Athletes come together to participate in a Special Olympics hockey game; a high school cheer team keeps the spirit of their classmate alive; and rescued dogs get makeovers to prepare for a second chance at a forever home.

On a Positive Note

On A Positive Note: Special Olympics, Pups Get A Second Chance and More

Coming up on a positive note, they're all heart, they're all love and they are true athletes in every way. It's the story of true sportsmanship. As over 100 athletes compete in the Special Olympics floor hockey competition. Plus spirit is what we got to get you off your feet. This high school cheer team has got more than just spirit. They've got a whole lot of heart. It's important to do because we want to fulfill Maggie's wish and since she can't do it, we're here for her, why they're cheering to raise thousands for cancer patients. And it's the first time that they've been held and loved and cared for. After surviving quite the rough situation. These pups are getting a pick me up all in an effort to find their forever homes today. Good news does exist and you've come to the right place to find it. It's time for, on a positive note. Hello, I'm Jordan Hussein and thank you for tuning in. You're watching on a positive note where good news does exist. So rest assured here on a positive note, you can be sure to find some of the most heartwarming stories from all around our area. There's stories that will move you and inspire you and it's my pleasure to bring these stories to you at home. And on that note, let's head on over to Long Island for our first story where the true spirit of sports, sportsmanship and humanity were on full display. They're super pumped and ready to face off at the Special Olympics, super regional floor hockey competition. The game is making a comeback on the hardwood at Komac Middle School for the first time since the pandemic hit play your best try hard. Jessica Spits plays offense for the Komac Sharks split says she's a fierce competitor and always has her eyes on the prize. Our goal obviously is to win but our main goal is just to prove to the world like what we can do as special Olympics athletes that um everybody has abilities, Spitz and 120 fellow special Olympics athletes train hard and play hard. They came from the five boroughs, Hudson Valley and across Long Island for this matchup. The event also gave athletes an opportunity to hone their floor hockey skills from stick handling, shooting goals and passing the puck. The drills taught the players how to be all they can be. These athletes have more spirit and more determination than most people and they are, they are, they are all heart, they're all love and they are true athletes in every way. I just love like running around and being with all my friends. And what's great is that there are so many teams here today, but Special Olympics were all like one big family, so win or lose. We're all still friends and that leads us right into today's. Did you know, did you know that some superstar scholar athletes are being recognized right here in our area? That's Tyler Bassett. He's a multi sport standout who's giving back to his community. Tyler is captain of the Notre Dame Fairfield Boys ice hockey team and it doesn't stop there. Tyler is leading on and off the ice. He also volunteers with Southern Connecticut's Youth Hockey League, helping little ones learn to skate. I know when I was younger, I seen all these high school players and like I always thought like, wow, they're so old and like, they look so good. But like now I'm that high school kid. I want to be that guy to look up to for those kids. And did you know Tyler is not the only scholar athlete being recognized in our area. Check it out. That's Omar Diamond. Omar is captain of the Knights football team at John F Kennedy High School in the Bronx. And his coaches describe him as the total package. The senior carries a 90 average and get this. He's headed to the University of Connecticut on a football scholarship next year. I was a kid that didn't have nothing going on in my life, but I was an athletic kid. So, you know, me join the football team. It took me off the streets. So, you know, it may be a better person. Well, way to go. Boys brains and broad and that my friends was today's. Did you know, we're taking things to the sidelines in our next story out of Long Island where some more superstar athletes have teamed up to make Maggie's wish come true. Take a look. The West Hollow cheerleaders have spirit and a whole lot of heart. The girls teamed up to honor the memory of a woman they never met. It's important to do because we want to fulfill Maggie's wish. And since she can't do it, we're here for her Maggie Favela of Huntington's was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002. Towards the end of her two year battle, Favela expressed her dying wish to her sister daddy, DeMaria and the rest of her family. She said, please please everybody do something special that will help the other people I have what I need, but there's a lot that don't. And so a memorial fund named Maggie's wish was born the West. Hello, cheerleaders raised money for the cause by selling coffee cups and participating in a benefit walk. Please accept this donation for your sister Maggie. The girls raised $1500 for Maggie's wish. They made the donation in honor of their assistant principal Allison Beiersdorf who recently beat breast cancer. Thank you. All today for your lovely donation. 19 years after Maggie's death, her spirit lives on in a promise kept by her family and fulfill by the West Hallow cheer team, helping other people. Makes them like happier than knowing that they have other people there to support them. I would actually love to donate more to people to help them in need because I feel like it's the right thing to do. And it's amazing to people For Ebola would have just turned 65 years old. And while there's lots of good happening in our area, there's lots of good happening nationally to fair warning for this next story though. You might want to break out your tissues for this one. When Grandpa in Ohio with Advanced Parkinson's was given his voice back. Thanks to help from a sound box. His message, perhaps the most special part of it all I love you by you going to say, I love you. You like it. I love you, Maggie. His granddaughter, Megan shared the remarkable moment and we can't stop watching the psychology student studies in Cincinnati. And she tries to visit her grandfather in Cleveland as much as she can. Megan explained her grandpa was struggling to say I love you at the end of a phone call. So she decided to come up with a solution and that's where the sound box came in. I love you. You can always say I love you. You like it. I love you Dragon by. Yeah, it was from a voice memo. I took it and I recorded it. Alright. I put the recording on here so then you can always say it you like it. Yeah. Hey Megan used a voicemail recording from a couple of years ago and put it in a sound box. Now her grandpa can say I love you to her as often as he wants, we could use more Megan's in the world, couldn't we? Well over in Westchester, another special student is doing her part in the fight against ending cancer. Byram Hills, senior Samantha Shavitz won the Neuroscience Research Prize for her work on a potential new cancer treatment. The American Academy of Neurology rewarded her for her research on a more effective treatment for the most aggressive form of brain cancer. Samantha says her young cousin Eva who died of a geo blast oma motivated her work. Samantha worked with mice to investigate the effects of drug delivery to penetrate brain tumors. Experts say Samantha's project could transform cancer treatment by using lower doses of cancer drugs which could lead to fewer unwanted side effects. Samantha's prize includes a $1000 award and a trip to present her work at the academy's annual meeting in Boston. What a special young lady Samantha, keep up the good work from helping people to helping animals. Let's head to Long Island for our next story. Dozens of dogs were rescued by the North shore Animal League and now some students are getting the chance to help turn those pups lives around there helping them find their forever homes. It's the first time that they've been held and loved and cared for and combed, cut, brushed and bathed by students here in the animal's care skills class at the NASA Bossie's Barry Tech Center in Westbury. 50 breeder dogs from Midwest puppy mills that would have been euthanized were rescued by the North Shore Animal League America and brought here to the NASA bosses to get a day of grooming and a fresh start on their new cage free life. And when the animals, the animals are ill or there's something wrong with them or they can no longer uh appropriate than they are of no use to the breeders anymore and they are killed. Students get to um not only use their grooming skills that they learn here, Barry Tech, but they get an opportunity to see what commercial breeding dogs can look like and you know the conditions that they come in, they know they've been rescued and now they're in the loving arms of the state students just helping them and seeing how much how we can change your life is amazing. It feels amazing, being able to help them and love them and be able to really genuinely get them a better life. Once the dogs are cleaned up and healthy, they will be ready to move into their forever home they have never been out of a cage. Their feet have never touched the ground. They've never had a bed, they've never had a toy and today they are getting just smothered with love.