This week’s theme is doing good with a grin. Yes, there are puppies in bow ties at a wedding (priorities), but we’ve also got a kid’s life-saving stem cell donation (and potential world record to boot), a data point that says most of us are actually hopeful for the future, and a coffee shop feeding neighbors in a time of need. Let’s dive in.

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here!

Quick Lifts ❤️

Feel good stories from Happilynews.com guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

When Puppies Crashed This Wedding, Nobody Complained

Most wedding crashers get escorted out. These ones got belly rubs.

When guests arrived at Carly Block and Kevin Gallagher's wedding in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, they expected the usual – vows, cake, maybe a dance. What they got instead were three adoptable rescue puppies with faces that could turn even the most stoic uncle into a grinning mess.

The couple, serial foster parents who'd opened their home to dozens of rescue dogs over the years, decided their big day needed to be about more than just them. So they called in reinforcements: Clare, Carly's maid of honor and three-year volunteer with Waldo's Rescue Pen, who knew exactly what to do.

Clare and her friend Molli arrived with the VIP guests: two 12-week-old puppies and Jack, a six-month-old already working his "adopt me" eyes.

The ceremony itself quickly went viral for all the right fluffy reasons. Instead of carrying baskets of petals, the flower girls walked down the aisle cradling puppies. And the bridesmaids were each accompanied by one of Carly and Kevin's own rescue dogs.

But the happy couple decided to take things a step further - and turn their reception into an adoption drive. They refurbished gumball and candy machines, so guests could snag sweets while donating to Waldo’s rescue charity.

“We knew we wanted the wedding to feel intentional,” Carly said. “Our big day wasn’t going to be just about us, but the things that we love most.”

When Molli posted clips of the day on TikTok, the internet collectively lost it. "This is the only acceptable way to upstage a bride," one viewer wrote. "BRB, replanning my entire wedding," said another.

The response was so overwhelming that Clare and Molli launched Pawfect Guest, a company that brings adoptable dogs to events to raise awareness and find them homes.

"Our big day wasn't going to be just about us," Carly explained. After years of watching foster dogs transform from scared to confident, she and Kevin wanted their wedding to reflect what mattered most.

And of course itwasn’t just a happily ever after for the couple, but all three wedding-crashing puppues quickly found homes within weeks of the video going viral.

Turns out being a wedding crasher makes an excellent addition to any adoption resume.

Positive Headlines 📰

It’s not all doom and gloom out there. Here’s some positive news items from publications around the world.

🧬 Kid Saves Dad’s Life With Stem Cells
When nine-year-old Stephen Mondek learned his father needed stem cells to fight a returning cancer, his reponse was immediate: “When do we go?” He endured six hours of blood cycling at Cedars-Sinai to harvest stem cells, potentially becoming the world's youngest donor in the process. And following successful surgery and weeks of recovery, his dad Nick even made it home just in time to catch the final inning of Stephen's little league game. “He donated six million stem cells to save my life, so it’s not just an honor to call him my son, I’m proud to call him my hero,” Nick said. (Happily)

☕️ Coffee Shop Powers $86K In Breakfasts For Those In Need
Heretic Coffee Co., a volunteer-run nonprofit in Southeast Portland, just turned caffeine into community. In under a week, the cafe rallied donors to cover breakfast for neighbors losing SNAP benefits during the ongoing government shutdown raising $86,000 and counting. The shop trains future baristas and roasters, but this week the lesson was one of solidarity with their neighbors, customers and strangers. More than two thousand people pitched in to the fundraiser. Owner Josh White put it simply: “When the system fails us, it’s on everyday people to take care of each other. This, right here, is the proof.” (Oregon Live)

🎸 Bon Jovi's Kitchen Tells Furloughed Workers: "Your Money's No Good Here"
With 1.4 million federal workers facing their third week without pay, Jon Bon Jovi's Soul Kitchen stepped up big time. The New Jersey restaurants are serving free three-course, chef-prepared meals to any furloughed employee with a government ID. The "pay it forward" kitchens have already served over 200,000 meals since 2006, but now they're making sure the 48,000 federal employees in New Jersey – half of them military – don't go hungry while politicians sort themselves out. (Good Good Good)

🐕 German Shepherd Named After a Goddess Lives Up to Her Name, Finds Missing Toddler
When temperatures plummeted toward 20°F in Dorchester, New Hampshire, 90 volunteers dropped everything to search for a missing two-year-old who'd wandered off with the family dogs. But it was Jeremy Corson and his seven-year-old German shepherd Freyja who cracked the case after five hours. Working as a team through woods so thick they couldn't see more than a few feet, Freyja's nose led them straight to the toddler by 8 p.m. The little girl thought Corson was her dad and announced she was ready for "night-night." And Freyja got a brand new ball for her heroics. (GNN)

🤗 Turns Out Most People Think Life Will Get Better (And the Data Backs Them Up)
While everyone's doom-scrolling about how terrible the world is, most people worldwide actually expect their own lives to improve. When asked to rate where they'll be in five years on the "Cantril Ladder" (0 being worst life possible, 10 being best), people across countries consistently predict they'll climb higher. It's proof we're all "individually optimistic, societally pessimistic.” Basically, we might worry about the world at large, which is natural, but deep down, we are all mostly positive people and confident our own stories are heading somewhere good. (Our World In Data)

Smileworthy Snapshots 📸 

A unique, sometimes quirky, but always eye-catching photo feature each week.

Paws Pose Strike A Look 💥

It truly is awards season in the photography world. Despite covering those delightfully daft Comedy Wildlife shots onyl last week, a reader tip-off (thanks, Amy!) sent us down another waggy-tailed rabbit hole. And yes, funny animal photos are our kryptonite. Enter The Dog Photography Awards. The name sounds serious; the results are pure zoomies for your eyeballs.

Top of the pack this year is Melbourne’s Belinda Richards, crowned Dog Photographer of the Year for a clever coming-of-age series starring Penny, a German shepherd pup whose ears do most of the growing (see top image ⬆️)

The competition drew 2,036 entries across 48 countries and handed out €2,500 plus trophy bragging rights.

But for us, some of the best are the category champs. In Dogs and People, Jane Thomson struck with “May the Fur Be With You,” a Leia-coded pairing that nails the galaxy-brain brief of “cinematic but cuddleable.” ⬇️

Action went to “Catch It!” from Sylvain Langler and Rudy Anthoine – a Siberian husky launching at a neon ball like a furry heat-seeking missile. ⬇️

The Studio winner Jane Thomson delivered salon-grade haircut with “Can You Please Trim My Bangs?” – a fringe so dramatic it deserves its own publicist. ⬇️

And the Open category served table manners with Katie Brockman’s mischievous “Suppertime,” a multi-species Last Supper where the bread is blessed and the cats plot a heist.

Support our mission to spread positive news worldwide while treating your loved ones (or yourself!) to some positive merch.

As a Smileworthy subscriber, unlock exclusive discounts with SMILE15 at checkout 👇

Bright Bits ☀️

A fun fact, a happiness hack, an inspiring quote, and a quick brain teaser—your feel-good four-pack.

🤗 Happiness Hack

Three good things a night. Before bed, jot down three positives from your day and why they happened. Classic gratitude journaling shows reliable lifts in well-being. (Source: PubMed)

❝Some Inspiring Words❞

💡Fun Fact

Honeybees can recognize human faces. Experiments show bees learn and remember face patterns, distinguishing specific people after training – remember that next time you’re swatting the away. (Source: Science.org)

🧠 Brain Teaser

Customer services at Smileworthy HQ received the following letter recently.

Luckily, our top puzzle solvers were able to determine the meaning and help Sam South.

Can you work out what the problem was?

D-a- K-v-n,

- ---ld l-k- -- c-m-la-n ab--- -h- --- --- -f m- ----------.

-h-s- l-----s d- n-- a---a- -- b- ---k-ng c----c-l-.

As --- can s--, -h-- a-- m-ss-ng f--m -h-s d-c-m-n-.

- ---ld b- v--- g-a--f-l -f --- c--ld c----c- -h-s ---bl-m -mm-d-a--l-.

K-nd --ga-ds.

Sam S---h.

(Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter - good luck!)

Before You Go…An Uplifting Video 📺

After surviving cancer as a teen, he turned his recovery into a mission for others

🧠 Brain Teaser Answer

Answer

The letter was written on a typewriter that has a problem with the top row of letters – they did not print correctly. The letter should have read:

Dear Kevin,

I would like to complain about the top row of my typewriter.

These letters do not appear to be working correctly.

As you can see, they are missing from this document.

I would be very grateful if you could correct this problem immediately.

Kind regards.

Sam South.