It’s Friday, Jan. 5, 2024.

Hey folks, it’s Amie, and it’s the first good news roundup from Iowa of 2024. And, boy, do we ever need it.

This week:

• making wishes come true in Northwest Iowa 💗
• Northeast Iowa native promoted to one-star general 🫡
• Santa gets a little help from an Eastern Iowa bike shop 🚴

Usually, I send this out on Thursdays. But probably everyone who gets this newsletter knows what happened in Iowa yesterday.

Because of that, I debated whether to send a Positively Iowa at all this week. But when I asked the Starting Line team about skipping it, they all said no—that they thought we all needed one.

And I realized that might be exactly the point of a good-news roundup: Giving us all a dose of optimism amid the darkness.

1. Making wishes come true 🫶

Abby Billings (right), with some of the students involved in Miracle Makers: In back row: Kiki Tott (grade 11), Jolee Kueny (grade 12), and Alexa Prieto (grade 11), and fourth-graders (in front) Macie Jo Canoles and Charlotte Kvidera.

Sometimes, out of heartbreak comes hope for others.

Carrie Mach, a student at Bishop Heelan Catholic High School in Sioux City, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and granted a wish from Make-a-Wish Iowa. Carrie later passed away during her senior year.

But her older sister Sarah wanted to pay back Make-a-Wish—or, rather, pay it forward. Sarah started Miracle Makers in 1999 to raise money for the wishes of other kids.

Now in its 25th year, Miracle Makers is one of Bishop Heelan’s oldest and largest organizations (80-some students are involved!). The group raises thousands each year from concession and t-shirt sales, dance proceeds, and more, and holds a school-wide assembly at the end of the year to present a check to Make-a-Wish.

Though the group’s moderator Abby Billings told me she’s not sure of the grand total over those 25 years, the school posted in 2019 they had raised more than $147,000. (Billings said Make-a-Wish Iowa told the school they were one of the charity’s biggest donors.)

If you want to learn more, or help Miracle Makers reach its $1,500 goal by the time of their April check presentation (they’re about $600 away), send an email to miracle.makers@bishopheelan.org.

💬 “Just getting to see the students take ownership, and being proud of each other and what they’ve accomplished—that’s what makes it the most meaningful.“

~Abby Billings

thanks to Zachary J. for the tip!

2. An Iowan earns her star ⭐️

On Friday, US Army Colonel Beth Behn will officially achieve the rank of Brigadier General, becoming a one-star general—a relatively rare feat.

Behn, a 1990 Cedar Falls High School graduate, will receive her general’s star in a pinning ceremony Jan. 5, with her wife, mother, and two children by her side.

A graduate of West Point, where she would later teach history, Behn has deployed to Haiti, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan, and has been awarded the Bronze Star multiple times as well as the Legion of Merit. She also holds master’s and doctoral degrees in history and attended “A Nation’s Gratitude Dinner” with then-President Barack Obama in 2012.

Her whole story is worth a read on Pat Kinney’s Substack here.

💬 “I always aspired to serve. I don’t think I ever envisioned a career. But I got hooked being given a significant amount of responsibility for accomplishing a mission, taking care of people. To me, that was rewarding and fulfilling work. And I continued to have those opportunities along the way.”

~Beth Behn

Chain Reaction Bike Hub in Cedar Rapids won’t officially open a physical location until April 1.

But when the nonprofit with a mission to provide equitable access to bicycles got a donation of 50 kids’ bicycles before Christmas, they didn’t want to wait.

So Director Evan Schmidtke partnered with Goldfinch Cyclery, Boys and Girls Club of the Corridor and United Way March Forward—along with several volunteer bike mechanics—to fix up the bicycles and donate them to families just in time to give 50 lucky kids a bicycle for Christmas.

💬 “When you think back to when you were a child, and your first bike, and just our first experience of freedom riding a bicycle, it’s a magical thing and a big reason why we’re hoping to uplift some families this season.”

~Logan Orcutt, co-owner of Goldfinch Cyclery

This is Scooter. He’s not sure why his humans have this glowing, color-changing decoration they only put out sometimes, but he’s entranced.

(Photo submitted by Greg C.)

Send me your pet’s photo here!

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