Rolly Fox embraces a granddaughter outside the funeral for his wife Betty.On Saturday, hundreds gathered in Port Coquitlam, B.C., to celebrate the life and legacy of Betty Fox.

The beloved mother of Canadian icon Terry Fox died on June 17th at the age of 73.

Lauded as a hero for keeping her son's vision alive, Betty devoted much of her life to raising money for cancer research. She saw more than a half a billion dollars raised in her lifetime.

"Her son planted a seed and she has just grown that vision and never given up on that," said Port Coquitlam mayor Greg Moore.

Following her death, well wishes poured in from across the nation. Thousands of letters reflected on Fox's lasting impact on Canadians.

Over 300 family, friends and dignitaries packed Port Coquitlam's Trinity United Church — where Terry's funeral was held 30 years ago — to pay their respects. As crowds gathered to honour their hero, a nearby community centre opened to house the overflow, video-streaming the service.

"Betty's intuition was critical in protecting Terry's vision... protecting

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Brad Carter and Jon Pichardo are homeless, but the they're far from hopeless.

The men are determined to give second chances to others in similar situations.

Last year, Carter's frustration with having no safe place to sleep — and no real opportunities to prove himself to the workforce — inspired him to start a group that would help Daytona Beach's homeless population get back on their feet.

Carter and Pichardo launched HOME (Homeless and Others for a Meaningful Exchange) of Daytona Beach, a nonprofit agency that helps connect the homeless with jobs, shelter and permanent housing. HOME also focuses on shifting the public's perception of the homeless.

What makes their agency unique is that most of its 80 members are homeless themselves.

Lisa Hamilton, executive director of the Volusia Flagler Coalition for the Homeless, told the The Daytona Beach News-Journal that the agency is positioned to make connections with people wary of social services, government and law enforcement. There's

Read More »from HOME: Homeless men help others on the street

Before western culture descended on the islands, Hawaiians used a forgiveness system known as ho'oponopono to work through fear and anger and to release individuals from the physical and mental dangers of holding on to a grudge.

When Christian missionaries banned the practice in the 19^th century, a few families preserved its teachings, and many techniques were internalized into the Hawaiian way of life.

Dr. Matthew James, an Oahu native who comes from a long line of ho'oponopono practitioners, says the system's influence can still be seen in subtle ways, including the words many Hawaiians use to apologize for a perceived transgression.

"The word "sorry" cannot be translated in to the ancient Hawaiian language," he says. "What you would say is, "please forgive me," and the exact Hawaiian phrase is e kala mai i a`u."

The reason, he explains, is that when you say, "I'm sorry," you are describing a state of being rather than inviting a response.

On the other hand, when you say "please

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One peek at Hawaii's natural landscape, with its spectacular beaches, breathtaking mountain ranges and lush greenery, makes it easy to see why visitors flock to the islands in search of relaxation.

But beyond the exterior of this Pacific paradise lies an ancient tradition that also inspires internal peace and psychological well-being.

Ho'oponopono, which stems from the words ho'o ("to make") and pono ("right"), is an indigenous Hawaiian forgiveness process that involves letting go of all resentment and clearing out preconceptions about others.

The system flourished in isolation before outsiders came to the islands and became a deeply integrated way of life, as locals recognized that harbouring resentment against others only ended up hurting the person who couldn't let go.

"When the first Westerners got here, many of them wrote in their journals that they'd found a group of people who were almost devoid of any mental or physiological disease," says Dr. Matthew James, who has studied and

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No one was taking action, so she did.

When a single mom from Texas witnessed a robbery at a local Walmart, she followed the suspects to the parking lot and took her anger out on the hood of their car.

Monique Lawless was shopping in a Houston Walmart when she saw three brothers walk in, pick up three cases of beer, and walk out — without paying.

Lawless looked at the cashier, who said she couldn't do anything.

"Watch my purse." Lawless dropped her things at the checkout and chased after the young men.

The brothers were fiddling with the locks of their Camaro. Lawless approached the vehicle, jumped on its hood and started stomping on the windshield.

"And then he started the car, and I knew I needed to get off  because he didn't care. And they were laughing at me the whole time in the car," Lawless told KENS5.

As she slid off the hood, she tried to grab the door handle. She failed to open it, and soon found herself on the pavement.

Her disappointment didn't come from her superficial

Read More »from Fed up with crime, ‘superhero’ single mom Monique Lawless stomps on thieves’ car at Walmart

There's a black line across the floor in the Haskell Free Library and Opera House. It divides Kenneth Baldwin International Reading Room in two: Canada on one side, the United States on the other.

The world-famous building "was constructed deliberately astride the boundary line separating Canada from the United States" and has been classified a historic site by the Canadian and American governments, as well as the Province of Quebec.

Patrons enter the turn-of-the-century Victorian building in Derby Line, Vermont, and check out their books in Stanstead, Quebec.

According to the official site:

"Nowhere else in the world can one sit in an opera house that is literally split in two by an international border, where most of the audience sits in the U.S. to watch a show on a stage in Canada. Nowhere else can one find such an unusual library. The front door is in the U.S., the circulation desk and all of the books are in Canada, and the reading room is international."

Because of the border

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Despite the "Sad Keanu" meme, Keanu Reeves is not an unhappy man.

The sometimes-brooding Canadian actor has written a poetry book titled "Ode to Happiness," a "grown-up's picture book, a charming reminder not to take oneself too seriously."

Publisher Steidl says of the work: "In the tradition of a classic 'hurting' song,' Reeves' text externalizes a melancholy internal monologue and subtly pokes fun at it."

The 40-page book includes a single, long poem by the actor and a collection of blurred-by-tears inkblot paintings by artist Alexandra Grant.

Reeves initially wrote the poem as a joke, inspired by what he called "depressing, self-pitying, nostalgic music" playing on the radio one day.

"You know, 'I'm so lonely and I've been left and my heart is broken.' It was so voluptuously horrible. And I just started to write on this piece of paper, because I had this image of, you know, that moment when you take that bath, you light that candle, and you're really just kind of depressed. And it

Read More »from No more ‘Sad Keanu’: Keanu Reeves pens ‘Ode to Happiness’

Liverpool courier Pat Corlett logged into Facebook one day to find a message from a stranger waiting for her.

Chris Haworth, 36, wrote "Hi my name is Chris and I was born on 22nd June 1975. You may not want to reply to this ..."

The last time Pat had seen Chris — known then as David — was when he was six days old and she was giving him up for adoption.

"It was like a bomb going off, but a nice bomb," Pat, 54, said of the unexpected contact.

Chris told his birth mother that he enjoyed a happy childhood with his adoptive family, and now works as a coach driver. He kept David as his middle name.

Pat had long wondered what happened to the little boy she gave up when she was just 18, but was hesitant to search for him.

"I always said I'd never trace him, that it might be too disruptive for him or upsetting, but I often wondered whether he would try to find me," Pat told The Daily Mail.

In 1975, Pat was working away from home at a guest house. She discovered she was pregnant shortly after

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