1. Joshua the goat escapes pumpkin patch to join town’s half-marathon
A goat broke free from his metal collar and joined racers competing in a half-marathon last weekend in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador province. Joshua the goat escaped a pumpkin patch and ran almost three miles with 255 runners before his owner Heidi Taylor saw photos of him on Facebook. Taylor hopped on Facebook to ask for the public’s help to find Joshua. A person responded to her social media post with the goat’s location.
Taylor told the Washington Post she tracked the 10-year-old goat down and drove him to an area roughly 800 feet from the finish line, where Joshua ran the rest of the race. Joshua received a medal, and racers lined up to take photos with him. Days after the race, people stopped by Taylor’s pumpkin patch to bring Joshua apples and bread. And when the pumpkin patch opens this fall, Joshua will wear his medal for visitors to see it.
2. Trending Moms are Leaving Gift Cards in Store Diaper Aisles–For Postpartum Peer Relief
A rather unique story is sweeping American social media—moms leaving presents for other moms inside baby products. The story began when Nashville mom Denaesha Gonzalez went to Target and saw a strange yet translatable sight—a silver clutch purse placed on the shelf with the baby supplies. A mother, Gonzalez reasoned, had picked out the clutch which retailed for $20, but gave up her own desires in order to provide for her baby. Gonzalez posted a video of it on her TikTok account which later went viral.
The video went mega-viral, being viewed by tens of millions of people, and it launched a spontaneous nationwide campaign to hide gift cards or cash inside boxes of diapers and other projects that was propelled all the further after Gonzalez’s video was seen by Cecily Bauchmann, a “mom influencer.”
She went into a Target and recorded a video of herself buying a $100 gift card, writing a note, and walking through the store to stash it for a lucky, hardworking mom to find.
“Hey! You deserve that special ‘you’ thing. You are amazing!” the note, which she put in between a bag of Huggies.
Bauchmann called it the #shedeservedthepurse challenge, and the Washington Post reports there are now over 150 videos on TikTok under this hashtag—all featuring either women leaving gifts for their postpartum peers, or finding the gifts and—usually—recording a tear-soaked thank you video about it.
3. 55-Year-old Janitor Cleans Up on America’s Got Talent Winning $1M for Heart-Wrenching ‘Don’t Stop Believing’
Richard Goodall, a 55-year-old school janitor, became the winner of America’s Got Talentseason 19 in a true underdog story that culminated with him claiming a $1 million prize.
He beat out a drone light show, and a dog act to win the finale with a belting rendition of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin.’”
He made it to the final with performances of other famous falsetto tracks like “Eye of the Tiger,” and Journey’s “Faithfully.”
But it wasn’t all neon lights and red carpets for Goodall, who had an audition tape turned down by NBC’s The Voice on his way to AGT. Perhaps frustrated by the rejection, Goodall took the opportunity of a 5th-grade graduation ceremony to sing “Don’t Stop Believin’” when the occasion typically calls for a patriotic song by Lee Greenwood instead.
TikTok was sent into a frenzy over “Indiana’s singing janitor,” who was encouraged by commenter after commenter to audition for AGT as well.
