Walmart to Pay 100 Percent of College Tuition and Books for Employees

 

Walmart has announced it will pay 100% of tuition and book fees for employees wanting to pursue continuing education through its Live Better U education program.

The company will commit to invest nearly $1 billion over the next five years, assisting with its career-driven training and development.

This will help approximately 1.5 million full-time and part-time employees in the U.S, allowing them to continue pursuing a degree, diploma, or certificate without having to worry about any educational debt.

In a news release, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart Lorraine Stomski said “This investment is another way we can support our associates to pursue their passion and purpose while removing the barriers that too often keep adult working learners from obtaining degrees.

Walmart will be partnering with four new universities, including the University of Denver, the University of Arizona, Johnson and Wales University, and Pathstream. It’s currently in partnerships with multiple universities such as Purdue University Global, Brandman University, and Southern New Hampshire University.

The Live Better U program has helped more than 52,000 employees, with 8,000 graduates since its launch in 2018.

 

This Restaurant Built a Bench for Their Employee with Special Needs Who Desired to be a Cook

 

A restaurant in Virginia has come up with a unique way to accomplish one of its best employee’s desires.

“When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade,” wrote the restaurant on Facebook.

Jordyn’s Deli in Falling Waters is a special kind of restaurant that supports their special needs employment. One of their employees, Angelina, desired to be a cook and when the owners of the restaurant found out, they built a new bench to overcome one of the obstacles, so Angelina could be the Deli’s cook.

“You find a way to make it happen,” they wrote. “You move a couple pieces of equipment around so she can reach. You take some wood, screws and the skills of a local craftsman (her grandfather ????) to make her a perch. And you step back to watch her live out a dream. Angelina’s Reubens. Nothing any better.”

The restaurant has since received a lot of positive notes and is being celebrated for hiring employees with special needs.

According to the Deli’s website, employees with special needs receive the same treatment as everyone else.

“Their work provides a true benefit and we are stronger because of their contributions.”

 

Teenager with Special Needs Raises Money for Charity Through 1,600 Acts of Kindness

 

Since the start of the pandemic, this 18-year-old has been carrying out a random act of kindness every single day.

Sebbie Hall, a teenager who has a rare chromosome anomaly, meaning there was a high chance he would never walk or talk, started a kindness marathon after wanting to gift his own iPad to a friend of his, so they could conduct Zoom calls during the early stages of the pandemic. Since then, the teenager has performed at least one act of kindness every single day, conducting more than 1,600 so far.

Sebbie has watered gardens, posted mail for isolating locals, washed cars, walked neighbor’s pets, and has also baked cakes for nurses. He’s also handed out PPE, collected unwanted Halloween pumpkins, and turned them into soup and pies for the needy, as well as gave warm coats to the homeless.

That’s not all he’s done though. With all the good deeds Sebbie has done, he’s received donations racking up to $39,000, which he’s donated to other charities.

In fact, the money he’s donated has paid for 300 families to get adapted IT devices and has funded a disability rugby team.

 

 

For Sebbie, doing these simple acts of kindness is his “superpower,” and he’s not stopping anytime soon. “I want to raise more money and make people more happy.”

His kind deeds caught the attention of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who thanked the young man for his “wonderful determination.”

Sebbie’s next goal is to raise money for physical therapy suites by running two miles every day, and he most probably won’t stop there.

 

Thirsty Butterfly Drinks Water from an Aid Worker’s Hand

 

With many areas being affected by wildfires, charities have set up field hospitals to rescue small animals and turtles around the regions.

This one butterfly, that was flying away from a wildfire in south of Turkey, landed on the palm of one of the aid workers and began drinking water directly from his hand.

Watch this video from the New York Post below of the precious butterfly drinking water off the man’s palm.

 

13-Year-Old Sky Brown Wins Bronze in Women’s Skateboarding Making Her Britain’s Youngest Medalist

 

Sky Brown, 13, has skated her way to winning bronze for the women’s park skateboarding.

In 2020, the young Olympian suffered a major crash while attempting a trick on the mega ramp. It left her with 13 skull fractures, a broken left arm, and lacerated lungs. Her parents tried to persuade her to quit skateboarding, but Sky never gave up. She told The Guardian.

“I kind of knew I was always going to come here.”

“It was a hard time for my parents and a hard time for a lot of people, and coming back and getting bronze is really cool. I’m really happy. It’s really made me stronger,” she said.

 

 

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During the final skateboarding event in Tokyo, Sky had some small falls while trying to nail some of her skateboarding tricks, like the kickflip indy, but she didn’t let that stop her and kept going until she finally landed on the third attempt.

“I didn’t really care what place I got I wanted to land my trick.”

By successfully nailing her trick, it moved her up into third place, giving her the chance to share the podium with her best friend Sakura Yosozumi, who represents Japan, and who won the gold medal.

 

 

 

Sky hopes she can inspire other young athletes to compete while reminding one another to always believe in themselves.

“I really hope I can inspire some girls. I feel like people think I’m too young, so I can’t do it but, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything.”

“I believed in myself and I’m here!”

 

 

This Math Genius Won Cycling Gold at the Olympics

 

Anna Kiesenhofer, a 30-year-old with a Ph.D. in mathematics has won the gold medal for cycling in Austria.

Kiesenhofer achieved this win without any endorsement support, or a coach, but used her mathematician skills to “solve problems on your own” with cycling.

“Many cyclists….have a trainer, they have a nutritionist, the have the guy that plans the race for them. I just do all these jobs myself,” she told CNN.

The Austrian Olympian pedaled for 91 miles (147 km), to cross the finish line, and after her achievement, the gold medalist took to Instagram to express her gratitude and wrote, “Thanks from the bottom of my heart to those who have been there for me over the last months and years. You know who you are. And you know that the very essence of this achievement is not so different from any other major goal I set myself in the past.”

 

 

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This stunned the world as the cyclist wasn’t considered a threat in Sunday’s Olympic women’s road race. In fact, The Wall Street Journal reports that her name didn’t appear on any list of pre-race contenders.

In addition to Kiesenhofer’s previous accomplishments such as her degree from the Technical University of Vienna, her educational background from Cambridge, as well as her doctorate from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, she can now add gold Olympian to her list too.

Watch Kiesenhofer’s interview with CNN on the cycling gold medal.

 

 

This 7-Year-Old is Tackling Bullies with Inspirational Videos

 

A 7-year-old from Tiverton, Rhode Island, has been posting inspirational videos on YouTube about school fears, self-image, and a lot more.

For Rowyn Montgomery, posting these videos “makes him feel happy that other people can watch them and feel happy.”

After being bullied at school, he didn’t want others to feel alone, and that’s when he decided to talk about what he went through.

 

 

“I have a unibrow and I used to be picked on because of it. But I don’t care because I’m myself!” Rowyn says. “With bullies, it doesn’t matter what they think about you, it matters what you think about yourself and it’s good to embrace yourself and tell other people who you are.”

Rowyn’s mom Michelle helps him post videos to his YouTube channel “Rollin’ with Rowyn.” She helps him post videos about everything related to back-to-school nerves, anxiety, COVID, and other issues that kids may face.

Rowyn hopes that his videos will help remind other kids that everyone is awesome in their own way.

“Everybody’s different and everyone is good in their own ways.”

Eating More Fish Could Add 5 Years to Your Life

 

If you want to add years to your life, it might be time to add some fish to the menu. New research shows that higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood are contributing to a lifespan of about five years longer than the norm.

Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Spain and The Fatty Acid Research Institute in the United States teamed up to examine data from the Framingham Offspring Cohort – a report that’s been following residents from a Massachusetts town since 1971.

The study was analyzed in over 2,200 people’s blood fatty acid levels of those over the age of 65, monitoring each person’s health for about 11 years.

In fact, the team discovered that an increase of one percent in omega-3 levels can reduce a person’s risk of death as much as quitting smoking.

“Having higher levels of these acids in the blood, as a result of regularly including oily fish in the diet, increases life expectancy by almost five years,” said IMIM’s Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group Dr. Aleix Sala-Vila in a news release.

Based on the results, four types of fatty acids contributed positively, keeping people healthy.

“What we have found is not insignificant. It reinforces the idea that small changes in diet in the right direction can have a much more powerful effect than we can think, and it is never too late or too early to make these changes,” the researcher noted.

The authors of this study are planning to examine the fatty acids on a larger scale of the population, including European residents. In addition, the American Heart Association recommends eating oily fish twice a week. This can include sardines, tuna, or salmon.

You can read more on this study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

 

There’s a New Cookbook for People Suffering from Long Covid

 

A new cookbook has been created for people whose taste buds have been affected by Covid.

These recipes were written by two food writers, with aims to stimulate the taste buds.

Ryan Riley and Kimberley Duke are food writers and co-founders of Life Kitchen, a non-profit cookery school for people whose tastes were affected by cancer treatment. The two created this free cookbook, to help those who have a distorted sense of smell, also known as parosmia. This can make your food items like vegetables, and coffee taste repulsive. According to studies, many as 41 per cent of all cases could be affected.

“Taste & Flavour had to be different because of Covid,” Riley said. “We had to flip what we knew about writing recipes on its head.”

Duke and Riley have been experimenting with food flavours since 2018. By playing around with different flavours, it helped the duo rethink recipes from scratch.

“We’re not just relying on garlic and onions, and all of the typical flavour profiles,” he said.
In fact, they’ve consulted food scientists, who suggested combining the five flavour elements – aroma, layering, texture, trigeminal food sensations and umami to create their meals.

This new book reveals an array of dishes including a fiery tomato soup with sesame seed butter toast and veggie pineapple tacos with red peppers and feta.

The digital cookbook is now available and can be downloaded for free.

 

One Serving of Fruits and Vegetables Daily Can Help with Mental Health

 

A new study conducted by researchers at Leeds and York Universities in the United Kingdom shows a single serving of fruits and vegetables can boost your mental health.

This research was analyzed from the data of 40,000 British citizens and concluded that consuming veggies and fruits has the same effect on your well-being as walking for at least ten minutes for eight extra days, per month.

The co-author of this study, Dr. Neel Ocean, said in a statement: “While further work is needed to demonstrate cause and effect, the results are clear: people who do eat more fruit and vegetables report a higher level of mental well-being and life satisfaction than those who eat less.”

The study has been assessed on individuals between 2010 and 2017, assessing their well-being along with their daily intake of fruits and vegetables.

Alternative factors affecting mental health were taken into consideration such as education, age, marital status, employment status, income, health, etc.

Dr. Peter Howley, the co-author of the study, adds “Encouraging better dietary habits may not just be beneficial to physical health in the long run but may also improve mental well-being in the shorter term.”

You can read more on this study in the journal Social Science and Medicine.