A gift for Japanese fishermen, and more

A gift for Japanese fishermen

Some Japanese fishermen who lost their boats in last year’s earthquake and tsunami got their livelihoods back last week, thanks to a Virginia Beach, Va.–based charity. Operation Blessing International presented ten 19-foot boats to fishermen at the Hikado fishing harbor on the first anniversary of the disaster, and ten more are on the way. The charity commissioned boat-builder General Marine, of Biddeford, Maine, to construct the vessels, giving the economy back home a boost, too. “It’s a win-win situation,” said Stacey Raymond, owner of General Marine.

Cousins, separated in Auschwitz, are reunited

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Two cousins separated in a Nazi concentration camp in WWII were reunited this week, after seven decades apart. Leon Schagrin and Lemel Leo Adler were teenagers when they last saw each other, in Auschwitz in 1944. After a brief meeting, they were sent to different parts of the camp. Both survived and went on to live long, successful lives in the U.S., but each assumed the other had perished. Then, last week, Adler discovered his long-lost cousin living just 20 miles away from him in Broward County, Fla. “There is a lot to talk about,” said Schagrin.

Iraq vet comes home to dream car

An Iraq veteran came home from the war to find that his local community had pitched in to restore his dream car while he was deployed. Pfc. Greg Seibert of Escondido, Calif., had bought an old Plymouth Fury in 2010, with dreams of fixing it up with his father, Benny. But Seibert’s family surprised him with the newly refurbished car this week, after 15 local companies donated fresh bodywork, interiors, and a new engine. The car is still a coat of paint short of completion, and Seibert says he and his father will add the finishing touches together. “It means everything to me,” he said.