A lifetime of giving blood, and more

A lifetime of giving blood

Al Fischer, a 75-year-old printing shop operator in Long Island, N.Y., passed a milestone this week when he donated his 320th pint of blood, bringing his lifetime total to 40 gallons. Only one other person, a retired railroad inspector from St. Louis, is believed to have donated more blood. Fischer’s first donation was in 1951; since then he has continued to donate about six times a year. Fischer’s car sports a vanity license plate reading “O BLOOD,” a reference to his universal donor type. “Some people give money,” he said. “I give blood.”

Englishman reunites with Jewish evacuees saved from Nazis

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On the brink of World War II, a young British stockbroker named Nicholas Winton did what he could to save lives. Between March and August 1939, he arranged for eight trains to carry 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia, out of the clutches of the Nazis; they ultimately landed in England. Last week, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of their rescue, 22 of the evacuees retraced the last leg of their journey in a vintage train, alighting at London’s Liverpool Street Station. Winton, now 100, was there to greet them. “It’s wonderful to see you all after so many years,” he said. “Don’t leave it quite so long until we meet here again.”

Church tenders $32,000 in a "reverse offering"

Normally the Summit Church in North Little Rock, Ark., takes in about $32,000 in weekly collections. But last week, in a “reverse offering,” Pastor Bill Elliff laid out baskets containing $5,000 in cash and urged those who were truly in need to take some. Slowly at first, parishioners came forward for the money, which they planned to use to pay medical bills, buy clothes for their children, and make badly needed home repairs. “Man, they were just weeping,” said Elliff. “It was just a lot of joy going on.”