The generosity of Minnesotans reaches far and wide, now extending all the way to a library in Iraq. This week, thousands of books arrived at the library at the University of Mosul, a shipment organized by the Minneapolis-based Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project (IARP). The library was destroyed when ISIS militants occupied the city in 2014. The library had stood as a cultural and educational epicenter in Iraq until ISIS fighters demolished the building. They methodically destroyed almost all of the one million books, manuscripts and historic maps inside.

Just before Thanksgiving last year, a New Haven realtor, who lost a $10,000 check, paid a homeless man handsomely for his honesty. This Thanksgiving, the realtor and homeless man are both paying it forward. “That really shattered a lot of stereotypes that people have about homeless people,” said realtor Roberta Hoskie, whose lost $10,000 check had been returned by Elmer Alvarez, a man who was homeless for more than a year.

A mystery shopper paid of customers' layaway items at a Walmart in Derby, Vermont, CBS Burlington affiliate WCAX reports. The act of generosity happened just days before Thanksgiving, when the store's storage room was already filled with layaway items. "I don't even think I can find the words to say," customer Julie Gates told WCAX. Gates was going to pick up a package at the store on Thursday when she overheard a man asking if he could pay for someone's items.

When it’s time for lunch at Chick-fil-A in Avon, it's all hands on deck as the employees try to get through the rush before they can see their favorite customer. "If we can get to Ernie, it’s been a good day,” laughed owner Chris Tincher. Ernie, a World War II veteran, first came to the restaurant about a year ago. He comes back nearly every day of the week.

Vault50.com is a completely independent review guide covering medical, business and industrial products and software. If readers choose to buy our selected editorial picks, we sometimes earn affiliate commissions that support our work. Lulu the pot-bellied pig created quite the media storm back in 1998.

A homeless man, who goes by the name Adam, sold an old art print he found in a dumpster to an antiques store for $20. But when shop's owner Alex Archbold realized it was worth much more than that, he set out to find Adam, and give him his fair share.

A dog who gave everything she had to a litter of puppies is repaid with the ultimate gift. When her health was failing and she needed a kidney transplant, her family did not have to look too far for help. This story begins three years ago on a hot summer day in southern Missouri. A dog named Star was found in a plywood box with a litter of puppies. They had no food or water, according to Shannon Flegle, DVM and owner of Murphy Animal Hospital in High Ridge.

A Louisiana science teacher is set to donate a kidney to a student who previously attended the school she teaches in, but never had her for class. Heather Mallet, who teaches at F.K. White Middle School, said it doesn’t matter that Hayden Diaz never sat in her classroom, she just knew she had to help him.

When this father heard that his son was being bullied at school, he took a more compassionate approach to confronting the problem. At first, Aubrey Fontenot was angry to hear that his 8-year-old son Jordan was being picked on at school by another boy named Tamarion – but instead of fighting fire with fire, he decided to invite the boy out for some one-on-one time together.

When Michael Brodie first saw a man with a shaggy head of hair and beard giving away free organic vegetables down by Montreal's Lachine Canal last summer, he decided to pass. "He seemed very suspect to me, so I avoided it." But that bearded man — 35-year-old Ben Williams — kept coming back, using a bike trailer to haul in hundreds of dollars worth of vegetables every week, laying out blankets covered in a colourful array of squashes, herbs, turnips, leeks, beets, leafy greens, bulbs of garlic, onions and potatoes.

An eight-year-old amateur entomologist who was teased for her unusual hobby has featured in a research paper after the scientific community took her under their wing. Sophia Spencer, from Ontario, Canada, loves nothing more than showing off her latest insect find, but often finds herself the butt of jokes. After schoolmates mocked her “weird and strange” interest, “I really thought loving bugs wasn't the best hobby,” she told NPR.

Last month, Skye Savren-McCormick got to be the flower girl in a wedding. To prepare, she practiced walking with a little basket in her living room. Even so, on the day of the wedding the 3-year-old still took a big fistful of petals and dropped them on the ground before taking her first step down the aisle. And the wedding guests could barely hold it together.

Showing once again why he’s the most down to earth movie star around, Hong Kong film legend Chow Yun-fat reportedly lives on just HK$800 ($102) a month, saving up his money so that one day he can leave it all to charity.

A young boy is helping kids who are hospitalized feel better, one toy at a time. Team BAM! delivered over 1,000 toys, games and books to Baystate Children's Hospital in Springfield Friday. The group was formed last year by nine-year-old Ben Manzi and his mom. Ben was diagnosed with leukemia when he was just six-years-old.

A highly anticipated meeting happens Friday night. It's not the inner-city showdown between Adams and Washington under the lights; instead, it marks the first time the Eagles' honorary captain joins them on the sidelines. He's a toddler from New York state. "It's the same as having an 18-year-old or 17-year-old captain. It's really the same thing. Treat them no differently. He's one of us. He's a part of the team," said Ira Armstead and Jackson Joyce, key members of the Adams offense.

Two friends who set up a GoFundMe page for a Pennsylvania man who’d been holding yard sales to pay for his own funeral expenses say they’ve received so many donations they’re planning to help other veterans in similar situations. David Dunkleberger and his friend Ed Sheets pulled into a yard sale in Brownstown last month. The man running it, 66-year-old Willie Davis, was selling his belongings to pay for his funeral.

Custodian Herman Gordon has been spreading kindness at Bristol University for more than 11 years. This summer, students of the UK university decided it was time to return the favor. Students launched a crowdfunding campaign to send Gordon, originally from Jamaica, on a weeklong trip to Kingston to see his family for the first time in nearly a decade. "I started it because I know everybody loves Herman for his happy energy," said medical student Hadi Al-Zubaidi, who had the idea for the fundraiser. "I thought sending him to his home country of Jamaica would be a beautiful way of giving back for all that he does."

Parking restrictions spark frustration more often than delight, but a newly-installed sign in Wiesbaden, Germany has been declared "the most adorable act of random kindness ever" as social media users shared the story online. Food and travel writer Christie Dietz, whose four-year-old son has parked his bike by the same lamppost "just about every day for the last year", discovered the space had now been reserved just for him.

Bethesda -- the makers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout -- has granted the wish of a 12-year-old boy named Wes with a rare type of cancer to see Fallout 76 by bringing the game to his house to play months before release. Wes has been in a fight against stage-four neuroblastoma for most of his life after being diagnosed with the form of cancer at just five years old.

A new program at the Kent County Animal Shelter is working to save more dogs from being put down, using Facebook to place them in good homes. It's already working. A man who lost his dog on the other side of the state was able to find her though one of the posts. "I wish she could talk so she could tell us what happened," owner Arthur Watson said. "Me, my mom, my dad, we are just sitting here going, 'How?'"