Don Ritchie lived right near the infamous ’Gap’ cliff in Australia — a spot that for years has been the place where desperate people have decided to attempt suicide. Every day, Don kept an eye out for these poor souls, persuading them not to throw themselves into the sea.
Bright Side would like to share the story of this amazing man who was rightfully known as the ’Angel of the Gap’.
Every time he spotted a would-be suicide, Don would strike up a conversation with them and then invite them back to his home for a proper talk and a cup of tea. With his quiet and sensitive approach, Don managed to convince people not to give up on themselves and keep trying to deal with their problems (the man himself was battling cancer). Back in the day he worked in the insurance industry, so he would later tell friends of the people he had saved: ’I was a salesman for most of my life, and I sold them life.’

Since 1964 Don has rescued about 160 people, though his family believes the true figure is closer to 500. For his selfless service he was named Australia’s Local Hero in 2011 and was also the recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia. In 2010 he and his wife were named ’Citizens of the Year.’

Unfortunately, not all desperate people were saved — some people were just not willing to open up. Once, Don himself almost died too, in an attempt to stop a girl who decided to jump despite his best efforts.

Alas, The Gap was left without its guardian angel in the summer of 2012, when 85-year-old Don Richie died peacefully at his home in Watson’s Bay, surrounded by his wife Moya and their three children.

 

Kleenex Pays It Forward To Sisters Who Make A Difference In Their Community

Tara and her sister Wendy were two moms who wanted to make a difference in their community. They came up with a small idea. It all started with just the two of them, their mom, and children in the kitchen making peanut butter sandwiches. They went out into their community with 63 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, hoping to feed the homeless. What they saw was not what they expected at all. While many think of the homeless as transient men, even drug addicts, what Tara found were dozens of single mothers with unclothed children, just struggling to get by. It hit home hard. For Tara and Wendy, they so easily could have been put in the same situation with their kids.

Now their operation, Soul Food, is much bigger. They go and hand out the sandwiches with a small label that says “You Matter” on it. The message was simple, but they hoped that these women and children, so often forgotten, would know with these two little words that someone cared. Kleenex saw what Wendy and Tara were doing in their community and decided to give them a surprise of their own. Smack dab in the middle of the street, they created a giant mural with Kleenex tissues that read “You Matter, Too.” The women were in tears.

See the touching video below, and please SHARE with your friends and family on Facebook!

John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose.

His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library. Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner’s name, Miss Hollis Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She lived in New York City. He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in WorldWar II. During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding.

Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really cared, it wouldn’t matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their first meeting —7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. “You’ll recognize me,” she wrote, “by the red rose I’ll be wearing on my lapel.”

So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but whose face he’d never seen. A young woman was coming toward him, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. He started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that she was not wearing a rose. As he moved, a small, provocative smile curved her lips. “Going my way, sailor?” she murmured. Almost uncontrollably he made one step closer to her, and then he saw Hollis Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40, she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat. She was more than plump, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes.

The girl in the green suit was walking quickly away. He felt as though he were being split in two, so keen was he desire to follow the girl, yet so deep was his longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and upheld his own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. He did not hesitate. His fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book that was to identify him to her. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which he had been and must ever be grateful. He squared his shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman, even though while he spoke he felt choked by the bitterness of his disappointment. “I’m Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you could meet me; may I take you to dinner?”

The woman’s face broadened into a tolerant smile. “I don’t know what this is about, son,” she answered, “but the young lady in the green suit who just went by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!”

It’s not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell’s wisdom.

The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. “Tell me whom you love,” Houssaye wrote, “and I will tell you who you are.”

Share this with your friends by clicking below!