Feel Good Friday - Hug Nation

Perhaps a desire to get out of town has put busses on my mind. Last week we went to Michigan to learn about The Detroit Bus Company and today we're going to talk about the Hugmobile.


Those of you going to Burning Man keep your eye out for the Hugmobile -  though a giant pink RV shouldn't be that hard to find. It's the way John "Halycon" Styn gets around to spread his Hug Nation message. That message - "The world would rather hug you than hurt you."

Hug Nation is a webcast John founded with his grandfather, the extremely optimistic Reverend Caleb Shikles. Their goal was to have a weekly, world-wide virtual group hug.  Although Rev. Shikles passed away in 2007, the Hug Nation broadcasts continue and John takes his message to Burning Man every year.

You can watch an inspiring Tedx talk about gifting and gratitude on YouTube, watch their live broadcasts, and/or like the Hug Nation on Facebook to stay in the loop.

Feel Good Friday - The Detroit Bus Company

People in San Francisco use the cable car as a legitimate form of public transportation but not everyone gets to ride a landmark to work. In some cities, including Detroit, public transportation is sorely lacking.


So why is Feel Good Friday taking a road trip to Michigan? Because in 2012, with funding for the public bus system cut and plans for a streetcar line through downtown Detroit cancelled, Andy Didorosi bought a school bus, had a local graffiti artist paint it and created The Detroit Bus Company.


He started by providing fixed bus routes but the company has morphed to include city tours, charter busses and, with financial assistance from the Skillman Foundation, free rides to after school programs for students.

Not only that, they have live mobile bus tracking so you know exactly where the bus you're trying to catch is. Something larger public transit systems could use. Yeah, I'm taking to you MUNI.

You can read the full story and watch a short video at this link from the Huffington Post.

If you want to learn more about bus routes, tours or buy a t-shirt, visit The Detroit Bus Company website. As always, show your support and stay in the loop by liking them on Facebook!

Feel Good Friday - Food Recovery Network

Today's Feel Good Friday topic is food. Mmm, fooood.

Everybody loves food but not everybody has food. According to the Food Recovery Network (FRN), 1 in 6 people in the US don't know where their next meal is coming from. If they happen to live near a FRN chapter, it could be coming from a college campus. 

Food Recovery Network was founded in 2011 by Ben Simon and other students at the University of Maryland - College Park. For as much as college students eat, there is always food left over in the dining commons at the end of the night. When the students found out this food was being thrown away,  they got student groups to volunteer to collect the food and bring it to local organizations that feed the hungry.

In the beginning they were recovering 150 - 200 pounds of food per day. Now they have chapters on 21 college campuses and have collected and donated 166,354 pounds of food! What does that mean? Well, 100,000 pounds of food = 80, 261 meals and can feed 75 people 3 meals a day for a year.

This reduces food waste, feeds hungry people and reduces the emission of methane gas coming from rotting food in landfills. You can learn more about hunger, food waste and global warming here.

If you're in college, start a chapter. If you've got 3:10 minutes you can watch a video put out by the University of Maryland that shows you students packing up the food and driving it to an organization in need. As always, you can like their Facebook page to stay in the loop.

To stay in the loop with more stories like this, take a moment to like the Inspiration Safari Facebook page. I promise we'll like you back.