2017 produced stories of natural disasters, political turmoil and celebrity death. While it’s hard to deny the importance of such stories, it’s difficult to look past and see the positives of a year. With so much to cover in a limited time, news sources often must be selective with what they broadcast, and that can place the bad news more important than the good.

Here is a list of three stories from 2017 that bring the spotlight back on the positive events and show that the news isn’t always bad.

Inmates donate money and food to feed hungry kids

During Christmas time in 2017, one inmate at NSW’s Mid North Coast Correctional centre in Australia wanted a way to give back to those that watched over his child while he was behind bars. He, along with the other 650 inmates, donated money from their small wages to buy food to feed starving children.

Those who weren’t employed by the jail used food from their breakfast and lunch to donate to the cause. Every inmate was able to contribute to the stock of food that would last the No Kid Hungry project seven weeks to help those struggling.

Workers at the correctional facility claimed that this was the most popular prison program they ever witnessed.

Wedding postponed to help Hurricane Harvey victims

Hurricane Harvey brought destruction to the South, mostly impacting Houston, beginning Aug. 17 and ending around Sept. 3. Coincidently, Sept. 3 was the day Houstonians Sarah Samad and Mohsin Dhukka were supposed to get married.

When the couple decided to postpone the ceremony, wedding planner Kat Creech decided to use the wedding guests and create a new activity for the day— volunteering.

Soon, 30 wedding guests turned into hundreds of volunteers from all over the country. Creech, and two other volunteers, established Recovery Houston. This organization was used to connect homeowners with damaged houses to volunteers that would help clean up the destruction.

Recovery Houston had gutted more than 200 homes and gained over 1,000 volunteers in the weeks after the hurricane.

Paying it Forward

As an act of kindness, people “paying it forward” made their way into multiple news stories in 2017. To pay something forward means that someone starts by paying for the person’s meal in line behind him or her. That person would then do it for the next person in line, and so on.

One example from 2017 is when a McDonald’s in Indiana experienced over 100 people who paid it forward. It started when one woman went to pick up her $6 order from the window and noticed there was a family in line behind her. She picked up their tab as well, paying a total of $42.

The man driving that car then told the drive-through worker that he would pay for the next two cars in line. It snowballed from there until closing time, when they found that 167 drivers had paid for other people’s meals.

If any customers had a difficult time paying for any of the cars behind them, the McDonald’s workers even paid the difference out of their own pockets.

Through dark stories and controversies, 2017 still produced stories about people who were able to rise above the negativity and show that a year can take its toll, but doesn’t mean it has to knock everyone down.