What started as a rescue call ended with a moment of kindness thanks to police officers in Nebraska.

Karen Ressegieu recently woke up to find her husband unresponsive.

"I woke up at 1:30 a.m., and he was still breathing. So, I, evidently, I went back to sleep, I'd never heard him. And at 6:15 a.m. I got up because we had a funeral that morning," Ressegieu said.

When medics arrived, they performed multiple rounds of CPR before telling Ressegieu her husband had died.

Despite the devastating news, Officer John Danderand said Ressegieu still kept putting everyone else first.

"She had a lot going on, she had some neighbors stopping by trying to figure things out, get information from her. And she had mentioned about three times that she had to get a cake frosted, they were supposed to attend a funeral that morning," he said.

Danderand decided to jump in to help.

"They said, 'Karen, can I frost that cake?'" Ressegieu said.

Sgt. Kraig Gomon said he snapped a couple of pictures to serve as a memory down the line, but it captured a part of the job that goes on behind the scenes.

"She was just more worried about everybody else than herself. And that was what struck me the most as her kindness. And for me, it was a small gesture for us to be able to try to return that to her," Gomon said.

Ressegieu said that morning was a blur, so having officers she could rely on helped her through the loss of her husband.

"And they said, so where does it go? And I pointed to where, so they delivered the cake, too," Ressegieu said.

It was a somber day made a little sweeter by a simple gesture.

"They just showed lots of kindness, you know, going out of their way," she said.

High school students find $5,000 during roadside pickup, return it to rightful owner

A small business owner said "thank you" at a pizza party for a group of high school students who performed the random act of kindness.

Updated: 3:23 AM EDT May 23, 2023

A small business owner in Waterford, Wisconsin, was reunited with his work portfolio and $5,000 in cash all thanks to a group of high school students who were in the exact right place at the right time. On May 15, Charles Jessup — the owner of Jessup Tree Services — was finishing up a job in East Troy, Wisconsin, when a client started talking to him. "As I was getting in my truck, the gentleman said, 'Hey Charles, one more tree,' and I said, 'OK, great,'" Jessup recalled. "Well, like a dummy, I put my portfolio on the back of my truck saying, 'Well I'm not going to forget this.'" He did forget it, though. Jessup said he drove off, and somewhere along Highway 20 between East Troy and Waterford, he ended up losing his open portfolio containing several important items including $5,000 in cash."My computer, OK, MacBook Air with my life, my business, records," Jessup said. "And then on the inside is where I had tucked the cash."Retracing his steps, Jessup said he found only his laptop. But he also spotted Waterford Union High School's Future Farmers of America students doing their spring roadside clean-up. "Charles pulled over on the side of the road, and he got my attention, because I was kind of toward the back of the group," Luke Hying, a Waterford Union junior and the FFA president, said. "At first, I was kind of a little confused. I'm like, 'What does this guy want?'"In a last-ditch effort, Jessup explained to the students his situation and asked them to call if they tracked down any of his items. "We were like, 'OK, we're probably not going to find it,'" sophomore Morgan Schoof said. "All of a sudden, I was like, 'there's a $50 bill right here.'""We found money after money after money, and then we found his portfolio," Hying added. "Then we found a bunch of papers with the portfolio. It was actually pretty crazy how much we found in that ditch."Jessup said he then received a phone call from Hying. "It went from having a terrible day, you know beating myself up for why would I be so stupid to leave that on the back of my truck, to like, 'Wow, what great kids,'" Jessup said.Monday, Jessup said thank you by hosting a party for the students during their lunch hour. "I really had no idea it would make such a big impact to Charles and so many people would see it as such a big event in the community," Hying said. The one act of kindness is inspiring more acts of kindness.Doc's on the Fox, a Waterford restaurant, donated pizzas for the party. "I wanted to re-enforce that sometimes doing the right things has benefits," Jessup said.

'I'd give anything to help out': Man who had COVID-19 donates blood plasma for 10th, final time

Updated: 4:50 AM EDT Mar 29, 2021

A Massachusetts man who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 has donated his blood plasma 10 times in an effort to help others who contracted the coronavirus survive.Chris "Tiger" Stockbridge, a Boston city employee, and his brother, Mike Mackan, both came down with COVID-19 last spring. The brothers believe they both caught COVID-19 from their mother, Jo, who unfortunately died just before they both tested positive for the virus.Stockbridge had a relatively smooth recovery when compared to his brother, as Mackan was put on a ventilator and eventually placed in a medically induced coma.Mackan ended up recovering after he was given convalescent plasma that was donated by a recovered COVID-19 patient who had built up antibodies in their blood. Stockbridge credits the plasma with saving his brother's life, so he continually donated convalescent plasma following his recovery.Last week, Stockbridge gave his 10th and final convalescent plasma donation. He says the American Red Cross told him that his donations have helped more than 30 COVID-19 patients recover."I'd give anything to help out another person, especially when a complete stranger helped out my brother," Stockbridge said.Given what his family has gone through, Stockbridge says he is frustrated by the rising COVID-19 case numbers in the state of Massachusetts over the past week."People might be starting to get a little bit too comfortable; that they feel that these vaccinations are going to cure everybody and we're going to go back to life as it was pre-COVID," Stockbridge said. "There's still things that you're going to have to do, and people are still going to continue to get sick. Then you do have people that aren't going to get the vaccinations for whatever reasons they choose."Dr. Todd Ellerin, director of infectious diseases at South Shore Health in Weymouth, Massachusetts, says people still need to keep their guard up until everyone is vaccinated."The best way for the United States to combat COVID-19 is when we're feeling healthy, getting the vaccine, which ultimately will prevent infection and disease. That's the key," Ellerin said.