Every day the Good Good Good team collects the best good news in the world and shares it with our community. Here are the highlights for this week!
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The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
After the 2026 Winter Games, Milan’s Olympic Village will become subsidized housing for locals
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games take place in Milan, Italy and surrounding areas. With six Olympic Villages planned across Northern Italy, two stand out as uniquely sustainable.
In the heart of Milan, the main Olympic Village is not only being constructed on an abandoned railway yard, once it’s done housing Olympians, it will also be converted into student housing and provide 1,700 beds — including subsidized options — to locals.
And in Cortina, a temporary village will be constructed and then removed post-games to restore the area as an open, natural space.
Why is this good news? While cities where the Olympic Games are hosted see a huge influx of visitors and economic boosts, much of the construction that goes into preparing them to host various sports can be wasteful. It’s exciting to see that the hosts are taking this into consideration when building for the Games!
In New York, researchers are spending $4M to study your garbage. Here’s what they hope to find
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A school bus driver knits hats for every student on her route to fight clothing insecurity — and show she cares
Tina Hutcherson has been a school bus driver for the Putnam City School District in Oklahoma for over a decade — and she’s been a knitter and crocheter for over 50 years.
After her daughter gifted her a knitting machine, it has made it easier to keep up with her hobby. So much so, Hutcherson decided to make a hat or scarf for every student on her bus route — using colors they’ve picked themselves.
“I just don’t want nobody to be without, especially when they're riding with me,” Hutcherson said. She drives around 100 students to school every day and has knit and distributed 25 hats to elementary schoolers so far.
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Thousands of strangers raised over $1.7 million to help an 88-year-old veteran retire
On December 1, social media influencer Samuel Weidenhofer posted a video interviewing 88-year-old Ed Bambas, who works as a cashier at a Meijer grocery store in Detroit.
Bambas told Weidenhofer he lost his pension and health insurance around the same time his wife was sick, and he sold his home to cover her health care costs. She passed away seven years ago, and he’s working to pay off his debts.
Thousands were moved by Bambas’ story, and the video went viral, gaining 8 million views, and donors gave more than $1.5 million in three days. In total, over $1.7 million was raised to help Bambas retire, in what Weidenhofer said was one of GoFundMe’s largest-ever individual fundraisers.
Why is this good news? While no person, let alone a veteran, should find themselves in this type of situation, it’s an encouraging reminder of the generosity and goodness of human beings — more than 50,000 of them came together to help Bambas.
A couple sheltered 50 people fleeing San Jose mall shooting in their home: ‘They were like angels’
Measles deaths have declined by 88% globally since 2000, saving nearly 59 million lives
Thanks to global vaccination efforts, there’s been an 88% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2024. The measles vaccine has saved nearly 59 million lives in that time frame.
An estimated 95,000 people, mostly children under 5 years old, died due to measles in 2024 — among the lowest annual death tolls recorded since 2000. It’s still heartbreakingly high for a preventable disease with an effective, low-cost vaccine available.
While deaths declined, cases have risen. Except, notably, in Africa, which saw a 40% decline in cases from 2019 to 2024, and a 50% drop in deaths over the same time period.
Connecticut pioneered a model to directly develop solar for towns, schools, and low-income housing to lower energy costs
Connecticut Green Bank was the country’s first green bank, and its Solar Marketplace Assistance Program Plus has deployed $145 million on nearly 54 megawatts’ worth of solar projects in sectors that private lenders and developers would typically avoid because of perceived risks or low returns.
The revenues it generates from its projects are used to expand a pool of capital to fund other projects and help the state achieve its clean energy and environmental justice goals.
Despite being the third-smallest state, Connecticut is now ranked fifth in the country for solar capacity installed on K-12 schools. It’s second, behind only Hawaii, in the percentage of K-12 schools with solar.
Why is this good news? With federal clean-energy tax credits disappearing and energy costs on the rise, making the switch to solar — for cities, states, schools, and even individuals — is increasingly challenging. This new approach makes it more accessible and could be a model for other states to follow.
No more ‘heart vs. head:’ New study shows how empathy and reasoning both inspire us to help others
Amid dwindling national investment, Portland is giving out $64 million in clean energy grants
Portland just approved $64.4 million in funding for 60 nonprofit-led projects that will help the city reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and advance the clean energy transition over the next five years.
The projects tackle building more affordable and energy-efficient homes, workforce development, helping residents access electric vehicles, and more.
It’s all being doled out through the Portland Clean Energy Fund, a first-of-its-kind, voter-approved climate action program. The city has so far allocated $1.71 billion in PCEF funding, supporting over 220 nonprofits with 381 total grants awarded.
Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott donated $7.1 billion to nonprofits in 2025
A significant increase in her annual giving compared to recent years, MacKenzie Scott announced a total $7.1 billion in donations to nonprofits in 2025.
In 2024, Scott donated $2.6 billion total, and in 2023, $2.1 billion. With this year’s donations added in, she’s donated $26.3 billion since 2019. This year, her giving was largely focused on DEI causes.
Notably, Scott’s donations come as no-strings-attached gifts to their recipients. She’s also often quiet about the gifts, and in this announcement wrote that “... any dollar amount is a vanishingly tiny fraction of the personal expressions of care being shared into communities this year.”
Good context: In 2020, Scott signed the Giving Pledge — a promise by the world’s wealthiest philanthropists to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes — so far, though, her donations have far outpaced many of her peers.
The secret to getting kids off their phones? A homework assignment that sends them into the real world
Just by opening a new browser tab, thousands of people have raised $2 million for nonprofits
Tab for a Cause is a free web browser extension that allows people to raise money for charity simply by opening a new tab on their computer. Its tools have now officially generated more than $2 million for nonprofits.
The browser’s mission of “lowering the barrier to charitable giving so more people can participate” has done just that for its thousands of users.
The money raised has removed 20,000 pounds of ocean plastic, planted 100,000 trees, given 150,000 essential vaccines, and more.
Activists offered $1 million to create the first-ever Climate Nobel Prize, ‘if the Nobel Committee agrees’
A group of climate activists, led by tree-planting search engine Ecosia, launched a campaign pressuring the Nobel Committee to create a Climate and Planetary Health Nobel Prize.
The group argues that Alfred Nobel created the prizes to “serve the greatest benefit to humankind,” and that right now, “this means protecting the planet we all depend on.”
Currently, the Nobel Prize covers six categories with winners, or laureates, receive a €1 million endowment, along with a medal or diploma honoring their achievements. Ecosia has offered to cover the first endowment of €1 million (about $1.17 million USD) and would be “open to extending its support over time.”
Why is this good news? Nobel prizes aren’t just symbolic — they’re precedent-setting. Kroll said, “[It’s] an acknowledgement that inspires courage, creates urgency, and drives momentum for solutions. It would not just be a symbol, but could truly shift how the world values climate action.”
Absenteeism rates plummeted at this middle school after incentivizing students to ‘pie a teacher’
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Newly uncovered fossils prove that sea cows have been protecting oceans for ‘tens of millions of years’
As gentle giants who both graze in the tranquil coastal shade of seagrass meadows, manatees and dugongs share the cheeky nickname: “sea cows.” And now a new study is further illuminating their ancestry, thanks to a treasure trove of fossils uncovered in southwestern Qatar.
By eating roughly 10% of their body weight in seagrass each day, the sea cows help maintain the health of sea grass beds — which in turn capture carbon and house vulnerable marine life.
They also help the environment by pooping in these underwater habitats, a natural fertilizer that recycles nutrients back into the ocean. The new fossils reveal that “this has probably been going on for tens of millions of years.”
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More good news of the week —
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is reinstating all grants that were previously terminated by the Trump administration. Earlier this year, the IMLS was the target of an executive order that terminated grants that had previously been awarded, which benefit libraries and museums across the country. The cuts particularly hurt small and rural libraries.
A major airline is giving away free gift cards to 100k people who perform an act of kindness. Delta’s Holiday Medallion cards are not connected to a person’s loyalty status or flight activity, but rather are reserved for “customers who truly embody the holiday spirit.”
Mexico announced it was boosting the minimum wage by 13% and plans to limit the work week to 40 hours in 2030. Starting in January, the minimum wage will rise to $17.37 per day, and President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed back against critics who said it would lead to higher inflation, arguing that it actually helps significantly reduce poverty.
U.S. students studying housing, health outcomes, sustainability, and prison reentry programs won 2026 Rhodes scholarships. The students will attend the University of Oxford as part of the Rhodes scholar program, which awards more than 100 scholarships worldwide each year for students to pursue two to three years of graduate studies.
A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the U.S. They’ve urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water, and driving up the cost of electricity for everyday Americans.
Chile became the latest country to outlaw the use of mobile phones and other smart devices in schools. Joining schools in France, Brazil, Hungary, the Netherlands, and China, Chile will restrict smartphone use among elementary and middle school students to reduce its harmful effects and curb classroom distractions.
Through summer camps and scholarships, Girls Who Code is on track to close the tech gender gap by 2030. The nonprofit has served approximately 760,000 young women and nonbinary students in middle and high school, with 50% of them from historically underrepresented groups.
New York City tied its record for the longest stretch without a homicide. During the first 11 months of the year, New York City saw its lowest number of shooting incidents (652) and shooting victims (812) in recorded history, and in November, murders were also at the lowest level ever.
Largely serving southern California, Utah’s largest coal-fired power plant is no longer operating. The Los Angeles Department of Power and Water quietly shut the facility down with no impact on customers. Utah’s legislature blocked the Intermountain Power Agency from fully retiring fossil fuel units this year, but no buyer stepped up to keep it running.
Around 118 million women across India are receiving unconditional cash transfers for unpaid household work. The program makes India the site of one of the world’s largest and least-studied social-policy experiments: paying adult women simply because they keep households running, bear the burden of unpaid care, and form an electorate too large to ignore.
A Colorado city is making its largest one-year investment in affordable housing, distributing $21 million this year. The funds went to two organizations that will add 184 affordable homes to the city’s inventory.
A groundbreaking new therapy has reversed aggressive and incurable blood cancers in some patients. Involving precisely editing the DNA in white blood cells to transform them into a cancer-fighting “living drug,” the first girl to be treated is still free of the disease, and 64% of 10 more patients are also in remission.
Detroit restaurant owners turned their space into an art gallery that supports Black artists. Originally, Detroit Pizza Bar split its food operations and art showcases between the first and second floors, but now, the restaurant and art gallery are one in the same.
A Denver middle school cut chronic absenteeism in mere months using peer accountability and incentives. The school, which serves nearly 300 students, now averages above 92% daily attendance, exceeding its goal of 92%. Before the program, the school averaged about 85% daily attendance.
Chinese researchers developed a breakthrough stem cell therapy that reversed Parkinson’s. One of the six participants part of the study reportedly saw a dramatic decline in symptoms like tremors and rigidity, with their score dropping from 62 to 12, resembling that of a healthy individual.
White storks will make a historic return to London after being extinct in the area since 1419. Following a successful reintroduction nearby, the birds will be brought back to the city as part of an ambitious rewilding effort to bring charismatic nature into busy city communities.
An affordable housing partnership is addressing both housing and skilled trade worker shortages. A Colorado city is partnering with a local school district and Habitat for Humanity to teach kids trades by building homes that working people can afford.
A plant-based, 3D-printed surfboard provides smooth rides and prevents microplastic pollution. Swellcycle is a new line of bespoke, 3D-printed surfboards made from a biodegradable plant material with almost no waste, as opposed to regular surfboards, which are made from petroleum-based foam blocks, much of which is wasted and ends up in a landfill.
An organization is supporting pro-climate candidates in under-the-radar races at the state or city level. Analysts have estimated that 75% of the commitments that the U.S. made at the Paris climate agreement — which President Trump pulled the nation out of as soon as he took office — can be reached entirely without federal support.
Over the course of 16 years, volunteer “citizen scientists” helped red squirrels return to an area of Scotland. It is thought that without the Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels project, the red squirrel population in Aberdeen could have disappeared, and grey squirrels, which are native to North America, would have expanded in the north east.
