Finding "More Good" across the country

(KSFY)
Published: Nov. 22, 2018 at 10:20 PM CST
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Throughout the year - news headlines keep our attention and often focus on the unfortunate news that happens. From shooting at a bar in Thousand Oaks, California to the Camp Fire in northern California. But, one woman is choosing to focus on the good in the world.

Mary Latham began her mission five years ago. Her goal, find inspiring stories of people doing good deeds in the world. To do so, she hit the road and has been traveling across the country ever since.

"I started when I lived in New York City. And it kind of sparked from a situation one morning at work," she said.

That situation is one that we all can remember where we were and what we were doing, the Sandy Hook shooting. Earlier that day, a co-worker told her she missed out on free coffee after a man gave the barista $100.

"It was really just this awesome story to hear at that moment as I am reading all of this horrible stuff about the shooting and just really upset about it as everyone else across the country was at the time," Latham said.

Then Mary decided to call her mom who was battling cancer at the time, to tell her about her day. But, instead of focusing on the good, Mary kept mentioning the bad.

"She said Mary; you got to focus on that coffee story, what a beautiful thing and what a cool thing that that guy would do that morning," Latham said. "And there will always be tragedies and things going on in the world that we can't do anything about necessarily. But, there will always be more good if we look for it."

Unfortunately, Mary's mom lost her battle to cancer. Now, together with "Old Blue," her mom's Subaru. She is currently traveling across the country in honor of her mother to remind people of hope.

"I wanted to be able to give something back to people in those hospital waiting rooms," Latham said. "To give them a little hope because I just felt very hopeless. I was very fortunate to have my family, we're really close, and their support supportive, but there were people in there alone and people in there fighting, and it was just a very hopeless environment. And so, I just want to put something in there that helps that."

She says sharing good stories will help those going through tough times. And she says being on the road has taught her one important thing, that everyone is struggling with something.

Mary will soon be completing her 50 state trek. She says she should reach her goal by August of next year, 2019. She plans to finish the book next year, as well.

She has now traveled to 33 different states and is now in Kansas.

For more information on her mission, you can visit her