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Happy good news day! number 12 is in the books, I hope these stories give you a boost going into the weekend.



The Drive-Thru Food Pantry Feeding Thousands

It may just be Southern California's longest drive-thru line, but when these drivers pull up to the front, there's no window, fast food or even cashiers.

Instead, each car is met with a troop of volunteers, efficiently placing bundles of fresh produce and two weeks' worth of groceries in the trunk — all for free.

This is the Seva Collective food pantry in Santa Ana, California, a food desert — a geographic area where residents struggle to consistently access nutritious food.

Born in a crucial time of need at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, this organisation began as a scrappy operation — a handful of volunteers, food and toys purchased by the organisers themselves, and a dream to help a community dealing with food insecurity.

"When we first started, we were driving to LA downtown food market, we were driving to Central California to pick up citrus — we were kind of all over the place," said Bandana Singh, who co-founded Seva Collective alongside Ravin Kohli and Saanand Singh.

Four million meals later, the Seva Collective has continued to grow, bringing on new volunteers, partnering with food banks, companies and farms, and hosting special toy and clothing drives.

The initiative has become a community staple that nearby residents rely upon month after month in order to feed their families, long-time recipient Jody Watts said.

"It takes away a sense of dread and it takes away a sense of anxiety of not having enough food to supply for the family," Watts said.





Fish Flourishing on US Overfishing Lists

According to a recent federal report, the US seafood industry has never been more sustainable, with the fewest over harvested fish stocks ever recorded.

The report, ‘Status of the Stocks’ was published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it also shows the strength of an industry that’s worth $8 billion a year.

94% of fish stocks in the US oceanic and gulf waters are not being overfished, according to the report, an all-time high after the number climbed slightly from last year.

The NOAA keeps a list of all the fisheries in the country that are subject to overfishing, and the agency said it has recently removed several species: a Gulf of Maine and Cape Hatteras stock of Atlantic mackerel and the Gulf of Mexico stock of cubera snapper.

2022 saw the removal of the Atlantic coast bluefish and a Washington Coast stock of coho salmon.

Additionally, Maine’s Penobscot River recently saw record numbers of Atlantic salmon returning to spawn, but the real trendsetters that far north have been blueback river herring and alewives, which entered the Penobscot in numbers that more than double the previous record.





Students Gaming Company Success

Two talented Year 11 students from Priory Community School Academy in Somerset, Josh Main and Ethan Ellis - have combined their talents to create a well-developed app company called ‘MainSoftworks’.
They have made a phone app that is based on tips about how to start conversations and how to gain social relationships: a unique app called LBOCS (‘Little Book of Conversation Starters’).

The young entrepreneurs also have two entertaining apps completely for fun!

One being called ‘QuackQuack’, a game for the credit of the ducks! In their words, “It’s a new hyper-casual game from MainSoftwork: it’s cute, intuitive and a generally amazing game. The aim of the game is to build a massive collection of ducks!"

Another game under development is an extension to this with much higher graphic use called ‘Ducking Scary’. The aim of this game is to join the brave duck on its adventure to fulfil an ancient prophecy!

The young budding business moguls have managed to establish a whole successful business while attending school and Josh even presented his business model as part of his GCSE Speaking and Listening exam for English which had his class in awe.





A best of Bob compilation is always a good way to bring in the weekend!

We do beg your pardon, we are in your garden!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsuuiVzS6Js

Spread the positivity!