One Illinois couple’s act of kindness has caught the eye of hundreds of millions of TikTok viewers, after posting a video about how they went above and beyond to help a lost 80-year-old man who was driving from his home in Arizona to his son’s home in Wisconsin. Read on to find out more about their multiple incredible acts of kindness, and how the friendship continued on.

Illinois Couple Gets Lost 80-Year-Old Man to Wisconsin

Elton Hood and his then fiancé, Tracy Eckhart (now Tracy Hood) were stopped at a gas station in Woodhull, Illinois off of Interstate 74 in July of 2020 when Elton passed an old man carrying a piece of paper. Despite the fact that many people were avoiding interaction due to the pandemic, Elton smiled and asked the man how his day was going.

Elton said, “He was walking through there with a piece of paper in his hands and he had directions and I just said hi to him, asked him how his day was and he said well I’m lost again. And I thought again?”

Because of the lost 80-year-old man’s strange comment, Elton continued the conversation, and he learned that Dennis (the lost 80-year-old man) had not seen his son in 19 years, and he had been travelling for a week on his own from Arizona to Wisconsin, where his son lived. Apparently, Dennis had become lost multiple times, and some of the journeys off-course had led him hundreds of miles in the wrong direction.

Witnessing her fiancé’s interaction with the lost 80-year-old man, Tracy decided to record what was happening because she wanted Elton to see how kind and compassionate he is. But she ended up having to compile a bunch of videos in order to upload the whole story to Tiktok because the story didn’t end at that gas station.

@hoodsforgood I got a good one….his ❤️ amazes me. #fyp #foryoupage #stillgoodintheworld #elderly #elderlylove #armyvet #dontletthisflop #bethelight #marinevet ♬ If The World Was Ending – JP Saxe ft. Julia Michaels

Elton was concerned about the lost 80-year-old man taking the rest of his journey without some extra help; so he began by rewriting directions on a piece of paper for Dennis. Only after he did that, did he notice that Dennis’ car was a 2020 Toyota Tundra and it was likely the car could have its own navigation system.

Sure enough, it did; so Elton set up the route for Dennis through the Tundra’s navigation system. He also gave Dennis his phone number, and told him to give him and Tracy a call if he had any trouble on the remainder of his journey.

Shortly after Dennis had left the gas station, Elton and Tracy received a call from him. He was lost again, and Elton had an idea.

“I looked at Tracy and asked her if she was ready to make a trip to Wisconsin,” Elton explained. “She shrugged her shoulders and said whatever it is you feel like we need to do, let’s do it.”

They told Dennis to pull over, and they would meet him where he was. So off they went on to help Dennis get to Madison, Wisconsin. They led the way in their car and Dennis followed in his Tundra.

‘Neither one of us could bear the thought of – if we saw a missing persons alert or if something bad happened to him, if we had the potential to help turn this around and didn’t do it. That was just not going to work for either of us,’ Eckhardt said, WMTV reports.

The Illinois couple’s journey to help the lost 80-year-old man was posted through Tracy’s Tiktok account, hoodsforgood, and it went viral almost immediately.

Tracy said, “I was like how did this happen? I just posted it a couple hours ago… set my phone down and picked it back up and everything has changed.”

Today, the post is nearing 700,000 likes, more than 20,000 comments, and 17,000 shares.

Elton and Tracy helped Dennis to his family’s doorstep, and then returned home to Illinois. They kept in touch during the time that Dennis was with his family, but then they learned Dennis was planning to drive all the way back to his home in Arizona on his own…

Last week, senators in Thailand approved the use of chemical castration for sex offenders in order to cut down on sexual offenses and abuse in the country. If you’ve never heard of this approach, you may think it’s a new thing, or this type of punishment is only done in third-world countries, such as Thailand, but, in fact, it is used in some states in the U.S., as well as other countries around the world.

What is Chemical Castration for Sex Offenders?

You’ve probably heard of hormone therapy, which can be used for various medical issues, such as prostate cancer or breast cancer. What you may not know, is that hormone therapy is another name for chemical castration. Hormone therapy can be helpful for cancers that feed off of sex hormones because this procedure essentially stops sex hormones through the use of drugs or chemicals.

Enter sex offenders. Because high levels of testosterone increase sex drive, the use of hormone therapy for people who have a history of sexual abuse or other sexual offences offers a solution–the chemical Medroxyprogesterone acetate. Lower the testosterone, lower the desire to offend, right?

With a list of 16,413 men who were convicted in Thailand of sex offenses and then released from prison between 2013 and 2020, more than a fourth reoffended, according to the Thai corrections department. That’s why on Monday, July 11, 2022, 145 senators voted to pass a bill through the house that allows the use of chemical castration for sex offenders. Although the bill still has to pass through the house and must receive royal endorsement, if passed, convicted offenders who are believed to be a risk of reoffending will be offered a reduced prison sentence if they take the option of this chemical injection.

That said, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said, “I want this law to pass quickly. I don’t want to see news about bad things happening to women again.”

When chemical castration for sex offenders takes place and the criminals are eventually released, they must still wear electronic bracelets and undergo monitoring for 10 years.

Opposing voices, such as the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, which is an organization that attempts to address sexual violence, are not for the law. The director of this foundation, Jaded Chouwilai said, “Convicts should be rehabilitated by changing their mindset while in prison.”

Chouwilai doesn’t believe that chemical castration for sex offenders will address the real problem, explaining, “To use punishment like execution or injected castration reinforces the idea that offender can no longer be rehabilitated.”

If passed, Thailand will be following in the steps of parts of the U.S. Poland, Estonia, South Korea, and Russia.

In the U.S., chemical castration for sex offenders began in California in 1996, where both physical and chemical castration were options for sex offenders reentering society after being in prison.

Several other states have adopted similar laws. For example, in 2019 in Alabama a bill for chemical castration for sex offenders passed almost exactly two years ago, in June of 2019, in order to target child sex predators with offenses against children under 13 years old.

But that doesn’t mean the bill wasn’t controversial. Watch a news report on the debate in Alabama:

A representative in Alabama, Republican Steve Hurst, made it clear that he was for the bill at the time.

Hurst told NBC regarding chemical castration for sex offenders, “If they’re going to mark these children for life, they need to be marked for life.”

When we lose someone close to us, it can be very isolating. Many people don’t know how to support us, so they disappear. For one 8-year-old who lost her mom to an 11-year fight with brain cancer, the isolating effects of having a severely ill family member were prevalent, as she had never even had a birthday party. That’s why her sister planned a party, but when only one person responded to the invitation, the sister took to TikTok, and an overwhelming number of strangers helped an 8-year-old to have the birthday party of a lifetime.

An Older Sister Plans a Birthday Party

Twenty-eight-year-old Chloe Sexton of Memphis, Tennessee lost her mom, Jennifer to brain cancer in April of 2022, after witnessing the 11-year battle. But Chloe didn’t only lose her mom, Jennifer, she became the legal guardian of her 8-year-old sister, Charlotte. And in addition to grieving the loss of her mother, Charlotte had to move schools to go live with her big sister.

Thankfully, her big sister is one who will go above and beyond to love and care for Charlotte. So in an attempt to support the 8-year-old who had never had a birthday party because her mother had been battling brain cancer for her entire life, Chloe planned ahead to create a special day for Charlotte. The sisters sent out the invitations early and waited for responses from Charlotte’s classmates. Even though Charlotte was new to the school, because many of the invitees’ families knew what Charlotte had been through, it seemed likely that many would respond in support.

But Chloe waited and waited, and in the end, she only received one response. This broke this big sister’s heart; so she created a video and posted it to TikTok.

“I sent the invites out early and I heard nothing back except from one person,” explained Chloe. “It upset me that I couldn’t give her the birthday I wanted to.”

Watch Chloe talk about what happened here:

@chloebluffcakes Just go to the birthday party youre invited to #birthday #grief #kids ♬ original sound – Chloe

In the video that Chloe recorded on the 4th of July, she speaks through crying words saying, “My mom should be doing this.” This caring older sister who is also grieving is working for hours on DIY projects to make her sister’s party “phenomenal,” but she can’t control the number of people who come.

That’s where people who saw the video and strangers helped an 8-year-old celebrate…

What USPS mail carrier, Andrew Russell, humbly calls, “just the right place at the right time,” many are calling a heroic act. On a normal day, this postal worker saved a 6-year-old girl after her mom had passed out from a fentanyl overdose.

How the Postal Worker Saved a 6-Year-Old

July 16, 2022 was an ordinary day turned extraordinary when Russell became the hero of the day because the postal worker saved a 6-year-old child in distress.

Russell was walking his regular USPS mail route in Wheat Ridge, Colorado when he heard the desperate cries of a child coming from inside a car.

“I noticed a car was pulled off on the side of the road,” recalled Russell. “There was a funny noise, almost like an engine was revving.”

Russell explained, “What really caught my attention was hearing a child’s voice,” calling the child’s cries “hysterical.”

“Any time I hear a child’s voice that sounds anything like that, it’s pretty immediate.”

Following the sound of the cries to the car that was parked but in idle, Russell saw a woman passed out over her steering wheel, as well as the young girl.

“There was a child in the backseat that was yelling,” Russell said.

According to Russell, the distressed 6-year-old was yelling “my mommy’s dead.”

“Immediately ran over there and dropped my mail in this lady’s front yard,” Russell said, explaining his reaction to the scene.

Russell had empathy for the child, saying, “Her mommy wasn’t moving. So, of course, the child was obviously very freaked out.”

Continuing on about how this postal worker saved a 6-year-old, he said, “make sure the kids was out of the back seat first and then checked on the mom.”

Russell also called 911.

Watch Russell talk about that day on YouTube:

Interestingly, Russell hadn’t been at the job for that long. At the time of his Denver Fox 31 interview, he’d been doing the route for seven weeks.

And some might say it’s a God thing he was on that particular route.

“It hit a chord in a lot of different ways,” shared Russell, reflecting on the moment. “I have a little girl of my own, so it definitely hit a chord that way. She said thank you a couple times and yeah, it meant the world to me that she was just okay.”

Wondering about the mom?

A series of events at the Waffle House have gone viral recently, and this summer, the attention is on one man handing out money at the restaurant. Read on to find out how this man is inspiring us to love every one.

Who is the Man Handing Out Money at the Waffle House?

Former member of the Obama administration, Kevin Cate, was at a Waffle House in Midway, Florida this summer, when he noticed a man sitting alone at a table. Cate noticed this man was attaching notes to one dollar and five dollar bills, and he became curious. So Cate greeted the man and asked him about the money and notes.

According to Cate, the man handing out money had been doing it since 2014, after his mom passed away and her last words were “love every one.”

Cate was so moved by the man, he snapped a photo and posted it to Twitter.

Saw this man sitting by himself at a Waffle House in Midway, Florida.

So I said hello and asked him what he was doing with that money. pic.twitter.com/UY2uBW7hXE

— Kevin Cate (@KevinCate) July 9, 2022

In his conversation with the man at the Waffle House, Cate learned the man handing out money had given away more than $13,000. He’d primarily done this to strangers, and at the Waffle House specifically, only because it is his favorite restaurant. And, of course, because of his mother’s last words, the man also gave people notes that said, “love every one.” It’s a way for him to honor his mother.

According to Cate, the man said he makes copies of the love every one note every few days so he always has one to give away with the $1 and $5 bills he gives away.

Man’s Love Every One Notes Make a Difference

Well, the man handing out money at the Waffle House went viral after Cate posted it to Twitter, and not only were the people who received the love every one and cash were moved by the man’s small gesture.

And people began sharing their own thoughts about love every one and what it means to them. One Twitter user shared how his life changed when he almost died. This experience made loving others his priority.

I almost died last September, that is what I learned from the creator. Love everyone. Love is all it’s about.

— Justanothersmith (@DESmith45579358) July 10, 2022

Agreeing with the man handing out money at the Waffle House, another user shared how his own dad made a difference in people’s lives.

After my father died, an old family friend wrote to me: “Your dad always helped people out. He knew sometimes they were taking advantage of him, but he didn’t care. He figured it was worth it because you never know when someone really is in need.”

Words to live by.

— 🇺🇦 🌻The Pro-Democracy Carrie Sweet🌻🇺🇦 (@CarrieSweet2017) July 10, 2022

Yet another Twitter user tweeted about her aunt’s giving heart and the difference it made to her.

Yup. My Aunt used to say it was better to help someone who didn’t need it then to pass by someone who did…🤷🏻‍♀️ pic.twitter.com/CAsVVjkEwi

— JenineGras🇨🇦honour🌲treaty🌲6! (@mrsorganguy) July 10, 2022

In case you’re wondering the man handing out money, wasn’t the first do-gooder to go viral at the Waffle House…

When a baby is born, we celebrate. It’s a miracle and a time for family to gather and dote on the tiny child. But that wasn’t what happened for Gisele Smith, who was born in a hospital in the Boston, Massachusetts area. When nurse, Liz Smith met this baby, she was surprised to hear the baby hadn’t had visitors in months. But that’s just the beginning of the story of how this nurse adopted a baby that had been abandoned at the hospital.

How a Nurse Adopted a Baby From the Hospital Where She Worked

In July of 2016, baby girl Gisele was born prematurely. Having been born at 29 weeks to a mother who had used narcotics while pregnant, Gisele weighed only 1 pound, 14 ounces at birth.

Diagnosed with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), Gisele was eventually transferred to Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Massachusetts where she received treatment for a lung issue in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Unfortunately, after Gisele’s birth, her birth mother and birth father didn’t visit her, and neither did anyone else. All the love and care Gisele received in the first several months of her life came from the hospital staff.

That is, until the senior director of nursing at the hospital, Liz Simth, met Gisele.

Liz was just walking down a hallway when she saw 8-month-old Gisele being wheeled toward her. At that point, Gisele had been at Franciscan Children’s Hospital for five months without a single visitor.

According to Liz, Gisele’s curl of brown hair and blue eyes caught her attention, and she asked the nurse, “Who’s this beautiful angel?

From that day, Liz visited Gisele every day. She learned that the baby girl’s mother had used meth, cocaine, and heroin while she was pregnant.

This time for Liz was special and important. “It was my reward after a long workday,” she explained.

While reunification with the birth parents was the goal, the birth parents did not want to keep their baby. As a result, Gisele was put into the custody of the state of Massachusetts, and social workers had been trying to find a home for the baby when she met Liz.

With Gisele in foster care, Liz was able to become her foster parent. As Gisele’s foster mom, Liz helped with feeding the baby through a gastrostomy tube and with weaning her off of the drugs her birth mother had taken.

“I remember certain nights, one in particular, when she was hooked up to the feed and I was walking by the mirror and the thought went into my head of losing her,” Liz shared about her time of fostering Gisele. “I had to go there in my mind because it was still a reality, but it made me sick to my stomach. You can’t just love a certain percentage. You have to give it your all.”

That’s when Liz decided she wanted to adopt Gisele.

Liz, now in her early 40s had not been able to have a child. She’d dreamed of being a mother, but her career had postponed her trying.

Liz told the Boston Globe, “My definition of family was always: In my 20s I’ll get married, have kids, and have a big family like the one I grew up with.”

Unfortunately, the various methods she tried, such as IVF, didn’t take. She was dismayed, thinking she wouldn’t be able to have children.

“That was a bad day,” Liz shared about when she found out the IVF wasn’t going to work for her, which is partially what’s so special about how this nurse adopted a baby who needed her as much as she wanted to protect and love a child.