Good things did happen in 2020! More than ever, this year, it’s important to look at the positive… It’s true, a terrible plague struck humanity, but finding the silver linings is how we all made it through. This list includes huge things and it includes things that are seemingly small…things that prove that one person can make a huge impact. What good things happened for you 2020…leave a comment and let me know!

In November, Scotland passed a bill to make period products such as tampons and pads free to all who need them.

The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill, passed unanimously, requiring local authorities to make sure that period products are accessible free of charge. This is a problem that impacts girls and women across the globe, including in the United States. A 2019 study showed that nearly two-thirds of low-income American women surveyed, did not always have funds to buy menstrual hygiene products. This is a huge issue affecting young girls and women. Let’s work together in 2021 to pass this same bill in the United States.

The COVID pandemic drove a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020.

Even though staying home has caused many problems, at least we can say that global greenhouse gas emissions fell by roughly 2.4 billion tons this year, which was the largest decline on record, according to the Global Carbon Project.

The 2020 election saw the most voter participation in 120 years.

COVID-19 made the voting process different, but in spite of that…more Americans voted in the 2020 election

Toasted Barrel Brewery donated $1,300 to Washington Elementary School in Salt Lake City to pay off the school lunch debt.

The donation was made Thursday to the school principal. Funds were raised by the brewery that had asked its patrons to contribute to the cause during the month of December.In 2020, there were too many small gestures from individuals and small businesses to even count, but individuals can and do have the ability to make a difference.

People worldwide banded together to aid in Australian bushfire relief, from Leonardo DiCaprio’s Earth Alliance donating $3 million in aid, to a little girl in the U.K who raised roughly $2,687 via lemonade stand.

A straight-A student reminded us to help each other out, even in the tiniest of ways, when he asked his teacher to give the bonus points on a test to whoever scored the lowest.

Texas Roadhouse’s CEO gave up his salary and bonus incentive for the year to pay employees whose jobs were impacted by the pandemic.

I’ve never been a big Texas Roadhouse fan…until now!

Black Lives Matter Caused Us to Take a Serious Look at Racism in This Country

Many of us made a commitment to be intentionally anti-racist in our thoughts, words and actions. It meant reckoning with the ugliest parts of ourselves, knowing that we’ll fail and fall short, but that we should be striving to learn and do better.

A Texas teen won $25,000 in 3M’s Young Scientist competition after developing a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Make-a-Wish granted its 500,000th wish, helping 16-year-old Karina create a virtual camp that’d give other kids “a day to forget they’re sick.”

La Morada, a restaurant in South Bronx, reimagined itself as a soup kitchen, providing 650 meals a day to people in need. Similarly, a DC restaurant received nearly $300,000 in donations so it could keep providing meals to the homeless.

One man paid the bill of the car behind him in a Minnesota Dairy Queen drive-thru—and sparked a pay-it-forward train that lasted for 900-plus cars, spanning two full days.

I wouldn’t have wanted to be the person that ended this!

A Gulf Breeze man paid 114 families’ overdue utility bills so their water, gas and sewage wouldn’t be disconnected.

Twelve-year-old Keedron Bryant went viral with his powerful song about being a young Black man in America. He got a record deal.

The best news of all: 2020 is nearly over, and we are taking its painful but necessary lessons with us into the new year. Practice gratitude, hug your friends and family when you can and don’t wait to live your best life.