Hello! And Good News

This week on the podcast to talk good news is guest Naomi Villa! Naomi is on the UCB Harold Team “Dirt”. She also produces one of the very best indie shows in town Boss Jr. Presents with her team Boss Jr. She has a great podcast called “Let’s Fall In Love”. You can find it on itunes or wherever you like to download your podcast. This week Hannah and Naomi talk about,

• Three high school girls who invented a drinking straw that can detect the date rape drugs!

• A family that won millions in the lottery and used their earnings to start a foundation dedicated to helping others.

• 100 Suits for 100 Men, a non-profit in New York City that is dedicated to helping formerly incarcerated individuals, homeless individuals, former gang members and survivors of domestic violence navigate to a place of economic freedom. Their core service is to provide free business attire to men and women who are in the job search process.

• Shelter House, a homeless shelter in Ontario, Canada received a $10,000 donation from a former resident.

• Naomi’s hometown is Santa Rosa and they have an amazing women’s shelter and Community Action Program all started by the same woman, Eddie Mae Sloan!

• Animal Corner this week is not to be missed, you must go see Erin Einbender’s bedazzled “Cones of Fame” project for the animal shelter.

Good News Later!

Follow Naomi on Twitter @naomisvilla

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Episode guest Edgar Momplaisir (UCB Theater, Against The Grain Podcast) joins Hannah to talk some good news. We start by answering the question that has been brought up in other episodes about Salt Lake City and their resolution to chronic homelessness. Unlike what has been said in past episodes, Utah has not actually successfully solved this issue. Hannah goes over an in depth article she found about why Utah got so much publicity in 2015 and what the real facts are. On the good-news side of things however, we talk about what Utah is doing right that may be helpful nationwide. We dive into the rest of the episode with:

• The Amani Women Center, a non-profit in Clarkston, GA that helps refugee women resettle in America. They work with the women by educating and empowering them using culturally sensitive tools that contribute to their overall well-being. One of the programs they recently started is called The Sewing Room Project, which aims to provide the women with the skills and guidance to make something profitable. The women make jewelry, skirts, dresses, purses and all sorts of items inspired by their own background and sell them at festivals around Atlanta as well as several boutiques.

• The Energy Information Administration within The Department of Energy has stated that the US has dramatically exceeded the predictions about the percentage of our renewable energy generation. Based on the first quarter numbers of this year, the U.S. should produce 19% of its electricity from renewable recourses by the end of 2017. According to the predictions from statistics in 2012, we were not expected to reach 19% renewable energy until around 2057.

• A woman in Anacortes started The Happiness Sprinkling Project when she began standing on the street corner holding up signs of encouragement. Edgar hates this.

• In New York City, Edgars hometown, a bar is opening called Coup new cocktail bar in the heart of the East Village designed to provide support directly to charities, organizations and campaigns such as the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and Human Rights Watch. All of the bar profits will be donated and the patrons get to choose which organizations they would like their money to go towards.

• We close out with Animal Corner where a pigeon was caught smuggling a cellphone into a jail in Brazil.

Good News Later Everyone!

Follow Edgar on Twitter @edgarmomplaisir

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This week’s episode guest is Hailey Faust! Hailey is a graphic designer, animator, printmaker and stylist based in Missoula, Montana, which could very well be the heart of the Rockies. Check out Hailey’s blog The Lovely Wild, which celebrates slow living and all things seasonal. It’s really so beautiful. You can find her on instagram as well @the.lovely.wild. Hailey and I talk about some really great stuff this week!

• After his wife lost her eyesight, Mr. Kuroki spent two years planting a sea of flowers outside of their house to bring her back from her depression. He realized that flowers can be enjoyed with more than just sight and worked to fill their property with the fragrance of flowers.

• Springfield Partners For Community Action is an amazing non-profit in Massachusetts that serves low-income individuals and families in Springfield and the surrounding communities. They work to help people become financilally self sufficient and productive by ensuring that basic needs such as healthcare, shelter, food, and education are met.

• A husband and wife in Iowa started and organization this year called Compassion Flights that provides free flights for those who need to travel a long distance for medical treatment.

• France has officially banned unhealthily thin fashion models! Models now need a doctor’s certification attesting to their overall health, based on their BMI, weight, age and body shape. Employers who break the law face up to 75,000 euros in fines.

• Animal Corner features Listermann Brewing Company, which just made an IPA named after baby hippo Fiona. 25% of the proceeds will go to the Cincinnati Zoo care team.

• Hailey is from Anchorage Alaska and I learn that moose droppings are highly regarded there. This year Anchorage held their 28th annual Moose Marble Madness event to raise money for local charities. Anchorage also just started up a community-composting program, which allows you to drop off food waste and take a bucket of finished compost for your garden. So cool!

Good News Later!

Follow Hailey’s Blog www.thelovelywild.com

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This week on the podcast we have Zander Frost! Zander is hilarious and a joy. You can find him performing around Los Angeles with his UCB Mess Hall team Trish. This week Zander and I talk about:

• Two lifelong friends, Justin and Patrick, who just travelled the 500-mile long European trail, Camino de Santiago. What makes this story amazing is that Justin is in a wheelchair and has lost the ability to use his arms and legs. The two didn’t let Justin’s disability stop them from achieving his dream of seeing the trail and Patrick pushed him on foot the entire way!

• The cutest pair of elderly twins who celebrated their 100th birthday with the best photo shoot ever!

• An amazing woman, Alyce Knaflich, who founded a non-profit to house homeless women veterans. Alyce is a veteran herself who servd for 19 years. She suffered from PTSD after her service and spent 10 years struggling with homelessness. Now she is opening Aura Home in North Carolina to help other women in need. There is currently a gofundme to help raise the rest of the funding needed!

• California just broke its energy record! 80% of the states power was generated with renewable energy this week!

• Zander is from Glen Falls, NY and they just held a climate change rally with over 700 people who turned out. There is also a great non-profit in the nearby county called Rebuilding Together that focuses on rebuilding and improving low-income housing and communities.

Follow Zander on Twitter and Instagram @zanderhfrost!

 

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This week’s guest is James Mastraieni. James is on the UCB main stage team Outside Dog. James is also a fellow podcast host! He has a great podcast I listen to all the time called I’m Too Effing High. He brings on fellow comedians and tries to answer the question each week, are comedians funnier when they’re high. And I will give a hint. It’s very, very funny. James and I talk about a lot!

• A police officer of the Atlanta Police Department ended up truly protecting and serving when he got a shoplifting call. A 12-year-old girl had been caught stealing a pair of shoes for her sister, because her family couldn’t afford them. The officer drove her home, bought the family-of-seven dinner, and started a clothing and food drive for the family.

• The San Francisco non-profit Tipping Point just announced that they have started a 100 million dollar initiative to help with the homeless and poverty levels in the Bay area.

• A non-profit of Toronto called the Institute for a Resource Based Economy works toward launching projects that challenge the current economic model with resource sharing initiatives. Their first project is a Tool Library,which is similar to the one I talked about a few episodes, back but they have also expanded and opened the Sharing Depot which provides any items people may need for events or parties or projects but don’t necessarily have the space or funds to buy.

• An 18 year old boy invented a bra called “Eva” that could potentially detect breast cancer in it’s earliest stages!

• James is from Pittsburgh, PA and the city is working towards creating affordable renovations and housing as the population within city hub expands and grows. This initiative will be working to keep lower incomes from being pushed out of their own city. Also Jack Brambaugh is the city’s MVP volunteer!

• In Animal Corner we learn about a small town that is painting rocks and hiding them around town to raise awareness for their animal center. And the dog friendly campus of American University, D.C. is bringing in audiences of dogs to help those who have fear of public speaking!

 

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This week we have Jessica Svendsgaard from the musical improv team Adele Dazeem. We talk about:

A family whose truck went down in a flood and the strangers who saved their children’s lives.

We may be moving towards a less disposable economy! People are making more and buying less (outside of the US of course). There is some good news about product packaging! And the company Braskem from Brazil is working towards creating a sustainable economy and researching renewable resources.

The fundraiser of the week is on indiegogo and puts forth the idea of collecting illegal guns from non-violent criminals in exchange for bail. This is being developed as a way to reduce violent crimes and get illegal firearms out of the streets.

Jessica is from Danville, CA and an art exhibition is opening up showcasing art from members of the Down Syndrome Connection.

Jessica loves birds and I have a great animal corner about a man who has created a retirement home for birds.

Follow Jessica on Twitter @svendsgaard

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This weeks guest is the very funny Oscar Montoya from The UCB Harold team Nomi Malone and Maude Night's The Summer Of . He is a comedian and a dancer, a mover, a shaker, really the only thing he's not is a calendar maker.This episode has a lot of stories that are hat tips to previous episodes!

We've got:

A tutu protest promoting acceptance and solidarity with the LGBTQ community across the state of Wyoming (including Hannah's hometown!)

A young boy who found $2,000, returned it, and received an outstanding citizens reward!

Planes trains and automobiles! Another baby was born on mass transit!

A Metallica cover band had all of their equipment stolen, and Metallica themselves stepped in to replace all of it!

The Gofundme of the week features Goats of Anarchy, a non-profit for special needs goats, which was featured in a past episode with Jonathan Harris. They are expanding and opening up a second location!

Oscar’s hometown is Palmira Columbia, and while looking for good news, Hannah found a great list of several non-profits that do great work in the country of Columbia!

Animal corner features a beaver that got too chubby to make it through a fence and had to be rescued. As usual, that’s all that really needs to be said about that.

Cheers to another week of positive news stories!

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This week’s guest is Mary Holland! (HBO’s Veep, Seeso’s Shrink, The Largo Theater, UCB Theater) We talk about:• A Tool Library in Minnesota, which allows you rent any tool that you need for up to 7 days. The best part is that most of the tools were donated by a local senior David Merry.

• A dad who showed up at school and saved his daughter from embarrassment in the best way and also maybe the worst.

• A caterpillar that eats through plastic and might just be the answer to ridding our Earth of waste piles in an environmentally friendly way.

• Britain went without coal for a full 24 hours for the first time since the industrial revolution and several other countries have made great environmental strides.

• The gofundme of the week is an indiegogo.com fundraiser for Yoots, a ride service that provides underserviced kids with rides to school programs and activities. There goal is to broaden the reach of every non-profit and school by shifting the burden of finding and paying for transportation.

• Writing Our Rights is an empowerment workbook for young girls. It teaches the skill of writing by using quotes and facts from historically groundbreaking women in politics. It was created by a group called Ignite which works to create more of a female presence in politics by educating and providing political leadership training in highschools, colleges and city chapters.

• Mary’s hometown is Galax, Virginia and is home to the Rooftop of Virginia Community Action Program, which works to combate poverty and focus on assisting and empowering low-income citizens by using various strategies to increase their level of self-sufficiency. It is also home to the most amazing animal corner/non-profit, Smokey’s Bunny Haven!

Follow Mary Holland on Twitter @mholland85

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This week’s guest is Jake Sprague from the UCB Harold Team Rococo!Jake and I talk about so many things. The episode is pushing an hour and a half because we cover eight, EIGHT, good news stories. And that’s an exact number.

Here’s what we cover:

• A great-grandmother (you’d never guess it from her photo) whose roof blew off of her home, and the two strangers who have volunteered to build a new one for her.

• The California sun, which is apparently so strong that the solar energy it creates is putting the cost of electricity into the negatives.

• In place of a gofundme of the week, I discovered that a cool way to support education in your community is to a) go to www.edbacker.com and/or b) go to your local schools and pay off some school lunch debt! Every year schools go into debt from providing lunches for the the students who don’t have them. Austin Independent School District just had a great fundraiser on Ed Backer to help pay off theirs.

• Awaken Arts is a non-profit in Los Angeles that uses Art Therapy to help at-risk youth, veterans with PTSD, and they have even gone over seas to lend a hand during natural disasters.

• A small local paper in Iowa just won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing!

• Jake’s hometown Las Vegas had three good news stories! A bourgeois picnic fundraiser (they have private picnic Cabana tickets for sale for $1,000) that is raising money for the LGBTQ centers. A complete kitchen renovation for the U.S. Vets center Las Vegas. And a metro officer who bought a new bike for a young boy who had his stolen.

• Animal corner features a little squirrel named “Put Put” and the ice cream shop that feeds him two small squirrel sized ice cream cones per day. Yes. That’s right.

Also, Jake’s personal good news story will make your heart so dang happy!

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This weeks guest is Scott Thiede! Scott is an improviser and a sketch writer. You can see him at the Clubhouse every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month with the show Goosh at 7pm. He also has a show coming up at UCB Sunset on Earth Day- The Earth-Gina Monologues, which is in the style of The Vagina Monologues, except it's all about the terrestrial experience and how man has suppressed the land and sea for far too long. It features a killer cast giving monologues as our very own Earth. During our time on the big red couch we go over:

A woman who gave birth mid-flight on Turkish airlines at 42,000 feet! She and her baby are both healthy and well back on land.

Pope Francis has opened a free laundromat for the homeless people of Rome. He also plans on adding showers and a barbershop to the facilities.

It’s possible I have already showcased this business, but Muzzicycle is a Brazillian company that recycled plastics to make bicycles. They use almost 16 tons of wasted plastic a year! That’s 5 tons of C02 emissions that are no longer going into the atmosphere. They have a crazy waitlist for their bikes but I hope that won’t stop all of us from buying one!

The gofundme of the week (it’s actually an indiegogo this episode) is a group of students who are raising money for the Knoxville YWCA. Their goal is super attainable and the YWCA is great so I thought it was a good little one to give a shout out to.

Thanks to a recent decision by the Court of Appeals, civil rights laws now protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation. This is in large part thanks to Kimberly Hively, a math teacher who has been fighting since 2014 against the discrimination she received during her employment Ivy Tech Community College.

Scott is from Bethesda, Maryland and the city seems to be very excited that they are getting a Target downtown.

Animal corner has put a brand new spin on zoos for Hannah. Six different zoos have helped rescue species from their extremely endangered status. She still doesn’t support the LA Zoo. That place is a circus.

 

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