The week's good news: July 29, 2021

It wasn't all bad!

Tom Daley.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Naoki Ogura)

1. In 30 minutes, traveler raises $10,000 in tips for airport piano player

Pianist Tonee "Valentine" Carter received the biggest tip of his life last Wednesday, courtesy of strangers who heard him play virtually. Carlos Whittaker was dazzled by Carter when he spotted him playing the piano at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and shared videos of the performance with his 200,000 Instagram followers. He asked them to help him deliver Carter his biggest tip ever, and within 30 minutes, $10,000 had been sent via Venmo and Cash App. When Whittaker told Carter about the tip, he was stunned. "I love giving and donating and helping people, but I never expected someone to do it for me," Carter told CNN. The money kept coming in, and that $10,000 grew to $70,000 by Saturday. Carter has kidney disease and receives dialysis treatment nightly, but that doesn't stop him from going to the airport nearly every day, because when he plays the piano, "I feel like the happiest man in the world," he said.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.