August, when many people go on vacation, is usually a slow month for news as we start to look ahead to the fall. This year was no different, though there were some noteworthy news events during the month.

With the start of the school year, which for much of the country begins before Labor Day, education-related news often is in the spotlight. Similarly, sports news about the upcoming college and pro football seasons and baseball’s pennant races take much of our attention. And there’s no shortage of political news ahead with the mid-term elections in November.

The news in August included raging wildfires in many parts of the country, a bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, hurricanes in Hawaii and much more. August also saw the passing of two American originals — political stalwart John McCain and prolific playwright Neil Simon.

Still, there is plenty of good news to give us some respite from the recent heartbreaking stories. This month’s good news cycle offers something inspiring, heart-tugging, and hopeful. In New York, a police officer on her way to work stopped her car to help a boy and thus prevented a tragedy. An act of kindness by a young man in Louisiana who was stocking shelves at a grocery store helped launch a GoFundMe college fund for him. And a conservation group reported encouraging news about the status of four endangered animal species.   

Click here to read about best news of the month.

1. Dream dress becomes a reality
> Date: July 30
> Location: Monongahela, Pennsylvania

Nevaeha Smith wanted her dream dress for her eighth-grade dance at Ringgold Middle School, but with a $200 price tag, she thought it was out of her price range. Her father Ricky was undeterred. The elder Smith, who works shifts at three different jobs to make ends meet, surprised his daughter with the dress she wanted, and Nevaeha’s mom, Kelly Anne, recorded her daughter’s reaction on camera.

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2. Rapper picks up tab for woman’s grocery bill
> Date: July 30
> Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Just when Therra Gwyn-Jaramillo of Georgia thought all hope was lost “an angel” swept in and covered her grocery bill. After losing her husband to brain cancer four years ago, Gwyn-Jaramillo assumed financial responsibility for herself, her disabled brother, and four rescue dogs. Recently, as she was slapped with a hefty home repair bill and was not fully paid for her latest freelance writing assignment, she resorted to many nights of just rice for dinner. A friend heard about her situation and gave her a $250 gift card to Whole Foods. In the checkout line, Gwyn-Jaramillo items got intermixed with the person’s in front of her. He simply said, “I might as well get it.” She wouldn’t know until later the the man was her favorite rapper, Ludacris.

3. Katy Perry brings concert to fan
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Australia

When 8-year-old Grace Moores, a native of Australia, couldn’t go see Katy Perry in concert because she was due for brain surgery, the pop star brought the concert to Moores. Grace’s older sister Tianna organized a Twitter campaign to convince the singer to visit Grace. Perry appeared at the Moores’ house the day of her concert and sang three of her songs with Grace. Perry also gave the family autographs, took pictures with them, and posted a picture of Grace to her Instagram followers.

4. Uplifting video touches the hearts of millions
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Loathe, Kansas

Sometimes when the going gets tough, it’s helpful to put things into perspective. Roman Dinkel, a 2-year-old boy from Loathe, Kansas, reminded many people of this important lesson this month. Born with spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the functionality of the spine, Dinkel’s chances of walking were inherently doubtful. On Aug. 1, Dinkel’s parents posted a video of the toddler taking his first steps with the help of walking forearm crutches. The only 7 seconds long video amassed over 23 million views online.

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5. LeBron opens school for students in need
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Akron, Ohio

Basketball superstar LeBron James may be leaving Cleveland for Los Angeles, but he’s still connected with his native Akron. James earlier this month opened the I Promise School in Akron. The school is designed for about 240 students in grades three and four identified as needing support. Though it is part of the public school district of Akron, James’ foundation is helping to pay for a portion of the school’s operating costs.

6. Marine vet overcomes adversity
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Pomona, New York

When Marine John Peck stepped on 30 pounds of explosives in 2010, it cost him all four of his limbs. Six years after the accident, Peck was selected to receive a double arm transplant, which called for a handful of surgeries lasting 16 hours. Peck has spent the last two years in therapy, enabling the nerves in his upper arms to reintegrate with those in his new forearms. On August 1, he mustered the strength to deliver the ceremonial first pitch at the Rockland Boulders baseball game.

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7. From trash to treasure
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Max Brown was scavenging through a garbage bin in Nevada four years ago when he came upon a trove of very old books and discovered they were once owned by Thomas Jefferson. The timeworn tomes sat in Brown’s South Lake Tahoe home for six months before he carefully opened them. Inside one of the books he found a handwritten note that said: “From the library of Thomas Jefferson.” The book was one of two volumes written by French theologian Pierre Charron and was published in 1621. Brown eventually sold the books to an auction house for $8,000.

8. Former waitress returns stolen cash 20 years later
> Date: Aug. 1
> Location: Tucson, Arizona

Carlotta Flores, owner of El Charro restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, was pleasantly surprised on July 28, when she received a card in the mail that contained $1,000 in cash. The writer chose not to disclose her identity; the only information she provided was that she’d been a waitress at the restaurant. The former waitress revealed that she stole a couple hundred dollars back in the 1990s while attending the University of Arizona and has felt guilty ever since. The mystery woman paid Flores the amount she stole in addition to 20 years worth of interest.

9. Groom takes plunge
> Date: Aug. 2
> Location: Orange Beach, Alabama

Shortly after tying the knot with his wife Cindy on Orange Beach, Alabama, a woman approached off-duty Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Zac Edwards and said there was a man in the ocean struggling to get to shore. Edwards jumped into the surf with a flotation device and tried to keep the man’s head above water. Because the current was so strong, Edwards and the man in the water needed help from a lifeguard to get to shore.

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10. Homeless man saves woman from drowning
> Date: Aug. 3
> Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

During the first week of August, Shane Drossard of Minneapolis, Minnesota, retrieved a woman who attempted suicide from the Mississippi River. The woman leapt from the Washington Avenue Bridge at 2 a.m., survived the fall into the river but got pummeled by the rapid current. Drossard, a homeless man living beneath the bridge, heard the woman’s voice and rushed to her rescue. After retrieving her from the water, he told the woman she was beautiful, she had so much to live for, and he was not going to let go of her.

11. Good news for endangered species
> Date: Aug. 3
> Location: World

Even though biodiversity is threatened around the world, the International Union for Conservation of Nature released a report showing some progress for some imperiled species. According to the report, public awareness is helping preserve the Ethiopian wolf, Africa’s most endangered carnivore. The population of the ruddy-headed Mauritius fody is slowly recovering. The greater bamboo lemur, found in Madagascar, was thought to be extinct prior to 1986, and now lives in a protected region. Many spoon-billed sandpipers are returning each year to their breeding grounds in Russia, after a program was launched in 2012 to preserve eggs in captivity away from predators.

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12. Missing dog found one year later 70 miles from home
> Date: Aug. 3
> Location: Greenwood, South Carolina

Can you imagine your neighbor telling you and your family that they had killed your beloved dog? That’s what a family in Greenwood, South Carolina, was led to believe for an entire year until Friday Aug. 3. World-class marathon runner Esther Atkins found the family’s long lost pitbull, Ratchet, in Greenville, South Carolina’s Skyland Park. She took the timid pooch to the vet where they discovered he was microchipped. The Humane Society of Greenwood helped Ratchet return to his family.

13. Hero cop’s leap of courage
> Date: Aug. 3
> Location: Hastings-on-Hudson, New York

Jessie Ferreira Cavallo, a police officer in Hastings-on-Hudson, was driving to work when she saw a 12-year-old boy clamber over a guardrail on the Saw Mill River Parkway and tumble down onto concrete. Cavallo stopped her car and went down to where the boy was. U.S. Army Specialist Nicole McKenzie, who served in a medical battalion and is in the New York National Guard, had been on her way home when she saw the commotion at the overpass. She stopped her car and got her medical kit from her trunk and the two women put the boy in a neck brace and splint. He was transported by ambulance to Westchester Medical Center where he was recovering from his injuries.

14. Woman rescues toddler from fire escape
> Date: Aug. 4
> Location: Woodside, Queens

Sonia Ramirez of Queens in New York City broke the fall of a 2-year-old boy, who had been dangling from the fire escape ladder outside his family’s apartment for five minutes on Saturday Aug. 4. The child attempted to ascend further up the fire escape before coming to halt and releasing his grip. Ramirez did her best to catch the 49-pound toddler, but dropped him from the intensity of the fall. However, her efforts prevented far worse injury for the boy.

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15. Strawberry Field forever
> Date: Aug. 4
> Location: Liverpool, England

Even though John Lennon can’t take you there, the public will be going to Strawberry Field — the subject of the psychedelic Beatles song from 1967 — for the first time in the summer of 2019. The Liverpool landmark — a Gothic mansion — was the site of an orphanage Lennon often visited when he was young. It is being restored by the Salvation Army, which uses it to train people with learning disabilities. Restoration plans also include a Lennon exhibit.

16. Fewer people going back to jail
> Date: Aug. 5
> Location: United States

Some exciting news was released on Sunday, Aug. 5. The rate of recidivism — the tendency of former convicted criminals to return to prison — dropped by 23% between 2005 and 2012. The Pew Research Center found that re-entry programs, which help those who were previously incarcerated return to a normal life in their community, have helped reduce this rate considerably.

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17. A dog’s best friend
> Date: Aug. 5
> Location: Grand Tetons, Wyoming

While hiking at about 11,000 feet in the majestic Grand Tetons this summer with her father, Tia Vargas met a group of hikers who had found an injured English springer spaniel. The hikers had small children with them and could not bring the dog down the mountain. So Vargas, a single mother of three, put the 55-pound canine on her shoulders and carried the animal 6 miles down the mountain.

18. First American to row solo across Atlantic Ocean
> Date: Aug. 6
> Location: North Atlantic Ocean

During the first week of August, Bryce Carlton of Cincinnati, Ohio, became the first American to row across the Atlantic Ocean solo. Starting in St. John’s, Newfoundland in Canada and ending in St. Mary’s Harbor in England, the biology teacher and ultramarathoner shattered the speed record for the west-to-east solo and unsupported crossing of the North Atlantic. Carlton’s journey lasted 38 days, 6 hours, and 49 minutes for a record average speed of 2.5 knots. The previous record was 53 days, 8 hours, and 26 minutes — an average speed of 1.86 knots.

19. Cat survives house explosion
> Date: Aug. 7
> Location: Topeka, Kansas

Ashley Nadeau evacuated her house with her 9-month-old baby after a devastating storm wiped out about 200 power lines and there was a power outage in the area. About 50 minutes after evacuating, the house exploded, likely from weather-related damage, and Nadeau has not seen her cat, Kunimitsu, since. Believing she lost both her house and her cat, miraculously, onl Aug. 7 the cat was found in a pipe where the house used to be.

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20. Good deed gets rewarded
> Date: Aug. 7
> Location: Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Jordan Taylor works at Rouses Market grocery store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with dreams of going to college. While stocking shelves, he noticed Jack Ryan Edwards, a 17-year-old boy with autism, was watching him work. Taylor let Edwards help him stack shelves. Edwards’ father saw the act of kindness and filmed it on his cellphone. Edwards’ sister was so moved by Taylor’s gesture that she started a GoFundMe page to raise money for Taylor’s college fund. A week after the page’s creation, the campaign had raised $120,000. Representatives from Rouses Market also reached out to Edwards to offer him a job.

21. Teen auctions pig for cancer charity
> Date: Aug. 10
> Location: Evansville, Wisconsin

Instead of spending money on video games, like most teen boys do, 15-year-old Waylon Klitzman of Evansville, Wisconsin, decided to put his money and efforts elsewhere: cancer research. After his favorite teacher, Kim Katzenmeyer, resigned from teaching to volunteer full time at Beat NB — a research charity for neuroblastoma cancer — he felt compelled to help. Katzenmeyer’s niece had been diagnosed with this rare cancer the year prior. Devastated by his mentor’s departure from school, Klitzman auctioned his pig Roo at the Rock County 4-H Fair in Janesville, Wisconsin, for cancer research. Within 10 minutes, Roo had sold four times, with the bids amounting to $10,070.

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22. Gangs unite to build playground
> Date: Aug. 13
> Location: Chicago, Illinois

Gangs have turned many parts of Chicago into battlegrounds, but at least in the city’s North Pullman neighborhood, two gangs are seeking peace. Chicago police connected rival gangs with Chicago CRED — an organization co-founded by former secretary of education Arne Duncan that is focused on reducing violence. Together, they created a playground on territory the gangs once fought over that has become a symbol of cooperation and peace.

23. Man, 98, walks 6 miles to be with hospitalized wife
> Date: Aug. 18
> Location: Rochester, New York

Neither rain, nor snow, nor any other act of nature was going to keep 98-year-old Luther Younger from walking 6 miles to be with Waverly, his wife of 50 years. Waverly, who has brain cancer, has been hospitalized at Strong Memorial Hospital since the beginning of August. “She’s the best cup of tea I ever had,” he said to Spectrum News.

24. Archaeologists find lost city in Kansas field
> Date: Aug. 19
> Location: Arkansas City, Kansas

Archaeologists are digging up what they believe to be the lost city of Etzanoa, home to as many as 20,000 people who lived there between 1450 and 1700. Archaeologists believe conquistadors from what is now New Mexico came to present-day Arkansas City, Kansas, in search of gold and to gain converts to the Catholic church, but they were driven away by Native American people. Archaeologists think disease eventually wiped out the city.

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25. Restaurant saves wedding when caterer forgot to “save the date”
> Date: Aug. 20
> Location: Hudsonville, Michigan

A catering company in Michigan didn’t get the memo that the wedding they committed to was a week earlier than they had anticipated. Desperate, the bride and groom rushed into a nearby restaurant and begged for help. The owner of the Sonder Eatery in Hudsonville, Michigan, couldn’t say no to the desperate couple, and within 90 minutes, his team pulled together meals for 150 guests. They even provided vegetarian and vegan options.

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