10 Heartwarming Internet Acts That Inspire Hope – Part 2

As lives change and we live behind the screens of laptops, tablets, and smartphones, we start to lose a sense of our humanity and what essentially makes us compassionate creatures. Lucky for us, all is not lost and there are plenty of stories of goodwill spread across the Internet. Sure, there are plenty of hoaxes floating around but if we dig deep enough, we do come across some really heartwarming stories that are simply gold.

Here are 5 stories depicting Internet acts that will help restore your faith in humanity. The news is full of ugly headlines as of late, but the world is not void of good people with good intentions as these examples will show you.

1. Random birthday tweets for husband

Jennifer Hamilton wanted to do something special for her husband’s birthday. She wanted to surprise Gary through social media but unlike how we would normally do it, she took to the streets on the eve of his birthday and put up posters to ask passers-by to tweet her husband a happy 32nd birthday.

Total strangers were asked to take a picture of the poster, tweet or Instagram it along with birthday wishes to his handle @thegaryham.

The next day, Gary woke up to birthday wishes from strangers on Twitter, wishes such as this one:

Saw this and thought it was too cute… HAPPY BIRTHDAY @thegaryham !!! You have an awesome wife!!! pic.twitter.com/ImpLz5AJ0g

— Phoebe Rea (@phoebekrea) July 19, 2014

Both husband and wife were grateful to the many strangers who took the time to perfect a loving wife’s amazing birthday gift to her loving husband.

2. Beach proposal captured

This scene depicted boyfriend Tae Cho proposing to Lindsey Crouch on a beach at Seaside, Florida. It was supposed to be the most important day of their lives and the photo almost did not happen because Crouch’s family were hiding too far away to capture a good shot of the moment.

Image source: Heather Swanner

Fortunately for them, someone else did. Photographer Heather Swanner happened to be in the vicinity after finishing a shooting session and she took a couple of shots of the proposal before moving on. Later on she decided to contact the couple to see if they would like to have copies of their photos.

She took to Facebook to help track down the lucky couple, and it was a lucky thing she did. Lindsey was simply ecstatic that pictures of the proposal existed.

Image source: facebook

3. Reddit’s pizza delivery services

A hospital is a dreary place for a two-year-old undergoing treatment for a neuroblastoma tumour. To cheer up Hazel Hammersley, her mother Lauren and her grandmother will come up with fun activities, one of which was plaster masking tape on the window of their hospital room, spelling out "SEND PIZZA RM 4112". They thought that it would be a fun joke to cheer up little Hazel.

Image source: goodnewsnetwork.org

Someone posted a snapshot of the request onto Reddit and two days later, 30 pizzas arrived at room RM 4112 at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. “Hazel woke up from her nap to the smell of pizza and was so excited to chow down!” wrote Lauren in her blog detailing Hazel’s condition.

Hospital staff and other patients came over to join in the pizza party as more pizzas came in but eventually the hospital had to ask people to stop sending pizzas.

Image source: nydailynews

The best part about this story is after all her treatment, little Hazel is reportedly free of cancer.

Image source: ourlittlehazelnut.blogspot.com

4. Tweet: Please visit me in hospital

If you think that a tweet is just a tweet, this story is going to blow your mind. Unlike little Hazel, Saudi Arabian Ibrahim was not surrounded by loving family members despite him being bedridden and paralyzed as a result of a car accident in 2013. Depressed and craving for some company as he waited for a treatment he had no way of affording, Ibrahim tweeted a request to his Twitter followers to visit.

His tweet became the most retweeted tweet in the country (200,000 times), and gave birth to the hashtag #VisitIbrahim. Hundreds of visitors visited Ibrahim at the King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh that the hospital had to issue a temporary ban when the throngs of visitors were affecting the staff’s work.

Image source: The Independent

The cherry on top was that Saudi’s Twitter community went one step further by contributing financially to Ibrahim’s medical fund for treatment.

The donors covered his surgery cost of $130,000. Ibrahim will also be travelling to Germany to receive his treatment if all goes well.

5. Not homeless anymore

If the onion ninja has yet to make his move on you, this last story may be able to break you. Youtuber Magic of Rahat, well known for his drive-thru pranks decided to prank a homeless man one day with a "winning lottery ticket".

An avid lottery ticket buyer, homeless guy Eric has been trying his luck at a local convenience store many, many times. This time though, it was Rahat who gave him a lottery ticket. Later on when Eric went to check out the winning numbers, the cashier (who is in on the prank) convinced Eric that the lottery ticket just won him $1000.

Despite this being a "prank", the cash was real. The twist in this video, however, was that Eric offered to split the cash with Rahat as he got the lottery ticket from Rahat, saying that he is only taking what he felt was enough for himself.

Rahat, clearly shocked, refused the money, and Eric broke down, moving Rahat to tears as well. But the Internet was not going to let them off that easily.

The video went viral and amazing people on the Internet contacted Rahat to ask how they could help Eric. Rahat set up a fund for Eric and raised $44,000 in 17 days. With the money, Rahat found Eric a house for a year, got him supplies, furniture and appliances then surprised him with the gift (catch the heartwarming video here).

In a classic Pay It Forward move, Eric continued with the tradition by offering to put up another homeless guy who was living on the streets, in a hotel. With $1000, he got the man a room for 4 weeks, and a hug from one grateful soul to another.