🌞 Free groceries, long lost letter and Paralympic success

Happy Sunday!

It’s officially the first day of Spring. If that’s not a reason to smile, I don’t know what is!

 🍏 Free groceries in school

A school in San Francisco has become the home of a new, totally free grocery store. This week, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School unveiled the free grocery store that will be open to both students and parents of the school.

The store will stock fresh fruits and vegetables, meat and dairy products - all for free. It is being backed by Amazon and a non-profit organisation called the Goodr Foundation.

According to Goodr’s CEO, Marli Crowe, "[The students] can [now] focus on learning and not on where their next meal is coming from, and they can focus on helping their families.”

Crowe made the point that “even the best teachers” can’t help when a child is hungry and “educators want to focus not only on academics but the child as a whole”.

📸 Photo of the week

This photo, taken by Dr Jason Gully, is a finalist in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

The photo depicts a manatee and her calf underwater in Florida.

LOOK HOW CUTE THEY ARE!

💌 Long lost letter

Last week, the BBC published a story about a missing postcard that had finally been delivered over 120 years after it was first sent. The postcard was a Christmas message from a man named Ewart to his sister Lydia in Swansea, Wales.

It should have arrived before the 1903 winter holiday, but somehow ended up at its intended address this UK summer.

Even the Royal Mail, the UK’s postal system, was confused about how it turned back up. A spokesperson told the BBC it must have been “put back into our system”.

That’s not even the good news — the upshot of this story is that three families in Wales saw the BBC article and discovered they are related!

Lydia’s great-nieces recognised her name on the postcard in the story, while Ewart’s grandson recognised his grandfather’s name. Meanwhile, a friend contacted Lydia’s great-granddaughter about the postcard, wondering if she was related. She told the BBC she didn’t know her great-grandmother had siblings.

All four have since been in contact with each other, making for a surprising and long-delayed family reunion.

 🎵 Feel good song of the week

🧳 Message from Intrepid Travel

Hey friends, Zara here!

After returning from a recent trip, I've learned that the best way to ensure the post holiday blues don't stick around is to get something else on the horizon. I'm currently in planning mode as to what sort of trip I can do next, and if there's something I can do that might help me better understand local communities, not just drop in and drop out. 

That’s why I love what Intrepid is doing. Whether it’s staying in rural Japan at Hananeko House homestay or camping at Black Mambas in South Africa, an all female anti-poaching unit in Kruger National Park. They're supporting and empowering local communities.

I've done my research and I reckon if you’re looking for meaningful travel that is off the beaten track, Intrepid is definitely worth checking out.

Safe travels!

⭐️Why does TDA do good news?

"If it bleeds, it leads" - That's what generations of newsmakers have always been told and known to be true. Well, we here at The Daily Aus don't accept that. We want to do news differently.

This newsletter is a new addition to TDA’s content offering, and we need your help getting the word out there.

If you want your friends to get their good news from us, send them this:

🥉 Medal moment

Zakia Khudadadi has become the Refugee Paralympic Committee’s first-ever medal winner. Khudadadi, who was born in Afghanistan, won bronze in Taekwondo this week.

She made her Paralympic debut in Tokyo, where she competed just days after escaping Afghanistan and fleeing to France.

Reflecting on the importance of sport, Khudadi said: “Sport has been like a light and a miracle in my life. From the girl who hid her hand beneath her scarf, I have become a globally recognized athlete. Sport became the miracle that made those around me, and my fellow countrymen proud of me.”

In a week that has been marked by the introduction of further restrictions for women and girls in Afghanistan, Khudadadi added: “I want to give this medal to the whole world. I hope that one day there will be freedom in my country, for all the world, for all the girls, for all the women, for all the refugees in the world. And that all of us work towards that, for liberty and equality.”

😊 Community good news

This week, I was invited to judge a competition called the 3 Minute Thesis.
“What is that?” I hear you ask through the computer. Well, the very literal name does give some of it away. Essentially, it’s a competition where PhD students pitch their thesis in three minutes.

It originated from the University of Queensland and the idea came from someone standing in the shower and thinking about if they could explain their research in the time it took to shower - and thus, the three-minute thesis was born.

I was really delighted to be asked to judge UNSW’s 2024 3 Minute Thesis competition, which consisted of 18 students giving the elevator pitch on their research area.

It was genuinely remarkable - so often, we hear about the issues plaguing the world, but here were 18 students getting up to talk about their solutions to those problems.

The winner’s presentation was on breast cancer treatments targeting the androgen receptor and somehow, PhD candidate Lilly Hatwell was able to communicate what that research looked like clearly and accessibly.

It was a really good reminder for me (and everyone in the room!) that people are working very hard each and every day to make the world a better place.

😊 What made me happy this week?

I don’t think this is an original recommendation, because I’m pretty sure the whole country is watching it… but alas, my recommendation this week is ‘The Assembly’ on ABC.

The Assembly is a collective of Autistic journalism students mentored by journalist Leigh Sales. In each episode, the students work on their questions and then interview a different high-profile Australian. The guests range from actors to Prime Ministers and everything in between.

My favourite episode is when the group interviews Hamish Blake. It’s funny, smart and deeply heartwarming.

TDA asks