Today’s #FourForApril may be our widest range of good stories yet. From the quiz master who has unexpectedly raised nearly £100,000 for the NHS, to the man who spent over $80,000 on gift cards; the fabric hearts being made to help hospital patients feel more comfortable and the New Zealand ministers taking pay cuts to help in the fight against coronavirus, reading about the selflessness expressed by people on a daily basis really helps to make this whole situation easier 💚
Quiz master has unexpectedly raised nearly £100,000 for the NHS
A former pub landlord has raised almost £100,000 for the NHS by running a virtual pub quiz on YouTube.
Jay Flynn, from Darwen in Lancashire, has raised more than £93,000 for the NHS after a small online quiz he planned went viral when he accidentally made the event public on Facebook.
The quiz master has a history of running pub quizzes and now writes a new set of questions every Thursday for his YouTube audience.
Jay decided to run the weekly quiz after lockdown meant people no longer had access to them.
After his first quiz attracted a larger-than-expected online audience, Jay decided to set up a fundraiser for the NHS.
The most recent quiz, held on his birthday, reached an audience of 150,000.
Those taking part submit their scores to social media, then make an optional donation to the NHS or another chosen charity.
Jay takes a brief pause during each Thursday night event to observe the Clap for Carers tribute with his wife, who is an NHS worker.
Jay told PA: “There are people crying out for me to be recognised with awards and all sorts – I’m just an idiot who asks questions in front of a camera.
“It’s quite overwhelming. Knowing I’m making a difference feels really, really good.”
You can read more about Jay’s story here and if you’d like to support The Virtual Pub Quiz’s fantastic donation efforts, you can visit here.
Intensive care nurse launches initiative to connect patients to loved ones
An intensive care nurse at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, has launched an initiative to help bring patients and their families closer together.
Kat Lamb, 23, has launched an appeal for volunteers to create matching fabric hearts for patients and their relatives during the coronavirus pandemic.
The nurse has called on volunteers to send in matching fabric hearts with the hope that it will bring comfort to relatives who are unable to visit their loved ones.
Once they arrive, the hearts are quarantined for seven days before they are given to patients to ensure any risk of infection is minimised.
The NHS trust has said that hearts can be knitted, crocheted, embroidered, or made of fabric or felt, and that each one should have at least one matching pair.
Fabric hearts can be sent to the care teams at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, and Canterbury Hospital or the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.
You can read more about this lovely story here.
Anonymous man spent $82,000 on gift cards to be delivered to every household in his home town
Amongst this pandemic, it is easy to think you have seen every good deed possible, but humanity’s kindness never fails to surprise.
When Jeff Lillie, Mayor of Earlham, Iowa, received a call from an anonymous man, he did not realise that the reasoning behind the call would warm the hearts of residents across the city.
The caller told him he had heard from a man who wanted to pump some money into the local economy and help make life a little easier for the citizens of Earlham.
The caller decided he wanted to give away 500 gift cards worth $50 each from the local grocery store and two restaurants.
The number worked out to about one per household and the generous hero then said he didn’t want to leave anyone out and wanted to buy 549 gift cards from each of the three businesses, for a total of 1,647 gift cards, at a total cost of $82,350.
He then said he wanted each household to have $150 in gift cards.
Jeff told The Washington Post: “I called the store and the restaurants to see if they could get hold of that many cards and when they told me they could, I lost it.
“I went home and when my wife looked at me, I started bawling. I’m a working, blue-collar guy, and this just hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew how much this would mean to so many in our town.”
Each envelope also contained a letter explaining that the cards weren’t a scam and encouraging anyone who didn’t need the cards to feel free to drop them off in at the city hall for distribution to families who needed them more.
Once the envelopes landed in mailboxes, the phones started ringing at city hall.
Jeff added: “A lot of people really did want to pay it forward — we’ve had almost 50 cards come back so far.”
You can read more about this heartwarming deed here.
New Zealand PM and ministers take pay cut
New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has been one of the strong leaders during this whole pandemic.
From announcing in a press conference that the Easter bunny is an essential worker, to messaging “nurse Jenny from Invercargill” who helped to treat Boris Johnson while he was hospital, and taking part in New Zealand’s nationwide teddy bear hunt, Jacinda has demonstrated she is more than a seemingly conventional politician.
Yesterday she announced that she and other ministers will take a 20% pay cut lasting six months to show solidarity with those affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
New Zealand’s PM said it was important the government’s most highly paid politicians show “leadership and solidarity” with workers on the frontline and those who had lost their livelihoods.
The pay cut will reduce Ardern’s salary by $47,104, while ministers would take a cut of $26,900 each, and the deputy prime minister’s salary would be cut by $33,473.
Ardern said: “If there was ever a time to close the gap between groups of people across New Zealand in different positions, it is now. I am responsible for the executive branch and this is where we can take action … it is about showing solidarity in New Zealand’s time of need.”
You can read more about this here.
Bonus positive
The lovely tale of 93-year-old Olive Veronesi who was pictured pleading for more beer – and she got her wish! 🙂
Every day in April, we will be sharing four positive news stories in one post under the hashtag #FourForApril. Got any kindness stories? Send them in! We’d love the world to hear about these good deeds by good people 🙂
Thanks for reading one of our positive stories!
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