4,000 pairs of socks and 2,500 bottles of hand sanitizer to help keep people safe.

Liem is modest about what he does …

“If you see a problem, find a solution and do it. What I do isn’t that hard. You ask someone what they need and if you don’t have it, ask someone else to help you. Everyone can do that. You just have to care enough to stop and ask.”

You just have to care enough.  Exactly!  That is the thing that all the good people I have ever written about have in common … they care.  This isn’t Liem’s first foray into philanthropy, nor will it be his last.  At the age of six, he started coat drives and other campaigns for kids.

When asked how long he could keep up his good works, Liem replied …

“Probably the rest of my life… because that’s what I like to do.”

And two thumbs up to Aubrey, the Ohio FedEx driver.  For some time, as Aubrey made her rounds, she noticed that at one house, the two sons were always outside shooting hoops on a broken basketball hoop.  Elijah and Zachary Wheeler enjoy basketball so much it didn’t bother them that their hoop was broken — they played despite it, due to their love of the game.

The brothers had no idea that Aubrey saw them playing all the time and decided to surprise the family with a brand-new hoop, leaving the gift, along with a basketball, on their front porch.  The boys’ mother, Coledo Wheeler, said when she got back from work one day, she noticed a new basketball sitting on her porch with a note attached.

“I realized it was instructions to a basketball hoop. That’s when I looked up and I saw the new one in the yard.  This was just such a blessing for her to do this, and I never ever expected it. It really was a total shock.”

A small act of kindness, but really … that’s what the world is made up of … small things.  And I can almost hear those boys telling their own sons about the generosity and kindness of the FedEx driver one day in the future.