5 Most Uplifting Stories of the Week

An overwhelming response to a request for a homeless man and a nice Olympic moment make the list:

• Crowdfunding Pays to Get Homeless Man Home to Jamaica: A British woman's plea on Go Fund Me to help a homeless man evidently struck a chord. Jenny Baker asked people to chip in to buy a plane ticket to help a 64-year-old man achieve his one wish: to return to his native Jamaica. She asked to raise about $1,300 and ended up with more than $16,000.
• Canadian Coach Gives Ski to Fallen Russian: Canadian cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth came to the rescue this week as Russian Anton Gafarov tried to drag himself off the course with a broken ski. The coach, whose athletes had already been eliminated, hustled over with a spare ski so the Russian could cross the finish line with dignity.
• 'Tightwad' Iowa Farmer Leaves $10M to Churches: Among the words and phrases used to describe 92-year-old Iowa farmer Bud Skalla in stories after his death in November: "tightwad," "frugal," "loner," "standoffish," ... you get the picture. Which is why it came as a surprise to seemingly everyone in western Iowa when Skalla left an estimated $10 million to local churches.
• Woman Found Alive After 6 Days in Woods: Police—to their surprise—found a 52-year-old Oregon woman alive, almost a week after she'd disappeared. Sharon Ruth Bates, who had gone out for a walk, ended up trapped in an old well, without food, and is now recovering.
• Long-Lost Siblings Meet, Already Knew Each Other: Buddine Bullinger, 56, has worked at the Walmart in Dickinson, ND, for 25 years—and for many of those years she greeted John Maixner as he came in to shop. Turns out, he is her biological brother, and they've been reunited with three other siblings also given up for adoption at birth.

Click for more uplifting stories, including another Olympic moment. (More uplifting news stories.)