Finally, some good news: Heroic dog saves owner's life, woman helps homeless teen sleeping in yard, and veteran supports others with PTSD recovery
Yahoo Canada editors highlight the most smile-worthy and inspiring stories this week
In a world often dominated by challenging headlines, Yahoo News Canada aims to spotlight uplifting news stories both local and beyond. This week's roundup includes a veteran helping others channel PTSD into art, a dog named Hero who is credited for saving his owner's life and a woman who found a teen sleeping in her yard is warming the hearts of millions of social media users with her kindness.
🎨 Veteran helps others channel PTSD into art
When Dominic April picks up a hammer and plate of steel in his workshop, he says everything else melts away.
As he sculpts metal in the forge in his garage he temporarily forgets about the things he saw while serving nearly 28 years in the military with the Royal 22nd Regiment and during his time in the Airborne Regiment as a paratrooper.
"I forget that I saw such things in Bosnia," said April in an interview with CBC News. "All these things disappear for me during the day. I don't think about anything else."
In 2018 a newfound passion for forging turned into a small business: Atelier du Vieux Corbeau, located about 50 kilometres west of Quebec City. April opened his garage doors to welcome veterans learning to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through forging—the process used to shape metal.
Sent to the Veterans Affairs Hospital for PTSD for two months, when he got out of the hospital, April decided to start his own shop in his garage.
"I went, took a course and my God, I found a focus. I found a purpose," said April.
The garage has since become a safe space for other veterans, who April allows to use the workshop free of charge in exchange for their pieces, which he then sells to make up the cost of materials.
Denis Charron, an ex-armoured crewman and intelligence officer who served 28 years, visited April's garage in September.
"It was very, very comforting for me," said Charron.
Forging steel, Charron made a rose for his wife which he now displayed in their dining room.
🐕 Watch: Dog named hero saves owner's life
🏠 Woman finds homeless teen asleep in yard – her response won people’s hearts
A woman found a teen sleeping in her yard, and her response has since gone viral, warming hearts of social media users around the globe.
In a series of TikTok videos, user Elly Pimentel shares how she helped an unhoused boy who would repeatedly sleep in her yard. Although she initially hesitated before sharing anything about the teen online, Pimentel posted bits of their exchange on TikTok in the hopes that her community might offer some guidance.
“A teenager has been living in my yard. He can’t stay, but I don’t really want to evict him either,” she wrote over a TikTok video, which has been viewed more than 869k times. In the video, Pimentel explained that she had been noticing an unhoused 16-year-old boy curled up on a patch of cinder blocks near her house multiple times, but she “didn’t ask him to leave.”
The clips, which were posted in September, have since sparked an outpouring of advice, support, and shared experiences from viewers everywhere.
In the comments section, many people applauded Pimentel for the kind gesture and opened up about their own experiences with homelessness.
“You’ve handled this with such respect, compassion, and grace,” one user wrote. “It’s honestly so refreshing to know people like you exist.”
“I’m blown away by your genuine caring and concern, for a stranger, your empathy, and actually doing so much to help,” another person added. “You truly are an angel.”
🌍 Watch: Manitoba Indigenous land guardians work to protect pristine wilderness
😎 ‘It’s the little things in life’: 22-year-old sees colour for the 1st time, thanks to random act of kindness
An Alabama man went viral after sharing his reaction to seeing colour for the first time.
McKinley Erves, 22, always wanted to be able to see what he was missing. For years, he’s wanted to try colour blind glasses, which claim to help individuals with colour deficiency detect differences between colours better. Then, his friends surprised him on his birthday with a pair — and it was all caught on camera.
In the video, Erves looks at his red car before he puts on the glasses. After encouragement from a friend, who was filming, he slowly put on the glasses and pauses in awe.
READ THE FULL STORY: 22-year-old sees color for the first time thanks to act of kindness
Erves says that seeing his car in a new way for the first time was an unforgettable experience.
“I’ve had that car for about 4 years and I was finally gonna see what I’ve really been driving. I just didn’t know the car wasn’t going to be the only thing I was amazed at,” he tells Yahoo Life.
The video has garnered more than two million views and gotten countless reactions.
This was that moment when it hit him deep. I love it.
— Uncle Silver (@SilverGreg78) January 5, 2021
Erves says he is shocked by the attention the video has gotten.
“I’m just a regular guy. I’m not famous and I didn’t have many followers. But the fact that a random guy like me could fall onto someone’s timeline and they instantly feel joy and happiness from something my friends did for me and that they even go out of their way to message me and tell me how happy they are for me, it makes me feel like I made a difference in a lot of people’s lives even if it was for a little bit,” he admits.
His friends Willie Harris III and Jonathan Everheart, who have known him for years, tell Yahoo Life that they also were not expecting the reaction to the gift.
“It was a very tearful gift,” Harris says. “The way he accepted and appreciated the glasses was a response I don’t think we were ready for. ... As a group we are happy for him, and want his view of life to be as everyone else’s.”
Do you have an uplifting moment or story you would like to share with us? Email the Yahoo Canada team: canadatips@yahoonews.com.
