📰 Great News❕

Just a day before Santa makes his way around the globe, over 300 dentists have their own whirlwind day of giving. Every year on December 23, Comfort Dental’s 180 locations offer free dental care to anyone needing care in their community. With locations in 10 states, Comfort Dental offices saw over 3,500 patients in 2023, totaling in over $1.4 million in dental services — all given away for free. https://lnkd.in/exgumtcH

Teen drug use hasn’t rebounded from its drop during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results from a large annual national survey released Tuesday. About two-thirds of 12th graders this year said they hadn’t used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes or e-cigarettes in the previous 30 days. That’s the largest proportion abstaining since the annual survey started measuring abstinence in 2017. Among 10th graders, 80% said they hadn’t used any of those substances recently, another record. Among 8th graders, 90% didn’t use any of them, the same as was reported in the previous survey By: Mike Stobbs https://lnkd.in/ggr_pSe4

YouTube legend and Guinness World Records ICON MrBeast is back with his biggest project to date – the Beast Games. Known for his ridiculous challenges and lucrative giveaways, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson is no stranger to record-breaking. With over 500 million followers across his social media platforms, he’s the most followed creator in the world, and he attracted over nine billion views on his YouTube videos last year. https://lnkd.in/eia5pVeJ

Largest collection of Monopoly boards https://lnkd.in/eWesm8H4

From cleaner to theology graduate: Stellenbosch mom's inspiring journey https://lnkd.in/eFGwetHb

For most of her life, Joy Ryan—known affectionately as “Grandma Joy”—had never experienced much beyond her small hometown of Duncan Falls, Ohio. She’d never seen an ocean or a mountain, and international travel felt like a distant fantasy. Yet in late October 2023, at the age of 94, Grandma Joy stood on the icy shores of Antarctica, celebrating a momentous milestone. Together with her grandson, Brad Ryan, she had successfully visited all seven continents, proving that adventure has no expiration date. https://lnkd.in/em6a7TDX

A California ecosystem has gotten a big boost from an adorable, fluffy and hungry friend. At Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, a newly-reinvigorated population of native southern sea otters has eaten so many invasive European green crabs that researchers say the otters have locally solved a problem that has plagued the West Coast for years. By: Elizabeth Weise https://lnkd.in/ebEhEVWE

Great oaks from little acorns grow – and when a 45-metre-tall oak falls in a storm, it’s turned into a table capable of seating 60. It’s not the original proverb but it is the premise of a community-powered project that has seen an 18-metre-long (59ft) Great Oak Table – plus accompanying benches – spring up on a patch of private woodland near Chagford, on the edge of Dartmoor. It comes after locals raised £22,555 to transform a 500-year-old oak tree that fell in a storm 15 years ago into what they believe is the longest table ever to be crafted from a single oak tree https://lnkd.in/e_VSnPUF

With ‘Giving Circles,’ Anyone Can Be a Philanthropist Thanks to the rise of collective giving groups, you don’t have to be Bill Gates to watch your money create transformative change. By: Anna Patton https://lnkd.in/eC6aZJZx

Kristine McDivitt Tompkins was one of the first six employees of world-renowned outdoor gear company Patagonia. Under the leadership of Yvon Chouinard, she helped build an iconic, ethical brand which she later ran as CEO — and met her late husband, Doug Tompkins, who co-founded The North Face and Esprit. https://lnkd.in/eXjJZJC4