Good News Break | March 2017
I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
– Thomas Jefferson
The History of Saint Patrick’s Day
March 17th is a special day of tradition for any Irish (and Irish-at-heart) celebrant around the world.
This festive holiday honors the patron St. Patrick, and celebrations consist of Irish themed traditions such as wearing green, parades, and drinking. People also gather for feasts of corned beef, corned cabbage, coffee, soda bread, potatoes and shepherd’s pie.
St. Patrick, or the “Apostle of Ireland” (born approx. 460 A.D), was originally involved in paganism, but after being enslaved in Ireland, he became an advocate for Catholicism. Besides the fact that he was captured as a slave in Wales, not much is known about his early life. However, we do know that St. Patrick served as a Bishop in the Christian faith while performing mission work in Ireland.
Tales of St. Patrick and the holiday folklore continue to fascinate modern culture, and his legacy is widely celebrated every year.
Dad dying of cancer sees 2-year old son get a kidney from high school classmate
A mother’s desperate plea on Facebook for a kidney for her 2-year-old son reunited her with a high school classmate, who was willing to donate her kidney.
The donation, which took place at the beginning of 2017, allowed the boy’s father, Ryan Wagner, to see his son, Miles, cured of a rare disease before he loses his own battle with stage 4 colon cancer.
“It means the world to me that Ryan gets to see Miles get a kidney,” donor Elizabeth Wolodkiewicz, 31, told TODAY. “I am so happy to give Ryan more time with Miles, and for him to see his baby boy get healthy.”
Wolodkiewicz went to high school in tiny Johnsburg, Illinois, with Ryan and Ashley Wagner. While they knew one another, they weren’t close. But Wolodkiewicz followed Wagner’s cancer diagnosis and Miles’ battle with a rare kidney disease on the family’s Facebook page, Team Ryan. When she realized she could help, she knew she had to do it.
Read more HERE!
Serving up healthy meals and hope
Cathryn Couch believes in the power of food to help people heal. It’s something the professional chef discovered 10 years ago.
Couch was asked to teach her friend’s teenage daughter how to cook. So she turned the culinary lessons into a unique summer project: preparing healthy meals for three families dealing with a serious health crisis.
In one of them, a mother of two had stage 4 breast cancer. “In that situation, everyone is terrified and the parent who is well has this enormous burden of caregiving and working to support the family,” Couch said. “I realized that the food was a vehicle to help relieve some of that stress.”
Couch has since expanded the idea into her nonprofit, the Ceres Community Project, which has nourished the bodies and souls of thousands of low-income people facing cancer and other serious illness in northern California.
At the heart of the work are local teens. They volunteer after school in four commercial kitchens—in Sonoma, Marin and Alameda counties—preparing 100% organic meals for clients and their families.
Read more HERE!
THIS MONTH’S RECIPE
Kegs and Green Eggs
Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
4 egg whites
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups tightly packed baby arugula or spinach leaves, or a combination
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan
salt and red pepper
Preparation
Coat a medium non-stick skillet with a thin layer of olive oil, and sauté the onions over a medium flame, stirring very infrequently. Once they soften and begin to brown on each side, return the flame to low and allow to slowly caramelize. During this time, it is important to make sure the onions are spread as evenly as possible across the pan.
Slowly crisp the onions for about 20 minutes. Every few minutes, scrape the bottom and redistribute the onions so each gains the maximum amount of surface area. The onions will sweeten by condensing in their own juices. If you stir too often, the onions will turn to mush.
Beat the eggs and egg whites together with ¼ teaspoon of salt and a pinch of red pepper. Push the onions to the side of the pan, and pour the eggs in the middle. Slowly scramble over low heat, scooping up the partially cooked pieces from the bottom and redistributing the raw egg. When the egg is almost entirely cooked, add the arugula and the cheese. Stir to combine and cook for another minute or so until the eggs are cooked, but not overdone. Taste for salt and serve immediately.
Nutrition score per serving (about ½ cup):
Calories: 152
Fat: 8g
Saturated fat: 2g
Carbs: 5g
Protein: 15g
Iron: 3mg
Fiber: 1g
Calcium: 90mg
Sodium: 325mg
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hi, everyone! I am excited and humbled to be working as a Public Relations Assistant for PLA Media in preparation for my graduation in May. Learning from and contributing to a professional team like PLA is an incredible experience, and I look forward to what the future holds for me.
Originally from Montgomery, AL, I am currently studying Music Industry at Troy University in Troy, AL with a minor in psychology. With a passion for music and hard work, I have worked in the music industry as a performer and songwriter since I was in high school. I quickly learned the importance of overcoming adversity in my life when I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a retinal degenerative disease that causes progressive blindness, when I was just fifteen years old.
With a burning desire to overcome my physical disability, and inspiration from my grandfather, a successful blind piano tuner and business owner, I have chosen to pursue my dreams of working in the music industry by moving to Music City. So far, it’s been a motivational, life-changing experience, and I don’t plan on slowing down.
In my free time you can find me writing songs, reading motivational books, or exploring the vast music scene Nashville has to offer!