One man's trash is a child's hope.

A few years ago, music teacher Favio Chávez set up a music program for children living in Cateura, Paraguay, "a town essentially built on top of a landfill."

"One day it occurred to me to teach music to the children of the recyclers and use my personal instruments," said 36-year-old Chávez, who worked as an ecological technician at the landfill.

"But it got to the point that there were too many students and not enough supply. So that’s when I decided to experiment and try to actually create a few."

In an area where children are at high risk of getting involved in the drug and gang scene, his program offered them something new: hope.

Using trash as materials to build musical instruments, "La Orquesta de Instrumentos Reciclados de Cateura," or "The Recycled Orchestra," was founded.

"Landfill Harmonic," a documentary about the children of a Paraguayan sum and the transformative power of music, is currently in production. See the Kickstarter page here.

Last weekend, a Newfoundland fisherman saved a beached humpback whale entangled in fishing lines.

CBC News reports that Ned Pardy of Bay L'Argent was heading out to do some scallop fishing when he found the 20-foot-long whale stuck in shallow water between a wharf and a floating dock.

Quick-thinking Pardy, who is mostly retired from fishing, used a boat hook to free the mammal from the fishing lines, then used a piece of lumber to push him back into the water.

"I went and got a piece of two-by-four and put it up against his head, and pushed him back so far, so he could swing his head out around," Pardy told CBC News. "He didn't even move at first, I thought he was dead or dying or something, because he wasn't blowing that much, you know."

Pardy said that four or five humpbacks have been spotted in the area recently, like feeding on herring in the bay.

Last summer, a whale rescue group freed a large humpback whale tangled in fishing gear on the south coast of Newfoundland.

In July,

Andriss Skulte volunteers with Pilots N Paws, a non-profit organization that helps with animal rescues. Instead of flying around human passengers, he transports adorable adopted puppies to their new homes.

"Rather than the dogs spending days in a car, we can take them in a plane and in a couple hours get them home," Skulte says.

In a touching video by HooplaHa, Skulte surprises two kids who are expecting to meet a relative at the airport, not a new black lab.

Their parents organized the sweet surprise with the help of both Pilot N Paws and New England Lab Rescue.

"Most awesome" parents ever?

Watch the special delivery below:

On April 4, Simba the cat will be honoured for his loyalty to Westbrook High School in Westbrook, Maine.

For 13 years, Simba has been showing up at the school each morning at 7 a.m. He greets students at the school's front door, visits the superintendent's office for a quick cuddle, and makes his rounds to various classrooms.

School administrators keep close watch on the cat, ensuring he doesn't get too close to students with allergies.

"He'll show up in class and sit on people's text books and just intrude," grade-12 student Kim Larley told WMTW.

"(For) most people, it's human nature. Animals are very warm. They're calming. They bring a sense of peace," said Westbrook superintendent Marc Gousse.

The school's art department will be holding a celebration in the 15-year-old tabby cat's honour tomorrow. Simba's owner, local resident Eileen Shutts, will be in attendance.

"I think he probably knows he's liked and loved, and it's mutual," Gousse told WMTW.

(Photo courtesy Facebook/Elly Steinmetz)On Sunday, Colorado couple David Lewis, 25, and Elly Steinmetz, 24, got engaged at a scenic overlook near Denver where they shared a memorable date years earlier.

Because their first date at the spot involved eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts, the elated couple decided to celebrate at the doughnut shop, the Huffington Post reported.

The couple ordered five doughnuts and asked a Krispy Kreme employee to take their photo. What they didn't expect: boxes and boxes of free doughnuts congratulating them on their engagement.

"Krispy Kreme gave us a THOUSAND doughnuts for getting engaged and coming here!" Steinmetz wrote on Facebook Sunday.

Steinmetz later told the Huffington Post she was unsure of the exact number of doughnuts, only that it was far more than she'd ever seen at once.

"They came with just bags and bags. And these boxes and boxes of donuts," Steinmetz said.

After being congratulated personally by most of the staff, the happy couple headed to Steinmetz's parents' place in nearby

It's a classic case of "mom to the rescue," only with 911 involved.

On Sunday, a 911 dispatcher in Wahkiakum County, Washington, sent her own mother to rescue a stranded boater in the Columbia River, knowing that she could kayak to her boater's aid faster than the sheriff's office could send out a patrol boat.

A 45-year-old kayaker was out paddling with a companion when her kayak sank. She climbed on to a log piling near a jetty while her companion went to call for help.

911 dispatcher Raedyn Grasseth overheard the call.

"Jetties are very dangerous. The currents around them are horrible. It sounds like her kayak just got sucked toward the jetty and went down," Grasseth told The Daily News.

Grasseth notified the sheriff's office of the stranded boater — then called her own mother, Cindy Faubion.

Grasseth knew that her own family members, who live near the river and who own boats, could reach the woman before the sheriff's office could round up a crew and rescue the woman.

"I knew they

You're never too old to go for gold.

Emiel Pauwels, a 94-year-old from Belgium, and Ilmari Koppinen, a 95-year-old from Finland, recently raced in a 60-metre sprint at the 2013 European Veterans Athletics Championships in San Sebasian, Spain.

Koppinen ran in lane 3 and took an early lead. Pauwels ran in lane 4 and soon overtook his older competitor — barely.

According to MSN, Belgian media said of the victor that "Emiel Pauwels has never been a strong starter, and at 94, that will not change."

Both men took home gold: Koppinen for the 95 and older category, and Pauwels for the 90 to 94 category.

At a Remembrance Day assembly at Veteran Elementary School in Veteran, Alberta, Dave Pennington shared with students stories of his World War II experience.

The 91-year-old veteran was a 20-year-old private when he left for Italy with the First Edmonton Regiment.

He earned five medals for his military service, but lost them all when his sister accidentally threw them out more than 20 years ago, CBC News reported.

"The doggone mice got in there and they made a nest and chewed up my ribbons," he said. "So she threw them out."

Eighteen junior high students were moved by his story and secretly petitioned Veteran Affairs to get replacement medals. Veteran Affairs sent the school new medals at no cost and praised the students for taking the initiative to have Pennington's medals replaced.

"Acts like these are the finest examples of a new generation of Canadians who are making remembrance an active part of their lives," said spokesperson Niklaus Schwenker in a statement.

The students