11 Strangers Celebrate Canceled Wedding

Bridget Devaney had been planning a romantic elopement along Northern Ireland’s coastline. When her fiancé suffered a medical emergency and their relationship fell apart, the wedding went with it. Then in April, her photographer emailed asking about the postponed ceremony. Bridget had a decision to make.

She posted an anonymous invitation online asking women to join her in Northern Ireland to celebrate the wedding that never happened. Hundreds responded. Eventually, 11 women from the United States, Canada, and Wales signed up. They didn’t even know what Bridget looked like when they signed up.

The group spent a week in October exploring the Giant’s Causeway, the Dark Hedges, and Londonderry. Then came the day that had been reserved for Bridget’s wedding. The women dressed up and gathered for a photoshoot against Northern Ireland’s dramatic scenery. The photographer was stunned to learn that many had met in person just three days earlier.

“There was such a level of uplift, like I could turn anywhere and get a hug if I needed it,” Bridget said. “Everybody was there for everybody that day.”

The Million-Dollar Doorstop

An elderly woman in rural Romania found a heavy reddish stone in a streambed near her village of Colți and carried it home. For decades, it sat on the floor of her bedroom, holding the door open. Thieves reportedly once broke into her home, stole her jewelry, and left the rock behind.

After the woman died in 1991, a relative who inherited the house suspected the stone was more than it appeared. He was right. Experts at the Museum of History in Kraków, Poland, confirmed it was genuine amber, a 7.7-pound chunk of fossilized tree resin dating back 38 to 70 million years. It is believed to be the largest known piece of rumanite, a rare Romanian amber.

Its estimated value: approximately $1.1 million. The amber is now classified as a Romanian national treasure and is housed at the Buzău County Museum.

“Its discovery represents a great significance both at a scientific level and at a museum level,” said the museum’s director, Daniel Costache.

Man Named ‘Service’ Cleans Up Brooklyn Eyesore

Joshua Service was commuting from Queens, New York, to his job in Crown Heights when he noticed a mess under the Long Island Rail Road overpass at Nostrand Avenue near Atlantic Avenue. Garbage was piled up beneath the bridge. He called 311, but the city said it could take up to seven days to inspect the site.

So he posted a video calling out the city. Commenters had a suggestion: Stop making videos and clean it up yourself. So he did. Joshua showed up with gloves and a rake and filled 10 trash bags on his own.

The city’s Department of Sanitation said cleanup was delayed because the site was considered a possible homeless encampment, which requires the Department of Social Services to visit for seven consecutive days before the area can be cleared. Joshua wasn’t willing to wait.

“My main takeaway from this experience is that no matter who you are, you can make a change,” Joshua said. He said he hopes to become mayor one day. After all, his last name already fits the job.

The following stories are featured exclusively on The Feel Good Flyover Podcast. Clicking the link will take you directly there:

➤ From the lights to the leftovers, there are five things that make the holiday season unlike anything else. (Hear List)

➤ Two Florida teachers found a simple way to make a stranger’s school mornings better. (Hear Story)

➤ One British zoo’s runaway capybara has eluded capture since March, and keepers have a patient plan to bring her home. (Hear Details)

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➤ Airbnb will set aside 10 cents from every booking to fund one million free nights of emergency housing each year, part of a $500 million pledge to help people displaced by disasters or traveling for medical care. (More)

➤ New Jersey students covered a high school football field end zone to end zone with more than 250,000 pounds of donated groceries, the largest food drive in the nonprofit Dermer Dreams’ history. (See Photos)

➤ When a sudden hailstorm slammed Phoenix, bank employees rushed a neighborhood elote vendor and his cart to safety inside their branch. The staffers had been buying from him for years, and he says business has boomed since. (Watch Video)

➤ One British photographer scoured parks and buses to find human doppelgängers for 25 dogs, creating a must-see catalog of side-by-side portraits with some seriously shocking similarities. (See Photos)

➤ Former U.S. men’s national team star Eddie Johnson offered to train a 3-year-old soccer phenom at his Orlando academy after the toddler was removed from a Florida youth league, where his parents say he was simply too good. (More)

➤ Birdwatching may do more than get you outside, with Toronto researchers finding that expert birders showed measurable brain changes tied to attention, perception, and memory compared to novices. (See Details)

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Dozens of strangers in Perth, Australia, joined forces to push a train and free a man whose leg was trapped between the train and platform. He escaped serious injury.

video via @sunnyskyzonline – YouTube

I was going to cook alligator for dinner…

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“It’s a step forward. When you deal with the things going on on this planet, raindrops make puddles, so every little bit counts. You know what I mean?”

— Haile Ali, a Crown Heights resident, praising Joshua Service for cleaning up an illegal dumping site in Brooklyn