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“You will face many defeats in your life, but never let yourself be defeated."
WEEKLY BRIGHT SPOTS
Gumbo saves lives
For more than a decade, 78-year-old Air Force veteran Charlie Hicks showed up at the same Pensacola seafood restaurant every day for gumbo and conversation. So when he didn’t appear one morning, the staff noticed. Chef Donell Stallworth felt something was wrong, drove to Charlie’s home, and found him on the floor after a fall—dehydrated, injured, and unable to call for help. That instinct likely saved Charlie’s life. After weeks of recovery, Charlie is back, now living next door to the restaurant that watched out for him. It’s a simple reminder that routines matter, people notice more than we think, and sometimes kindness shows up in the form of a knock on the door—and a cup of gumbo.
Birthday cakes for the homeless
For more than 12 years, Manolo Betancur, owner of Manolo’s Bakery in Charlotte, North Carolina, has quietly delivered free birthday cakes to people experiencing homelessness—because he believes everyone deserves to be celebrated. An immigrant from Colombia who once arrived in the U.S. with no money and no English, Betancur now donates vanilla sheet cakes through a local nonprofit, marking birthdays many would otherwise forget. He doesn’t call them “homeless,” he calls them neighbors. This year, he delivered his 300th cake. One recipient cried, saying it was the first birthday cake of his life. Betancur calls it the most important cake his bakery has ever made.
From chains to trees
After four years of patient care and learning, an orphaned orangutan named Charlotte has returned to the rainforest where she belongs. Once found chained in a cabin in Borneo, she was rescued and brought to a “jungle school,” where devoted caretakers taught her the skills her mother never got the chance to pass on—how to climb, forage, and build a home in the trees. Slowly, fear gave way to confidence. Now released into the wild, Charlotte is thriving among the treetops again, a quiet reminder that with time, compassion, and care, even the deepest losses can lead to new beginnings.
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The New Year Ritual That Sets the Tone for Energy and Glow ✨
January calls for rituals that actually make you feel amazing—and Pique’s Sun Goddess Matcha is mine. It delivers clean, focused energy with zero jitters, supports glowing skin and gentle detox, and feels deeply grounding. Smooth, ceremonial-grade, and crave-worthy, it’s the easiest way to start your day clear, energized, and glowing from the inside out.