Good News In America: Life-Saving Adoption, Halloween Kindness

Put yourself in this position: You’re a nurse. A patient in your care needs a heart transplant, but is denied the life-saving procedure because he lives alone and doesn’t have anyone at home to make sure he follows the post-care regimen. Without the transplant, he’ll die. What do you do?

Lori Wood, a nurse at a Georgia hospital, had known 27-year-old Jonathan Pinkard for only two days, but she knew what she had to do: Give him the support system he needed to get the transplant by adopting him.

“I guess for me in this situation, there was no choice,” Wood said. “I had a room, I was a nurse, you know, and I could take care of him. So it really wasn't something I struggled with. It was just something that had to happen. He had to come home with me.”

Read the complete story on Atlanta Patch: Autistic Man Needed New Heart, So Nurse Adopted Him

Patch editors across the country told many other heartwarming stories this week. Scroll down to read a few of them.

How Boy Responded To Empty Halloween Candy Bowl: Video

A young trick-or-treater dressed as a vampire found an empty Halloween bowl when he walked to the door of a house in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Doorbell camera video shows him putting his index finger to his cheek, pondering the situation, wondering what to do.

His response was pretty darned cool. You’ll have to see the video for yourself.

Read that story and more on Anne Arundel Patch.

Trick-Or-Treating For Root Beer Was A Ruse

Carson King, the Iowan who joked on an ESPN network “College GameDay” sign that his Busch beer supply needed replenished and raised more than $3 million for a children’s hospital, inspired the Halloween costume of a young boy in a neighboring town.

Sam Hall asked for money to replenish his root beer supply. He collected $10,000 for the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. King, who’s viewed as a hero around Iowa and, really, the country, showed up at Sam’s house with a special gift.

Read that and other stories on Des Moines Patch.

Mister Rogers Would’ve Liked Those Kids

Those kids in Maryland and Iowa may have been channeling Fred Rogers, who changed the lives of millions of children through his long-running television program, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” a forum for timeless advice about empathy, compassion and how to be a good neighbor.

Those and other lessons are underscored in the upcoming release of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a biography the late television icon starring Tom Hanks, a part-time lecturer at New Jersey’s Rutgers University.

Read what those lessons are and other stories on Newark Patch.

Coach May Have Channeled Mister Rogers, Too: Video

Richard Nelloms, an elementary coach in Richmond, Indiana, choked back emotion when he read a letter a 6-year-old boy named Jayden had written to him.

“Dear Coach Richard, you have been the greatest coach alive,” the letter began.

“You helped me love football again,” it ended. “Thank you for being my favorite coach. Love, Jayden.”

Watch the video and read more stories on Indianapolis Patch.

That’s What Mister Rogers Was Talking About

Mister Rogers was minister who preached the gospel of kindness, good deeds and the Golden Rule. There’s no doubt he would have appreciated what the non-denominational, Christ-centered Liquid Church congregation did.

They eliminated the school lunch debts for about 1,500 families in five school districts across New Jersey.

Read that story and more news on Belleville-Nutley Patch.

Good News In America is a weekly feature on Across America Patch. Want to catch up?

Good News In America: Week Ending Oct. 26
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Good News In America: Week Ending Sept. 28