Eighty-two years we waited for the park, says City Councilwoman Lillian Brock Flemming. The little children dont know the history, but they know theyll have a good time when they get there.

Opened in 2022, Unity Park is a60-acre, $60-million marvel of modern landscape architecture in the Southernside neighborhood of Greenville, South Carolina. The city, at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains and cleft by the Reedy River, has equipped the park with every bell and whistle imaginable for its 72,000 residents. But the true transformation isnt one of Greenvilles facilitiesits of Greenvilles spirit.

Unity Park now stands where two formerly segregated parks, Mayberry Park and Meadowbrook Park, stood off for nearly a century. Back in 1927, Mayberry Park was the only place in Greenville where Black children could play.

It was all we had, says Mary Duckett, president of Southernside Neighborhoods in Action.

But the city treated the park as its spare room. Greenville took a portion for a police shooting range (kids knew to steer clear during Saturday target practice), and then some more for a Public Works facility, which housed a landfill, trash incinerators and a parking lot for garbage trucks.

Ive heard people describe it as the communitys junkyard, says Greenville Housing Fund President Bryan Brown.

In 1938, the city took half of Mayberry Park to build Meadowbrook Park, a minor league baseball stadium. Mayberry Park was reduced to a sandlot, living in the literal shadow of its neighbors prize colosseumone that explicitly barred the Black residents who had frequented the park for over a decade.

In 1939, when South Carolina was in the clutches of Jim Crow, a man named E.B. Holloway, who was Greenvilles first Black mail carrier, petitioned City Council for a true city park for the Black community.

We want the park because we need it, Holloway wrote to the Greenville Piedmont newspaper. We want the park because our social and recreational life is at stake. Give us a park.

The City Council agreed to build a real park … and then did nothing for nearly a century. So the Unity Park that visitors enjoy today makes good on a promise long forsaken. Fittingly, all who enter are greeted by Holloway himself, along with his wife, Hattie Jordan Holloway. The pair are pictured on a mural under the wordsA Promise Fulfilled. Many of the Holloways descendants attended Unity Parks grand opening.

With its massive green spaces and restored wetlands, as well as walking and biking trails, covered picnic areas, state-of-the-art playgrounds, splash pads, basketball courts, baseball fields and even outdoor classrooms, Unity Park is a utopia of fellowship and leisure far beyond anything Holloway could have dreamed.

But Greenville is aware that thepark will invite gentrification and displacement of longtime Southern-siders.

When you create a new community asset, it always generates investment interest and makes the surrounding area very attractive to people who havent lived there before, says Brown.

Aiming to fulfill Unity Parks namesake promise, the city has donated eight acres of land around the park for affordable housing. Workers have broken ground on four developments so far.

You can never catch up, says Councilwoman Flemming, but its a start.

Look at the word unity. Its the last part of the word community, says Duckett. Southernside has always been the type of community that invited folks in.

In 2023, Unity Parks restoration earned an award from the National Recreation and Park Association.

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Since the day that I was blessed to be drafted to play football for the Bills, the people of Buffalo have embraced me and lifted up my heart.

I didnt know much about this city before then, and at every turn, Buffalo has delivered.

Its not just the passion of the Bills Mafia on game day, or even the wings.Its the people and the way they lift up one another, even before tragedy struck.

Over the past few years, this city has seen so many hard times and so much pain. A shooting that horrified the world, taking lives and stealing dreams. An unimaginable blizzard that brought so much fear. A tragic fire that took young lives. Loss after loss, the challenges seemed to just keep coming. The people of Buffalo have experienced the kind of pain that could have broken them.

But it hasnt.

Today, when Im at home in Buffalo, I meet people full of hope and determination. I see aBuffalo that has chosento come together rather than fall apart. I see why Buffalo is known as the City of Good Neighbors.

Healing takes time, and I see people whohave stayed united and are finding a way to move forward, together. People who step out of their homes to help a neighbor, volunteer and just keep going. And that strength has helped to lift up my own experience.

The people of Buffalo continue to show the world what resilience looks like, and that inspired me during my toughest moments in the hospital, after experiencing cardiac arrest on the field. During that challenging time, my family and I felt the love from this city. As I was healing, every day I received cards and letters, artwork from school kids and news about people praying and supporting us.I saw images of people wearing my number in support.

Buffalos love for me came to life for my family and me in so many ways.I really dont know if I can find the words to explain what it means to me as I heal. But I am certain that Buffalos show of resilience is part of what inspired me during my darkest hours.

On the day I was drafted, my little brother, who was 6 at the time, said, Damar, do they have beaches there?I told him, No, brother, we are going to Buffalo.

There isnt a beach in the world that I would trade for the gift Ive been given to become part of this community and feel its warm embrace. The people of this great city inspire me to keep praying, keep loving, keep going, no matter what the circumstances. To count my blessings and just show up every day with love.

As I look forward, Im grateful to call this city home, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Buffalo is a city of fighters, and Im proud to be one of them.

. . .

Editor’s note: Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin experienced cardiac arrest during an NFL game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, 2023,as the world watched. Since then, his charity, Chasing Ms Foundation, has received donations from generous people all over the world, helping him to fulfill his mission of helping kids with camps, toy drives, back-to-school drives and more. Go to chasingmsfoundation.com to join Hamlins journey.

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Its been nearly seven years since a group of volunteers broke ground at What Cheer Flower Farm in Providence, Rhode Island, with a simple goal: get flowers into the hands of anyone in need of a pick-me-up. Best of all, each one of the tens of thousands of bouquets that What Cheer grows and delivers are completely free of charge.

We want to blanket the state with flowers and create happiness and joy, says Erin Achenbach, What Cheers farmer and head florist.

What Cheer regularly delivers blooming joy to people at local hospitals, food banks, hospices, senior centers, recovery centers and moreincluding AIDS Care Ocean State, which provides support to those affected by HIV.

Seeing the smiles on peoples faces who werent expecting itwho just came in to have a meeting with their case manager or take advantage of one of our programsto just see this glow come off their faces is great, says Stephen Hogan Jr. from AIDS Care Ocean State.

Located in Providences industrial Olneyville neighborhood, What Cheers flower beds lie on2.7 acres that once housed a crumbling knife factory. And its safe to say that the What Cheer crew is deserving of some flowers of their own: In May, the nonprofit was awarded a record-high $500,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency for its continued revitalization of a brownfield site (land once abandoned because of industrial pollution).

Not only do we give this space back to the neighborhood by bringing life to space thats quite literally dead, says Achenbach, but were an eco-landing spot with the ability to help local insect and bird populations, and thatll only make peoples lives better. What cheer, indeed!

Whats good about a flower is that it doesnt need anything else, she adds. Your only job when someone gives you flowers is to enjoy them.

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It was 3 a.m. when the flood came on an unseasonably warm night in June, the summer rain melting snow from an unseasonable Memorial Day blizzard. Susan Roberts, new to Red Lodge, Montana, a small town of 2,300, woke from an uneasy sleep. She saw the lights on at her across-the-way neighbors, on the side bordering Rock Creek, a 55-mile river skirting the towns eastern edge.

You could hear the boulders smashing together, says Red Lodge Mayor Kristen Cogswell. It was surreal, like nothing Id ever heard before.

Robertss next-door neighbor, a police officer, was evacuating with his four kids, and he advised Roberts to do the same. So she put her dogs in the car and moved it to an alley behind her home, about 10 feet uphill, as her husband went house to house, waking others.

It was still dark; people were sleeping and didnt realize, says Roberts. There wasnt a public response, it was more people going to each others doors saying, Wake up, you gotta get out.

The couple stayed in their car and on the few feet of dry land surrounding it for the entirety of the next day, watching their house crumble.

As far as 100-year floods go, Red Lodges had it all. Fir trees washed down the towns main drag. Cars floated away. Craters contoured the Beartooth Highway, a major artery connecting Red Lodge to Billings.

Broadway looked like a riverbed, says Cogswell. The whole community was wandering around, trying to grasp what happened.

Then, as suddenly as Rock Creek surged, Red Lodge regained its bearings. The day after the flood, more than 20 peoplefriends, neighbors, strangers, even touristsflocked to help.

People went into our wet, muddy basement and pulled everything out, says Roberts. They sorted and took things home to wash. One person brought a Bobcat to clean up our yard. A mother and her two young children pulled debris from our chain-link fence. Helpers even salvaged her precious photo albums, drying each print before returning it to the book.

And volunteers kept coming every day until summers end.

People would not take no for an answer. If I was like, Oh, were OK now, theyd be like, No. Im gonna do something, she says.

All over town, people mobilized. Volunteer bucket brigades worked quickly to muck out a space within hours. People offered their Yellowstone vacation homes to the displaced at no charge. Restaurant owner Gena Burghoff organized a gift card brigade for people to buy gift cards from local businesses to donate to affected residents. Cogswells husband even saw a man catching fish on Broadway to return to Rock Creek.

Most important, amid it all, Red Lodge remained grounded.

We moved in, and we have to learn to live harmoniously, says Cogswell.

Harmony has been well learned in Red Lodge, a blue town in a red county. Burghoff remembers people publicly forcing their opinions on both sides leading up to the 2020 election.

There was a lot of separation a couple years before, says Burghoff, but people either came to their senses to help one another or were just kind of over the nonsense.

It was a good lesson, she adds.

More than a year later, Red Lodge is still recovering from the floods destruction, but tourist season looks bright. In the spring, Roberts finally moved home, with a freshly poured concrete foundation. And Red Lodge will continue to seek the balance needed to thrive in the Montana wild.

Whats different about Red Lodge is were here because of our respect and compassion for nature. People in Red Lodge will try to understand it and work with it, but every once in a while you need a good talking to, says Cogswell, and that was a good one.

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When Darrell Langworthy was growing up, Thanksgiving meant 30 neighbors sharing a potluck meal in the family driveway.

My parents worked at a golf course. Theyd invite all the workers to Thanksgiving dinner. They would never turn anybody away, he says. If there was a kid in the neighborhood who needed dinner, he got it.

Today, Langworthy carries on the tradition at his restaurant in Colchester, Vermont, where a combination of barbecue and community service has made Mark BBQ a hot spot.

Colchester is a small town on the shores of Lake Champlain, just north of Burlington. Locals know Mark BBQ for its brisket burgers, pulled-pork sandwiches and Tex-Mex meatloaf.

For many, Mark BBQ is also a stop on the road to recovery. Enter: Recovery Kitchen, a program that brings former addicts into the kitchen to build service-industry skills. The effort was inspired by manager Casey DeGuise, who arrived with a troubled history and even more determination.

He had been turned down for 35 jobs, Langworthy says. We said Lets take a chance, and hes never let me down.

Langworthy knows that a little help can go a long way. I had a time when I was definitely drinking too much, he recalls. Now, he offers others the support he once needed. He keeps a cooler by Mark BBQs front door with free food for anyone who wants it. He has handed out more than 170,000 free meals. But his favorite pastime is still watching full plates turn to dirty dishes.

If we can pay the bills and staff, were happy, says Langworthy. If we can help the community, were happier.

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By the time the blizzard hit Buffalo, Craig Elston was the last barber left in his shop. Inside were warmth, safety and a well-stocked candy machine. Outside was a swirling mess of some of the worst that winter can dish out.

It was like nothing Ive ever seen, Elston says. Eighty-mile-an-hour winds. If you went outside, it would just knock you over.

It was Dec. 23, 2022. The day had dawned mild, but by midday, temperatures had plunged, winds were blasting and snow was piling up fast. News reports grew urgent: Get off the roads. Find shelter fast.

Soon neighbors were knocking, desperate for warmth and safety. Over the course of the next five brutally cold days, Elston would help dozens stay warm, fed and aliveat least 40 people, maybe more, he figures.

It wasnt fun or easy. One dude flooded the toilet three times, Elston says. But it had to be done, he adds: Those 40 people could have died out there.

Craig Elston is 38. He grew up in Buffalo, where he runs the C&C Cutz barbershop on Fillmore Avenue. Its the kind of neighborhood where you can get a gun like it was a loaf of bread, says Elstons friend Dwayne Ferguson.

But its also full of hardworking people of all kinds, including new immigrants and families that have lived there for generations. Challenges are nothing new for Buffalo residents like these, says Ferguson. Every day is a blizzard, he says. It just depends on how you deal with it.

Dealing with it has become Buffalos specialty. Not long ago, the city was one of Americas most prosperous. More recently, Buffalo has suffered through some of the nations most painful losing streaks. Long before its football team was infamously losing Super Bowls, the Great Lakes economy was losing jobs and industries. And in 2022, Buffalo witnessed one of the nations most horrific mass shootings, with 10 people killed at the Tops supermarket just a couple of miles from Elstons shop. A final, crushing blow: On the last day of the year, right on the blizzards heels, a house fire on Dartmouth Avenue took the lives of five children and their grandmother.

But for all the troubles, one thing has never changed, says Ferguson. Buffalo is a city of good neighbors, he says. You have a lot of good stuff going on. You just have to know who to ask.

And on that deadly December day, as the biggest blizzard since 1977 rolled in, Elston realized that it was his turn to help. So he went to TikTok to open his doors to Buffalo.

Anybody out there thats stuck, do not stay in your car, man, Elston announced in his video. The barbershop here welcomes you. Get some heat, get some electricity, charge your phone, get in contact with your family.

The historic storm would eventually kill 47 people in and around the city, raging for days and dumping over 50 inches of snow. Temperatures dropped below zero. People died while stranded in cars or walking the streets. One was a friend of Fergusons: He fell down and couldnt make it home.

Elston credits his old coach, Bill Russell, from his basketball team at Buffalos Riverside High School, for inspiring him to step up when his neighbors needed him.

Hes the reason I opened the doors, says Elston. The real key to success is to pour yourself into the people around you. Thats what Coach taught me.

The coach himself weathered the storm in his home, where he was snowed in for a week. Only later did he learn what his former player had done, and why.

Craig has been amazing. Im proud to know him, Russell says. Im not one bit surprised that he stepped up.

Also unsurprised was the Readers Digest reader who nominated New Yorks second-largest city as one of Americas Nicest Places.

That is so Buffalo, said Kathleen Miller when she heard Elstons tale. The thing that has made me a huge Buffalo fan is the people … theyll do anything for you, but they will not brag about it.

“That could’ve been me”

Miller was born in Oregon, but after three decades in Buffalo, she feels like a native. Snow is a fact of life in western New York, but Miller, now a retired business executive, didnt experience her first true blizzard until 2006. It trapped her in her office downtown, giving her a front-row seat to see the Buffalo way in action.

Everybody abandoned their cars in the streets. There were all these strangers going around helping strangers, she says. In the garage under my office, there was a woman delivering a baby. Ambulances couldnt get in,but there were 12 people around this woman, and they delivered the baby that night.

That was her first encounter with the Buffalo way. It really didnt matter who you were, she says. If you needed help, you were going to get it.

Krista Lipczynski, another area resident, says the troubles that have hit Buffalo breed a certain understanding: Were all in this together.

Buffalo really got it bad in the last few years, between the weather and the shootings and all of that, Lipczynski says. The people who died on the side of the road … it didnt matter if you were driving a brand-new pickup or an old beater. You think, That couldve been me. And it might be me next time.

Lipczynski has gotten to know the regions best side through her work with Kindness Buffalo, a volunteer group that organizes fundraisers and commits random acts of kindness like bringing gift cards to people in the hospital. Its efforts bring some sunshine to a region that gets just nine hours of daylight in the depths of winter.

Its hard to live here. Its dark. Seasonal depression is a real thing, says Lipczynski. But I couldnt imagine living anywhere else.

Buffalo sits on the edge of Lake Erie, about 20 miles south of Niagara Falls, near the Canadian border. Some of its roads run atop the ancient paths of the Iroquois people who lived here for centuries before Europeans arrived. Once a capital of shipping and manufacturing, Buffalo has struggled economically in recent decades.

In 1950 the citys population was almost 600,000 people; by 1990 it was down to just over 300,000. That was the same year that Buffalos beloved football team, the Bills, lost the first of four Super Bowls in a row. The one-time Great Lakes powerhouse had become best known for falling snow and falling short.

But the years since have shown that Buffalo has a way of bouncing back, and it starts with neighbors helping neighbors, says Ferguson. What we ask is What can I do for you right now? he says. Im a human like you. Im here with you. Its about meeting that moment.

That attitude has helped the city endure. Buffalos metro region remains home to more than a million people. Its skilled workforce still draws employers and jobs. Its spacious and green, with an affordable cost of living. Manufacturing has dwindled, but Buffalos service economy has grown, anchored by universities and health care. It remains a magnet for students and tourists.

And the entire region is a hotbed of arts, culture, winter sports and water sports. Buffalo winters may be dark and cold, but sparkling summer days on the shores of Lake Erie are hard to beat.

Among Buffalos other cultural calling cards: the stunning cathedral called Our Lady of Victory, the bustling museum district of Canalside and the annual chicken-eating festival that celebrates the citys signature food, Buffalo wings.

And, of course, theres the football team. Everybody here is a Bills fan, says Lipczynski.

You have to be, says Miller, who moved to Buffalo just in time to see the Bills lose the 1993 Super Bowl to the Dallas Cowboys. I felt like I was at a wake, she recalls. Black, White, poor, wealthy, everybody just bucked each other up and said, Our time is going to come.

The storm arrives

The first blasts of snow hit Buffalo around 10 a.m. on a Friday; soon the blizzard gripped the region like a claw. Temperatures plunged. Roads became impassible. Emergency crews rescued 65 people before abandoning the effort as too dangerous. At one point, police logged 1,000 unanswered calls for help. More than 30,000 people lost power.

Much of Craig Elstons neighborhood lost power too, but not his barbershop. The first person to knock on his door was a Middle Eastern neighbor who barely spoke English. Elston didnt need a translator to see the trouble.

He had frostbite on his fingers, on his toesit was really bad, recalls Elston.

Not far away, Miller was about to get her own reminder of the Buffalo way. She lives on 100 acres outside the city, raising horses and cattle, and as the storm blew in, she expected to be cut off from her barns and animals. The handyman who typically helps her had been hospitalized with a bad burn, and she didnt expect to see him. So she gave her animals a double feeding, crossed her fingers and got ready for bed.

All of a sudden my doorbell rings, and there he stands, she recalls. I said, What are you doing? He said, Im getting you out. So I gave him some beer and cookies. It took him 30 minutes to get to the horse barn. Then he took my tractor and cleared out two of my neighbors. That is Buffalo.

Across the region, as emergency vehicles bogged down, other residents stepped up. One was Jay Withey, who broke into a school to shelter himself and 20 other stranded motorists. Before leaving, he wrote a polite note on a whiteboard: Im terribly sorry about breaking the school window. I had to do it to save everyone.

Another was ShaKyra Aughtry, who saved a 64-year-old autistic man from freezing outside her home. I said, Listen, we got to go out and get this guy, she told People. This could be your mom, this could be my dad, this could be anybody.

And then there were Alexander and Andrea Campagna, who shared Christmas Eve with nine Korean tourists who had been headed for Niagara Falls. Other stranded drivers stayed in a local Target; about 100 more stayed at the Alabama Hotel in the nearby town of Basom.

Meanwhile, as squads of volunteer snowmobilers prowled the streets, Facebook groups sent people to safe havens like Elstons barbershop. For five days, dozens came and went from C&C Cutz, including a family with two children.

I had everybody in here, Elston recalls. African people, Arabic people, Hispanic people.

Some stayed to sleep, wrapping themselves in barber capes; some stopped just to charge phones; some came and went as they searched the neighborhood for food or friends in need. It got crowded and sometimes feisty, with worried, hungry people chattering at each other in different languages.

People couldnt understand each other, Elston says. I broke up a lot of fights. It was a headache. It wasnt peaches and cream.

Along the way, barber chairs got broken, the candy machine got raided and the front door was knocked off its hinges. But when it was all over, the barber thought more about the people he didnt save than the ones he did.

There was a girl down on Clinton Street, not too far from me. Maybe I couldve got a crew of people that was in the barbershop and helped, Elston says. She froze to death in her car.

They share food, they shovel driveways”

Nor did the region recover easily. As the storm moved out, tales of tragic deaths poured in. City officials faced tough criticism for being slow to close roads. Cleanup took months.

But along with the tragedies came tale after tale of courage and compassion. Buffalo would spend weeks celebrating its blizzard heroes with official awards and tickets to Bills games. Those heroes invariably shared the credit with the city itself.

Buffalo is a city of good neighbors, great neighbors actually. Were all just a big family, says Withey, who broke into the school. Everyone just sticks together, and were resilient. You cant put us down.

The near-death experience of Bills safety Damar Hamlin only added to the frenzy. Throughout the 2022 season, the team had been one of the NFLs best. But just a week after the deadly blizzard, Hamlin almost died on the field when a hard hit stopped his heart. In a moment, fans around the region went from praying for victory to praying for a young mans life.

It drew everybody together, Miller says. Everybody pulling together, making sure the kids knew what was happening.

The Bills would fall short of a Super Bowl once again, but Hamlin survived. While he recovered, donations poured in to support his favorite cause, a modest online toy drive that would eventually raise more than $9 million. Between the blizzard and Hamlins near-death experience, for a few weeks Buffalo became the center of the media universe. Elston says he talked to at least 100 reporters eager to capture a little bit of the Buffalo spirit.

Worldwide attention. Front page of Yahoo, front page of Google, CNN, ABC, NPR, says Elston. It was kind of overwhelming.

But if the attention was new, Elstons efforts were not. Hed been giving back to his community long before the blizzard hit.

I sponsor a shoe giveaway. I give free haircuts for kids who keep their grades at 90 or above, he says. He does much of that work with Ferguson, a longtime community activist. Last Thanksgiving, Ferguson and Elston helped give away 250 turkeys to needy families.

Craig is one of my great young men, Ferguson says. We do things to impact the community any way we can.

Elston says the inspiration for those efforts began with Russell, his old basketball coach.

I can never pay Coach Russ back, says Elston. Hes the sole reason I am what I am today, helping my neighbors. He was so influential. I had no idea what it took to function as a young man. He drove me to games. Bought me basketball sneakers. One time he drove my grandmother to see me play, the only time she ever saw me play. That night I played my worst game. But I didnt care.

When Russell heard that praise, his heart swelled.

Im about 5 foot 5, but right now I feel about 7 feet tall, he says.

Russell taught math and coached basketball for 25 years at Riverside, a neighborhood public school whose alumni include former NBA All-Star Cliff Robinson. Russell recalls Elston as a hard-nosed, focused player, but hes most proud to see the man that Elston has become.

The things that are important arent records or championships, Russell says. My biggest pleasure is seeing the guys doing well with their families, being leaders.

And its people like Elston who keep Russell in Buffalo. While the blizzard had the coach trapped in his home,he saw his own neighbors doing for each other what Elston did on Fillmore Avenue: shoveling snow, checking on the elderly, sharing a laugh and a kind word.

Buffalos got a lot of really good qualities. Good enough that Ive stayed here myself after I retired, Russell says. People help each other out. They share food, they shovel driveways, they give you a shoulder to cry onthats underrated.

Thats a familiar story to Ferguson, a Buffalo native who spent the storm making sure his 91-year-old mother stayed warm. All around, neighbors were helping one another however they could, he says.

It reminds me of my father. He only had a fourth-grade education, but he was always helping, Ferguson says. He was always building something for somebody, or blowing snow off the sidewalk so people could get to the corner store.

Today, Elston and C&C Cutz are still recovering from the storm. Sheltering people for five days took its toll on his equipment and his wallet. Between the broken gear and his utility bills, Elston figures the effort cost him about $20,000, only some of which was covered by donations to a GoFundMe account.

I spent everything I had. Im still trying to recover, he says. I had to replace almost every chair.

Buffalo, likewise, is still recoveringfrom the storm and violence alike. The blizzard and the Tops supermarket shooting took a particular toll on Buffalos Black residents. Half of those killed by the blizzard were Black, and all 10 of those killed at Tops were Black as well. Around the city, people are having hard conversations about striving to correct inequities.

But as officials wrangle with policy, Buffalos community members are stepping up in their own way. A survivors fund for victims of the Tops supermarket shooting raised more than $6 million. Damar Hamlins team has created a charitable fund called The Chasing Ms Foundation to help distribute the millions donated to Hamlins toy drive.

And down on Fillmore Avenue, the next time Buffalo needs help, Craig Elston will just think about the lessons he learned from Coach Russ.

If I had to open up again, I would do it, Elston says. It was the right thing to do. Im not a hero. Im still just a barber. Just working hard and grinding, same as before.

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But the real magic is how it came to be built and lovingly crafted by the people of Kingsport themselves, most of whom had no idea how to wield a chisel, let alone fashion a carousel.

How the Kingsport Carousel came to be

It began 14 years ago when Kingsport transplant Gale Joh wanted to give back to the place that had become his home. Originally from Binghamton, New York, the carousel capital of the world, Joh spent his youth riding the citys half-dozen carousels. Kids in Kingsport should know the same joy, he thought.

So, in 2008, he proposed the pipe dream to a city alderman. She scoffed at the cost, declaring, Kingsport will have a carousel when pigs fly! That alderman happened to be his wife.

Undeterred, Joh turned to his local Kiwanis club. Reggie Martin, Milton Nelson, George Gibson and Ted Heiligthe Four Horsemenshared Johs enthusiasm. They werent the carpenters and mechanics Kingsport needed, but they were the problem-solvers. The Horsemen attended woodcarving classes three-and-a-half hours away in Chattanooga to learn to carve carousel statues. Giving selflessly for the greater good is nothing new in Kingsport. In fact, they have a term for it: the Kingsport Spirit.

Kingsport was chiseled out of the Appalachian Mountains on the tail of the Industrial Revolution. People came from all around to make a new beginning for themselves. And with them they brought an old-school work ethic infused with a spirit of understanding and generosityand the aim of improving everyones quality of life.

The carousel represents that so well, says Jeff Fleming, Visit Kingsports relocation manager.

The Four Horsemen returned from Chattanooga as adept carvers, and the city gifted a facility to use as a workshop. The carousel project found its hooves. Then, suddenly, Gale Joh passed from Lewy body dementia in 2010.

The Kingsport Carousel carries on

Johs dream wouldnt die with him. Instead, donations flowed. The Horsemen taught volunteers to sculpt (each statue takes about a year), and a local artist taught them to paint. Sculptures took on characteristics of their carvers. Valerie Joh carved several, including a pig with wings.

Next, theyd need a frame (a floor, poles, sweeps, rounding boards, gears and an electric motor) to house the statues. In 2011, word of the volunteer carousel effort reached a Connecticut zoo, which donated an old frame sitting in storage. And a Kingsport shipping company offered a free ride in an empty truck that just happened to be returning from New York. Two days and a truckload of neatly disassembled parts later, Kingsports carousel frame was on its way.

When faced with an obstacle, wed put it out to the universe and our community, and a solution would arrive, says Bonnie Macdonald, Kingsports former cultural arts administrator.

Just as volunteer artists emerged, so did mechanics to reassemble the frame. Heilig, a chemist by trade, built flooring for the entire platform.

In 2015, after seven years, with the help of 300 volunteers and 700 sponsors, the Kingsport Carousel was ready to ride. A lilting, whirling work of art, it stands as a symbol of both extraordinary gumption and fun for funs sake.

High schoolers borrow the carousel as a photo backdrop every prom. Its a favorite field trip destination for Girls Inc. of Kingsport, an after-school program. Its the go-to for date nights, proposals and sunny afternoons.

Were not the carousel capital of the U.S.; thats still Binghamton, says Macdonald. But when it came time to make a carousel, we had all the talents we needed right here.

Nicest Places 2021: Quality Inn

Nicest Places 2021: Sun and Moon Ranch

Nicest Places 2021: Manton, Michigan

The post How One Man’s Dream—and a Community’s Determination—Brought the Kingsport Carousel to Life appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Not many nice places shower their residents with burning embers. But on that hot August day in 2020, as ash rained down and flames closed in, Jim Rhodes didnt want to be anywhere but Coulterville, California.

My kid called from Alabama. We first heard about the fire from him, Rhodes recalls. He said, Evacuate! I said, Evacuate? To where?

Coulterville is a tiny town in Northern California, about 150 miles inland from San Francisco, nestled among dry hills where ranchers raise cattle and other livestock. The nearest sizeable town, Mariposa, is 26 miles away. Once Mexican territory and later a gold rush boom town, Coulterville is barely a crossroads today. It has a Main Street, a park and a museum. Its got a cafe, a consignment shop and a VFW post.

And with summer temperatures routinely topping 100 degrees, it has firessometimes big fires. And this, Rhodes knew, was a big fire. Eventually, this blaze would have a name: the Moc Fire, for the tiny town of Moccasin, where it began as a brush fire, origins unknown. It would burn for 10 days, consuming almost 3,000 acres.

Rhodes woke to find his Dodge covered in ash and the news broadcasting evacuation orders. Ranchers across the region were scrambling to protect their animals, loading them into trailers or just setting them loose to find safety. Volunteers were readying fairgrounds in Mariposa and Sonora to shelter animals large and small; already they were filling up with dogs, cats, chickens, horses, cattle, donkeys, llamas, goats, sheep and rabbits.

As residents and animals hauled out, firefighters poured in. With them came the biggest bulldozer Ive ever seen, says Rhodes, sent to cut the firebreak that could save the town. We knew that if it breached the cut, wed all have to get out of here.

The stakes were clear. The danger was growing. But slowly Rhodes realized: He hadnt come to Coulterville just to leave when the town needed him. A Vietnam combat veteran, Rhodes had been looking for a retirement spot when a fellow vet recommended Coulterville. He quickly became enamored of the dusty old town, with its sturdy VFW and its eclectic cast of local characters. And they, in turn, embraced him. He couldnt leave, fire be damned.

So he stayed, joining the handful of residents gathered around the Main Street bulletin board where fire officials posted updates. He knew he could help somebody, somehow.

Around midmorning, a rancher hed never met came by asking for help evacuating animals. Rhodess phone was still ringing: His son still wanted him to evacuate.

The old soldier knew what to do. I hung up my phone, got in the truck and headed down 49 to see how I could help, he says.

Coulterville, California: Shaped by gold and disaster

Fires and floods have always been a part of life for Coulterville. So have people like Jim Rhodes. Whenever theres a blaze, youll see the community running toward the fire, not away from it, says Dawn Huston, co-owner of Main Streets Coulter Cafe.

Huston would know. In these dry, brushy hills, small fires crop up constantly, started by lightning, careless campers or even the motor of a hot car parked on dry grass. The state firefighters handle the big jobs, but it falls to everyone to stop small fires before they grow. A little fire popped up on our neighbors property not long ago, Huston says. As soon as we saw it, I jumped on my quad and went to help. Thats what you do.

Founded around 1850 as a miners trading post, Coulterville recorded its first fire nine years later. The town would burn three times and wash away once in its first 60 years. But gold kept people coming; at its 19th-century peak the place had 5,000 people, 10 hotels and 25 saloons. Later it would become a gateway to Yosemite, bringing a steady stream of tourists to shop Main Street and dine at the historic Hotel Jeffery.

Today, most of the gold is long gone. Most of the tourists too. Wildfires keep coming, though, closing roads to Coulterville three times in the past four years. A structural fire took out the Jeffery in 2014, and its been closed ever since. And COVID slowed tourism across the region.

None of that has helped the town, whose precarious economy depends on a mix of ranching, tourism and anything else that might bring a dollar. While hundreds of people live on ranches large and small scattered in the hills, Coultervilles official population is now about 125 people. If you drove past Coulterville today, youd barely notice it.

But if you got a flat tire or ran out of gas, you wouldnt have to wait long for help, says Huston. You see somebody broken down on the side of the road, and you ask them if they need help, and theyll say, Youre the tenth person whos stopped already, she says.

Huston grew up nearby and returned in 2010 after years in San Francisco. She and her partner opened their cafe on Main Street and bought a 35-acre ranch. Huston knows it could all disappear.

You have to come to terms with the fact that you can lose your property, your animals, everything, she says. So what keeps Huston in Coulterville? Its the people. In San Francisco, theres 50 plumbers within a mile of your house, but I wasnt close with all my neighbors. Here I know all of them. You rely on them in a different way.

The tradition goes way back, says one of those neighbors, Sue Garrett. Any time I go to town, I call around and see who needs anything, she says. Garrett is a fifth-generation rancher, raising cattle on 1,000 acres first staked out by her great-great-great-grandfather. The building itself has never burned, but the property is crisscrossed with firebreaks from past battles.

On the day the Moc Fire sprang up, Garrett quickly realized her ranch was in a critical spot. If the fire went through our property, it would have gone right into town, she says. We were the last chance to stop it.

Sure enough, her lower pasture was soon a staging area for fire trucks and firefighters. Bulldozers began slicing through her fence lines, cutting a new firebreak and clearing out the old ones. She let loose her cattle to find safety, including the beloved bull with the black-and-white tail she calls Pep Le Pew. Its an old practice in a place where there arent nearly enough trailers to haul every animal.

If you get a fire, youve got to start cutting fences, she explains. We paint phone numbers on hooves, or put on these laminated ID tags. Still, you might not see them for six months.

Over the next 10 days, while the Moc Fire burned, Garrett took care of animals at the Mariposa Fairgrounds shelter. Horses needed their stalls cleaned. Cattle and sheep needed food and water. The work was hot and exhausting, sometimes 18 hours a day. Garrett wouldnt have it any other way. Weve got everything against us, but I dont care, she says. When you have fires and floods that shut the roads, it makes you resilient. You figure things out. You go where youre needed.

Taking care of each other in Coulterville, California

Theres no shortage of need in the homes and ranches of Coulterville.

Around here, $20 is 20 dollar bills, says Jesse Salcedo. Times are tight.

The son of Native American farm workers, Salcedo later found success as a general contractor. Like Rhodes, hes a veteran who came to the Coulterville area looking for that elusive combination of privacy and community.

Salcedo is now a local fixture, best known for making traditional Native American tipis that he sells or donates to charity fundraisers. His newest project is a heritage festivalBanderitas Dayshighlighting Coultervilles Mexican and Native American history. When Salcedo needed a sound system, Dawn Huston lent him a PA system. And when he needed some stress relief, Huston had that covered too.

I went over to the cafe, and she said, What do you need? Salcedo says. And I said, I just need a hug.

Salcedos father was a member of the Pueblo tribe; his mother, a Yaqui. His Coulterville neighbors remind him of the tireless men and women who worked alongside his parents in the California vineyards. The grit of these peopletheyre survivors, says Salcedo.

Its one result of all those fires and floods, says Huston: a community that knows how to work together. Everything in Coulterville depends heavily on volunteers, she says, including the history museum, the VFW, the food pantries and the annual street party called CoyoteFest. The towns residents include newcomers and old-timers, liberals and conservatives, people with money and people without. But what most locals share, Huston says, is the will to set aside differences when their place needs them to.

Its not what color you are, or whats your politics or your sexuality. Its, are you a good egg? Mostly its good eggs, she says. Everybody sees it as part of their responsibility to take care of themselves, but also to take care of their neighbors.

On the front lines of the fire

On that sultry day when the Moc Fire closed in on Coulterville, Jim Rhodes was ready to do his part. He just wasnt sure exactly what it would be.

The air was still. Ash and embers tumbled down. Rhodes was sitting in a pickup truck with two men he barely knew, winding up a narrow rural highway. The men didnt know exactly where the fire was; the haze was too thick. They knew that if the wind stayed down, it probably wouldnt move very fast. But they also knew that if the wind rose, all bets were off.

Either way, there was no turning back. So he let his combat training kick in. He was on a mission. His team was with him; the only way to go was forward. And the next thing Rhodes knew, he was in some strangers barnyard, surrounded by frightened horses and goats. The animals knew something was up, he says.

The work went quickly. The rancher gave them laminated ID tags on necklaces to slide over the animals heads before setting them free; with those in place, any animal that didnt make it home on its own could be picked up. Rhodes struggled to get the necklaces over the frightened horses necks. The goats were easier. Their necks are lower, Rhodes says.

The little crew did the same thing at a second ranch. By then, the fire had closed the main highway, so after helping everyone they could find, they made their way back to safety by the back roads, four hours after beginning.

Later they learned that the fire had come perilously close to jumping the firebreak. One of the homes they visited would burna total loss, Rhodes saysbut the animals he set loose that day were all recovered within a week. And while the Moc Fire would burn about 2,800 acres of ranchland and forest, no lives were lost, and no major livestock losses were reported. Even Pep the bull and the rest of the Garrett herd made it home safely.

So Coulterville still stands. Its far from a perfect place. It has its share of troubles. Jobs and housing are scarce. Venomous snakebites will kill your calves. And, of course, fire can come anytime. It can be a hard life on both people and animals.

But Coulterville has thrived before, and it can thrive again. It has concerts at the cafe and theme parties at the consignment shop. It has its history museum and its gold rush attractions. It has the annual CoyoteFest, complete with music, vendors and a signature howling contest. Soon it might even have a place to sit down and eata new owner plans to reopen the Hotel Jeffery, complete with bar and restaurant.

A cocktail I didnt make myself? I cant wait! says Huston.

But in the meantime, theres usually dinner at the VFW once a week. And if you meet Sue Garrett and she invites you to the ranch for tacos, dont be shy; its from the heart.

Were not just being polite, she says. We wouldnt say it if we didnt mean it.

Nicest Places 2021: Quality Inn

Nicest Places 2021: Sun and Moon Ranch

Nicest Places 2021: Manton, Michigan

The post These Neighbors Helped Save Ranch Animals During a Wildfire—and Made Coulterville, California the Nicest Place in America appeared first on Reader's Digest.

The challenge is simple: Answer a math questionsay, whats 8 x 8 + 50?and get five seconds to grab as much as you can from Lucky Candy bodegas shelves, all for free.

For Ahmed Medy Alwan, 23, joy is as essential as breakfastand regulars at his familys corner store sometimes struggle for both. So he came up with a clever way to brighten his customers days. Ive always helped out people in the neighborhood, he says. Theyve known me since I was a little kid. I know half of them by name. And, you know, sometimes they need credit.

Lucky Candy is located on a busy street in the Bronx, which is whats known as a food desert, where affordable, healthy food is scarce. Many residents rely on neighborhood shops like Lucky Candy for their daily needs.

Introducing the “bodega challenge”

Enter the #bodegachallenge. When a young math whiz gets an answer right, one of two things usually happens. Some kids dart for the candy, and who could blame them? Others grab things like rice, oranges and potatoes, clearly thinking of family at home.

Theyre doing something good, Berto, a student who stopped in after school, told Inside Edition. Because here, we see a lot of people who dont even have anything.

Alwan covers the sprees with his paycheck. But his boss, aka his father, Saleh Aobad, doesnt mind chipping in too. A Yemeni immigrant, Aobad knows that in one of the toughest, most competitive places in the U.S., a bit of help goes a long way.

This changed our relationship with the community big-time, says Alwan. Theyre showing so much love, and theyre lining up at the store for a chance to play.

Nicest Places 2021: Quality Inn

Nicest Places 2021: Sun and Moon Ranch

Nicest Places 2021: Manton, Michigan

The post Solve a Math Problem, Get Free Food: How the Lucky Candy Bodega Uses Math—and Kindness—to Help the Community appeared first on Reader's Digest.

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The post Nicest Places in America 2022 appeared first on Reader's Digest.

For Michelle and James Hundley, it was a moment of truth. Ahead of them lay a snowy, icy road. Behind them, their cold, unheated house. In the valley below, a warm, welcoming room at the Quality Inn in Kodak, Tennessee. All the Hundleys had to do was get there, and Sean Patel, the hotel owner, would do the rest.

In the freezing days to come, the Hundleys would become part of Patels extended family, and his modest hotel would become their temporary home. Theyd be warm, theyd be fed, and they wouldnt be asked to pay anything they couldnt afford. So would dozens of others just like them.

But how to get through a historic blizzard?

But first there was the little matter of getting past the snow. Winter storms arent unheard of in eastern Tennessee, but the one that hit Kodak in December 2020 proved historic. People across the region fell asleep on Christmas Eve dreaming of a white Christmas, but the holiday brought dark clouds and plunging temperatures. As the wind picked up, trees fell, taking down utility lines. Snow blew, pipes froze, and power and phone service went out. More than 44,000 Tennesseans would wake to find themselves celebrating Christmas without electricity.

The Hundleys were among them. The couple live on 35 acres on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains. The storm had quickly left their house freezing and dark, and for two nights they slept in their truck. But after 58 hours without power, theyd had enough. It was time to move to warmer quarters. The only problem: There was no room at the neighboring hotels. At least, not for local residents like the Hundleys.

Thats a familiar story around Kodak, where tourists are the lifeblood of the economy and where hotel signs reading no locals are not unheard of.

Kodak is a tiny town in Sevier County, nestled in a narrow valley southeast of Knoxville. Once known mainly for logging and farming, the rural area now relies on visitors who come to the area, drawn to the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park or the Dollywood amusement park.

Dozens of hotels line the highways. Most arent cheap, and rates climb during the holidays. But many hotels also had a policy against renting rooms to local residents, concerned they might use the rooms for things they didnt want to do in their homes, even for criminal activity. Even in the face of a massive storm that knocked out power in the region, those hotels refused to lift their no locals rule.

Facing the double whammy of high prices and discrimination, their truck was looking like the Hundleys only option. That is, until Michelle stumbled upon a Facebook post from the nearby Quality Inn.

“We will take care of you”

Hello neighbors! If you are affected by the power outages, please call us at Quality Inn in Kodak, right off Exit 407. We will take care of you, Patel wrote on the hotels page. We are not charging the usual holiday or weekend rates. We had a few cancellations and have allocated those rooms to help out.

Not only would the hotel not lock out locals or use the emergency as an excuse to price gouge, Patel promised to keep rates down, eventually locking them in as low as corporate regulations would allow: $25 per night.

It was the lifeline the Hundleys needed. They called the Quality Inn and were promised a room if they could get there safely. James pointed their truck down the mountain road and navigated the icy roads, and, 45 treacherous minutes later, the Hundleys spotted the green Quality Inn sign rising from West Dumplin Valley Road, across from the Boot Barn and Mountain Motorsports.

The couple unloaded their overnight bag and stepped through the doors into the hotel lobby, where they experienced the first real warmthphysical and emotionalthey had felt in days.

They greeted us and asked how they can help, even after we checked in, says Michelle. We didnt have anything. We couldnt afford anything. Sean didnt have to do what he did.

But if you ask Patel, 37, hell likely say that he did have to. An immigrant from India, Patel, who was born a Hindu but attended a Christian school, believes in the concept of karma, a spiritual principle held by Hindus and Buddhists that those who do good to others will receive good in return. Its an idea that aligns nicely with the traditional values of his new home in the American South.

Patel came to America in 2004 and settled in Tennessee, drawn by its friendly reputation. I saw how much people helped each other in the South, and it got to me, he explains. Its not always about money.

An aunt taught him the ins and outs of his new country while piling food on his plate at mealtimes and giving him a bed to sleep in each night. Soon Patel was on his own two feet, earning a degree from the University of Tennessee, running hotels to support his wife and son, and riding his motorcycle along the roads in and around Knoxville for fun.

Along the way, he never forgot how hed started. I had a family who took me in, Patel says.

A passion for giving back to the community

So as the snow flew that Christmas, Patel knew his neighbors would need someone to take them in. As the freeze set in, he turned to Facebook. We will take care of you, Patel wrote.

It was Christmas Day, when the Hundleys were still sleeping in their truck, when Carole and Paul Williams fortuitously saw Patels post. The couple had started their Christmas by driving into Kodak but soon found themselves cold, stranded, and worried. It was like a blizzard, says Carole. I called my neighbor and she said not to come home. They tried getting back but saw car after car stuck in the snow. Utility workers urged them to turn around. So the Williamses started looking for a place to stay.

Like the Hundleys, at first they had no luck with area hotels: either no rooms or none for them, thanks to those no locals restrictions. A friend of the Williamses spotted Patels Facebook post, and soon the couple were hauling down the highway while Patel texted to make sure they were OK. Carole wasnt sure what theyd find when they arrived. I was a little bit wary, she recalls. After all, $25 a night is pretty cheap for a hotel room.

But she neednt have worried. We felt safe the minute we walked in, Carole says. They rolled out the red carpet. Their room was clean and warm. They could stay for as long as they needed, staff told them. When the couple went downstairs for breakfast the next morning, they found a smiling, bespectacled man offering them hot coffee. It was Patel.

Sean was standing there in the dining area and was like, You guys going to stay for breakfast? Williams says.

From that day on, Patels Quality Inn was packed. Between Christmas and New Years Eve, all 60 rooms were booked, with as many as eight or nine family members sharing a room. The weather may have made a mess of the holidays for many in the area, but inside the inn, the Christmas spirit was alive and wellwith Patel playing Santa, giving the gifts of electricity, water, warmth, and friendship.

By day, the halls filled with locals, tourists, and utility workers who stopped by to chat and sip hot coffee. By night, strands of lights twinkled quietly among the lobbys handmade Nativity displays. Patel and his guests called it their Christmas Village, complete with tiny houses, a chugging train, and Santas sleigh hidden among the little trees that Patels seven-year-old son, Rudraaka Rudyhelped him set up.

A Christmas miracle turns into a New Year’s blessing

And as the new year approached, with hundreds of area homes still without power, Patel let everyone know they had a friend out by the highway. Looking for a room? Hell try to supply one. In need of a shower? Bring your towels, he wrote on Facebook. And guess what, its free!

As residents made their way to Dumplin Valley Road, the Facebook testimonials poured in:

It is a blessing to know that in the midst of the darkness, there are still caring, thoughtful people that help in time of need! wrote Chelle Renee.

We spent last night there, posted Bryan Holloway. First time since early Christmas Eve we had power and running water. Thank you so much!

Sean and staff are amazing!! wrote April Fetzer Smith. They have personally helped my family when we were stranded in the Smoky Mountains!

No one who knows Patel was surprised by his generosity. Harold Hines lives in an extended-stay residence Patel owns, just behind the Quality Inn. Hines landed there four years ago after losing his business. When he was down and out, says Hines, Patel welcomed his family with open arms.

You will never go hungry even if you dont have food, says Hines. Sean has made this a home.

I frequently ask him to dial it back a bit because he spends so much of his own money and energy to help others, says Patels friend Steve Smith, who nominated the Quality Inn as the Nicest Place in America. But he has such a big heart, I know he will only give more.

And he has. Patel owns a second hotel, the Segovia Lodge in Junction, Texas, near San Antonio. When a similar freeze hit there in February 2021, Patel let his guests stay and eat free all week. And when the Segovia property lost power too, stranded truckers kept the fire in the lobby fireplace going all night while guests slept on the lobby floor.

It wasnt about who was Black, White, Democrat, Republican. COVID, or no COVID. Everyone was a family, says Shelly Shirley, a manager at the Segovia. Ive never witnessed someone like Sean.

Today, things there and in Kodak are back to (mostly) normal. But the next time theres trouble, the residents of Sevier County know where theyll find a safe haven. He helped a whole lot of people who didnt have anything, Michelle Hundley says of Sean Patel. He was the only one who stepped up to help the locals.

For more heartwarming stories of kindness, check out our finalists for Nicest Places in America 2021.

Fighting COVID-19 and Racial Injustice, Buchanan, Michigan, Is the Nicest Place in America

In Columbiana, Ohio, the Nicest Place in America in 2019, Nobody Gets Left Behind

How Did a Falafel House in Tennessee Become the Nicest Place in America?

The post Taking in the Community During a Christmas Blizzard, the Quality Inn in Kodak, Tennessee Is the Nicest Place in America appeared first on Reader's Digest.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut Houston down, Angeline Latchley and her fianc found themselves unemployed and bored, like so many of us. Not ones for idle hands, they started cooking for their friends and family.

People said, Sorry you lost your job, can you smoke us a turkey? she recalled.

Every good entrepreneur knows that a crisis is an opportunity, so what started as a hobby to stay afloat blossomed into a bustling operation that has been a wellspring of generosity and kindness in Houstons East End. And it all started with leftovers.

When cooking for friends, the couple always ended up with extra food, and started sharing it with local first responders at hospitals and police stations. Soon they were fielding requests to cater parties and events. Opening a restaurant was the natural next step, even if it was the worst possible time to do it, during a pandemic-induced lockdown. Today, their Boot Kitchen offers a full menu of Southern-style comfort foods: fried chicken, meatloaf, ribs, seafood. The staff includes family young and old, including Latchleys 65-year-old mother.

Its a testament to the resiliency of the community, the drive to get it done, says local Dan Joyce. Its a clich, but its that bootstraps mentality. Weve got a very active and engaged community.

Houstons East End, one of the citys older communities, is a colorful mix of modest homes, quiet streets, commercial properties and strip malls. Most of the population is Hispanic, but other residents come from all walks of life: Black, white, Asian. Many work blue-collar jobs at the nearby port and airport, or in the thriving local restaurant scene.

It has proven the perfect spot for the Boot Texan Kitchen, where Latchley arrived with a mission. I said, How can I be a help? How can I add to the community? How can I make the East End better? she said.

The Boot Kitchen goes beyond food, hosting Pop Up Shops for young entrepreneurs, and Expos to showcase local businesses. It sponsors a Senior Citizen Fashion Show and Senior Citizen Sundays, and recently held a surprise birthday party for a 90-year-old Fashion Show contributor.

Its typical for the East End, says Joyce. Youre going to hear that story a hundred times, he said. Youll see it on every corner. Get it done, help your neighbor get it done. Im a lifelong Houstonian, so thats just what Im used to.

While the pandemic brought its share of loss to the area, Latchley prefers to look on the bright side.

When in life will you get the opportunity to focus just on you? Latchley says of the tumultuous year. I said, Im gonna start doing it. I want to help people and I want to serve.

The Nomination

My name is Angeline Latchley, and my fianc and I opened a restaurant in the middle of the pandemic! Why? Great question, let me explain.

We were engaged in December 2019 and planned to get married within six months. Well, in March 2020, my fiance was furloughed due to COVID. Now we were down to one income, facing the fear of a virus that was taking the world by storm, our elderly parents were in isolation, and some of our family were forced to deal with the fear and uncertainty as they are deemed essential workers. We made a decision to be the hope and hands and feet of Jesus during the toughest times that we have all faced. We posted on our social media page that we wanted to provide a meal to first responders and essential workers, and as a community, our friends could join us by volunteering or making donations. We were flooded with people that were feeling helpless and wanted to do something but were not sure how or what to do. Together, we were able to provide meals for our local Walgreens Pharmacy, the Houston Metro Police Department, St. Lukes Hospital emergency room nursing staff, Womens Hospital NICU nursing staff, Harris County 911 operators staff, and many more just to say “thank you, were praying for you and were in this together.”

Our elderly parents were able to help by volunteering, and our kids were able to help by making cards to our local nursing homes and assisted living facilities that werent able to see their familiesit was absolutely amazing! So many areas of life being positively impacted! Fast forward a year later, and that effort and act of kindness opened the door for us to open a restaurant!

Boot Texan Kitchen our motto is We are so much more than a meal but an experience of amazing food, and southern hospitality that will make you feel like family.

I am a Black woman, from a poor neighborhood, single-parent home and my proudest moments have been serving peoplepeople that look like me and people that dont. Kindness transcends race, gender, religion, social-economic status, etc. Loss to you will hurt just like loss hurts me. So I choose to be the light in dark places, serve each person well, operate in excellence and integrity, and teach the next generation of leaders to do the same.

Within our restaurant, we have a pop-up shop once a month and we give our children and children within our community a chance to develop their skills as entrepreneurs. Among them are my eight-year-old niece Audrey and my ten-year-old foster daughter Amyah. We spend time teaching them the basic fundamentals of entrepreneurship and finance including expenses, profit, goals, sponsorship, networking, investing, and customer service. My foster daughter hired my daughter to help set up her table and package her products. After the event and balancing her ledger, she decided she couldnt afford payroll and opted to call a list of prospects (grandparents, friends, and neighbors) to be volunteers! I thought it was absolutely hilarious! Isnt it funny how they become so frugal when its their money and not yours?

At the end of the day, I believe that through COVID-19 the true gift in me was developed. The gift of compassion, kindness, vulnerability, and being the change that I wanted to see. We have within our future Senior Citizen Sundays, giving them a safe place to fellowship and be honored. We are working with the City of Houston to partner for a Meals-On-Wheels program, training and development programs for youth that include business, and healthy food preparation. This has been a journey and it hasnt been easy but its been worth it! I hope that this story inspires you to do somethingyou have a gift that the world needs and your current or past circumstances dont discount who you were created to be.

Be the change, by sharing your gift with one person, one family one community at a time.

The post The Boot Texan Kitchen in Houston, Texas appeared first on Reader's Digest.

On Christmas Eve 2020, fire trucks rushed to the Chittle home in the sleepy little town of Manton, Michigan. It wasnt because of a Christmas tree fire, or because a child climbed too high on a tree, or because of anything you might associate with a Christmas nightmare. Instead, it was a dream come true. The local fire department was there to pitch in on a project that would capture the imaginations of the 1,287 souls who call Manton home, bringing them months of mirth during one of the darkest winters in memory.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the town to shut down, Scott Chittle decided that the community needed a safe place to come together, and something to spark some joy during the dreary winter months. And what is a better outdoor activity to get people outside in the cold than ice skating?

Outdoor activities and a slower pace of life are a mainstay in this rural town about 110 miles North of Grand Rapids. People who live in the larger cities, like Detroit, 180 miles to the southeast, keep cabins for rustic getaways. Folks camp by Lake Billings and a local Amish community was set up nearby in the 1990s.

In order to make his dream a reality, Chittle scoured the Internet for YouTube tutorials on how to build an ice rink. He ordered a large 3,000 square foot tarp online and purchased some lumber to create the walls. It took 12 firetrucks to get enough water to fill the plot.

It took a little time and some neighborly coercing as Chittle went door-to-door to convince people to come see his creation, and soon Chittles backyard ice rink became a Manton hotspot. Parents pitched in to help Chittle purchase second-hand skates and hockey sticks for the neighborhood children. Soon enough, the children were skating and shooting, a fire was burning, and hot chocolate was steaming in to-go mugs.

When things were tough, it was a place, says neighbor Audrey Hooker. We kept seeing more things donated. It was fantastic because the whole community just came together. It was amazing how everybody worked together because of Scott.

Skaters were welcome to come at any time. Even with Chittles day job, he aimed to Zamboni the ice rink every night. And each Saturday from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m., dozens of children and their parents gathered at the ice rink for skate parties. String lights twinkled over the ice as the sun set early in the evening. The chilly air smelled of hot dogs on the grill and burning firewood. The children who had been confined to their homes for almost a year laughed and shrieked with joy while skating around the rink with their hockey sticks. Parents gathered around holding warm hot cocoa in their mittened hands, feeling relief that their children had found a purpose again. It became a weekly event that neighbors could look forward to and it offered a place for people to see each other in a socially distanced way. The rink was in full swing until March, when the ice began to thaw.

But the kindness didnt stop with Chittle. When the community heard how much money he used to make this project happen, everyone helped. A Facebook fundraiser brought in about $1,300, and letters sent to Chittles home stuffed with cash brought in an additional $1,500, covering all of the costs with money to spare. Traffic increased dramatically around the ice rink as cars pulled over just to get a glimpse of the kids skating. Many people even took the time to knock on Chittles door.

I have had almost 30 complete strangers knock on my door to just shake my hand and say thank you, says Chittle. Most of them handed me money as well. Three of them asked for a hug.

Companies began sending supplies for next years ice rink including outdoor lights from Steel Light Company, a snow sweeping machine and shovels from Western Snow Plow, and a skate sharpening device from Sparxs. Chittle even plans to expand the rink to 5,000 square feet.

Even though Chittle will have to invest in a larger tarp, the smaller one will not go to waste. Ed Salter, who has owned a getaway cabin in Manton for 55 years, has decided to create his own ice rink for the community at his home in Clarkston, just outside of Detroit. He bought the smaller tarp from Chittle.

This has been a community thing, explains Chittle. Its not just me. I want to show the rest of the world what a little effort, the best intentions, and community can do not only for others but for the souls of all.

Chittle plans to recreate the ice rink in his backyard for many years to come, with the plans of it being bigger and better each year.

I think the main thing that I want everybody to know is that memories for kids last a lifetime, says Hooker. Scott made that possible on the darkest of days.

The Nomination

My name is Scott Chittle. I live in the sleepy community of Manton, Michigan. We are located about 1.5 hours north of Grand Rapids.

My little story of building an ice rink for all to enjoy has somehow gained national attention. I will not attempt to do a better job than The Detroit Free Press and Steve Hartman’s On The Road.

I will leave the storytelling to them. The Free Press article that was done online is a wonderful piece. Also, the online version has about 30 great photos.

On a local level, traffic around my home has increased by fivefold during the winter. Cars pulled over to watch the kids skating and or simply cruised slowly to get a glimpse. I have had almost 30 complete strangers knock on my door to just shake my hand and say thank you. Most of them handed me money as well. Three of them asked for a hug. I get hot dogs and skates dropped off at the house. It’s been wonderful.

Dozens of letters from around the United States have been delivered with awesome sentiments and money to help with the cost. I even heard from a woman in Perth, Australia that saw it on her news program. Many companies have pitched in as well. I have received many items to help with next year’s rink. By the way, we are increasing the rink from around 3,000 sq ft to over 5,000 sq ft next year. I have received lights from two lighting companies, a snow sweeping machine and five shoves from another, a skate sharpening machine from another and the list goes on.

I would like to say that my local community found out how much money I had invested and they insisted on helping. They made sure to cover my entire cost with money to spare. This will allow us to go bigger and better as we move forward as well as help with water, electric, and food costs.

This project has been so encouraging to all that are lucky enough to be a part of it. I would just like to add that no matter where one resides, they will “get it” when they hear of our story. I would love the opportunity to show the rest of the world what a little effort, the best intentions, and community can do not only for others but for the souls of all.

The post Manton, Michigan appeared first on Reader's Digest.

When icy temperatures this past winter froze Kodak, Tennessee, shutting power down and freezing pipes, Sean Patel, owner of the local Quality Inn, wanted to do something to help his neighbors: open his hotel to all comers, even if he ran out of rooms, and provide them food and warmth until the power came back on.

I frequently ask him to dial it back a bit because I know he’s spending so much of his own money and energy to help others, but he has such a big heart, I know he will only give more, says his friend Steve Smith, who nominated the Quality Inn for Nicest Places in America.

But Patel wouldnt listen. The immigrant from India, who came to America in 2004, saw goodness in the people around him when he settled in Tennessee and wanted to be a part of it.

I saw how much people helped each other in the South and it got to me, explains Patel. Its not always about money. Sometimes you just need to talk. I always wanted to be that kind of person.

So, he did what came naturally: Patel took to social media to say, If you can get here, we will take care of you.” Even at maximum capacity, Patel would make space for those who needed it whether that be in the lobby or around the pool area, just so they could have someplace warm to be.

Between Christmas and New Years of 2020, all 60 rooms in the hotel were completely booked with some rooms housing as many as eight or nine adults. Some guests even stayed in the lobby or meeting rooms just to have a warm place to be. A couple rooms under maintenance were used so guests in the lobby could take a shower. With COVID-19 precautions in place, the bathroom was sanitized between users.

People came together in ways that Patel has never seen before. Everyone pitched in. Some guests even paid for each others rooms. Everyone was sharing food. The hotel staff turned on their breakfast station so people wouldnt have to worry.

Later in the winter, when a similar freeze hit Texas, Patel did the same with another hotel he owns, the Segovia Lodge. Power lines came down and pipes froze over as the cold engulfed an unprepared Texas. Patel waived all fees so anyone who could get to the hotel could stay and eat for free all week. Guests even walked to the hotel because their cars couldnt get through.

The hotel eventually lost electricity and stranded truckers took turns staying up all night to keep a fire going. All of the rooms were full, so many of the hotel guests slept on the lobby floor.

With over 200 people at the hotel, there wasnt any fuss. No one argued. Everyone made sure the others were comfortable, warm, and fed as they took turns cooking for each other. A sheriff even went out of his way to bring baby supplies for an infant caught in the crossfire of the Texas freeze and Patels kindness.

It wasnt about who was Black, White, democrat, republican. COVID, or no COVID, everyone was a family, says hotel manager Shelly Shirley.

All the guests who were at the Segovia Lodge during the freeze have kept in touch via a Facebook group. They check in on each other and keep up with each others lives.

Business is down, but I still have clothes on my back, the kids were safe, we had a shower and food, says Patel. We all have to look out for each other.

The Nomination

I’m a father to a beautiful eight-year-old girl named Danica, and husband to my beautiful wife Zarina. Zarina is from Kyrgyzstan, a little town named Kalinovka. Zarina and I met when I was working at Manas Air Base, a U.S. Air Force base, in 2007. I was working there as a communications engineer supporting the Air Force during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Zarina and I quickly fell in love and since then we have lived in both Kuwait (I worked there as well, supporting the U.S. Army for Operation Iraqi Freedom) and also South Korea while I was also supporting the U.S. Army for a large base relocation.

My daughter was born in North Carolina, but moved to South Korea with us when she was only one month old! Her earliest memories are of Korea. Once she was old enough to start kindergarten, we moved back to the United States and found our home in Knoxville. We love it here! We love to camp, fish, hike in the Smoky Mountains, and many other outdoor activities.

I want to write to you about my friend, Sean (Vishant) Patel. He is a local business owner, but more importantly, he is my friend and a glowing example to everyone in our community. Sean is the friendliest, most caring person I think I may have ever met. Honestly, I frequently ask him to “dial it back a bit” because I know he’s spending so much of his own money and energy to help others, but he has such a big heart, I know he will only give more. As I and my friends thought about what we’d say about Sean and his businesses, our first thought was “we are so very proud to call him a friend.”

Let me tell you what Sean is doing. Sean owns a local budget hotel (Quality Inn) in Kodak, Tennessee, and another (Oyo) in Segovia, Texas. The Quality Inn in Kodak is not in a very wealthy area. Despite having tourist locations within 20 miles, his clientele is primarily travelers and locals, many, frankly, down on their luck and in need of a good place to stay for a while. I have known Sean for several years, and his reputation for running an exceptionally warm-hearted business is really growing. He has, over and over, opened his doors to those less fortunate than him, doing whatever he could to help those nearby who could not do for themselves.

Over the last two winters, Kodak, and the nearby Sevierville and Pigeon Forge area, have been rendered snowbound several times. Workers in the local area were unable to get home to their families on the icy roads and had no place to go for food or to stay warm. Rather than capitalizing on the situation, Sean, every time, lowered his rates to the bare minimum and advertised that “if you can get here, we will take care of you,” meaning that even beyond capacity, he would house and feed the people of his community.

During 2021’s very harsh winter in Texas, the same thing happened in Segovia, Texas, just weeks after Sean took over ownership. Other hotels in the area turned people away, but Sean immediately called the hotel manager (at the time known as Segovia Lodge, now OYO Segovia) and instructed her to open the doors wide. He then spread the word through local ranchers in 4×4’s: “If you can get here, we will take care of you.” Travelers and locals alike were welcomed, made warm, fed, and allowed to “camp” for free, even in the lobby, until roads were clear and there was a way for everyone to get home safely.

During the COVID-19 pandemic (still today), Sean has made every effort possible to help both his long-term guests and his employees get to hospitals and doctor’s offices, using his own vehicle, over and over. He takes both long-term guests and employees to get their vaccines, food when necessary, and many other required visits when those people do not have working vehicles or the economic means to do it themselves.

Sean is continually improving his hotel and seeking ways to support the local community. He stands head and shoulders above his peers by seeking ways to serve both his customers and employees, daily.

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For most people, a free Christmas cheesecake would be a welcome surprise. But for Diane Dobson of Renton, Washington, it was a call to actionone that she knew her neighbors would answer.

Its a really beautiful community, Dobson says. When we put out a call that someone needs help, people respond.

It was December 23, 2020, in the heart of the COVID pandemic. A local cheese shop had been baking cheesecakes to get by. But when Dobson stopped by for hers, the dejected owner wouldnt even take her money.

She says, This is our last market. Just take the cake. I have sixteen more and Ill never sell them, Dobson recalled.

For Dobson, a fifth-generation Rentonian who runs the local Chamber of Commerce, thats when the old pioneer spirit kicked in. She started making calls and sharing Facebook posts. Within hours, all sixteen cheesecakes were sold, and buyers were lining up for more: fifty, a hundred, two hundred.

I went back and said, If Im able to sell more, can you make more? Dobson recalled.

Said owner Kristi Slotemaker later: That was our Christmas miracle.

Slotemaker fired up her ovens and got started. Dobson spent Christmas day delivering cheesecakes, and River Valley Cheese was saved, thriving to this day. She called the landlord and says, I take it back. Were staying, says Dobson.

Such acts of kindness are part of a tradition among Renton residents, says Renton resident Merilyn Millikan, who nominated the Seattle suburb for Nicest Places in America.

Theyve been being nice for several decades and have had lots of practice, Millikan says.

As Dobson puts it: You uplift one another. Were the biggest small town Ive encountered.

Renton is a diverse and hard-working place of about 100,000 people. Part of one of the nations fastest-growing urban areas, it is home to residents of all races and walks of life. Some live in modest older homes in the historic downtown; others on quiet middle-class cul-de-sacs, still others in million-dollar homes in the wooded hills.

And while the prosperous region has its share of tensions over growth and diversity, Renton residents have worked hard to keep their community welcoming as it grows. What was once an Italian working-class suburb has become a bustling mini-city whose thriving economy draws people from around the nation and the world. Its population has almost doubled over the last 20 years. Eighty languages are now spoken in its public schools.

Rentons community leaders and elected officials have responded with a series of efforts designed to ensure that everyone is welcomed and included.

A free meal effort at the Honey Dew Elementary School became a program that lasted 30 years. Church groups helping the homeless evolved into a regional group called the Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches (REACH).

And whenever someone in Renton needs a smile, they can always try booking a visit from Rentons first family of inflatable dancing dinosaurs, better known as Seattle Dinosaur Family Adventures. What started as a way for Justine Waldron to get her three kids out of the house during COVID became a minor Renton institution. If theyre available, Seattle Dinosaur Family Adventures will come brighten any event: barbecues, birthday parties, even voter-registration drives.

Just running around to make people smile and laugh, says Waldron. It does get hot in the summertime. So we try to stick to the shade.

The Nomination

Stop! You cant come in here!

Well! That wasnt the way I was usually greeted when I arrived at the Renton Senior Activity Center on Thursday morning for my usual weekly blood pressure check by the retired volunteer RNs. It didnt take long to realize that this was the citys immediate response to the outbreak of a serious highly contagious disease that had claimed the lives of some seniors in a senior living facility in Kirkland, Washington, only about 30 miles to the north.

This was early in February 2020, the beginning of the long quarantine which changed the normal routine for most of the citizens of Renton. By the next week, a new way of providing a free nutritious drive-by/walk-in lunch program was in place, providing 150 free sack lunches five days a week, and two frozen dinners for the weekend. According to Senior Center director Sean Claggett, the lunches are provided by Sound Generations, a regional NGO, and the City of Renton provides the workers and the facility.

The seniors may not be inside the building, but the same camaraderie is there and new, as well as old friends, all wearing masks, are still meeting together outside, chattering away and, like a bunch of second-graders, trading apples for bananas from their sack lunches.

When the pandemic lasted much longer than most of us expected, businesses began to suffer and as the end of December 2020 rolled around, one fairly new cheesecake shop was ready to close up. Just before Christmas day, Diane Dobson, the director of the Renton Chamber of Commerce stopped in to say hello. The owner told her that she was going to be closing in a week and just gave Diane a whole cheesecake. Diane went home, contacted some of her social media friends, and within two hours the struggling shop owner had orders for 200 cheesecakes, and Diane spent much of Christmas day delivering them.

Jason Parker, owner of King and Bunnys Appliance Store, ordered 20 of them and delivered one to each of the citys fire stations. Lots of people had cheesecake for Christmas dinner and the shop stayed open, all because a lot of nice people just wanted to help.

The first time I became aware of the nice people who live here was in 1981, when McLendons, a well-known local family-owned hardware store had a huge fire that wiped out all of their financial records. Immediately, several people who owed the store money began showing up telling Pop McLendon, the owner, that even though all the financial records, extensions of credit, etc. were lost, they were planning to pay them in full anyway. No one had asked them to do that, and there was no way they could have been legally forced to pay what they owed. There were no more records anywhere. It was the right thing to do and so they did. I remember reading about this in the local paper and thinking, Where else in the world would you find people offering to pay their bills? Usually, it is just the opposite, trying to find a loophole to get out of paying your debts. Forget about the right thing to do! But not in this little town called Renton.

Another article in the local paper caught my attention several years ago. Shortly after Hang and Lang Woon had opened Common Ground, a little coffee and cupcake shop, they had just closed for the day and were starting to work on the food for a wedding reception the next day, when a car lost control and slammed through a big plate-glass window in the shop. No one was hurt, but with all the damage there was, there was no way they could use their shop to bake all the food needed for the reception. Immediately the owners of a dessert shop across the street offered the use of their kitchen so the Woons could get busy on their order for the next days festivities. No hesitation. Not worried about competition. Just being nice. Oddly, another car slammed into the same window a few years later, and, again, several strangers stopped by with offers of plywood to board up the windows, and even stayed around to help install it; another shop owner showed up with a broom and dustpan to help with the cleanup.

Different people, different time, but the same spirit of kindness and just being nice.

And its not just business people looking out for each other. Rentons niceness spills over into other areas of life as well. When Renton Bible Church began a big building project the friends and members of the longtime congregation began an almost three-year commitment, under the volunteer leadership of Dan Charles, a recently retired contractor, who had grown up in the church. One morning when several retiree volunteers arrived at the worksite they discovered that all of their tools had been stolen, including all of the volunteers personal ones. Within a week several other Renton churches had donated money. Local homeowners, strangers, brought checks into the church office or offered the loan of equipment to help replace the loss. One neighbor, who said that even though he wasnt a church attender himself, wanted to help in some way. It turned out that through the generosity of individuals and other Renton churches, all of the tools were replaced by brand new ones. The volunteers ended up better off than they were before the theft. And the new building was finished on schedule and is currently in use. Again, just nice ordinary people who saw a need and stepped in to help.

Over 30 years ago, Rentonites John and Susan Camerer formed an NGO called Vision House. Their hearts had been touched by the plight of a homeless mom and her daughter and were at risk of ending up on the streets. Now, as a Christian social service agency still based in Renton, Vision House has grown to help over 300 families annually. Race doesnt matter. Neither does religion, national origin, gender, or sexual preference… every person deserves a healthy home. Its not a privilege, but a basic human right. Many churches in the area have come alongside the Camerers and their staff to provide kitchen supplies, paint a room, tutor kids who struggle with online learning, provide furnishings when a family is ready to move into their own apartment or any other need they may have. The Camerers goal is to inspire our community to work together so that all people may have access to a healthy home, with the resources to promote a positive transformation for their families and to break the cycle of homelessness.

Besides having nice residents, the City of Renton is a nice place to live. It is located on the southeastern shore of Lake Washington, with many lovely parks and the whole area surrounded by snow-covered mountains with the majestic Olympic Mountains to the west, the Cascades to the east, and Mt. Rainier to the south. The sparkling Cedar River flows through the middle of the town and bordering the river is a paved walkway/bike trail close enough to the water to feel the cool breeze on a hot summer day.

Sharing part of its northern border with Seattle, those of us who live in Renton watched with horror the damage, hatred, and violence that had gotten completely out of control in Seattle during the summer of 2020. We wondered, Would this violence spill over into Renton too? It turned out that there was a one-day protest and a few people did do some damage at one location. However, being warned ahead of time, many of the local shops were able to board up their windows, avoiding most of the same type of damage that occurred in Seattle.

As far back as the ’70s, some volunteers calling themselves the Friendly Kitchen gathered every Thursday evening at Honeydew Elementary School to cook and serve a meal for anyone who came. The weekly meals continued for over 30 years until 2012 when Honeydew School was redeveloped, and the space was no longer available for a community meal. Also in the ’70s, a group of African American pastors led by Dr. Linda Mae Smith began meeting with the police chief and a representative of the city government for the purpose of being a forum for both clergy and laypersons. This group evolved into REACH, (Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches), a group that is currently involved in providing meals and overnight accommodations for the homeless. At one point, the police department donated the former city jail to REACH which was modified and used for a day shelter. Several churches take turns allowing their buildings to be used by REACH as overnight sleeping spaces. From 2000 to 2010, Rentons population increased by 87 percent and the minority population showed an increase of 165 percent. Students in the public schools spoke over 80 different languages at home. The city council, under the leadership of Mayor Denis Law, revised the citys long-term plan, stating that all races, cultures, and lifestyles are valued and welcomed in the city. In 2008, Renton had become one of the 20 most diverse cities in the country. The Mayors Inclusion Task Force of over 30 people was created in 2008. The Renton School District, Renton Technical College, the libraries, and many other organizations actively seek ways to serve and communicate with people of varied language backgrounds. Part of the inclusive effort is for the city to sponsor a two-day multicultural festival every September, including music, dance, crafts, and food.

Thats one of the nice aspects of living in Renton. These events come to you and you dont even have to go any farther than downtown to experience them. Part of the reason Renton escaped so much destruction was due to these groups joining together to solve a problem. The mutual respect and close relationship between these three groups (police, government, and pastors) create an atmosphere for the average, everyday person to go about their normal business, doing nice things for each other, which they are used to doing. After all, theyve been practicing being nice for several decades and have had lots of practice.

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When COVID-19 hit Brooks, Georgia, the first thing Angel Girard noticed in her neighborhood Facebook group, Life in the Brooks Bubble, was concern over a canceled Easter. As it so happens, Angel had an Easter bunny costume from Amazon, and a laid-back husband, Stephen, who rarely says no to her.

She also lives up to her name. Once Angel posted that the Easter bunny would be cruising the neighborhood in a droptop Mustang and to listen for the music playing from the car speakers, people responded by asking if the Girards could come down their street. What was meant to be a quick, one-hour tour turned into a seven-hour parade.

But Angel maintains that the good deed did just as much for them as it did her neighbors. Stephens daughter passed away in a car accident a year earlier and they were still very much reeling from the loss. The holiday was going to be a hard one. But the messages and letters Stephen received telling him how much the Easter bunny brightened their holiday brightened his too. One girl even drew him a picture and wrote I love you, Easter bunny.

A native Pennsylvanian, Angels move to Georgia wasnt quite what she expectedpeople mostly kept to themselves. Four years ago, she moved within the state, this time to Brooks. Brooks was much closer to what she expected from the south: people were just plain friendly, and theres a local gas station where you can buy a really good steak.

Come Christmastime, the Girards were at it again, swapping Stephens Easter bunny costume for Santa and Mrs. Claus. While doing some Christmas shopping in character, the Girards met a down-on-their-luck family of five kids who wouldnt be able to afford a Christmas. Angel posted in the Brooks Bubble, asking if anyone would like to donate presents. Once again, Brooks showed up and showed outthere was such an excess they had to find other kids to give gifts to.

The Fayette County suburb about an hour south of Atlanta only has a population of around 550. But they dont let their size get in the way of their capacity to help. If theres a need, it just gets met, says Angel. And that Brooks attitude isnt relegated to the city limits, either. Its boundless.

One young woman was finally able to get out of an unhealthy relationship and leave Brooks for South Carolina, where she and her two kids would make a new start. They had a small apartment and little furniture. They kept food and medication in a cooler that needed fresh ice daily because they didnt yet have a refrigerator.

Angel had befriended the woman while she was touring as Mrs. Claus and asked the Brooks Bubble if there was anything anyone could spare to help furnish the apartment. She was floored by the outpouring of donations for a family most of them had never met. There were couches and beds and tables and gift cards and home goods. According to Angel, shed tell people the full story when she arrived to pick up the furniture, and theyd go back in the house and root through cabinets and closets for anything else they could spare.

The Girards filled up two trailers with donations and made the long trip to South Carolina to deliver them. Upon arrival, the mother began crying. The second we set up the table, the kids immediately sat down with a bowl of cereal and a smile, says Angel.

Even hundreds of miles away from Brooks, the kindness of its people could still be felt. Per Angel: Were not very big, but we do a lot of little things in a big way.

The Nomination

In April of 2020, we heard people in our town being sad that due to COVID, there would be no Easter. My husband was sad too as he had recently lost his daughter in a car crash. In an attempt to spread a little joy to neighbors during such a stressful time for the world, he put on an Easter bunny costume and rode around town blaring Easter music and waving to everyone. Most of the town came out eagerly waiting for a glimpse of the Easter bunny. The letters and messages that followed warned his heart beyond belief.

In September, a young single mom was finally able to get out of an abusive relationship and start anew. She and her two children had not much more than the clothes on their backs. They were sleeping on air mattresses and eating on the cement floor, using a small cooler in place of a fridge. I put out a little request asking if anyone had any furniture or household items they were willing to donate to this family, and the town came throughBIG time. They donated so much to this family theyd never met that we had to take two trailers to deliver it. Brooks people literally furnished their entire apartment. We had so many donations we had to donate some elsewhere. People even donated gas money and gift cards for the four-hour drive. The second we set up the table, the kids quickly sat down with a bowl of cereal and a smile. That night was the first night they ate dinner as a family at the table. It wouldnt have been possible without the generosity of our little town. Around this same time, a resident of our town lost his home in a fire. The town came through yet again providing shelter, meals, clothes, toys for the kids, etc.

At Christmas time, we were asked to make an appearance as Santa and Mrs. Claus. While doing so, we met a family with five children that couldnt afford Christmas. I put the word out to our town, and once again, they gave with their whole hearts! They dropped off presents, sent gifts via Amazon, and gave hundreds of dollars in grocery gift cards for the family. They also donated so many presents that we were able to bring Christmas to several other families that might not have had Christmas otherwise.

Ive never lived in a place with so many caring people.

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The people of Littleton, New Hampshire can always find something to be glad about: their rich history, their beautiful countryside, their hard-working, friendly neighbors. You might call Littleton the worldwide capital of finding things to be glad about. Littletons best-known native is the beloved childrens book character, Pollyanna, the famously relentless optimist who never let a chance for happiness go to waste.

Lately, theyre glad to be sharing their precious stocks of spare COVID vaccines with anyone and everyone who needs a shot.

“Its the highlight of each day to call someone and say, ‘Hey, we have a dose. Would you be able to come and get it?’ says Koren Superchi, a nurse and administrator at Littleton Regional Hospital.

The patients act like you have just handed them a winning lottery ticket, she says. Just the gratitude from the community has been wonderful.”

With its extra COVID efforts, Superchis hospital is carrying the proud tradition of a place known throughout New England as the Glad Town. Pollyanna was created in 1913 by author and Littleton resident Eleanor Hodgman Porter. The famous character now lives on as a smiling bronze statue at No. 92 Main Street, serving as the unofficial heart of the town and inspiring resident Veronica Francis to nominate Littleton for Nicest Places in America.

The cheerful character has since become a cultural icon for optimism, Francis wrote. That optimism is valued through the people and places in Littleton. Littletons residents and business owners are glad to be nice and to have such a nice place to visit!

Littleton, New Hampshire is a town of about 5,000 people, 100 miles south of the Canadian border, in the heart of whats known locally as the North Country. Originally settled by farmers in the 1700s, its Glad Town nickname celebrates Pollyannas signature glad game, which is played by thinking of things to be glad about when times are bleakest. Surrounded by mountains and forests, Littleton has become a mecca for hikers, bikers, vacationers and nature lovers, with the annual Glad Parade as the centerpiece of a long calendar of events.

And when residents need a hand, they can count on neighbors like Superchi, who was thrilled to see her hospitals spare COVID vaccines gobbled up at a recent event.

“When we had four lanes going and cars lined up, I actually breathed a sigh of relief, Superchi says. I knew we were going to be able to one, vaccinate everybody who needed to be vaccinated and two, not waste any of those doses.

The Nomination

Im Veronica Francis. I live in Littleton, New Hampshire which is a nice town to live in! Littleton is located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire which offers year-round outdoor fun from skiing to hiking to water sports. I grew up in the area and always liked Littleton. The downtown has cute shops and the unique shopkeepers were always enthusiastic about their town.

In 2002, there was a new sculpture installed on the Library Lawn in dedication to the author Eleanor Hodgman Porter, the creator of Pollyanna. Growing up, I had not paid much attention that Eleanor lived right in Littleton or the Pollyanna story. But the sculpture started to attract Pollyanna admirers from around the world. My office was downtown and often I witnessed visitors asking at the local information booth questions about the creator of Pollyanna and commenting on how cheerful our town is!

Seeing this attraction to the Pollyanna story and being a fan of Eleanors writings, I decided to open a glad shop in downtown Littleton and be an ambassador of Gladness. Not many knew what that was, and I didnt really either. I just wanted to share in the optimism of the town and meet some Pollyanna fans. The shop opened in 2019 with a few souvenirs for sale and some signs about Pollyanna history. I was amazed and thrilled with the support from so many excited visitors!

My friends and neighbors encouraged me to grow the shop. Then, COVID came and shops were closed for a few months. We were scared it was the end of the Glad Shop! But even a pandemic couldnt stop the Pollyanna fans from coming out. The year was busy with visitors from New England and now more than ever they were appreciative of the optimism of Glad Town. The shopkeepers in town were relieved that the tourist industry survived the tough year. We all worked together to keep our town and businesses safe, and more than ever, we embraced our historic optimistic spirit. We are so grateful for the brave visitors who came out to support our local shops and to find something to be glad about in Littleton!

The Glad Town is a happy place to live and visit any time of year and Im proud to nominate Littleton as a Nice Place.

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The quiet beauty of Lake City is typical for a South Carolina town: tidy small homes lining peaceful, leafy streets. Freight trains loaded with produce lumber across Main Street. The sweet smell of curing tobacco lingering everywhere.

Also typical for many Southern towns, Lake City has a history of discrimination, segregation, violence, and lynchings.

Thats why, once a year, this historically Black town turns to the arts to celebrate all facets of its history and its future: the pain, the beauty, the challenges, and above all, the hope. And its all made possible by the generosity of local benefactors and hundreds of volunteers.

School kids come from all around, and their eyes just light up, says Lake City Mayor Levitt Anderson. You get intimate time with the artists. You get insight.

Lake City is a flat, green town of about 6,500 people, eighty miles east of the state capital, surrounded by some of the nations richest farmland. About 70 percent of the residents are Black, with the rest a mix of other races. Produce and tobacco put it on the map; it was once home to one of the worlds largest bean markets.

Today, farming is still the towns main business, but the historic National Bean Market building has become a community center, and Lake City is home to more retirees than field workers. But what makes Lake City special today is its annual arts festival, called ArtFields, whose mission is to make room in Lake City for everyone, no matter what their race.

While many small Southern towns might boast on their Southern hospitality, sometimes that charm is only reserved for certain people, says local Roberta Burns, who nominated Lake City for Nicest Places in America. Unrivaled kindness and vibrant Southern hospitality are shown to everyone who passes through this town.

Made possible by an interracial group of Lake City natives that includes philanthropist Darla Moore, ArtFields brings world-class paintings, sculptures, and installations from around the world to venues all over town, with thousands of dollars in prizes at stake.

Its a diverse and vibrant effort that puts the work of internationally acclaimed creators alongside that of local students and Southern artists. Many of those works directly confront the nations painful history of racism, cruelty, and violence. The Grand Prize winner for 2021: a portrait of a young Black girl who would not be broken, by painter Charles Eady, whose mission is to give voice to a population silenced from history.

But many other works are purely for fun; one of Andersons favorites was a giant panda, made of yarn. I dont even know how they got it in there, he says when encountering the huge work inside a small gallery.

Each spring, about 200 people volunteer to spruce up Lake City and welcome visitors. Among their efforts: making sure the freight haulers slow down. Those trains just creep through town during ArtFields, says Anderson.

And when the festival is over, Lake City remains a place where hard work and humility go hand in hand, he says: They teach you to respect each other, Anderson says.

Few embody that spirit more than Moore, the ArtFields founder and billionaire philanthropist, who went from a tobacco farm to Wall Street. Moores support for a number of projects has helped her hometown thrive. Ive heard her tell the story many times, Anderson says. Shell say, They thought I was just some little country girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. And I kicked their butts.

And while the event has helped Lake City draw visitors and much-needed business, what Anderson values most about it is that it brings people together to spend time with artists and each other.

What I like is that the youth can compete with the adults. Art brings people together, crosses all barriers, Anderson says.

The Nomination

While many small Southern towns might boast about their Southern hospitality, sometimes that charm is only reserved for certain people. In Lake City, South Carolina, unrivaled kindness and vibrant Southern hospitality are shown to everyone who passes through the town. Lake City welcomes an influx of visitors primarily during ArtFields, an annual art event based on a celebration of art and community. The downtown becomes an art gallery as hundreds of artworks from Southeastern artists are displayed in all the local businessesfrom renovated warehouses to restaurants, boutiques, and barbershops. All kinds of art from all kinds of artists are part of the show and nine days are dedicated to showcasing the art and welcoming visitors that travel from across the country for the event.

It all started in 2012 when philanthropist Darla Moore saw a need to revitalize her hometown and create a platform for Southern artists to share their talent. A group of women got together to brainstorm what the best way to achieve these goals would be and ArtFields was born. Since 2013, ArtFields has awarded over $100,000 each year to competing artists and become a preeminent cultural venue for the entire region. ArtFields success has inspired many other events to blossom in the town.

Lake City, simply put, is a family. When you come to visit, whether for a day, a week, or a month, you leave as part of the family. Business owners eagerly greet you and tell you about everything happening in Lake City. People on the streets wave hello. Gym owners welcome you to an evening exercise class. The history guru of the city, Mr. Kent, tells you all about stories of the towns past. The fruit stand owners remember your order and bring it out to their less mobile customers. Residents are surprised sometimes with their prescriptions being paid for by a program of the Greater Lake City Community Resource Center. Residents young and old participate in city clean-up days. Community programs thrive because of the willingness of residents to pitch in. Longtime community leader and dedicated volunteer Hubert McFadden says it best, I think we all have a responsibility to do our part to help our city grow and shine. Jonathon Strickland adds, I think we learn selflessness by helping the world and we learn how to love by helping people. Through service, you learn courage, magnanimity, ambition, and integrity.

Individuals and groups work year-round to bring positive energy and nice vibes to Lake City. The year starts with the Moore Farms Botanical Garden Open Days and Wine Stroll, where thousands are raised for local charities. This is soon followed by ArtFields, where over 200 local volunteers come together to ensure the event is a success. Soon after is May Day, a local plant sale that will incorporate a farmers market and free COVID-19 vaccines for this year. Then Lake City hosts the Dramatic Coffee Beans Showcase, which is a youth enrichment group aimed at helping teens tackle tough situations through drama and performance. The summer sees Games on the Green, an annual outdoor event that brings the entire community together for old-fashioned fun in one of our green spaces. Fall marks the arrival of the MFBG Beer Fest, another event at Moore Farms Botanical Garden whose proceeds are donated to the Florence County Disabilities Foundation. Spooky season brings a city-wide trick or treating event down historic Main Street, plus numerous other Trunk or Treats for local children. Residents are well taken care of for Thanksgiving as the community rallies to provide meals for the needy or homebound. The year ends with Hometown Holidays, another town-wide event complete with a tree decorating contest, letters to Santa, an ice rink, and more!

Its not only during these events, but also during a normal day in Lake City that you find a helping hand, a ready smile, and an impactful conversation. Our people and the love they show everyone truly mark Lake City as the nicest city.

What we first loved about Lake City was everyone had time to talk. Weve made sure we always make that same time wherever we goWeve formed lasting friendships every time weve been to this place in time that is ArtFields. The biggest win for us has been and continues to be the human connection, shares Sarah McWilson of Hand in Hand Creative.

During COVID-19, there were many mask/sanitizer give-a-ways, restaurants donated meals to the most vulnerable that couldnt leave their homes, small businesses rallied with each other to make it through, and when a beloved community leader passed away too young, the town showed up for a socially distant funeral procession that lined the streets. A community task force was started by Roosevelt Bryan to make sure that all voices were heard during Black Lives Matter protests. And the town seemed to make a silent vow that whenever we could celebrate and be nice to people in person, we would do it better than weve ever done before.

During ArtFields 2021, two community change-makers were painted on a mural by Broderick Flanigan to celebrate the African American experience. An Atlanta artist, Joe Dreher, completed portraits with glass separation to bring back the eye-to-eye experience so often missed during 2020 to create a portrait of the community. The Portrait Contest honored healthcare heroes as models for the event. Socially distant drum circles, dance performances, and artwork viewing brought more joy than ever. We fist-bumped and shared stories via artwork about the hardships of the past year and danced and celebrated with renewed vigor. While so many can be mean for no reason, Lake City is nice for no reason and every reason.

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When David Sebek and his business partner Tracie Whitacre opened Escape Again Rooms 20 years ago, they were glad to be opening in Sugar Land, Texas, a place with a sweet name and a sweeter reputation.

Im so happy that we chose Sugar Land as a place to open because they have been a partner to us from the beginning, Sebek says.

Located about 20 miles southwest of Houston, the town of 118,000 was founded in the 1800s as a sugar plantation and takes its name seriously, starting at the top. For instance, K.P. George, the local County Judge, child of Indian immigrants and the first person of color to hold that position, spent time driving elderly neighbors to warming centers when millions of people lost power due to freezing temperatures in February 2021. The City Government sets the tone, and Sugar Landers run with it.

Kindness and neighborliness are very important in Texas because we have so many natural disasters, says Claire Goodman, a senior reporter at the Houston Chronicle.

With this precedent, it was inevitable that when the pandemic hit, locals sprang into action, doing much of what we all did across the country to keep each other healthy, safe, and sane. But seeing how local businesses were suffering, the City Government went one step further, launching an innovative program that sparked the joy of community giving across the area.

They called it Sweet Cash and the premise was simple: Sugar Landers bought gift cards from local businesses, and with proof of purchase, the City matched their contribution, sending them a gift card from another local business. In addition, Sweet Cash participants could purchase a gift card that would be sent to a frontline worker, either one they knew, or one selected by the city on their behalf.

Of the participants, almost two-thirds were healthcare workers, says Cam Yearty, public-private partnership manager for the City of Sugar Land. The city partnered with our three hospital systems, the local school district, and two local grocery stores to deliver frontline worker gift cards to their essential employees throughout the program.

The program saved Sebeks escape room business, bridging the gap of lost revenue during the slow pandemic summer.

I think it has had a big impact, says Sebek. It made it so that people who want to help local businesses had a way of doing it. And help they did, adding $206,000 to the citys economy just when local businesses needed it most.

People help each other here, says Apinya Bell Lin, who owns three local sushi restaurants with her husband. All the local businesses were buying gift cards for each other. We trained all our staff to let our customers know, had a sign up in our store, and promoted the social media hashtag, #AllInForSLTX.

Locals cite the towns great diversity as one reason everyone is so eager to help out. Sugar Land is the biggest city in Fort Bend, one of the most ethnically diverse counties in America. Couples in search of a good date night can drive down Highway 6 and find restaurants representing dozens of cultural cuisines, from Mongolian to Asian fusion to Cajun.

I would say melting pot, but thats a tired colloquialism, says Sebek of the towns community, about 44 percent White, 35 percent Asian, and the rest a mix of Black, Hispanic, and other races. But theres a balance of people. Everyones got different viewpoints and different ideas and it feels like everyones just here to help each other.

The Nomination

When the pandemic hit, driving people inside and shuttering local businesses, the City of Sugar Land, Texas, just outside Houston, launched into action to do what they could to keep the beloved shops and restaurants of Sugar Land open. The City, through the Sugar Land Office of Economic Development, devised the Sweet Cash program: anyone who bought a gift card from a local business would get a free gift card from another local business in return and the city would gift an additional free gift card to a frontline worker on their behalf. The community rallied to support their favorite local businesses and while the financial impacts were measurable, the way the community came together was priceless. The City invested $100,000 of public funds to buy gift cards from local businesses, and through local shoppers buying their own gift cards, the program injected a total of $206,000 into the local economy when Sugar Land businesses needed it most and distributed more than 1,700 gift cards to frontline workers. The program ran in the summer of 2020, again during the holidays of 2020, and will launch for its third round in June 2021.

After the first two rounds, local business owners expressed their deepest gratitude for how the community supported them during tough times. Yvette Muller, owner of Babys and Kids 1st, said, I have nothing but positive things to say about the Sweet Cash program. In times like these, supporting small businesses in Sugar Land is a top priority, especially for those of us who depend on our hometown shoppers. The investment of local dollars in Sugar Land businesses is an important initiative in helping one another. Another local business owner, Tracie Whitacre, owner of Escape Again Rooms, said, Im glad Escape Again Rooms is included as a Sweet Cash participating business. The pandemic has been tough on us as an in-person experience, but through the Sweet Cash program weve seen the local investment in our business and anticipate a positive impact as more people buy gift cards and participate in the program.

Sugar Land, Texas began as a home to the Imperial Sugar Company in the early 1900s. The city grew on the sugar trade and diversified over time. Although sugar is no longer one of Sugar Lands largest industries, it is known as the Sweetest City in Texas, exemplified by its residents and its homes to its downtown and its government. Sugar Land has a small-town vibe with big-city amenities like the Smart Financial Centre, featuring performances by world-class artists, to Constellation Field, home of the Sugar Land Skeeters, recently made the Triple-A affiliate to the Houston Astros. The city has a globally diverse population as part of the most ethnically diverse county in the nation and is home to a robust small business community with representation across races and genders. People love living in Sugar Land the local government invests in the community, responsible for funding the development of many of its most popular entertainment venues, and is a huge supporter of local business. In Sugar Land, the living is sweet.

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Everyone in Columbiana knows Ryan Houck. Hes not a politician or a prominent businessman or a beloved local doctor. Hes not the baker who donates freely to support causes of every kind. Hes not the real-estate developer who offers a year rent-free to promising entrepreneurs who may not have the resources to get started on their own. And hes not the local philanthropist who returned to town after a lifetime away and donated $500,000 to rebuild the beloved Firestone Park.

Hes just a kid. And when you talk to his parents, theyll tell you that on most days he doesnt do much. He has a rare disease called Miller-Dieker syndrome that has limited his ability to move or speak. But thats not why people know him in this growing town of 6,200, about 80 miles southeast of Cleveland. They know him because hes a star.

When Ryan was born, his diagnosis sent his parents Dan and Meghan reeling.

All the dreams and aspirations you had for your child kind of vanish, Meghan says. We lost that hope of seeing him play in a baseball game or going to his school programs and seeing him on stage.

The Houcks retreated into themselves and mostly stayed at home with Ryan. They didnt even discuss how they felt about Ryans diagnosis for fear of upsetting each other. Then, in 2015, when Ryan was just 18 months old, a local company called Crown Theater Productions announced that it would be putting on a musical and that all the actors would be people with special needs. The show was Disneys The Little Mermaid, and the company needed someone to play King Triton, the merman-demigod who wields a lightning-shooting trident. The director thought Ryan would be perfect for the part.

So, one night in October, Ryan went on center stage, strapped to his mother, and acted out lines boomed by his father backstage. He stole the show.

It was like watching him hit that home run that we thought we would never get to see, Meghan says.

Nestled in the green, rolling hills of eastern Ohio, about halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh, Columbiana is a small town thats been going through some changes. Downtown, restaurants now outnumber antique shops. Theres a new housing, golfing, and shopping development where Firestone Farm once stood. Men who used to gather for coffee in the morning outside of a place called Newtons now do it at McDonalds, or not at all.

But one thing isnt changing: Nobody gets left behind, from blue-collar workers, to retirees, to folks who sometimes need a little extra accommodation. In Columbiana, our Nicest Place in America for 2019, giving back without wanting anything in return is a way of life.

A spirit of community infuses this town, just as it has for the better part of a century, ever since tire magnate Harvey Firestone donated 52 acres of land to create the sprawling Firestone Park. Time and again, residents come together to boost their neighbors, whether its volunteering with Project MKC to deliver diapers to needy moms or donating money to help the Columbiana Community Foundation offer more service grants.

Greg Aker, a pastor at the Upper Room Fellowship, a church in town, says that in Columbiana, no matter your station, you get pulled along by your neighbors kindness. Whatever you did for the least of these brothers, you do unto me, he says, quoting Jesus, adding quickly that brothers in this case is everyone, not just the faithful. Columbiana is a community imbued with faith, but you dont need to be a person of faith to be embraced by the community.

A certain morale, an ethic, is instilled in everyone here from a young age, is how Mayor Bryan Blakeman puts it. Its a pay-it-forward mentality.

***

On April 1, 1953, the Manos Theater opened on Main Street in Columbiana, bringing Tinseltown to small-town America. Ava Norring, a budding starlet who had a minor role in 1952s The Snows of Kilimanjaro, attended the grand opening in a gown, accompanied by a coterie of tuxedoed men. They cut a ribbon and immortalized her footprint in concrete. By the time Don and Dawn Arthurs bought the building in 2007, it was the kind of place that, if you used your imagination, you could tell had once been glamorous.

Don had made good as one of the founders of nearby Youngstowns Turning Technologies, an education technology company. Unlike many people his age (Don was 30 then), who left Columbiana for bigger cities, he decided to stick with his hometown. The Arthurs family wanted to use the theater to enrich town life and to spread a message of love and inclusion. But the timing could not have been worse.

It was a really bad time to buy a building, Don says. This was before the financial crisis, when real-estate prices and interest rates were high. Plus, they had to spend a year and a half renovating. When people ask me if I have a good idea for a business, I say, Dont start a theater.

The stream of folks who initially came to see first-run movies slowed to a trickle. A caf they opened next door was forced to close. The decision was, Do we continue to take from our retirement to make a failing business continue? Don says.

But the decision wasnt just about business. As devout Christians, they believe its important to make a positive impact in their community and, as musicians, they wanted to do that through the arts.

This is our service to the community, Don says. Its our ministry.

So they pivoted away from first-run movies and formed Crown Theater Productions to put on live shows at the theater. Things really got going when, in 2015, Debbie Salmen, Dons cousin and the executive director at the theater, saw a production of Disneys The Lion King in Canton, in which the actors were all special-needs students.

There were no costumes and they just sang some verses, but when I saw it I knew we had to do something like it, Salmen says.

The Arthurs are huge Disney fans, so they decided to try The Little Mermaid. They had no idea what they had gotten themselves into.

Ava, this little girl, came in with headphones onshe doesnt like noise, Salmen says. We were playing Little Mermaid music in the background, thinking, This will be cool, and she starts screaming her head off, saying, I hate that song!

Another actor was confined to a wheelchair and there was no way to get the person on stage.

Our goal is to make every actor successful, one way or another, with accommodations, however its going to be, says Erich Offenburg, the theaters artistic director. In Columbiana, nobody gets left behind. The theater company set about raising money for a wheelchair lift.

For Ava, Offenburg took baby steps and, Now, this little girl, shes an actress, says Salmen. It went from night to day.

Offenburg has a background in special education and has applied the same principles to his theater direction. All actors have an individualized plan tailored to their strengths and are assigned an attendant who helps make them successful on stage.

We have folks who are nonverbal, we have folks who are not very sociable, we have folks who cant see, we have folks who cant hear, said Offenburg. Some kids, once they learn the part and know whats going on, the attendant ends up standing off to the side. In some cases, youre literally feeding every word to the actor.

It works.

To me, it feels very dazzling, said Gabriella Levine, 19, who was Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Miss Hannigan in Annie. I love singing to a lot of people and I want to sing out my heart to them.

For many of the families, the theater is a place where their special-needs members can find community after theyve exited the school system.

Dustin doesnt have a lot of extra activities in life, so when we heard about this, we came, said Jill Snyder of her son, Dustin, 23. Its a godsend. He turns into a different person when he comes to the theater.

For Seth Rossi, 14, it was just a matter of teaming up with the right creative partners.

When Seth was little, we were looking for something for him to be involved with. Hes artsy. Hes a born actor, said Erin Rossi, Seths mom. Seth has trouble hearing and being understood when he talks. In Disneys Mulan, Seth was Mushu, the male lead. After that play, I went to the restroom and I heard people out there talking about how he stole the show,” says Rossi. “It was awesome.

People in town say that the special-needs shows are the best ones at the Main Street Theater. At first, Crown did one a year with a single performance. Then two shows, two performances. Shrek, the theater companys ninth show, will run on October 24 and 25 and will be performed three times. After putting $1 million into the theater and the business, Don says that the venture now turns a small profit and will sustain itself into the future.

The success has been part of an overall rejuvenation of the town.

Rollin Gosney, another native son of the rising generation, has been buying up properties all along Main Street. His vision for the area is dependent on the success of the theater: Upscale family entertainment, food, nightlife.

Hes offering a year rent-free to any business that wants to launch on Main Street and has a good plan.

I dont think anybody should be left behind, said Gosney, adding, We all have our hurdles.

One success is Birdfish Brewing Company, a microbrewery that now has two locations in town, a feat given that Main Street was dry until recently. When Jared Channel and brothers Jon and Josh Dunn opened the first location almost five years ago, they were barely making ends meet and could afford to keep the doors open only two days a week. But they wanted to share whatever success they had, so they started Tips for a Cause, a program to donate a days tips every month to a different charity.

The American Cancer Society received $1,038 the first month. The Akron Childrens Hospital recently got a check for $3,779.

We opened a business to have fun, and if we can help the community, too, why not? Jared Channel says. They dont just donate money. They also give the grains left over from the brewing process to Hogans Baking Company. Owner Shawn Hogan then shares the love by giving 1,000 hot dog buns to the annual picnic fund-raiser for Heroes and Halos, a nonprofit that supports families with special needseveryone from children with autism, parents with dementia, or a relative with cancer.

When asked why he pitches in, Hogan hesitates, almost as if the answer is too obvious to put into words. When theres a need, he says, you help out.

The proceeds go toward helping Heroes and Halos put on its annual special-needs ball.

Everything that we do is free for our families, says Kelly Hephner, who heads up the organization. We have people who donate ball gowns and tuxes and suits. We have a DJ who donates his time. People come in and donate the same things every year: desserts, macaroni and cheese, salads. People just line up.

One local makes a unique donation.

We had a young lady who has hip dysplasia, so one hip is higher than the other, Hephner says. We have a seamstress in town and he ripped apart a dress and sewed it on her so she could feel beautiful for the ball.

Its the kind of thing you do when you live in Columbiana.

In November 2018, an ice storm left tens of thousands of people without power or heat. The town owns its own utilities and had power back up before the private companies in the area. When emergency authorities called Columbiana to check in, instead of another town that needed help, they found a helping hand. A regional warming and aid-distribution center was set up at the Upper Room Fellowship.

We got all the residents from [the neighboring town of] East Palestine from old-folks’ homes and put them up in our facility, says city manager Lance Willard. We needed food too. We called Greenford Christian Church and they have a food pantry and we said we have 11,000 people without food and they said, You know where the key is.

Aker, the pastor at the Upper Room Fellowship, says that many of the churches in the area have a strict philosophy of focusing on three things: a relationship with God; a relationship within the congregation; and a relationship with the wider community, regardless of faith.

If the church isnt making an impact out on the world, what are we doing? said Aker.

Across the street from the Upper Room Fellowship is a nonreligious aid organization called the Waystation. In 1987, a Sunday-school teacher named Jim Couchenour Sr. went searching for his alcoholic friend. Couchenour found him in a local dive bar called the Way Station, along with others in need of counsel. Couchenour became a teetotaling regular, setting up what he called his bar ministry. When the bar shut down, he bought the building that housed it and turned it into a clubhouse of sorts for people to come get sober, with the help of a sympathetic earCheers without the booze. The clubhouse eventually outgrew its original mission, and today the Way Stations services include a thrift store, a food pantry, a support group, a treatment facility for teens addicted to drugs and alcohol, and a jobs center.

We do a gala every year, and its supported by all the businesses in the area, says Vicki Ritterspach, Couchenours daughter, who runs the Waystation. They all know what the Waystation does. Theres not this not in my backyard attitude. People in Columbiana genuinely care.

Perhaps Columbianas greatest symbol of this giving instinct is Firestone Park. Harvey Firestone was born on his grandfathers farm here in 1868, and while he set up his manufacturing business in Akron, Ohio, he never forgot his hometown. He vacationed here (often with fellow industrialists Henry Ford and Thomas Edison), and in 1933 he donated part of the family homestead to create this oasis. It features a pool and waterslide, baseball and football fields, a track, and walking trails lined with deep brick gutters filled with fresh spring waterrelics from the days when folks would water their horses here.

This crown jewel had tarnished a bit over the years. Pat Tingle, who was born, raised, and married in Columbiana, noticed the changes in 2000. An educator, she spent most of her adult life moving around the country with her husband, Brad Tingle, an executive with UPS. When Brad retired, there was only one place he wanted to be. My husband said, Lets go home, Pat says.

The Tingles lived happily in Columbiana for many years. But Brad died in 2014, and their son, David Tingle, passed away three years later. When I lost them both, I wanted to do something special for them and something special for the town, Pat says. She cashed in some savings, added much of her husbands life insurance money, and donated her remarkable nest egg$500,000to spruce up the familys favorite spots.

I always tell people Im never sorry I came back. Theres something very good and solid about Columbiana, Pat says while eating ice cream on one of the new park benches overlooking Mirror Lake and a plaque that honors her sons memory.

I dedicated it to him and the people of Columbiana who grew up with this park and the future generations who will grow up with it, she says. Everyone has a place here.

Even folks who arent from town get caught up in the spirit. When you visit Columbiana, everyone will tell you that you have to go see Hippley Gardens. Its not a place on any map, and you have to walk through some driveways and backyards to get there, but you will be most certainly welcomeand its worth the trespass. John Hippley runs a landscaping business and owns a few properties in town. In 1999, he decided that since the county had no botanical garden, he would build one himself in the adjacent backyards of the homes he owns.

I got started by accident, and people started coming, and as more people came, I thought, Lets just keep going with this thing, he says.

First it was an elaborate outdoor miniature train set, complete with tunnels and a water wheel. Then he added a full-sized dollhouse. After that, the childrens garden, with a life-sized Monopoly board and a piano that you play by walking on it, like in the movie Big. Then came the yellow brick road, surrounded by life-sized characters from the Wizard of Oz. Theres the old, red pickup truck thats been turned into an elaborate planter. Theres the basketball court and the clubhouse, with a pool table and arcade games. All are open to the public and free to useeven for events like weddings.

Hippley spends much of his spare time and money on the garden. He keeps his landscaping employees busy in the winter by having them help build the structures. More is planned, including a ruin garden, which will be a garden growing in the ruins of an old building. It will house an amphitheater, and Hippley plans on letting Crown Theater Productions make use of it. Best of all, Hippley is creating a foundation that will own the park and maintain it for the citizens of Columbiana and their guests in perpetuity.

The town has so much that other places lackthanks to the generosity of its residents. The police department now has a K-9 unit, a dog named Csuti, trained to sniff out opioids. Getting Csuti cost $60,000, but to the residents of Columbiana, it was a necessity. The money was raised in two months.

The smallest donation I got was $5, a woman on a fixed income who has been long retired, says Columbiana Police Chief Tim Gladis. Tornadoes, floods, fires, theres never a shortage of people who want to help. In fact, we often get more people than we can actually deploy or need.

Gladis didnt grow up in town, but thats no matter in the Nicest Place in America. Just ask Ruichiro Takamoto. He came to Columbiana as an exchange student from Japan and lived with the mayor, Bryan Blakeman. His story is almost too perfect to believe.

Everybody said hi and talked to me even though I couldnt really speak English, he says.

He quickly became part of the fabric of the school community. He joined the cross-country team and was an immediate star. That helped him get a date for the homecoming dance and gave him the confidence to do something few American teens would do in a new school: try out for the football team.

The roster had long been decided, but the coach gave him a shot. He turned out to be such a good kicker that they let him join the team. He saw his first action on homecoming weekend. In that game, he scored on his first extra-point attempt and, at half time, he was named homecoming king.

These are kids in their senior year of high school, says Blakeman. They took every other person and decided to choose him.

From the next generation about to take the wheel to those currently running the town, everyone is made to feel like they’re an important part of this community.

Jerry Sherrill, a welder whose daughter, Codi, is one of the special-needs actors, says that everyone gets treated the same. The guy next door is the same as the guy that owns the business. Everybody seems to help one another in some fashion.

Codi, 21, is a part of the fabric of town life too. In addition to starring in the Crown Theater shows, shes also on a cheerleading squad and has a job at the local McDonalds.

Everybody wants to be a part of things, locking arms in community.

For Caleb Clapsadle, one of the theater kids, it was intuition that brought him into that community. Before the theater, his only experience in front of a crowd had been reading a Mothers Day poem at church, and it didnt go well.

Caleb has Aspergers syndrome and often has trouble connecting with others. He just kept his head down and read it as fast as he could, says his mother, Carla Clapsadle. When he finished, he said, Im never going to talk out in front of everybody again.

But his mom heard about the Crown Theater special-needs show and asked him if he wanted to try out. Caleb was supposed to go trick-or-treating that night, but something told him to try again.

Its like my heart was saying goooooo, he says. And I did, and Im not stopping.

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For ten years, Joan Peterson had tried to make life better for the people of Hidden Springs, Idaho. When the community had the chance to return the favor, it did.

In 2008, Peterson and her husband bought the Dry Creek Mercantile, a cluster of stores and services that sits at the heart of Hidden Springs. Its the place where kids meet after school, where adults gather for a drink or a meal, where families come to host a wedding or graduation. It was hard work for just the two of them, running such a big operation. Things got a lot harder when her husband fell ill. And thats when her neighbors showed her what they were made of.

I was driving to the hospital, maybe three days before my husband passed away, and I went past the business and there were all these cars in the parking lot, she says. Later I found out that about 125 people came in and gave it a cleaning. Top to bottom, like it was new. I didnt ask for it. They just did it.

After losing her husband two years ago, Peterson briefly considered leaving the Merc, but discovered that her neighbors were not going to let her go that easily.

Its a big operation to run by myself. But they just kept helping me, she says. I could have walked away. But I cant, because I love it. This is my family.

Hidden Springs is a planned community of about 800 homes, just outside Boise, designed by its founders to avoid typical suburban sprawl and replicate an old-fashioned American small town. Instead of cul-de-sacs and rows of identical homes, it features walkable streets, unique homes, and a network of trails and carefully-preserved open spaces. Instead of strip malls and parking lots, it has the Merc and its big green space, where concerts and events take place all year.

But residents say its the people who truly make it special.

We were out walking, and we heard the sound of laughter, so we went over, recalls B. J. Shook, who nominated Hidden Springs. They found about thirty kids and parents goofing around on a homemade ice-skating rink that a bunch of dads had built next to an old barn. It was like a Norman Rockwell picture, she says.

The Editors

The Nomination

Children are safe and neighbors take care of each other.

Neighbors show up with food, when the moving trucks arrive, and keep surprising you thereafter. Kids can leave their books on lawns or by the side of the road, and they will be there in the morning. People insert doggie doors in their fences so their pets can come over and don’t have to be alone all day. There are scarecrow contests and a neighbor-installed ice skating rink at the community farm. There is a Mercantile called The Merc which is the heart of town. The homes are all different, and painted beautifully. No row after row if cookie-cutter homes. When someone is sick or dies, everyone steps up to help take care of pets or children. When it snows, the neighbors rush out to snow-blow your walk and driveway. When you travel, there will be at least four offers to look after your pets and/or home. There is a community garden and farm. The streets are lined with American flag on all patriotic holidays. There’s an ice cream and lemonade stand in summer and you can find neighbors visiting on front porches most spring and summer evenings. It’s a slower pace of life. It harkens to a different of time, when family was more important than commerce. If it takes a village, the this place is THE village.

This nomination came through our partnership with Nextdoor, the world’s largest social network for neighborhoods.

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Stroll up the McComb Orchard Trail to Fulton Road, and youll find what one resident of Armada, Michigan, calls a place of peace, the April Millsap Memorial Garden. Butterflies flit around as children play, walkers stop to rest, and volunteers pull weeds.

Sometimes people come just to remember a young woman lost too soon, and to thank the town that keeps her memory alive, even as life moves on.

Theres a white dove that hangs around, sits right on the power linesand we dont have white doves around here, says our nominator, Debra Randall.

Armadapronounced Ar-MAY-duhis a town of fewer than 2,000 people, parked in the flat green countryside north of Detroit. Surrounded by cider orchards and lavender fields, it remains relatively untouched by sprawl.

Ask people what captures the towns spirit, and theyll usually point to the garden. April Millsap was just 14 in 2015 when a stranger attacked and killed her as she walked her dog on a local jogging trail. The town sprang into action, tracking down witnesses and pulling in every available resource to solve the crime.

The killer was eventually caught and is serving a life sentence, but the people of Armada knew that Millsaps family and friends needed more than a guilty verdict. They started the memorial garden; they launched a scholarship fund; last year, on graduation day, her fellow students decorated what would have been her seat at the ceremony in her favorite colors, pink and white.

Im just very touched by the thought that the school put into remembering her even after four years, Aprils mother said that day.

Armada is a town that steps up, raising money for scholarships and for families in need. And recently, local son Jason Friewald, a Navy SEAL who was killed in Iraq, was honored with a memorial fitting his legacy. Locals and fellow veterans placed a massive antique anchor in the park downtown, under a plaque bearing his name.

The Editors

The Nomination

Our town has the beautiful Memorial Garden for a young girl that was killed a few years ago. We do not have murders like this around here. The Garden also lets us honor our loved ones or post in different sections in memorial of our lost loved ones.

The Garden is maintained all by volunteers and donations. It is a beautiful and peaceful place to see nature and sit quietly remembering lost loved ones of our own along with remembering April, the young girl who was killed. We do not have this type of crime in our area and everyone pulled together and the killer was captured and is in prison. But we have put that behind us and just remember the beautiful young lady, her dog that showed where she was and help her mother feel connected with the memory of her daughter. Our town also is working hard to have a scholarship in her name for our graduating senior class.

Our town has large caring hearts and has a second memorial park for a lost Marine from our area. These are just two examples of why I believe our small town is a perfect example of the beauty and caring of living in a little village…walking through town enjoying the people, surrounded by nature and miles of farm land. A little piece of Heaven with our own beautiful angel smiling down from above on us.

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The residents of Fertile, Minnesota, host one parade every year, to celebrate the Fourth of July. Last year, they held two. The second one celebrated a dying man. His neighbors wanted him to know how much he was loved.

The mans name was Jon Hovde, and he was a fixture in the rural farm town of about 800 people located some 300 miles north of Minneapolis. The world knew him as an author of a searing Vietnam memoir called Left for Dead, recounting the mine explosion that cost him two limbs, and his struggles to recover and rebuild a life in his beloved Minnesota.

Hovde sat on school boards and church committees; he helped organize veterans groups and county fairs; he spoke to students and soldiers.

The town was really proud of him, recalls resident Margie Haas, who nominated Fertile. The kids really connected with him.

So, late last year, when the town heard hed been given a terminal cancer diagnosis and had chosen to come home to spend his final days, it filled the sidewalks to welcome him.

People lined the streets, a couple hundred people, and thats pretty good for a town this size, says Bob Norland, a fellow veteran and longtime Fertile resident. He was truly moved. It spoke volumes about the town.

A few weeks later, he passed away, surrounded by family and friends in a place he loved.

Hovdes story is just the most vivid example of the local spirit. A brand-new baseball field, complete with bleachers and scoreboard, was recently built by volunteers to host weekly pickup games with kids throughout the summer.

We start in the end of June and go through the last week of August. It’s once a week with whoever can make it, founder Ryan Strem told a local reporter. Any community, any skill level, girls, boys, anybody. It’s here for anybody.”

The Editors

The Nomination

People support each other, and are always contributing to the betterment of our community.

Many have donated their time, talents and resources. People got together and built a beautiful 18-hole golf course and restored the Fertile Sand Hills to a place where all can come relax and enjoy nature. This includes trails for walking, bike riding, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, horseback riding, kayaking the Sand Hill River, and tours for schools and others to learn about the area. A family donated their land for a “field of dreams” baseball field, where all kids are welcomed, encouraged to participate and are cheered on by the community to always feel good about themselves. A farmer donated land to be used as a gun and archery area for anyone wanting to practice and hone their skills, and for our school and other schools to have classes to teach kids the rules and how to use them the right way. This course should be completed by next spring.

Fertile is a loving community where we watch out for one another and feel safe in our surroundings. One of our Fertile Servicemen passed away recently, and when he came home from Rochester Mayo with no hope of survival, our community lined the streets to greet and honor him as he and his family drove through town on their way home. It was such a fine and emotional tribute to him for all he’d sacrificed. He had been in the Vietnam War, drove over a land mine and almost died. He lost an arm and leg, wrote a book, and was a motivational speaker. He was an awesome person and an inspiration to all who knew him.

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The Fourth of July celebration at Jourdan River Estates in Kiln, Mississippi, is a real blast. Each year residents of the 60-home neighborhood collect about $15,000 to spend on a rocking fireworks display.

Folks in the small, rural weekender neighborhood of vacation homes on stilts and little docks on canals are patriotic, sure, but thats not the reason they put everything they have into celebrating our nations founding. They have something of their own to celebrate too.

When residents were told to evacuate their homes as Hurricane Katrina approached in 2005, they took what they could carry, assuming theyd be back to life as normal soon.

I took only two pairs of pants and two shirts when we evacuated, says resident Lonnie Falgout. I never thought it would get that bad,

When they returned, where about 60 houses stood, only two remained.

It looked like someone took a broom and just swept it clean, says Falgout.

But the catastrophic event pulled the residents closer than ever before. The recovery is still ongoing, but together theyve bounced back stronger.

In the beginning it was just dealing with insurance companies, says Falgout. There were no houses, but we would sit and talk, we would cook for one another. We just survived.

Since those early, dark days, more than 60 homes have been rebuilt.

Every time someone moves in we have a function with food and music. We want them to get to know who is here, whos new and old, all of that, he says.

And then theres the Fourth of July. For 11 years they have done the huge blowout to celebrate the return of the neighborhood post-Katrina. In addition to the fireworks, theres a boat parade, a waterslide, volleyball courts, and a band.

People can just dance in the street, Falgout says. Its a good time. Theres so much that makes it special.

The Editors

The Nomination

We’re a sleepy weekender community of fifty seven homes where folks put their extra monies for a weekend retreat home to get away from their weekday routine. Hurricanes are the norm on the Gulf Coast and this one was no different. That would change in a twenty four hour period.

Five to six days after Katrina some of us returned to a place where only two houses now stood and an area so clean of any reminders that it looks like a giant broom swept it clean. From day one of fighting with unscrupulous insurance companies, FEMA, looters and descending con artists from all over this country dodged it all. The old timers, regulars and newcomers banded together day in, day out and night time to protect our normalcy in rebuilding with integrity and blood, sweat and tears. We have protected us all against all to return all that wanted to come back! We are now approaching sixty plus homes returning to the wonderful sleepy neighborhood of brotherhood.

This nomination came through ourpartnership with Nextdoor, the world’s largest social network for neighborhoods.

The post The Nicest Place in Mississippi: Jourdan River Estates appeared first on Reader's Digest.

After the tragic killing of 26 elementary school students and staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, folks in Columbia, Missouri, wanted to do something to put kindness into the world. So they planted a grove of kindness trees, calling it the Childrens Grove, where each magnolia tree planted would represent a child harmed in any way, anywhere.

The root idea of the Childrens Grove in Columbia, a city of about 125,000 almost halfway between Kansas City and St. Louis, is that kindness and compassion overcome all. The organization supports youth mental health, first-aid training, kindness libraries for schools (bunches of books with kindness themes, usually read to the kids by the reps delivering them), as well as social service organizations, speakers on mental health, and kindness ambassadors in schools.

The annual Acts of Kindness Week every April is its biggest event. Activities include the kindness chain, made from strips of paper with acts of kindness that will be performed written on them; chalking downtown with kindness sayings by elementary and college students; dedicating kindness trees at schools; and distributing “Kindness Changes Everything” wristbands. Recipients of the wristbands are asked to share their band whenever they see an act of kindness and anticipate a band circling back to them.

The kindness library in Grand Elementary School is already having an effect.

Students and staff alike increased their awareness of spreading kindness in their daily interactions, says Dr. Jennifer Wingert, the schools principal.

Youth ambassador Yash Pal Khanna shares one of his kindness initiatives: I created new organizations at my school and was able to partner with the Children’s Grove to make buddy packs [kid-friendly lunches for students who need] for the food bank, and to raise awareness for a suicide prevention organization called Stu22, he says.

Another ambassador, Madison Hopper, says she sees her mission as fostering respect, inclusivity, and compassion wherever I go. You will never meet another group of powerful influencers as devoted, kind, and caring as the members of this organization.

The Editors

The Nomination

Columbia, Missouri is home to Children’s Grove, an all volunteer not-for-profit organization whose mission is to inspire a culture of kindness and to support the mental and emotional well-being of our youth.

Children’s Grove was formed in the wake of the tragedy of Sandy Hook and began with a memorial garden from which our name is derived. It quickly expanded to include Youth Mental Health First Aid training, Kindness Libraries for schools and social service organizations, speakers on mental health, Kindness Ambassadors in the schools, and the annual Acts of Kindness Week. Kindness Week activities include the Kindness Chain made from strips that contain acts of kindness that will be performed, chalking The District in downtown Columbia with kindness sayings by elementary and college students, delivering Kindness Libraries to 65 schools and organizations, dedicating Kindness Trees at schools, and distributing “Kindness Changes Everything” wristbands. The recipients of the wristbands are tasked with sharing their band whenever they see an act of kindness and anticipating a band circling back to them.

This nomination came through ourpartnership with Nextdoor, the world’s largest social network for neighborhoods.

The post The Nicest Place in Missouri: Columbia appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Ovando, Montana, is easy to miss.

Drive past on the highway, and all youll see is Trixies Bar and a road sign that says, Ovando, Population 71, says Bill Brockett, a Web developer from Kalispell, Montana, about 100 miles north, who nominated the place.

Tracy Burge is sure glad she didnt miss it. In June 2015, during the annual Tour Divide Mountain Bike Race, word came in that a rider was in trouble.

We got a call that a woman, about fifty years old, was all by herself at the end of the line, says local Kathy Schoenfelter, who runs a fly-fishing shop in town. Burge showed up half-frozen, exhausted, and famished, and the town responded with warm blankets, a sandwich, and a place to sleep.

She burst into tears, says Schoenfelter. It was a tiny act of kindness that made all the differencefor both Burge and Schoenfelter. We thought, Hey, that felt good! What else can we do?

Burge told friends what happened, and before long Ovando had a reputation as an oasis on the grueling Rocky Mountain rides. The town began stocking spare bike parts and looking out for other riders who might need help. Today it welcomes some 1,000 cyclists all summer long. They sleep in an old sheep wagon or the old town jail, load up on food and supplies, then head back out on the road.

The boom has given new life to this old ranching village. Surrounded by low-rolling foothills of the Rockies, Ovando is not far from the Blackfoot River fishing holes made famous in Norman Macleans memoir, A River Runs Through It.

When I got here, nobody knew where we were, Schoenfelter says. And all of a sudden, were known from Banff to Belgium. It just blows our mind.

The Editors

The Nomination

This little town is making friends from around the world.

Some years ago a cyclist was lost and struggling on the trail. The people of Ovando helped her and she spread the word. Its been a hunting/fishing town for awhile, but now it’s a cycling destination for riders from around the world.

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Ask people what they like about Kingman and theyll bring up the man known as Santa James. Santa James, aka James Zyla, is a former real-estate salesman turned wandering poet who has become the towns adopted grandfather, according to the local police chief. Hes also homeless.

When residents discovered his thoughtful nature and musical gifts, they teamed up to make sure he has a place to stay, gigs to play, and a helping hand when he needs it. It return he shares hugs, songs, and his one-of-a-kind free spirit.

There exists in Kingman a spirit of generosity, Santa James told the Los Angeles Times last year. Its not just the young or the old. It permeates the generations.

The town of about 25,000 people sits on the legendary Route 66, about 100 miles south of Las Vegas. Once home to a major military base and mining economy, later bypassed by the interstate and half-forgotten, Kingman got a black eye a few years ago when comic Sacha Baron Cohens television cameras captured a rowdy crowd of locals shouting down a proposed mosque. Kingman residents decried the intolerancethe city has had a mosque for thirty years, along with a well-established immigrant populationand locals stepped up their efforts to showcase the citys best qualities.

The community was very upset, says our nominator, Coleen Haines, who has been at the heart of that effort as a city PR specialist. Kingman is a welcoming place.

Santa James has become the symbol of the towns best spirit, Haines says. His story shows that Kingman is the kind of place that finds room for anybody who helps make it better, even if its just with a smile and a song.

The mayor gave him a key to the city, she says. It showed how we really go out of the way to help people.

The Editors

The Nomination

I’ve had many questions since moving here, and everyone seems to be very honest with where to find things, how to get things and great, local places to eat. People are kind, and willing to help fellow people out, even as a stranger I feel welcome.

The weather is amazingand this yearKingman got RECORD snowfall in a two-day span (over two feet). The city and its residents came together, gave people rides to work and dealt with massive overflow of Interstate 40 traffic flooding into our little city – it was such a great, team effort from the city!

Recently the City of Kingman Management Team, which includes all department heads and the City Manager, held a clean-up at a vacant property in our town. They cleaned up trash, pulled weeds and just cleaned up the area. Other people, inspired by the cleanup, joined in.

If you want to know what Kingman is really about, read this story.

The post The Nicest Place in Arizona: Kingman appeared first on Reader's Digest.

Although its just four blocks long and lined with tidy businesses, Norris Avenue, the main street in McCook, Nebraska, can sometimes take an hour or more to walk down.

You meet so many people to talk to along the way, says Ronda Graff, a longtime resident of the small town of about 8,000 people nestled in the rural southwestern corner of the state.

At its heart sits Sehnerts Bakery, a local business where you can get a good meal and a cup of coffee, to be sure, but also a de facto community center and engine of charity for McCook.

It’s the place where the softball team meets after practice to grab a snack, where elderly farmers gather for coffee every morning and to solve all the world’s problems, where young moms huddle just to have adult contact. No explanation is needed when someone says “Meet at the bakery.” Everyone knows where to go.

But the bakery isnt just a place for bieroc, a local dish of ground beef in cabbage wrapped in a homemade bun (with American cheese for $3.25or without for $2.90). Its a source of inspiration for goodness in McCook and the home of the Sehnert Challenge.

The challenge was simple: If McCook could raise $200,000 for the McCook Community Foundationwhich grants money for scholarships, the arts, and areas of the community where folks are strugglingthen the Sehnert family, who run the bakery, would match it. Thats a lot of bread for a place where you can get a meal for $3.25, but McCook rose to the challenge. So the Sehnerts increased it, and in the end, they raised $600,000.

It may not be enough money to solve all the worlds problems, but its a place to start, just like Sehnerts.

I have a single friend who goes to the bakery alone, and people will ask her why she does that, says local Mary Dueland. Her response is always, Im never alone! Sehnerts is the real social media.

The Editors

The Nomination

McCook, Nebraskaand specifically Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Cafeencourages people to put down their screens and interact with each other, whether it’s a free outdoor concert in the park or Friday nights at the packed football stadium.

McCook is one of those towns where the brick-lined main street, Norris Avenue (named after U.S. Senator George Norris), is only four blocks long but some days it will take an hour to go from one end to the other because you’ll meet so many people to talk to along the way.

McCook is also fostering a culture of community by focusing on arts and culture. Whether it is a free concert in the YMCA lobby or a family-friendly music festival in the park, McCook is working to get people out from in front of their screens and actually talking to each other, learning from each other and in general, just enjoying each other’s company.

This tradition continues with the Buffalo Commons Storytelling and Music Festival, which celebrates the long-honored tradition of gathering around for a good old story. The name also celebrates the tough pioneer spirit, after outsiders said the region should be abandoned and returned to the buffalo and native grasses.

But one place needs to be highlighted and that’s Sehnert’s Bakery, which is a social hub in McCook. It’s the place where the softball team meets after practice to grab a snack, where elderly farmers gather for coffee every morning and solve all the world’s problems, where young mom’s huddle just to have adult contact. No explanation is needed when someone says “Meet at the bakery.” Everyone knows where to go. And if your lunch date happens to be late, no worries because you’ll be guaranteed to see someone you know who you can talk to. The food is great, too (they happened to win a Jams Beard Foundation award this year) but it’s the people who smile as you walk in the door who make it such a welcoming and warm place.

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