Reader's Digest USA 11.2020

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UNITED IN KINDNESS

The

NICEST PLACES
in AMERICA

Even in these toughest of times, people
everywhere reached out a hand to lift up their

neighbors—and the nation

Illustration by NovembeR 2020 | Rd.com 51
Benedetto Cristofani

The AND THE TOP HONOR GOES TO ...

NICEST BUCHANAN,
PLACES in
AMERICA

52 November 2020 | rd.com

Reader’s Digest

MICHIGAN By Jeremy
Greenfield
3-6-1-6-6-7-5-1-3
Photographs by
Callie Lipkin

Clockwise from top left: Mary Fisher of the Scarecrow Factory; Deejra Lee and her baby,
Dayna Rae; Kadin Mills in front of the windows he stenciled; Mickey Frost (left) and Mayor
Patricia Moore holding a banner; Buchanan’s Nicest Places nominator, John D. Van Dyke

Reader’s Digest

The

NICEST
PLACES in BUCHANAN, MICHIGAN

AMERICA Where Democracy Lives

T he Memorial Day parade in Bu- established Memorial Day. In 2020,
chanan, Michigan, isn't the big- their almost 150-year-old tradition
gest in the country, but pound ended. “This year,” says John D. Van
for pound these 4,300 residents might Dyke, a middle school science teacher
generate more red, white, and true- who nominated Buchanan as the Nic-
blue spirit than anywhere. Of course est Place in America, “we weren’t able
there’s the boom-boom-boom of the to honor our war dead.” The enemy:
high school marching band and the the COVID-19 pandemic.
flashing lights of the police cars, fire
trucks, and Buchanan’s one ambu- At first, people were terribly dis-
lance. One year, the town hitched its appointed. Yet this four-stoplight town
new rescue boat to a trailer to join has taught itself—and the rest of the
the procession, where it dodged the country—a big lesson about kindness
usual caravan of red-hatted Shriners and patriotism and where the two join.
on mopeds. There are cheers all along Folks here face challenges head-on,
the 1.4-mile route, for the floats and but they’ve also discovered that being
the kids and the candy and especially American is not about making a lot of
when the marchers pass under the noise and waving flags. It’s about hon-
11-by-16-foot American flag casting oring the First Amendment and finding
its extra-large shadow over the inter- new ways to help people make a living.
section of Main and Front Streets. And it means caring for your neighbor
not just when it’s easy but also when a
But this is also a day of remem- pandemic makes it very hard.
brance, and when the parade reaches
Oak Ridge Cemetery, the mood “I don’t want to give you the mis-
changes. The crowd grows quiet for taken idea that this is Mayberry. We
the laying of wreaths on the graves argue a lot because we care about
of Buchanan’s war dead. Members of everything,” says Mayor Patricia Moore.
the American Legion fire a full 21-gun “This is where democracy lives.”
salute. Finally, the high school’s lead
trumpeter plays taps. Buchanan has B uchanan is a classic Midwest
been celebrating the day since at least town, a rivet in the buckle of
1870, a full century before the nation Michigan’s rust belt. A huge
smokestack, a reminder of the town’s

54 November 2020

United in Kindness

When these girls
learned that the food
bank needed funds,
they got busy making

lemonade.

industrial past, rises above low-rolling history of police misconduct or ra-
hills covered in forests. Winding coun- cial strife, Deejra Lee, a 33-year-old
try roads connect the small businesses Buchanan native, was sure that her
along tree-lined Front Street with sur- neighbors would want to join the na-
rounding farms. South Bend, Indiana, tional call to action. After all, standing
home to the University of Notre Dame, up and making noise is something Bu-
is 16 miles to the southeast. Folks here chanan does very well.
root for the Cubs and the Bears, who
play about 90 miles west, in Chicago. “We wanted a way to share our
voice,” says Lee. “It was important to
So how did this ordinary-seeming do it here because these are people
hamlet become the Nicest Place in who care and want to see change in
America? There’s no better example the world.”
than what folks did after the parade
was canceled—and the event that Even though she was eight months
ended up taking its place. pregnant, Lee organized Buchanan’s
own march for racial justice. On
Memorial Day was also the day June 8, about 250 people—Black and
George Floyd died in Minneapolis. White, young and old, residents and
Although Buchanan has no recent visitors—gathered at the high school,
most of them wearing masks. They
walked under the massive American
flag at Front and Main. They walked
past the antiques store on whose
windows the names of many of the
Black citizens killed in police custody
around the country had been sten-
ciled by 18-year-old Kadin Mills. (If
the Memorial Day parade had been
held this year, he would have been
one of the drum majors leading it.)
They also stopped at the police sta-
tion, where they knelt for eight min-
utes and 46 seconds to memorialize

Rd.com 55

Reader’s Digest

Floyd’s death. The Buchanan police that feature the photos, names, and
chief, Tim Ganus, was there, too—not service branches of Buchanan’s vets.
to keep the protestors in line, but to The town had ordered them as a way
join the walkers, to lend his voice to to honor their heroes on Memorial
the calls for change. Day and every day. They hang from
its lampposts—Marvin Pruett, Army;
“We agreed on the message: justice Arthur E. Reed, Navy; Victoria Curtis,
for all, unity and peace,” says Ganus. Air Force—testaments to the town’s
unwillingness to let anything over-
The march drew on the strength shadow what matters most.
of everyone in town, not just the
8 percent of Buchanan residents who “When the banners appeared,” says
are Black. And the military veterans city manager Bill Marx, “it provided a
still made their mark: The crowd that little confidence that the whole world
day marched under a new display isn’t going crazy.”
of 103 red, white, and blue banners
Lee, whose father and
brother both served in the
Army, says there is a natu-
ral connection between the
march and the honoring of
soldiers. “Those vets are im-
portant,” she says. “They’re the
reason we’re able to protest.”

Mickey Frost, 65, had a sim-
ilar reaction to the marchers
walking under the lampposts.
Banners for her father, who
fought in the Korean War, and
her husband, a Vietnam vet
who passed five years ago at
age 61, hang together on one
post.

“What perfect timing, the
walk coinciding with this being

“Listen to what the people
want,” says police chief Tim
Ganus. “We are in this together.”

56 November 2020

ji-xian-sheng

United in Kindness

Jan Nowak-Walters
and her crew made sure
the food bank’s shelves

stayed full.

the first time that these flags have ever cannabis as medicine, has
hung in the community,” Frost says. “It invested $25 million in the
was meant to be.” area, building facilities and
hiring hundreds of people.
B uchanan’s town motto is “Life When a recreational mari-
is better here,” but economically juana law was passed in
it has been a struggle for some Michigan in 2018, the city
in recent years. Clark Equipment and said yes again, bringing
Whirlpool once employed thousands, more jobs to town.
but both are long gone now. The
town’s median income is $34,000, “I was actually the one
compared with $54,000 statewide. no vote for the original
ordinance,” says Mayor
Yet Buchanan’s willingness to em- Moore. “But I’m happy with how things
brace the greater good also helped it turned out. We’ve done a very good
find an unlikely economic lifeline. Af- job of protecting the public and at the
ter Michigan passed a medical mari- same time letting the public have ac-
juana law in 2008, Buchanan residents cess to a product that they are wanting.”
spent nearly ten years in contentious Supporting people when they
but polite debate about whether to al- need it most is a time-honored act
low its sale in their state. In 2017, the in Buchanan. It’s the idea that gave
city commission finally voted yes. Red- rise to the Scarecrow Factory, which
bud Roots, a company that focuses on is exactly what the name suggests: an
assembly line for festive scarecrows.
They are handmade—by volunteers
whose average age is 76—and spon-
sored by businesses for $55 a straw-
filled head. Last year, they raised
$20,000 for local charities. The vi-
rus slowed production at the Scare-
crow Factory for a time in 2020, but
Buchanan quickly came up with an-
other irresistible funding source. Says
Mary Fisher, who helped launch the
scarecrow tradition in 2007, “This year,

November 2020 | rd.com 57

Reader’s Digest

we’re gonna sell garden gnomes!” Buchanan Promise. Modeled after
One of the town’s largest benefactors similar initiatives in nearby Kalama-
zoo and elsewhere, the Promise is a
is called Redbud Area Ministries (RAM). college scholarship of up to $10,000
(Buchanan is called Redbud City for for anyone who attends Buchanan
the vibrant redbud trees that line its High for four years and graduates.
streets.) RAM provides food, clothing,
employment assistance, and counsel- Walter E. Schirmer Jr., son of the
ing to their “guests” and “friends”— president of Clark Equipment, left
never “the needy” or “clients,” says more than $8 million to the future
executive director Jan Nowak-Walters. of Buchanan when he died in 2016.
The first checks were cut in 2017.
Stephanie was one of those guests. The Promise currently supports
She arrived a few years ago with her 300 students, with tuition payments of
four-year-old son, fleeing a boyfriend $600,000 so far. Kadin Mills, the drum
she said abused her and left her major who stenciled the downtown
with a ton of unpaid bills. RAM negoti- windows, is putting the money toward
ated a deal with her landlord, found tuition at Northwestern University.
her a job, and helped her quit drink-
ing. The last time she came to RAM, Megan Goodrich had her own
a few months ago, she told Nowak- idea of giving back. After she saw a
Walters, “I don’t need a thing. I just video about how women experienc-
came back to ask for prayer because ing homelessness often lack sanitary
everything is going well.” products, she asked local businesses
to host donation boxes. Some 2,000
COVID-19 forced RAM to close this donated items and $500 later, neigh-
spring—temporarily. But volunteers bors began asking Goodrich, “Are
worked day after day to set up work- you going to keep doing this?” They
arounds, retrofitting the RAM offices wanted to keep it going, and so did
so people could come in and get she. She’s named her ongoing effort
counseling and organizing new ways One Month at a Time.
to collect and distribute food.
“Buchanan is a very supportive
“We put the best procedures in community,” says Goodrich, 27. “If
place and trusted that if we were on you have an idea and you want to do
God’s errands, we would have God’s something, there’s bound to be people
protections,” says Nowak-Walters. here who will try to help you figure
out how to make it happen.”
I n many rust belt towns, young
folks can’t wait to grow up and “Make it happen.” If Buchanan
move away. That doesn’t happen didn’t already have a motto, that
as much here, thanks in part to the would do nicely too.

58 November 2020

United in Kindness

A CONVERSATION WITH MITCH ALBOM

“We Are More Alike Than Different”

courtesy Mitch AlboM M itch Albom, the author of set in the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s
Tuesdays with Morrie and not the kind of thing you usually write.
eight other books, joined the MA: When I announced it, I got an
advisory council (see next page) to extraordinary number of messages
help decide this year’s Nicest Places from people saying, “Please write
in America honorees. The proud something hopeful.” I wanted to
Detroit resident spoke to senior edi- write about how a small community
tor Jeremy Greenfield about how his changes, maybe suffers, but ultimately
writing brought him to RD’s signature endures. If you read it, you know one
project. of the main characters dies from the
virus, but the community still goes on.
RD: You published a serialized book I wanted something that looked up at
this year called Human Touch that’s the end, not down.

RD: There’s a line near the end that
says, “They were more than neighbors
now. The crisis had made them a com-
munity.” It sounds like the theme of
many of our Nicest Places entries this
year. Did you see that connection too?
MA: Yes. Nicest Places emphasizes
the positive. Sometimes in America
we focus on the negative, despite all
the positivity that’s around us. I don’t
know why that is. As someone who
travels around the world a lot, I see
how America is held in such high re-
gard. It doesn’t matter who is in the

Knox came to live with the Alboms from
YWZZQQSF an orphanage they run in Haiti. You can

read more about it at havefaithhaiti.org.

Rd.com 59

Reader’s Digest

White House at any given time. It’s lampposts could march, they would
about the advanced level at which we be marching down the street. I’m so
live, the technology, the beauty of our glad you showcased a midwestern
country. I like the idea of what you’re town that loves its country, loves its
doing, and I like the fact that you’re history.
talking about how united we could be.
RD: What would Morrie say if he were
RD: And you must have loved that a alive today?
town in Michigan won! MA: Morrie was always interested
MA: The people of Buchanan per- in making the best peace. I think he
sonify the ability to love your country would reiterate the lesson he said to
and also love all different members of me many times: We are all more alike
the country. The whole town came to- than different. When we recognize
gether, including police, and kneeled that, we realize we have much more
to honor George Floyd. When the in common than our differences
Memorial Day parade was canceled suggest. Morrie’s favorite line from
because of COVID-19, they came up poetry was, “Love each other or perish.”
with a great solution to basically turn I’m sure he would say the same thing
their lampposts into a parade—if the right now.

The “Nicest” Advisory Council

MITCH ALBOM KELLI HARDING, MD ERICH OFFENBURG
Bestselling author
Author of The Rabbit Executive director,
CLAIRE Effect: Live Longer, Chamber of Commerce,
BABINEAUX-FONTENOT Happier, and Healthier Columbiana, Ohio
CEO, with the Groundbreaking (the 2019 Nicest Place
Feeding America Science of Kindness in America)

SARAH FRIAR BRUCE KELLEY GERI WEIS-CORBLEY COURTEsY L MiChaEL BOUYER
CEO,
Nextdoor Editor-in-chief, Founder and CEO,
Reader’s Digest Good News Network

BONNIE KINTZER

President and CEO,
Trusted Media Brands

60 November 2020

United in Kindness

The RIO VISTA, CALIFORNIA

NICEST Walking the Walk
PLACES in
AMERICA

By Bill Hangley Jr. Lynn’s over-55 gated community.
Trilogy draws modestly prosperous
T here are movements, there are retirees and older workers like Lynn,
grassroots movements, and then promising a peaceful, pleasant place
there are blade-of-grass move- to wind down a hardworking life.
ments. Richard Lynn is that blade of There’s a golf course. There’s a park
grass: one man popping up out of the and a senior center.
dirt at the edge of California’s Central
Valley, hoping to make his town and But for Lynn, there is also a shadow
the world a better place. of menace. He is African American.
The vast majority of his neighbors and
Rich Lynn (front row, red sneakers)
and his walking buddies elected officials are White.
Usually people get along, he
Lynn, 57, is a union electrician. He says, but things can get ugly,
lives in a housing development in Rio like the time in 2019 when
Vista, population 8,200. Half the town local police were caught on
is a cluster of homes and businesses video body-slamming a Black
built by the Sacramento River. The woman following a traffic
other half is the Trilogy subdivision, stop. (This was one of several
civil rights controversies that
led Rio Vista to disband its po-
lice department last January;
now Solano County sheriff ’s
deputies patrol the town.)

When Lynn moved to Tril-
ogy in 2018, one of a handful
of minorities, he tried not to worry
about the neighbors who didn’t seem
to want to say hello. He enjoyed the
palm trees and lived his life. He often
took a walk or a jog at night.
But when the one-two combo of the
COVID-19 quarantine and the George
Floyd protests hit, Lynn realized he

Rd.com 61

Reader’s Digest

felt afraid to leave his house. He was Soon, dozens of neighbors joined COURTEsY L MiChaEL BOUYER
afraid to take his nightly jaunts. In ad- Lynn for twice-daily walks through
dition to worrying about the virus, the Trilogy that continue to this day,
news stirred up an even deeper fear: morning and evening at 7:25, mark-
What if someone calls a cop, thinking ing the time of Floyd’s death: 7:25 a.m.
he’s a burglar? What if the responding Pacific time. As part of each walk, the
officer has an itchy trigger finger? group takes a knee for the amount of
time it took Floyd to die beneath an
“That was the first time as an adult officer’s knee, to reflect on past vic-
that I felt unsafe,” says Lynn. That tims of injustice and imagine a future
night, instead of going out to jog, he when Americans see one another as
sat down to write a nextdoor.com post. people, not racial stereotypes.

“Seeing all these people show up made “This is a solidarity walk, not a walk
me feel pretty good,” says Lynn. of anger. This is a walk of celebration,”
Lynn says. “It’s a celebration of the be-
“Can’t go for a walk because I am ginning of the death of racism.”
Black. Can’t go for a drive because I
am Black,” Lynn wrote. “Can’t get an- His neighbor Jeanne Brown says the
gry because I am Black. I am home response to Lynn’s post restored her
and I am crying. What can I do?” faith in humanity. At one of the first
walks, “seventy-five people showed
Little did he know that he’d already up,” she recalls, “including the fire
done it. His neighbors saw his post. department chief.”
They felt his pain. He wasn’t the only
blade of grass in town. Offers poured Not everybody in town supports
in to join Lynn for a walk. “They didn’t Lynn. Passing drivers sometimes yell
say, ‘He’s crazy!’ ” he recalls. “They “All lives matter!” says Lynn’s friend
said, ‘Let’s support him.’” Tom Watson. “And I say, ‘All lives will
matter when Black lives matter!’”

Now, on a typical day, a dozen or
more people show up. Whether these
walks can change the world, Lynn
can’t say. At first, all he wanted was
to get something off his chest. But he
feels energized. He’s even running for
mayor. Win or lose, when he steps out
the door to walk, “There’s an hour a
day where I’m in a race-free society,”
he says. “When in life do you have that
opportunity?”

62 November 2020 | rd.com

United in Kindness

The GAITHERSBURG, MARYLAND

NICEST Kid Power
PLACES in
AMERICA

By Bill Hangley Jr. leading the way. In April, seven-year-
old Cavanaugh Bell spent his life’s
A s COVID-19 cases raged in savings—$600—to make care pack-
April, Denise Cherry was afraid ages for his grandmother’s friends.
to leave her home. She had lost (He calls himself the city’s chief posi-
three family members to the virus, tivity creator.) Area teens are help-
and with medical problems of her ing their elders, too, volunteering for
own, she wasn’t taking any chances. Teens Helping Seniors, a grocery-
Desperate, Cherry, 65, responded to a delivery service created by high school
nextdoor.com post from a stranger of- pals Dhruv Pai and Matt Casertano.
fering help. That stranger was Christy
Cheung, who lived a few neighbor- For Cherry, who grew up in North
hoods away in Gaithersburg, a hard- Carolina during Jim Crow, young
working but increasingly techy city of people offer hope. “We were taught if
70,000. She came the next day with you can’t change something, accept
her four-year-old son, Ethan. They it,” she says. “But these young people,
took out Cherry’s trash and brought in their attitude is, ‘I’m going to change
her mail, and they kept coming until what I can’t accept.’’’
she was well enough to do for herself.

“On our street, we have a few elders,
so we’re the eyes and ears for them.
Fixing doors and computers, mowing
their lawns,” says Cheung, 32. “We
said, ‘There’s a grandma that needs
help.’ And Ethan was excited: ‘I’m go-
ing to help. I’m going to be a helper!’”

Gaithersburg is a notably young
and diverse community, so it’s no
surprise that the city’s youth are

When Denise Cherry needed help,
Christy and Ethan Cheung showed up.

Photograph by André Chung

Reader’s Digest United in Kindness

The

NICEST PAWLEYS ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA
PLACES in
AMERICA Showing Their Gratitude

By Emma Taubenfeld just days, the basket was beyond full.
“It was overwhelming,” says Amy
S ome cards are in a child’s scrawl,
complete with stickers: “You are a Stevens, Tidelands’ vice president, af­
blessing. Love, Braylon.” ter Coggin and a few others dropped
Others are written in flowing pen­ off the cards. “I just sat in my office and
manship: “We want you to know just cried looking at the cards. I really did.”
how much we appreciate all your hard
work and dedication to such a difficult The church members are some of
job! We lift you up in prayer each day the 100 or so year­round residents of
to keep you safe through this horrible Pawleys Island, a barrier island about
virus. We are all so very proud of every­ 25 miles south of Myrtle Beach. In
thing you do. Love, Betty McCulley.” spots, the charming sliver of land is
just one house wide. In the summer,
All of them—1,861 thank­you notes some 5,500 tourists arrive. But this past
in total—have one thing in common: July, that population surge resulted in a
They were written from the heart by 1,700 percent increase in patients hos­
the people of Pawleys Island, South pitalized with COVID-19. First respond­
Carolina, to health­care profession­ ers of all types were overwhelmed.
als working around the clock during
the scariest days of the COVID-19 pan­ So the church stepped up to help
demic. “There’s a lot of love in those once again. They reached into their
cards,” says Jim Coggin, a leader at coffers and had lunches delivered to
Pawleys Island Community Church. the local hospitals, as well as to the
police, the fire department, and the
When he organized the card drive local Coast Guard station.
seven months ago, Coggin already
knew that local residents appreciated “We want to serve those who serve
the employees of Tidelands Health, us,” says Pastor Don Williams, whose
a medical group that staffs four parishioners kept the meals—and the
hospitals in the area. He set a bas­ prayers—coming, for weeks.
ket outside the church to collect
the notes and had ambitiously ex­ Around the time of these acts of
pected to receive 800 cards. Within mercy, anger over the death of George
Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis
police officers erupted. Georgetown
County sheriff Carter Weaver, whose

64 November 2020

Courtesy tidelands HealtH jurisdiction includes Pawleys Island, For Tidelands Health workers,
decided to write a note denounc- heartfelt thanks go back to
ing the police officers’ actions. He the card makers.
shared it with his staff, then posted it
on Facebook. “I will not sit back and was Sheriff Weaver. “You couldn’t
remain silent,” it began. help but want to be a part of what she
was doing,” he says.
Shortly after that, Weaver got a
call from Eileen Carter, a sophomore The active partnership with the po-
at Waccamaw High School in Paw- lice and the people of Pawleys Island
leys Island. Carter, 15, had gone to a didn’t end that day. A planned Youth
racial-justice march in Myrtle Beach Advisory Board will offer people
and was inspired to bring the move- like Carter a forum to speak up. The
ment home. She wanted to organize a county’s Citizens Use of Force review
peaceful protest. panel will look at files, body- and car-
camera footage, statements, and other
“I think it’s important for people to recorded evidence anytime officers
speak about things in a peaceful way,” use force in the line of duty.
Carter explained. Weaver agreed. She
put out a call to march on social me- “I think it’s important for transpar-
dia, and approximately 100 people an- ency,” says Weaver. “My biggest stance
swered her. They walked about a mile, is that law enforcement talks too much.
from the Dollar General to the Speed- We just do. And we don’t listen. And
way convenience store and back, that’s what we have been trying to do
while carrying signs of support and since this has happened. Eileen was a
protest. One of those who marched huge kick starter in that process.”

Rd.com 65

Reader’s Digest United in Kindness

The

NICEST
PLACES in RED HANDED TATTOO IN SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA

AMERICA Under One Roof

By Caroline Fanning now stocked with groceries and toilet
and Jeremy Greenfield paper. “My tattoo shop looked like a
Circle K,” Harold jokes, referring to
I n January, 20-year-old Joshua the chain of convenience stores.
Jefferson held up Red Handed Tat-
too at gunpoint, took $300, and es- More remarkable: Every item was
caped through a window. When his on sale for the remarkable price of
trial began, Micah Harold, the shop’s free ninety-nine. Harold, 45, wouldn’t
owner, was quick to testify—in Jeffer- accept a dime. “You see the world dif-
son’s defense. ferently in desperate times. You start
asking, ‘Is this person loving or hate-
“I want leniency,” Harold, who had ful? Draining or inspiring?’ That’s
also attended Jefferson’s arraignment, how I’ve been able to break down the
said at the time. “I’d give him a job if world in light of the pandemic. Every-
he wanted.” thing else falls to the side,” he says.

That’s the kind of humanity you’ll Tucked into a robin’s-egg blue
find in Harold, and in Shreveport, the building that flies a red pirate flag
city that’s home to Red Handed Tattoo. on its roof, Red Handed Tattoo is
Call it compassion that’s relentless be- a warm place that’s as notable for
yond reason. Another example: Harold the friendly faces inside as it is for
closed his shop in March, more than a the motorcycles in the parking lot. It’s
week before Louisiana mandated the located in an artsy area along busy
closure of nonessential businesses. King’s Highway, so friends and clients
Why short himself the revenue? Be- have long stopped by at all hours just
cause he was worried that Shreveport to say hi.
wasn’t ready for a spike in COVID-19
cases and he thought he could help. Once the pandemic struck, folks still
dropped in, only now they brought
He started by giving away rubber donations of masks, hand sanitizer,
gloves and rubbing alcohol to any- and anything they could spare from
one who needed them. Within days, grocery runs. Restaurants called to
he had transformed Red Handed offer food they’d no longer be able
into a kind of general store. Shelves to serve. A manager at the Family
that once held needles and ink were Dollar agreed to set aside a portion of

66 November 2020

Micah Harold in the tattoo shop he turned into an ad-hoc community center

the most in-demand products as soon around. Soon, even health-care work-
as they came off the truck. ers at the nearby Willis-Knighton
Hospital knew where to get personal
Nearly $10,000 of cash and sup- protective equipment (PPE) or a ther-
plies flowed to Harold’s shop—and mometer when supplies dwindled.
from there to where they were needed
most. A network of 20 volunteers orga- “This pandemic has exposed de-
nized to provide contactless deliveries cades of old economic and health
to residents who had trouble getting disparities,” says Shreveport mayor

Photographs by Justin Clemons Rd.com 67

Reader’s Digest United in Kindness

Adrian Perkins. “Shreveport is full of Floyd, the commitment to protesting
hardworking people who go above racism and McGlothen’s death only
and beyond for their neighbors. Mi- grew. On June 1, Omari Ho-Sang, 30, a
cah exemplifies that selfless spirit.” civil rights activist, launched a move-
ment called 45 Days of Action. The idea
You might say that Harold was born was to hold an event—talks, marches,
into helping. His mother, Deborah Al- voter registration drives—every day for
len, is a longtime equal rights activist. 45 days, each with the goal of improv-
As a social worker, she was deeply in- ing life in the city and beyond.
volved with the AIDS pandemic in the
’80s, while Harold was growing up. Al- On June 4, hundreds of people
most 40 years later, when Shreveport joined a Justice for Tommie march
badly needed masks to help combat downtown. “We provided PPE and
COVID-19, Harold’s first call was to masks, making sure that people
his mom. She’s also a former fash- stayed socially distant, so we could
ion designer—and, he says, the best get our message out without increas-
seamstress in town. ing COVID-19 numbers,” says Ho-Sang.

S hreveport is a sprawling city of The march was peaceful, but things
190,000 nestled in the northwest heated up later that month, outside
corner of Louisiana. No stranger the Caddo Parish Courthouse. That’s
to the regular storms that batter the the home of a 30-foot monument built
Gulf, residents often sense when one is in 1905 by the United Daughters of the
coming and prepare quietly—and not Confederacy to honor “the men who
only for those bringing bad weather. gallantly, nobly, and conscientiously
Like so many working-class cities, defended the cause.” It features busts
Shreveport has had its share of strug- of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson,
gles. One of the most recent came on and other Confederate soldiers.
April 6, when a 44-year-old Black man
named Tommie McGlothen Jr. died in James, a Shreveport native who
Shreveport police custody after being remembers the bad old days when
detained on suspicion of breaking into robed Ku Klux Klan members freely
a car. The anger started at a slow boil. marched through the streets, has long
seen the problem posed by the Con-
“Every Saturday was like a barome- federate tribute, and he has spent the
ter,” says Will James, 42, a community past three years fighting to remove it.
activist and performance artist. “You
knew a storm was coming, and you “I can appreciate this as a piece of
could smell the rain in the air.” art, but there’s a right place for every-
thing,” James told the Shreveport
After the May 25 death of George Times. “This monument shouldn’t
be in front of a place where the 14th

68 November 2020

Will James (left) protested outside
the Caddo Parish Courthouse (above)

for three years. These days, he’s
grateful for the added support.

Amendment says that we will have the gathered to keep the faith until his
equal justice for all.” voice gave out. Others then took turns
speaking, and the crowd became so
In the early days, James protested engrossed in one another’s shared
alone, delivering theatrical mono- hopes and fears that they just tuned
logues highlighting the pain that out the shouts from the opposition. Fi-
discrimination can bring. But as nally the counter-protestors left—and
monument protests gained currency never came back.
across the country, so did those in
Shreveport. Hundreds of people be- “It turned into a moment that
gan regularly showing up to watch brought unity when there was anger
James and support his message. an hour before. It shows how deep at
heart we all really want peace,” says
On June 27, with little warning or James. A few weeks later, on July 20,
provocation, 140 counter-protestors the United Daughters of the Confed-
massed across the street from James’s eracy agreed to remove the monu-
usual spot, brandishing guns and ment to an as yet undecided location.
shouting hateful words. James stayed
on the mic for hours that day, telling H ow has Shreveport been able
to effect real change with mini-
mal arrests, violence, and prop-
erty damage?

“Credit goes to the citizens,” says
police chief Ben Raymond. “They
didn’t want to destroy their city. They
just wanted to be heard.”

Not surprisingly, Micah Harold lent
a helping hand to the protesters too.

Rd.com 69

Reader’s Digest

Stacie Archibald, a nurse friend who the Jeffersons every week. Sometimes
staffed the medical tent at the first he even dropped by with groceries.
Black Lives Matter march following
George Floyd’s death, says that rags And then, on August 3, the district
dunked in ice water, all donated by court judge, in an unexpected dis-
Red Handed Tattoo, were essential in play of leniency, sentenced Joshua to
keeping marchers cool. three years of probation—no jail time.
As soon as he heard, Harold called
In the days since the protests, Harold Joshua’s father, Melvin Jefferson. “I
has kept his “marketplace of caring” up honestly believe Joshua won’t squan-
and running, though he has also gone der this opportunity,” says Harold.
back to his first love: inking designs on “He made a huge mistake, and he’s
people who want to express themselves learned from it.”
in their own way. The tattoo shop and
the extended family he has found Harold, who survived a nearly fatal
there, both in his staff and custom- widow-maker heart attack last year, is
ers, have provided Harold with some a big believer in second chances. That
of the most important connections in job he offered Joshua? It’s his when he
his life. One of the most surprising was wants it. “Fear keeps people from mak-
with the family of Joshua Jefferson, ing the right moves—they worry about
the young man who robbed his store. looking like a fool,” he says. “I don’t
Throughout the summer, Harold called worry anymore. We all need to make
the world a nicer place.”

The Nicest Places by the Numbers

1,183 229 50 666,933

total nominations places landed Nicest “claps” were received
on our short Places,
were made in list and were one in each on rd.com from
vetted by our state,
response to earned our Americans supporting
team of honors.
our call for reporters. their favorites among the

entries in May. 50 state honorees.

To select our Nicest Place in America, RD editors counted the claps for each place,
polled our advisory members, and then made this year’s pick: Buchanan, Michigan.

70 November 2020

United in Kindness

The YARDLEY, PENNSYLVANIA

NICEST Victory Gardens
PLACES in
AMERICA

HeatHer Diprato/courtesy st. anDrew’s yarDley By Jen Babakhan Parishioners at St. Andrew’s have
found new ways to stay connected.
Y ardley has a long history as a
community that cares. Back in ten times more food than before the
the days of the Underground pandemic. And many ingredients
Railroad, at least five places in this in those meals were homegrown. In
Delaware River town housed runaway the spring, St. Andrew’s provided
slaves. For the past four decades, a seedlings—tomatoes, beans, basil,
good portion of the altruism has been and more—to Yardley residents to
centered at St.  Andrew’s Episcopal plant at home. The gardeners then
Church, whose members meet in the brought their bounty back to the
19th-century parish house every month church to share with area food banks.
to fix meals for elderly and shut-in resi-
dents across the Philadelphia region. “Forty percent of America’s produce
in World War II came from victory gar-
Barbara Taeffner Kulp enjoyed this dens in backyards and at churches,”
generosity twice. “When I broke both says St. Andrews’s rector, Rev. Hilary
my legs, St. Andrew’s fed my husband Greer. “I thought, What if we did that
and myself in such abundance that here?” To which the people of Yardley
with great thanks I had to say stop,” said “Amen.”
she says. “My husband—jokingly, I
hope—asked me to break my legs ev-
ery month because he loved the food.”
When he passed away, the cards and
calls were “unending,” Kulp says. They
helped her know she was never alone.

The coronavirus ended the congre-
gation’s proud 37-year streak of mak-
ing meals together, but it didn’t break
their spirit of giving—far from it. In-
stead, church members took to cook-
ing in their homes. Soon, volunteers
were serving up 1,000 meals and 400
containers of soup each week—almost

Rd.com 71

Reader’s Digest United in Kindness

The Nicest Place
in Every Other State

To read the stirring stories of our
honorees, click around the inter-
active map at rd.com/nicest2020.

Alabama Owens Maine The Cedars, North Dakota Minot benedetto cristofani
Cross Roads Portland
Ohio Clintonville,
Alaska Anchorage Massachusetts Columbus
Springfield
Arizona East Gershon Oklahoma Colefax
Lane, Tucson Minnesota Victoria’s Hill, Tulsa
Ristorante and Wine
Arkansas Sardis Bar, Rochester Oregon Hillsboro

Colorado Struggle Mississippi Florence Rhode Island Belmont
of Love Foundation, Gardens, Gulfport Market, Wakefield
Denver
Missouri Thousand South Dakota Iroquois
Connecticut Oaks, Parkville School District
Bloomfield
Montana Ronan Tennessee Nashville
Delaware Edgemoor
Terrace, Wilmington Nebraska South Texas Highland
32nd Place, Lincoln Village
Florida Pine Hills
Nevada Sparks Utah Backyards of
Georgia The Dream Saratoga Springs
Center, Augusta New Hampshire
Temple Vermont Telehealth
Hawaii Kamiloiki Access for Seniors,
Valley, Oahu New Jersey Jefferson Barre
Washington Township
Idaho Meridian Hospital, Turnersville Virginia Virtual Tip
Jar, Hampton Roads
Illinois Collinsville New Mexico Bueno
Para Todos Farm, Washington Bellden
Indiana Doorsteps Villanueva Café, Bellevue
of Central Indiana
New York Riverdale West Virginia
Iowa Iowa City Huntington
North Carolina
Kansas Olathe Dirtbag Ales Brewery, Wisconsin Sassy Cow
Hope Mills Creamery, Columbus
Kentucky Signature
Health Care Nursing Wyoming Casper RD
Facility, Elizabethtown

72 November 2020

Reader’s Digest

Humor in

UNIFORM

While serving in “Oh, stop it. You know perfectly well that
South Korea, I was before every battle the enemy shouts things
assigned guard
duty. The ensign at us that we may find offensive.”
issued me a gun and
frank cotham/cartoon collections a whistle, but I quickly beginning with “Simon said jump up,
realized there were no “Simon says” and but not down!”
bullets. Brandishing sometimes not. The —Thomas Weber
the empty weapon, private was as good as DeKalb, Illinois
I asked, “What do I do he claimed and stayed
if I run into trouble?” in the game until the Got a funny story
sergeant commanded, about the military or
The ensign replied, “Simon says, jump your military family?
“That’s what the whis- up!” The private It could be worth
tle’s for.” leaped into the air and $$$. For details, see
—Gordon Stanley landed again. page 4 or go to
Schaumburg, Illinois rd.com/submit.
“You’re out!” the
During basic training, sergeant shouted.
our drill sergeant often
led us in a game of
Simon Says to help
teach us the marching
commands. “I bet you
can’t get me out,” a
private insisted.

Challenge accepted,
the drill sergeant
went through the com-
mands, sometimes

Rd.com 73

HEALTH

Virus Facts
You Need
to Know

We’re inundated with news about COVID-19 and
other viruses, but how much do you really know

about how they work and whom they target?

By Charlotte Hilton Andersen

74 November 2020

Reader’s Digest

VIRAL SPREAD

can be measured by
R0, the average

number of people
someone with the

virus will infect.

Getty ImaGes (2) There’s a long-standing argument in and use it to replicate. They reproduce
scientific circles over how to classify by hijacking the host’s cells, eventu-
viruses. They’re not inanimate, be- ally causing them to burst and die.
cause they multiply, have genes, and That’s why viruses that infect humans
evolve. Yet they’re not “alive,” as they nearly always cause illness. Fortu-
don’t have cells, can’t convert food nately, just as we know a great deal
into energy, and can’t survive on their about how viruses do their damage,
own. Viruses are biological zombies. so do we know how to fend them off.
They have one mission: to find a host These facts are a good place to start.

Rd.com 75

VIRUSES

and other
microorganisms
are in raindrops
and snowflakes.

1 There are many more viruses. Viruses and other micro- NickyLLoyd/Getty imaGes
viruses than you think organisms get swept up into the atmo-
We often think of just a few sphere in small particles from soil and
viruses—influenza, HIV, and now sea spray, returning to the earth via
coronaviruses—but they are the most rain, snow, and sandstorms, according
plentiful microbes on the planet. to a study published in Nature. Luck-
There are about 320,000 types that in- ily, most of them aren’t infectious.
fect mammals, but just 219 are known
to infect humans, according to the 3 Figuring out how contagious
U.S. National Library of Medicine. they are is both an art and
a science
2 They are even in the rain One way to measure viral spread is R0
The next time you dance in the (pronounced “r naught”), which is the
rain or catch snowflakes on average of how many people may be
your tongue, you might want to con- infected by a single person with the
sider the fact that it’s literally raining virus. If the R0 is 4, then each infected

76 November 2020

Health Reader’s Digest

person could spread the disease to 6 You can be contagious without
about four others. The ideal R0 is less ever showing symptoms
than 1, which means the virus is dying Some viruses, including those
out in a population. But calculating that cause herpes, COVID-19, and
R0 is far from straightforward, as it is AIDS, can be spread via asymptom-
based on biological, sociobehavioral, atic people (they never had signs of
and environmental factors that can the illness) and presymptomatic peo-
change rapidly. ple (they don’t have symptoms yet),
according to the Centers for Disease
4 You can get some viruses Control and Prevention (CDC). Some
more than once people may even be “superspreaders,”
There’s a popular myth that infecting dozens to hundreds of other
once you’ve had a virus, you’re im- people without even realizing it. Take
mune to it, but that’s not always the precautions to prevent spreading vi-
case, says Kathleen Dass, MD, an al- ruses even when you don’t feel sick.
lergist and immunologist with Michi-
gan Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 7 You can be sued for knowingly
Center in Oak Park. When you get a spreading some viruses
virus, your body builds up antibodies While it’s unlikely anyone will
to fight it. Those antibodies stay in take you to court for spreading the
your system, helping you ward off fu- flu around the office (but please, stay
ture infections. (This is also how vac- home when you feel ill), you could be
cines work.) However, not everyone sued if you were to knowingly infect
makes enough antibodies, and they someone with an incurable virus, such
can wear off over time, which is why as HIV or herpes. For instance, the
you need booster shots of some vac- singer Usher has been sued by sexual
cines. In addition, viruses can mutate, partners for not disclosing his herpes
making your antibodies ineffective status. Similarly, actor Charlie Sheen
against a new strain. has been sued twice for exposing
women to HIV without telling them.
5 Viruses and bacteria may be
hard to tell apart 8 If you’re very overweight, you
It’s often difficult to tell based need to be extra cautious
on symptoms whether an illness is Obese people are contagious
caused by a virus or bacteria, but lab with the flu virus 42 percent longer
tests can confirm the culprit. Unlike than those who aren’t obese, ac-
viruses, bacteria are single-celled or- cording to research in the Journal of
ganisms that can live and reproduce Infectious Diseases. Because obesity
on their own. is linked to many health problems, it

Rd.com 77

Reader’s Digest Health

may affect your immune system. Extra found that a good night’s sleep can
weight may make the flu shot less ef- boost the effectiveness of specialized
fective too. immune cells called T cells. Sleep as
much as possible when you’re sick to
9 The flu can trigger give your body a chance to recover.
heart attacks
The influenza virus doesn’t just 13 Cold showers aren’t
irritate your chest and sinuses—it a fever cure
also causes widespread inflamma- You may have been told by a
tion throughout your body. That can parent or grandparent that an ice bath
increase the risk of developing blood or a cold shower is a good way to lower
clots that can trigger a heart attack, a fever quickly, but cold water can
according to a study in the New En- cause shock and may end up spiking
gland Journal of Medicine. your temperature higher, says Patricia
Whitley-Williams, MD, a professor and
10 Cold air can make it the chair of the department of pediat-
easier to get sick rics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson
“Going out into the cold Medical School. Lukewarm water is
won’t make you sick on its own,” says best to help break a fever, she says.
Saralyn Mark, MD, president and CEO
of SolaMed Solutions in Washington, 14 Secondhand smoke
DC. “But if you are in the cold often, increases your risk
your body adapts by allowing your of getting sick
mucous membranes to dry up. When You already know that tobacco
that mucus dries up, it can’t protect smoke—whether you’re the smoker
you, and a virus can get in.” or not—damages your lungs. That
goes double when you’re sick because
11Nail-biting is a no-no smoke weakens immunity and can
Your fingers pick up germs eas- make congestion and coughing worse.
ily, and chewing on them gives
viruses a one-way ticket into your 15 COVID-19 isn’t a super-
body. Cut your nails to keep them deadly plague
short and try to keep your fingers People hear the word pan-
away from your nose and mouth. demic and automatically think mass
deaths, but most people who develop
12 Staying up late can COVID-19 will recover, stresses Len
slow your recovery Horovitz, MD, a pulmonary specialist
A study published in 2019 in at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.
the Journal of Experimental Medicine “Most people will get better at home

78 November 2020

WASHING
HANDS

with soap and
water is really the
best defense.

martinedoucet/Getty imaGes on their own, but you can be in for a 17 Yes, you should
long course of illness that lasts several wear a mask
weeks,” he says. If you have chest pain, The CDC recently urged all
shortness of breath, or severe dehydra- Americans to wear cloth face cover-
tion, go to the hospital. ings when in public to help prevent
the spread of the coronavirus, but they
16 Vitamin D might help can help lower the spread of other vi-
The relationship between ruses as well. Wearing a mask doesn’t
COVID-19 and vitamin D isn’t completely prevent you from getting
entirely clear, but a recent analysis of sick, but if everyone wore them in
preliminary research, published in public places, the rate of infections
Nutrients, found that having low levels and community spread could be cut
of vitamin D is linked with more se- significantly, says Dr. Horovitz.
vere symptoms; increasing vitamin D
levels may provide some protection by 18 “COVID toes” are a thing
reducing your risk of getting infected While it mainly produces re-
with or dying from the coronavirus or spiratory symptoms, the virus
the flu. that causes COVID-19 has been found

Rd.com 79

Reader’s Digest Health

VITAMIN D

may help protect
against COVID-19

and the flu.

to be capable of attacking most any- the disease provokes a profound in- Thomas Barwick/GeTTy imaGes
where in your body, including your flammatory response throughout the
toes, explains Matthew G. Heinz, body that could somehow impede the
MD, a hospitalist and internist at Tuc- functioning of the senses.
son Medical Center in Arizona. This
symptom looks a lot like chilblains, 20 COVID-19 can hurt
which is redness, swelling, and itch- your brain
ing of the toes (or fingers) in cold A review of scientific lit-
weather. erature published in June in the An-
nals of Neurology found that about
19 Loss of taste or smell is an half of hospitalized COVID-19 patients
early warning sign experienced neurological symptoms,
Another unusual warning including headaches, dizziness, diffi-
sign of COVID-19 is losing your sense culty concentrating, strokes, and sei-
of taste and smell, says Dr. Heinz. For zures. Researchers speculate that this
some people with mild cases, this may may be due to increased inflamma-
be the only symptom, and it’s more tion, lack of oxygen, an autoimmune
likely to appear in younger people, he reaction, or a clotting disorder trig-
says. It’s not clear what causes it, but gered by the virus.

80 November 2020

21 Herpes simplex 24-36
virus might cause
Alzheimer’s disease VIRUSES CAN LINGER
Could a pesky little cold sore be re- IN MANY PLACES
sponsible for destroying a person’s
memory? Research over the past Viruses are tenacious and can
20 years suggests a link between the survive for quite a long time on
herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), which surfaces outside the human body.
causes cold sores, and Alzheimer’s Exactly how long they remain
disease. A Taiwanese study found that infectious depends on the type
people with HSV infections had almost of surface and the environmental
three times the risk of developing de- conditions; in a lab environment,
mentia later in life as those who were the COVID-19 virus stayed active
virus-free. Those who then took anti- for two to three days on plastic
viral medication to treat their herpes and metal surfaces and for
cut their dementia risk by 90 percent. 24 hours on cardboard and paper,
according to a study published
22 Celiac disease might be in the New England Journal of
caused by a virus Medicine.
This autoimmune bowel
condition affects an estimated 1 in 100 Among the objects in your home
people worldwide, reports the Celiac that can harbor viruses:
Disease Foundation. New research ✦ phones
published in Science suggests that it ✦ railings
may be partly caused by the immune ✦ remotes
system’s response to a common virus ✦ keyboards
called a reovirus. ✦ faucets
✦ door and cabinet handles
23 Shingles could raise ✦ sheets, pillowcases, and blankets
the risk for stroke
and heart attack In public places, be certain to clean
A severe case of shingles, a disease your hands after touching:
caused by the varicella-zoster virus (the ✦ faucets
same one that causes chicken pox), ✦ door and escalator handles
can raise your risk for stroke, heart ✦ ATM and other keypads
attack, and death. A meta-analysis of ✦ gas-pump handles
more than 20 years of research pub- ✦ weights at the gym
lished in PLOS One found that even ✦ utensils at buffets and salad bars
one case of shingles is associated with
Rd.com 81

Reader’s Digest Health

a significantly increased risk of brain If you get the vaccine before any expo-
and heart events. sure, it can prevent an infection, but
it also works if you get the shots soon
37 Ebola and Zika after being exposed. As most cases are
viruses can be caused by being bitten by an infected
transmitted sexually animal, it’s important to see your doc-
You know that if you want to avoid tor after any animal bite, no matter
sexually transmitted viruses such how small.
as herpes and HIV, you need to use
protection when you have sex. But 40 If you can’t touch your
many other viruses can be transmit- chin to your chest,
ted through semen and/or vaginal call your doc
fluids. In 2018, researchers discovered A stiff, sore neck is one of the first
that the Zika virus could be transmit- signs of viral meningitis, a serious
ted sexually. A separate study found illness that may follow exposure to
traces of the deadly Ebola virus in the many common viruses, including
semen of people who had recovered enteroviruses and those that cause
from it—up to two years after they herpes, influenza, and measles. If you
were sick. have cold- or flulike symptoms that
progress to a severe headache, light
38 Zika virus might kill sensitivity, lethargy, and a neck so stiff
brain cancer you can’t easily bend it forward, call
Not all virus side effects are your doc stat.
bad. While the Zika virus can have
devastating effects on fetal brains, its 41 You can get rid of one
ability to target brain tissue may one virus with duct tape
day help it treat glioblastoma, a com- Warts aren’t caused by cud-
mon type of brain cancer. dling with toads but rather by an
infection with the human papilloma-
39 Rabies is the most virus. The unsightly bumps are usually
deadly virus benign and will go away eventually
Nearly 100 percent of peo- on their own. One home remedy that
ple who get infected with the rabies may speed up the healing time is cov-
virus will die from it, making it the ering them with duct tape, according
most lethal known virus. To date, only to a study published in JAMA Pediat-
14 people have survived the disease rics. In fact, researchers found that
after showing symptoms. The disease duct tape therapy was significantly
is also nearly 100 percent preventable more effective than cryotherapy for
with a vaccine, according to the CDC. the treatment of common warts.

82 November 2020

COLD AIR

can make
it easier to

get sick.

Cavan Images/getty Images 42 Avoid the sun if you are Dr. Dass. “However, antiviral medica-
prone to cold sores tions, such as oseltamivir [Tamiflu],
Once you’ve had a herpes can help you feel better faster, and
infection, the virus lies dormant in they can make your symptoms less
nerve cells in your skin and may re- severe,” she says.
emerge as another cold sore in the
same place as before, according to 44 Don’t ask for antibiotics
the U.S. National Library of Medicine. for your viral infection
Recurrence often is triggered by sun Antibiotics kill bacteria, but
exposure. they don’t work on viruses at all. Still,
many doctors report feeling pressured
43 There is no cure for the to prescribe antibiotics by patients
flu and other viruses who insist on them despite having a
Sad, but true. “The best viral infection, such as the flu, accord-
‘treatment’ is prevention through ing to a study published in the Jour-
vaccines and lifestyle changes,” says nal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

Rd.com 83

Reader’s Digest

In fact, the researchers found that so 46 Disinfect your house LanaStock/Getty ImaGeS
many people are convinced that anti- regularly—but not with
biotics will help their viral symptoms antibacterial wipes
that up to one third of all antibiotic Just as antibiotics don’t cure viral in-
prescriptions are unnecessary. fections, antibacterial cleaners are
ineffective against viruses, the CDC
45 Soap and water really cautions. Worse, using antibacterial
are the best defense products can build antibiotic resis-
“Wash your hands” is prac- tance. Instead, use hydrogen peroxide,
tically a mantra these days, and for ammonia, or another EPA-registered
good reason. A drop of soap diluted disinfectant product to clean items
in water literally pries apart the virus, that may be contaminated with vi-
causing the protein-wrapped par- ruses, including the coronavirus. (See
ticles to rupture and become useless. items 24–36 for more on that.)
Make sure to wash for a minimum of
20 seconds and dry your hands on 47 Exercise can help you
a clean towel. In public restrooms, ward off the flu
avoid air dryers, which blow contami- Don’t skip that regular
nants all over the place. workout: “Regular exercise, which can

EXERCISE

can help ward
off the flu, but
don’t overdo it.

Health

include taking brisk walks, has been booster, helping fight both cold and
shown to improve your immune sys- influenza viruses. Researchers found
tem, thus decreasing your likelihood that drinking green tea regularly not
of developing a cold or the flu,” Dr. only helps you recover from a cold
Dass says. But don’t overdo it. “If but may also help prevent recurring
you’re training for a long marathon, infections—and could make you less
that can have the opposite effect and likely to get one in the first place.
hurt your immune system,” she says.
50 Don’t count on herd
48 Get a flu shot every year immunity
One of the best ways to You may have read that
prevent the flu is to get a you can skip getting vaccinated if you
flu shot every year. (Some children live in a place where most people
may need two vaccines in one sea- have had the disease or the vaccine,
son.) There are over 200 strains of flu allowing you to take advantage of herd
viruses, and they can mutate, which immunity. “But effective herd immu-
is why a new formula is created every nity requires that more than 90 per-
season, says Jeremy Blais, PharmD, a cent of the population be vaccinated
pharmacist in Providence, Rhode Is- against a disease,” says Tish Davidson,
land, and a director at CVS Health. If medical writer and author of Vac-
you’re hesitant because of an egg al- cines: History, Science, and Issues and
lergy, there are two egg-free vaccines The Vaccine Debate. “The exact per-
available—Flucelvax and Flublok. centage depends on the contagious-
ness of the disease, and the flu is very
49 Drink green tea contagious. With the current low flu
According to a meta- vaccination rate, people should not
analysis published in Mole- count on herd immunity to protect
cules, green tea may be an immune them. It won’t.” RD

On the Flip Side
In several Romance languages, the word for roller coaster literally translates
to “Russian mountains,” probably because the ride came from Russia to France

in the 19th century. Funnily enough, the Russian phrase translates to
“American slides,” perhaps because of the popularity of the ride in the
United States. And the Croatian word translates to “train of death”—

which means you might not want to ride one there.

LinguaLista.wordpress.com

Rd.com | NovembeR 2020 85

Reader’s Digest

TRUE CRIME

By Steven Leckart

From ChiCago, published in
partnership with EpiC MagazinE

Joleen Zubek (money) Tom Justice chased Olympic gold on his bike.
Then he used it as a getaway vehicle.

Illustration by Wayne Brezinka November 2020 87

Reader’s Digest True Crime

The man in the baseball cap and sun- Less than two minutes later, he courtesy tom justice
glasses waited for the teller to notice emerged from an underground parking
him. The morning of May 26, 2000, was lot carrying a bicycle on one shoulder
quiet inside the LaSalle Bank in High- and a messenger bag over the other
land Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. and wearing a red, white, and blue
spandex bodysuit. He climbed onto the
“May I help you?” said the young bike and began to ride leisurely.
woman behind the counter. The man
reached to the back of his khakis as if He cruised up to a trash can. After
to fish out a wallet. Instead, he pre- fishing two crisp $20 bills out of the
sented her with an index card. The plastic bag, he held it upside down
teller’s smile wilted as she stared at the over the can. Several bundles of cash—
words: “THIS IS A ROBBERY. PUT ALL OF $4,009 in all—tumbled into the trash.
YOUR MONEY IN THE BAG.” The man returned the empty sack to
his messenger bag and pedaled away.
The robber, a slender man wearing
a blue oxford shirt, returned the card Seated in the bleachers, 13-year-
to his pocket. “Nice and easy,” he said old Tom Justice watched in awe as the
coolly, handing over a plastic shop- cyclists careened around the outdoor
ping bag. While the teller anxiously track of the Ed Rudolph Velodrome,
transferred bundles of cash, the man outside Chicago. Every time the pack
gently pressed his palms together as if whirled by, it cut the air, unleashing a
he were about to whisper “Namaste.” concentrated whoosh.

“Thank you,” he said, and walked Before that summer of 1983, Tom
out the front door.

88 November 2020

Tom often stood
before the tellers
with his hands
pressed together.

had never seen a bicycle race, let alone professional-grade jersey and pad-
a velodrome. But from the moment he ded cycling shorts his father had just
entered the stadium, he was transfixed. bought him.

He returned a week later with his Tom won the 12-to-14-year-old heat
maroon Schwinn. As the stadium handily. Straddling his bike, his chest
lights buzzed, a dozen suburban kids still heaving, he felt a surge of adrena-
gathered on the track. Everyone was line. He had finally found something
wearing T-shirts and gym shorts ex- at which he excelled. His father,
cept for Tom, who stood out in the Jay Justice, a Navy veteran with an

Rd.com 89

Tom’s fascination with bikes started early. He had this one when he was four.

abundance of athleticism, was thrilled. did little to distinguish himself. The courtesy tom justice
By Tom’s junior year at Libertyville other sprinters could tell he lacked dis-
cipline. “Tom’s fast, but he doesn’t train
High School, his identity hinged on cy- right,” one noted. “He needs to apply
cling. In 1987, just four years after his himself.” He soon washed out, returned
first velodrome victory, Tom was se- to Chicago, and found a job as a social
lected to attend the Olympic training worker. Helping people was a welcome
camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado. distraction from his own issues. But af-
ter a while, it felt like a pointless slog.
In the school’s 1988 yearbook, one
page asked, “What will your friends be As Tom’s Olympic dream slipped
doing in ten years?” Tom Justice’s cap- away, he fantasized about identities
tion read: “On the cover of a Wheaties he could substitute for the thrilling in-
box, with his bike.” stant gratification of cycling. He made
a list, and then wandered from inter-
But after high school, Tom’s commit- view to interview, growing increas-
ment to cycling—and everything else— ingly unhappy with his mundane life.
lapsed. Instead of training, he broke
into empty houses to smoke cigarettes Late one night in 1998, Tom revisited
and chug beers with his buddies. the list he’d added to over the years.
Under “helicopter pilot” and “lock
Somehow Tom still harbored gran- picker,” he’d scrawled two letters: “B.R.”
diose expectations. And since noth-
ing else ever clicked for him the way Bank robber.
cycling had, after graduating from col- Several notorious American bank
lege, he moved to Los Angeles to train robbers had spent time in Chicago.
alongside the U.S. Olympic team. He

90 November 2020

True Crime Reader’s Digest

That history added to the allure for he looked at the money and began
Tom. At a wig shop in the same neigh- to weep. It had been a long time
borhood where gangster John Dillinger since Tom had felt this alive—or this
hid out, Tom considered his options. important.
Ultimately, he settled on black braids
with short bangs that made him look For months, that $5,580 he’d stolen
like “Super Freak” singer Rick James. sat in a gym bag inside the closet of
his old room at his parents’ house.
On October 23, 1998, Tom entered Tom assumed the bills were traceable,
his parents’ garage, grabbed his mes- so he kept only two $20s as souvenirs.
senger bag and Fuji AX-500, and ped- Late one night, he tossed the remain-
aled toward downtown Libertyville. ing cash into a few dumpsters.
He coasted up to a tree-lined fence
between two houses and slid on a Nearly one year after his first rob-
pair of khakis and a blue oxford but- bery, Tom committed his second.
ton-down over his cycling spandex. This time, he discarded the bills in al-
He slipped on his wig and dark over- leys where he knew homeless people
size sunglasses reminiscent of Jackie
O’s and then continued on foot to the TOM’S HEARTBEAT
American National Bank branch.
SURGED. IT HAD BEEN
When Tom approached the teller,
she perked up immediately. Hallow- A LONG TIME SINCE
een had apparently come early this
year. Then the love child of Rick James HE’D FELT THIS ALIVE.
and Jackie O handed her an index card
but wouldn’t let go of it. As an awkward would find them. Robbing banks and
tug-of-war ensued, the teller leaned in giving away the money were intoxicat-
and read the message. Tom slid his ing. Tom saw himself as both mischie-
plastic bag across the counter, and she vous and righteous.
loaded it up with cash.
But that feeling faded. Tom’s real
Tom strode outside, bag in hand. life seemed mediocre and unfulfill-
His heartbeat surged. His legs tingled. ing. He wrestled with depression and
Two minutes later, he was beside his brooded over the realization that at
bike, feverishly stripping down. He 29, his window of opportunity to be-
shoved his disguise and the money come a world-class cyclist had nearly
into his messenger bag. passed. If he wanted to pursue his
Olympic dream, he had to do it now.
Then he casually cycled back to his
parents’ house. He parked his bike in He told his girlfriend, Laura, he was
the garage and tiptoed into the base- moving to Southern California to train
ment. Kneeling on the shag carpet, for the Olympic trials. He had retained

Rd.com 91

Reader’s Digest

his classification as a Category 1 cy- Once his lower back recovered, Tom
clist, so he would automatically qual- robbed the LaSalle Bank in Highland
ify for the trials. Park—the heist in which he dumped
his $4,009 haul in a trash can. The next
When he arrived in California, Tom week, he hit three banks in three days.
looked in the mirror and told himself, George had no clue his roommate had
“I’m not going to rob any more banks.” just knocked over his 13th bank.

“How’s it going?” asked Laura, call- In the summer of 2001, Tom joined a
ing from Chicago. club cycling team run by Higher Gear,
a bike shop not far from the LaSalle
“Well!” replied Tom. His skin was Bank. One day, the shop’s manager
tan from his time at the San Diego mentioned to Tom that a local rider
Outdoor Velodrome. Every morn- was selling a used Steelman. Steelman
ing, he worked through the Olympic bicycles are exceptional. Tom, whose
strength-training regimen to build own bike had recently been stolen,
muscle mass. His already explosive was looking for a replacement. As
dead start was getting deadlier. As soon as he saw the Steelman, he was
the weeks passed in early 2000, Tom torn. It was painted a garish Day-Glo
rounded into the best shape of his life.
HE BOLTED IN A DEAD
But the monotony of training was
setting in. The day after Valentine’s START AS HELLACIOUS
Day, he hit a bank in Encinitas. On
February 29, one in Solana Beach. AS ANY HE HAD
The next day, another in Encinitas.
Two weeks later, one in San Diego. EVER MUSTERED.
On March 24, Tom robbed two banks,
nabbing his biggest score yet: $10,274. orange. But he knew that a used Steel-
man didn’t just magically appear every
Then one morning, an intense pain day, so he bought it.
surged through Tom’s lower back.
He’d thrown it out overtraining. It By this point, Tom had stopped
would take weeks before he could giving away the cash from his rob-
pedal without waking up in agony the beries. He was becoming dependent
day after. His plan to race in the Olym- on drugs. He had no job, but he had
pic trials was over. pockets full of cash and cocaine. As
he increased dosages, his post-high
Soon after he returned to Chicago, depression deepened.
Laura dumped him. He moved into an
apartment with George, a 230-pound Tom started attending Narcotics
Greek hulk who worked nights. Anonymous meetings. When it was
his turn to share, he talked about
“What do you do?” asked Tom.
“I’m a cop,” said George.

92 November 2020

True Crime

courtesy tom justice As a teenager, Tom qualified to compete instinct. This was one of those mo-
in the Olympic trials as a track cyclist. ments. But before he could flash his
lights, the cyclist pulled over, hopped
merely experimenting with drugs. He off his bike, and started fidgeting with
was in denial. “This is gonna be my his back wheel. Thompson parked a
last meeting,” he announced after few feet ahead and walked back to the
just six weeks. He said he was moving cyclist. Tom pretended to adjust his
back to California. He was planning to brakes before climbing onto the bike
apply to grad school there. Everybody and clicking his left foot into the pedal.
in the room wished him luck.
“Do you mind if I take a look in your
“Two-eleven in progress.” The voice bag?” Thompson asked.
crackled through the radio in Officer
Greg Thompson’s squad car. Someone “Yeah, no problem. I just have to
had just robbed a Union Bank in Wal- unclip,” replied Tom. “These pedals
nut Creek, California. It was March 7, are actually counterbalanced, so I
2002, a drizzly day. Thompson was need to click into both in order to get
passing a parking garage when a bi- out at the same time.”
cyclist shot out of the driveway and
flew behind the cruiser. Thompson There’s no such thing as counter-
squinted into his side mirror. The cy- balanced pedals. But Thompson
clist looked like every other weekend didn’t know that. He watched as the
warrior, except for one detail: the mes- cyclist lifted his right foot, clicked
senger bag draped over his shoulder. down into the pedal, and—whoosh!—
bolted into the street in a dead start as
An 18-year police veteran, Thomp- hellacious as any Tom had ever mus-
son taught new recruits to thrive on tered on a velodrome.

A few blocks away, Officer Sean
Dexter was sitting in a squad car when
he spotted a cyclist on an orange bike
charging through traffic toward a red
light. Dexter pulled into the inter-
section, but the cyclist didn’t stop.

Tom swerved around the police car,
crossed two lanes, and hopped the
curb. Darting through a parking lot, he
headed toward a tall fence bordering a
thicket of 15-foot-high bamboo.

Dexter reached for his radio, but
before he could even open his mouth,
another cop hopped on the channel.
“A guy on a bicycle just ran from me!”

Rd.com 93

Reader’s Digest

“I’ve got him right here!” Dexter drove to his apartment in Oakland.
shouted into the radio. “Is everything OK?” asked Tom’s

Dexter got out of his car and paced roommate at the time, Marty.
toward the fence. He slowly cracked the “Yeah, just a rough couple of days,”
gate and peered into the jumbled mess
of vegetation. A creek flowed 30 feet Tom replied.
below, amid fallen tree branches, dry A six-foot-five opera singer, Marty
brush, and piles of wet leaves.
wasn’t looking for a new friend, but
Sirens blared as officers secured the he’d found one in Tom. Marty knew
perimeter. While Dexter and Thomp- Tom was snorting cocaine, but he was
son walked the upper banks, police unaware of his other vices.
dogs combed the creek. After about
15 minutes, a detective spotted some- “What’s going on?” asked Marty.
thing in the leaves: an orange bicycle. “I can’t say,” Tom said.
Then a German shepherd from the “Tom, you can tell me anything.”
K-9 unit led them to a pair of cycling Eventually, Tom reluctantly told
shoes hidden under a concrete retain- Marty everything.
ing wall beneath a bridge. “What are you gonna do?” Marty
asked.
As the sky grew bleaker, the search “I need to buy a ticket home,” Tom
was called off. They had one good said. He wanted to see his parents be-
clue, though: the orange bicycle. fore the cops found him.

Tom was lying facedown in a cold, Although he didn’t know anything
damp dirt tunnel. Hours earlier, as the about bikes, Officer Dexter had a
orange Steelman tumbled through the hunch that the orange 12-speed was
brush, Tom had slid down the embank- special. He walked it from the sta-
ment, crashing violently through the tion to a nearby bike shop. A guy be-
leaves. He trudged 50 feet upstream hind the counter said the frame was
and took cover underneath a bridge, custom-made by a man named Steel-
where he discovered a two-foot-wide man. Dexter called the company and
hole at the water’s edge. He crawled in spoke to Steelman’s wife, who han-
headfirst and squirmed 11 feet to the dled the bookkeeping. She told Dexter
narrow tunnel’s end. Panting in the that the serial number he had might
dark, he heard sirens, then faint voices be for a 1996 orange bicycle sold at a
and the jingling of a dog’s tags. Tom as- shop called Higher Gear in Chicago.
sumed that was the end. But then—a
miracle. The cops gave up the search. Dexter called Higher Gear, but the
guy who answered said they didn’t
It was dark when Tom emerged. He keep records that far back.
had parked his 1983 Mercedes-Benz
about two miles away. He found it and Meanwhile, the FBI was doing its
own investigating.

94 November 2020

True Crime

Left: Tom while he was living with a cop—and robbing banks. Right: the Steelman bike.

FroM LeFt: Courtesy toM JustiCe. Courtesy sCott Crosby A month later, the manager of a As the handcuffs tightened around
bicycle shop in Chicago called the his wrists, Tom wanted to cry, not out
Walnut Creek police. In 1996, he’d of despair or fear but out of a much
assembled the orange bike. He knew heavier sense of something he wasn’t
the original owner and the guy who’d expecting: relief. After four years, his
bought it secondhand. self-destructive cross-country loop
was finally coming to an end.
Tom and his father sat in the kitchen.
It was less than a week since Tom had In the interrogation room, an FBI
confessed to Marty. agent placed a photograph on the ta-
ble. It was a security-cam shot of Tom.
“How’s that job of yours?” Jay asked The orange Steelman had led them
his son. “What’s your plan for the fu- right to him. Riding an average bicycle,
ture?” As far as he knew, Tom was Tom might never have been caught.
working as a bike messenger.
He gave a full confession. In all,
“I’m gonna apply to some new grad he had robbed 26 banks and stolen
school programs,” Tom replied. $129,338. He pleaded guilty and was
sentenced to 11 years.
Jay nodded. Sounds familiar.
Tom headed out the door. “See you After being released, Tom returned
guys later,” he called, and he climbed to cycling at his local velodrome. He
into his car. also eventually found a job at a dough-
When the first police car appeared nut shop. Little do the cops know that
behind him, Tom didn’t think much the 49-year-old handing them their
of it. Then there were three more. Red chocolate glazed is one of the most
lights were now flashing. Tom pulled prodigious bank robbers in history. RD
over and glanced back. Five cops were
aiming their guns at him. ChiCago (January 29, 2019) in partnership with epiC
Magazine. © 2019 by Vox Media, LLC.

Rd.com 95

DRAMA IN REAL LIFE

THE DOGS OF WAR

By Jason Daly From Truly*AdvenTurous
96 November 2020

Reader’s Digest

Caesar and his handler, Rufus Mayo, far right, pause
with other handlers and dogs during the fighting.

It’s 1943, the Battle of Bougainville. The Americans attacking this South
Pacific island are outnumbered and outgunned. Their best hope lies with
specially trained soldiers named Jack, Andy, and Caesar. Two problems:
The trio has never seen combat, and they’re canines.

Rd.com 97

Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life

THE From there, the Allies would hop previous spread: Bettmann/Getty imaGes
from island to island until they were
soldiers filed off the beach and into within bombing range of Japan itself.
the twilight world of the jungle. The
enemy lay concealed ahead, they The campaign in the Pacific de-
could be sure. They followed an un- pended on Bougainville. For the Ma-
likely leader: a black-and-tan Do- rines marching blindly into the dense,
berman named Andy who betrayed enemy-occupied jungle, the future
no sense of the danger of the situa- depended on dogs who were never
tion. Some of the men bristled at the supposed to have been part of the war
arrangement. in the first place.

This was to save them all from en- Alene Erlanger was a 46-year-old
emy fire? The canine was a ruined New Jersey socialite with a love for
show dog. To make matters worse, show poodles when Pearl Harbor was
the platoon’s backup was a Ger- bombed. Days after the attack, she
man shepherd who months before invited her friend Roland Kilbon, a
had been roaming the streets of journalist who covered the dog world,
the Bronx with the three boys who to lunch. “Other countries have used
owned him. dogs in their armies for years and
ours have not,” she told him. “Just
As they moved up the trail, they think what dogs can do guarding forts,
heard gunfire and artillery in the munitions plants, and such.” She en-
distance as the rest of the Second visioned dog fanciers around the
Marine Raider Battalion fought to country as drill sergeants, grooming
secure the shoreline. It was 1943; the a new kind of warrior for a new war.
assault on Bougainville, a speck of
land in the South Pacific, had just be- Kilbon agreed, and the two created
gun. Allied forces needed to capture Dogs for Defense, an organization
a safe zone large enough to build an that would train dogs for the military.
airfield for an eventual attack on the One problem: The military wanted
nearby island of New Britain, the fi- nothing to do with animals. Over
nal Japanese stronghold in the region. the years, jeeps had replaced horses,
trucks had taken the place of pack
mules, and radios had made carrier
pigeons obsolete.

Then, in June 1942, in the dead of
night, four German saboteurs laden
with explosives landed on Long Island,
New York. Four more surfaced on a
Florida beach. The FBI tracked down

98 November 2020