This is a reprise of a good people post from 2020, the early days of the pandemic.  I don’t ordinarily repost good people posts, but tonight I must make an exception, for I have acquired a nasty cold, and after watching the State of the Union Address tonight, I am just too exhausted to do more.  But this one is a great one about many good people going quietly about the business of helping others, so I think you’ll enjoy it even if you’ve read it before.

Investing in the future …

As most of you know, I don’t have a lot of respect for ‘Corporate America’ … I see capitalists as a greedy bunch, unwilling to pay their fair share and always on the lookout for ways to take shortcuts, to further their wealth while reducing ours.  However, every now and then a corporation does something that makes me sit up and take notice, and today, Hormel Foods is one such company.

Hormel Foods announced last week that it will begin offering two years of free college tuition to all the children of their U.S. employees beginning next year.  Not based on achievement in test scores or GPA, the new program is a way to create equality in education admissions—and the company hopes many who take advantage of the offer will be first-generation college students in their families.

Called “Inspired Pathways,” the program will begin in the fall of 2021. A spokesperson for Hormel Foods said the company has 16,000 domestic employees and the program is open to any dependent child of those workers. The company has more than 30 plant and office locations in the U.S., primarily in the Midwest, and the kids can attend any community college of their choice as long as they graduate from high school and meet the school’s entry requirements.

Hormel’s President and CEO Jim Snee said …

“When you think about how a college education can change lives and start a ripple effect that will be felt for generations, that’s the change-maker Hormel Foods wants to be.”

Additionally, the company offers tuition reimbursement for current team members who go back to school while working at Hormel Foods.  There can be no better investment than in our children’s education, and my hat is off to Hormel for making that investment in our children, our country, our future.

One good turn deserves another …

Jocelynn James of Franklin County, Alabama, used to have a drug problem – she was addicted to opioids and supported her drug habit by stealing and breaking the law.  She wasn’t very good at that law-breaking thing, and was arrested numerous times between 2007 and 2012, most often by Officer Terrell Potter.  She finally managed to get back on track and has now been drug-free for eight years.

Officer Potter, however, recently found out that his kidney was failing and that the waiting list for a donor kidney was so long that he would not live long enough for his name to come to the top of the list.  Ms. James found out from a Facebook post and she decided to help if she could.  She was tested and turns out she was a perfect match to donate a kidney to Officer Potter, and that is just what she did!The surgery was performed a month-and-a-half ago, and Officer Potter is doing well, grateful to Ms. James, who says it seemed only right that she could save his life, for she believed that he had saved hers all those many years ago.

One meal at a time …

In St. Louis, Missouri, Chef Tyler Davis is on a mission to feed St. Louis area kids who are out of school due to the coronavirus pandemic.  His good deed started with a handful of volunteers preparing nutritional meals for students in a small kitchen in south city. Just this week, Davis and his team fed another 400 children. As of April 10, they’ve distributed a total of 1,600 lunch kits to area children.  Says Davis …

“I’m not trying to let anybody go hungry and if I can do anything you know to feed one or two individuals, then that’s what I want to do.  So many people were very, very receptive and were asking me, ‘How do I help? How do I donate and how do I volunteer?  It started out kind of being like just three, four, five and then it grew to 120 delivered during our first round. Now, it’s blown up. I’m very, very grateful for all the help from my volunteers, all the donations we’ve received, and we will keep doing this as long as this pandemic continues. I don’t even have to receive any ‘thank yous.’ I just want to help people “

What a wonderful man!

A bunch of helping hands …

A Warwick, Rhode Island, police officer just reminded the world that while the coronavirus pandemic can claim lives, shut down cities, and change life as we know it, it can’t take away kindness.

The Warwick Police Department received a call on Friday night from a community service organization alerting authorities that an 87-year-old woman had no food in her home.  Officer Jill Marshall, who works with the department’s Community Services Division, volunteered to conduct a welfare check and found the elderly woman, who was living with her disabled son, had nothing to eat.  Officer Marshall offered to go food shopping for the family — and their cat.

Marshall visited a local grocery store, which donated $25 to help cover the cost of groceries. When other people in the store heard of what Marshall was doing, they donated enough money to buy $100 worth of food for the family.

“I was ready to use my own money to help them but the generosity of those shopping and Shaw’s (grocery store) paid for her list. I would have never left them and make them wait for food. That’s just not humane.”

See, folks … there are still people out there doing good things to help others.  They just don’t make quite as much noise as all the assholes do, so maybe we don’t notice them as much.