A lottery-winning family fed 180 kids free lunches for 15 years

An anonymous family in Saint-Michel, a French town of about 3,200 in the Charente region, won 50 million euros on the EuroMillions lottery in 2009, roughly $54 million. Their early moves were quiet ones. They donated nearly 400,000 euros to the town's "Housing for All" scheme and cleared the debt of a local nursing home. Then, starting in 2010, they began covering the local school cafeteria, about $86,000 a year, paying for free meals for around 180 students. That single donation equaled 20% of the town's entire annual budget. They have kept it up every year since. For 2026, the money is being redirected toward air conditioning and soundproofing the school building, and families will pay 1.50 euros per meal. Nobody in Saint-Michel knows who the family is. Locals have filled a guestbook at the town hall with messages anyway. "I explained to my children the beauty of your gesture," one mother wrote.

He fell 100 feet. A hiking doctor kept him alive.

A 33-year-old filmmaker fell about 100 feet off a ledge on Tom, Dick, and Harry Mountain, a volcanic ridge above Government Camp in Oregon, just before 3 P.M. on September 15. He had rigged ropes to capture a drone shot for an indie film and lost his footing at the top of the cliff band, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office. He slid another 15 to 20 feet, then lay on his side, breathing but not moving. About half an hour later, two hikers reached him. One was a doctor. They kept him from rolling further down the slope and applied pressure and tourniquets to control the bleeding, relaying his condition to rescuers by radio. "[The doctor] was able to control bleeding and handle essentially shock symptoms on the scene," Sergeant Adam Peterson said. An Oregon National Guard helicopter crew reached him by 5 P.M. and flew him to a hospital. The mountain usually deals in sprained ankles.

A kitten reached through the bars and grabbed his face

A kitten reached through the bars of a vet's cage in December and grabbed a dog's face with both paws. That was the moment Leslie of Yakima, Washington, knew she had found her cat.

She had been looking for months. After her dog Jack died over the summer, his partner Floppy needed company, and so did the house. Leslie visited shelters and connected with none of the cats she met. Then she brought Floppy in for a checkup and found a litter someone had left outside the office and driven away from.

The kitten, named Buddy, had a cracked spine from the drop. It healed well. He just walks a little crooked now.

Buddy became Floppy's guide as her sight dimmed, staying at her side when visitors came. When she passed, he stayed beside her until it was time to lay her to rest. He now rules the house, and rides in the car, and has a toy mouse.

Four years after his heart stopped, Tommy finished all 42 peaks

Tommy Price finished the Bob Graham Round last week, four years after the same run stopped his heart on a Lake District fell. The route covers 42 peaks, 66 miles and 27,000 vertical feet, and only counts if you do it in under 24 hours. In January 2022, Price got as far as the third peak before hypothermia set in and he could no longer walk. His running partner, Max, had gone ahead to fetch Keswick Mountain Rescue. Rescuers found him face down in the snow and tried three times to restart his heart. His body temperature had dropped to 64.4°F, which a rescuer told the BBC probably saved him, since the cold shielded his brain while his heart was still. Doctors warmed him, restarted his heart and kept him in an induced coma for five days. This time, Jonny Hulme, one of the first responders who reached him that day, ran the first leg alongside him. "It was unfinished business and I had to do it to finish the story," Price said.

Cosmo spotted his vet at a brewery and melted

Cosmo, a Golden Retriever, spotted his own veterinarian at a brewery recently and reacted the way most people reserve for a returning soldier or a winning lottery ticket. In a clip filmed by his owner, Hannah Dweikat, and posted to TikTok, the dog melts into Dr. Jones, who is still in his scrubs and appears to have stopped in for a quiet pint after work. The two go back a while. Dweikat told Upworthy that Cosmo, as a puppy, ate a Sago Palm seed, which is toxic to dogs, and spent a weekend at the animal hospital. She credits "the calm and patient demeanor" of Dr. Jones and his staff with putting the frightened pup at ease. It helped that they lived down the street. "Cosmo takes every chance he can get to say hi," she said. He is fond of toys and fishing. He is less fond of waiting outside while she gets her coffee.