North Carolina’s most heartwarming news stories of 2025
Read this year’s top stories of good samaritans in N.C. and their selfless acts.
Winter is here, and you know what that means—time to play holiday jams like “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” And while it may actually be chilly outside, there’s nothing that will warm you up quicker than looking back on some feel-good stories that happened throughout the year as you sip on that creamy hot chocolate and sit next to a crackling fireplace. In typical fashion, North Carolina once again proved to be a state full of Southern hospitality this year, with a full round-up of heartwarming stories and acts of kindness that made it to the news.
Giving food to SNAP recipients in need
The recent government shutdown that started on Oct. 1 went down in history as the longest ever shutdown, lasting 43 days. While everyone felt the effects of the shutdown, SNAP recipients faced especially severe setbacks as they lost access to their benefits. In N.C., 1.4 million residents depend on SNAP for food assistance.
During this time, several restaurant owners throughout N.C. stepped up and offered free food for SNAP recipients. It was personal for one of those people, Anthony Rapillo, a restaurateur who owns several restaurants in the Triangle area. Rapillo grew up with a single mom who was a Cuban immigrant and remembers relying on food assistance.
He offered free food once every week during the shutdown at three of his restaurants: V Pizza, Flour and Barrel, and La Taqueria. Other restaurants in the Triangle area offered free food as well, such as Guglhupf Bakery, which gave a free loaf of bread to SNAP recipients. The Brass Tap not only gave free food to SNAP recipients, but also extended the offer to federal workers who weren’t getting paid during the shutdown.
In western N.C., Beck’s Country Kitchen gave away meals with a side of fries to children and senior citizens who showed their SNAP card in November. They had the choice between two chicken tenders, a four-ounce hamburger, or a hot dog. Reid Beck, the owner of Beck’s Country Kitchen, instructed his staff to feed anyone who came in hungry, even if they were not children or senior citizens.
The shutdown also caused food pantries’ supplies to be depleted throughout N.C. Nevertheless, several food banks throughout the state stepped up by holding donation drives and expanding opening times to increase their supplies and accessibility, ensuring that SNAP recipients wouldn’t go hungry. These food banks included the Food Bank of Central and Eastern N.C., Feeding the Carolinas, Second Harvest N.C., Second Harvest Food Bank Southeast N.C., Feeding America, and Manna Food Bank.
Offering meals to drivers stuck in traffic
Commuters in western N.C. faced wintry weather on Nov. 10 and were stuck in standstill traffic on I-40 due to the conditions. Dealing with increasingly delayed commutes back home that were cutting into dinner time, several of the drivers were hungry, thirsty, and tired. One of those drivers, Richard Gray, is a U.S. Army veteran who now owns a seafood food truck business called The Bell Buoy.
Gray, himself, was heading back home after working at an event when he, too, got stuck in the traffic jam. After finding out that one driver pulled over to a weigh station and was stuck there for four and a half hours, with no water, Gray decided to offer a helping hand. He parked his food truck right off exit 37 near Candler, N.C., and posted on social media to stop by the exit if any commuter was hungry or needed water.
He gave away meals and beverages to many stranded commuters, including paramedic Destiny Burgess. Stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic after finishing up a 36-hour shift, Burgess was scrolling through her phone when she found Gray’s post about food and water. Burgess stopped by the truck and was blown away by Gray’s generosity.
He gave her a “full meal, drinks, chips, and sweets,” which helped her get through her delayed five-hour commute back home. She told WLOS, “It helped a lot to get me back across the mountain.” Gray added, I didn’t do this expecting anything to happen. I did this to help people out that were stuck like we were.”
Rebuilding a new life after Hurricane Helene
Earlier this month, Bob and Edwina Tatum received an early Christmas gift. The Tatums lost their two cats, two horses, and house in Minneapolis, N.C., due to Hurricane Helene in September 2024. That was only the beginning of the couple’s struggles in rebuilding their lives.
The Tatums spent the next five months contesting their home insurance company for coverage over the storm-related damage. Their insurance company concluded that flooding was the only cause behind the damage, and that flooding wasn’t covered under their insurance plan. However, the couple argued that there were also high winds that caused parts of the damage to their house.
In the end, the Tatums didn’t receive any money from the home insurance company to use toward building a new house, despite paying “premiums for decades.” They also didn’t qualify for several financial assistance programs. But their lives turned around after the CEO of Samaritan’s Purse, Rev. Franklin Graham, saw their story featured in WRAL.
Across the country, several volunteers from Samaritan’s Purse came down to western N.C. to construct a new house for free. When the Tatums got to move in, Bob thanked the volunteers and expressed how grateful he was to finally be able to throw away the folder he kept of “denied claims and rejection letters.”
Dressing up for prom with a pageant queen’s donated dresses
Prom night—it’s one of the most important nights for high school students. Getting dressed for this year’s prom was a challenge for some in western N.C., where many community members were still recuperating from losses endured after Hurricane Helene. Reanna Ruark, 2023 Miss Forsyth County USA and the current Universe United Miss North Carolina, stepped in and collected gently-used dresses from the community to provide to western N.C. students in need of a dress.
Ruark founded the non-profit Shining Through the Storm to assist people affected by Helene. Her friend’s mother suggested that Ruark should hold a prom dress collection drive. Ruark set up various collection sites throughout the Charlotte and Triad area.
Two Texan women also shipped dresses after seeing her video on TikTok, while designer Ava Presley mailed 34 new dresses for the drive. Overall, she collected over 500 dresses that went toward Owen High School students in Black Mountain. One of the students, Jessica McDermott, is a junior at Owen High and expressed how “blown away” she was by the act of kindness.
Many of the students come from families who were hit especially hard by the storm, and the gesture means that they will get to celebrate a typical high school tradition. It’s a tradition that Ruark herself had to miss because of COVID. She wanted other students to be able to enjoy the prom experience that she wasn’t able to.
In a full-circle Cinderella story, Owen High School invited Ruark to their prom, and she was able to celebrate a night she wouldn’t ever forget with the girls she helped makeover.
Reopening a popular Chapel Hill restaurant after a fire
Two and a half years ago, the roof of a cherished, long-standing restaurant, Mediterranean Deli, caught on fire, which caused more than $3 million worth of damage. Mediterranean Deli, a community favorite on the famed Franklin St. in Chapel Hill, has been in business since 1991. People were saddened to see a pillar of the community have to close down because of the fire-related damage, so they came together to support Mediterranean Deli’s reopening.
Two months after the fire, the owners started serving takeout from a temporary space. Chapel Hill residents, including college students, also donated money toward a GoFundMe campaign, which totaled up to $213,000. The sheer generosity motivated the owners to move forward in rebuilding the restaurant.
One of the owners, Jamil Kadoura, also recognized the iconic former Tobacco Road basketball coaches, Duke’s Coach K, UNC’s Roy Williams, and NC State’s Jim Valvano, for providing resourceful guidance that kept him resilient and focused on the future.
Mediterranean Deli re-opened its Franklin St. doors in mid-September, with immense support from the community.
Slowing down to embrace humanity at a routine traffic stop
Katelyn Ricchini’s life had been a roller coaster, but everything seemed to come tumbling down on March 23, 2025, when Cabarrus County Deputy Shawn Singleton stopped Ricchini going 61 mph in a 45 mph zone.
Ricchini told Singleton, “You didn’t put your lights on until after I slowed down. I was going the speed limit.” Singleton was curious as to why she was giving an “attitude,” but sensed that she might have been going through a bad day. After running her license through the system, he decided to let her go with a warning ticket to slow down.
Immediately, Singleton saw Ricchini becoming emotional and followed up to ask how she was feeling. She responded by telling Singleton that she previously had several negative experiences with police officers when she was using drugs and often ended up in handcuffs.
She further revealed to Singleton that she had been sober for four months and had moved to N.C. to escape an abusive relationship, but was trying to get her 5-year-old son back, who was still in Maryland. She felt like this was the first time a police officer saw her as a human being and not an addict.
Singleton offered a hug to Ricchini, and it was that simple gesture of compassion that ended up being a life-changing moment for her. Ricchini has since reunited with her son and just celebrated one year of sobriety in November. She even invited Singleton to celebrate her anniversary.
The body camera footage went viral for the happy ending, with national outlets like People even covering it.
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