ACTS OF kindness

When firefighters in Slave Lake, Alberta, ordered 18 pizzas, they inadvertently cooked up kindness that spread. A quick search for their local pizzeria, Alimo’s, connected them to a similarly named San Antonio shop. “It likely took them some time to figure out where Slave Lake was,” fire chief Alex Pavcec told CBC News. He paid the bill anyway, and the pizzas were delivered to firefighters in San Antonio instead. Meanwhile the Slave Lake Alimo’s was inspired to start Random Acts of Pizza, making surprise deliveries to schools, care homes, and more.

Donations poured in, and Alimo’s matched them all. “My day has just been going out and making people happy, and it all started with this one honest mistake,” owner Moe Mouallem said.

carrying Boston in her chair up the mountain and back—a round trip of more than five hours.

Janelle Boston had always wanted to climb Mount Tyson in Queensland, Australia. A childhood hike was rained out, and then a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis in her twenties put the goal out of reach— until people in her community found out. A welder built a special chair for 55-year-old Boston, and 40 local athletes took turns

A visually impaired man asked the almost-800,000 members of a Facebook group called Dogspotting to describe their canine companions. He wanted to know “how soft the dog is”—with bonus points for “dogs full of kisses and snuggles.” The internet came through, with more than a thousand responses in four days, including this description of Mocha: “It feels like you’re touching a cloud when you pet him.”

“Mindfulness for Dogs”? It’s a thing—a canine behaviorist in Cambridge, New Zealand, “trains” owners and rescue dogs to help humans notice how moods and reactions affect dogs, and to help dogs grow past behavior issues.