Today’s #FourForApril highlights community and love. From the community in Birmingham uniting to make use out of Championship side West Brom’s football stadium, to the free book movement helping to provide essentials to those who need them, the power of community must never be underestimated.
As for love, well, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an order allowing marriages to be conducted online. We mentioned before how a couple in another state got married over Zoom, and now New York residents can do the same. New Zealanders love for animals has also shone through as over 4,000 banded together and raised over NZ$230,000 for animals to be fed in its only open-range zoo.
I hope you enjoy these stories and have a lovely day 💚
West Bromwich Albion’s stadium has become a temporary maternity clinic
West Bromwich Albion’s Hawthorns stadium is providing a free space in its East Stand suites to deliver antenatal and postnatal care.
The Hawthorns is available as a temporary maternity clinic, allowing expectant mothers to avoid hospital visits.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust said its three clinics will be held Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.
The appointment-only facility will be for women who are pregnant from 24 weeks onwards.
The trust said the clinics will be staffed by 10 midwives and three support workers.
The appointment-only facility was set up by Louise Wilde, deputy director of midwifery and Cathy Brown, community matron.
Helen Hurst, director of midwifery at the trust, said: “Women are slightly anxious about coming to hospital in the current climate so we wanted to find a safe space away from the hospital.”
You can read more about this lovely gesture from the Baggies here.
New York couples can now get married over Zoom
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an order allowing online marriages, as weddings are cancelled due to the restrictions imposed by lockdown.
Citizens of New York can now apply for marriage licences remotely and permission will be given to clerks to conduct ceremonies virtually.
The New York Governor joked that the decision meant there was now “no excuse” for couples not to tie the knot.
In his briefing on Saturday, he said: “You can do it by Zoom. Yes or no?”
New Zealanders unite after appeal and donate $230,000 to help zoo feed animals
Orana Wildlife Park appealed for help after struggling to pay weekly food bills.
New Zealanders have joined together in donating over NZ$200,000 to feed hungry zoo animals in the midst of lockdown.
Orana Wildlife Park, Christchurch, is home to 400 wild and domestic animals, including chimps, meerkats, rhinos and giraffes.
With the zoo shut under lockdown restrictions, keepers, who are deemed essential workers, are working shifts to take care of the animals.
Income from visitors is said to amount to 95% of the zoo’s revenue, so it has been struggling to pay its weekly NZ$70,000 (US$42,000) food bills, and has appealed to the general public for help.
In just four days over 4,000 Kiwis donated more than NZ$230,000.
New Zealand’s only open-range zoo, the wildlife park is home to over 70 species of endangered animals from around the world.
The huge sum raised will be enough to keep the park operational for at least the next three weeks.
Keepers at the park said they were “overwhelmed and humbled” by the successful appeal.
You can read more about this lovely gesture from New Zealanders here.
Book exchange boxes are providing essentials during the coronavirus pandemic
Book exchange boxes found outside houses and on street corners, are being turned into sharing boxes filled with toilet paper, food and comfort items during the coronavirus pandemic.
The team of the free book exchange movement, which started in Wisconsin, have received so many messages about using Little Free Libraries differently, they drew up a new map with caring box locations throughout the US and across the globe.
On the new maps, each sharing box pin includes the address, city, state and a note about what is being offered.
Little Free Libraries are in every US state and 108 countries.
One person took out the books from the Little Free Library her husband built several years ago to stock it with toilet paper, Kleenex, cleaning supplies, unopened thermometers, toothpaste, bars of soap, decks of playing cards, kids’ games, bags of pasta and jars of spaghetti sauce.
Last month, the 100,000th Little Free Library was unveiled in Houston.
You can read more about this worldwide kindness gesture here.
Bonus positive:
The story of Frank. Frank has spina bifida and is walking 10 metres everyday for the NHS. As of this morning, the six-year-old has raised over £60,000 👏💚
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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