March 17, 2026

Teddy Bear Toss Record

Show Notes
Transcript

Johnny Mac delivers five good news stories: Hershey Bears fans continued a 25-year “teddy bear toss” tradition, throwing 81,796 stuffed animals onto the ice after the team’s first goal (after setting a 102,343 world record last season) to benefit children and families in Central Pennsylvania. The nonprofit American Prairie removed its 100th mile of derelict barbed wire, eliminating about 500,000 pounds of scrap metal to help wildlife move freely, as it works toward national park designation after decades of land acquisition and leasing. David Sylvester began a cross-country bike ride after 9/11 to honor a friend, leading to global journeys documenting consensual touch and healing, and his book “Brethren Arms, Real Men Hug.” Iowa’s Great Iowa Treasure Hunt reunites residents with unclaimed assets, including a woman who recovered $4.5 million in McDonald’s stock. A study found some “gifted word learner” dogs can learn toy names by overhearing conversations.

5 Good News Stories is a daily podcast with five positive, uplifting news stories to brighten your day. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network

John also hosts Daily Comedy News

Unlock an ad-free podcast experience with Caloroga Shark Media! For Apple users, hit the banner which says Uninterrupted Listening on your Apple podcasts app.

Subscribe now for exclusive shows like 'Palace Intrigue,' and get bonus content from Deep Crown (our exclusive Palace Insider!) Or get 'Daily Comedy News,' and '5 Good News Stories’ with no commercials! Plans start at $4.99 per month, or save 20% with a yearly plan at $49.99. Join today and help support the show!

Get more info from Caloroga Shark Media and if you have any comments, suggestions, or just want to get in touch our email is info@caloroga.com

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:09.839
Kalaroga Shark Media. Happy Saint Patrick's Day, and Hi, I'm

2
00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.599
Johnny Mack with five good news stories. I don't have

3
00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:14.720
like Saint Patrick's Day theme for you. I wish they did,

4
00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:17.800
but I don't. However, once a year in Hershey, Pennsylvania,

5
00:00:17.879 --> 00:00:20.960
thousands of stuffed animals rain down onto the ice at

6
00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:24.000
the Hockey Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's one of Minor

7
00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:27.879
League hockey's most unusual and heartwarming traditions. For the past

8
00:00:27.960 --> 00:00:31.679
twenty five years, the Hershey Bears of the AHL have

9
00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:34.719
hosted an annual Teddy Bear Toss game to benefit children

10
00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:37.960
and families across central Pennsylvania. Here's how it goes. As

11
00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:40.719
soon as the Bears score their first goal, you throw

12
00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.560
stuffed animals onto the ice. Crews can spend almost an

13
00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:48.719
hour collecting all the toys. Last season, the Hershey Bears

14
00:00:48.759 --> 00:00:51.640
at a world record when fans tossed one hundred two thousand,

15
00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:54.479
three hundred and forty three stuffed animals onto the ice. Wow.

16
00:00:55.079 --> 00:00:57.520
This year, the Bear scored just three minutes into the game.

17
00:00:57.679 --> 00:00:59.640
By the end of the cleanup, eighty one thousand, seven

18
00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:02.759
hundred ninety six stuffed animals had been collected. I'm wondering

19
00:01:02.759 --> 00:01:05.040
what happens if they get shut out. That would be awful.

20
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:09.040
The largest private land conservation project in the US has

21
00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:13.079
reached a major milestone. The nonprofit American Prairie announced it

22
00:01:13.079 --> 00:01:16.359
has removed the one hundredth mile of derelict barbed wire

23
00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:20.920
fencing from its landholdings, eliminating roughly five hundred thousand pounds

24
00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:24.319
of scrap metal from the landscape that allows wildlife species

25
00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:26.519
to move freely across the prairie for the first time

26
00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:29.840
in decades. American Prairie spent more than twenty years acquiring

27
00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:32.719
and leasing land. They're now trying to get it designated

28
00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:35.239
as a National park. If so, the reserve would rank

29
00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:39.280
among the ten largest in the contiguous United States. Conservation

30
00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:41.719
is estimate that more than ninety percent of the original

31
00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:45.719
Great North American Prairie has been lost to development and agriculture. Wow.

32
00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:49.359
On September eleventh, two thousand and one, David Sylvester lost

33
00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:51.840
his friend Kevin. Kevin was working on the ninety ninth

34
00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.840
floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

35
00:01:54.519 --> 00:01:57.439
David was home in Philadelphia watching all this on TV,

36
00:01:58.359 --> 00:02:02.079
knowing that his friend was inside nine months after the attacks,

37
00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:05.400
David set out on a cross country bicycle journey to

38
00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.199
honor Kevin's life, riding more than forty two hundred miles

39
00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:13.240
from Oregon to Philadelphia. Along the route, at almost every stop,

40
00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:17.560
strangers sought conversation, connection, and physical reassurance. David said people

41
00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:19.639
wanted to talk, to feel safe, and often a hug.

42
00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:23.199
The original two thousand and two ride led to some

43
00:02:23.240 --> 00:02:25.599
other rides in two thousand and four, Cairo to Cape

44
00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:29.319
Town in two thousand and seven, Istan Bulde, Beijing, and

45
00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:33.840
other trips across Australia, Europe, Israel, and the US. David

46
00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:36.800
has traveled through forty two countries in all fifty US states,

47
00:02:36.800 --> 00:02:40.280
documenting interactions centered on consensual physical touch as a form

48
00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:43.919
of communication and healing. In Belfast, he met a Muslim

49
00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:46.319
woman who couldn't hug him for religious regions, but he

50
00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:48.719
asked whether her smile could count towards his tally. He

51
00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:52.560
said sure. All these years later, twenty five thousand miles later,

52
00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:55.199
he has spent three years of his life on the road,

53
00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:57.280
and he says what has changed is not the presence

54
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.560
of pain, but his understanding of healing. Dave Sostor is

55
00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.120
the author of Brotherren Arms, Real Men Hug, published in December.

56
00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:09.199
In Iowa, It's the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt. The program,

57
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:13.120
administered by the Iowa State Treasurer, functions as a financial

58
00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:15.759
lost and found. Treasury staff work with businesses that have

59
00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:18.840
lost contact with account holders whose last known address was

60
00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.240
in Iowa. When the assets go unclaim, they're transferred to

61
00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:26.680
Iowa for safe keeping. Iowa maintains a public searchable database

62
00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:29.919
and encourages residents to periodically check whether money or assets

63
00:03:29.960 --> 00:03:31.759
are being held in their name. I know both New

64
00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:34.919
York and New Jersey do something similar, and it's real.

65
00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:38.120
The unclaimed property can come from a wide range of sources,

66
00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:42.120
including forgotten bank accounts, on cash checks, insurance proceeds, stockholdings,

67
00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:46.240
or dormant utility deposits. One Iowa woman was reunited with

68
00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:49.400
four and a half million dollars in McDonald's common stock

69
00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:53.759
and accumulated dividends years ago. She had invested fifteen grand

70
00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:56.159
and kind of forgot about it. And if you think

71
00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:59.199
your dog can understand you, you are correct. I mean

72
00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:03.240
I've had dogs for four decades now, no five decades now,

73
00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:07.639
and I'm telling you they understand well. Science is now

74
00:04:07.680 --> 00:04:11.919
backing Johnny Mackup. Some dogs can acquire vocabulary without you

75
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.960
even talking to them, a skill previously thought to be

76
00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:19.079
unique to humans. Currently, toddlers by around eighteen months of

77
00:04:19.079 --> 00:04:22.480
age can learn new words by overhearing conversations, and now

78
00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:26.800
so can the dogs. Some dogs have the ability to

79
00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:30.040
learn and retain the names of objects. These animals are

80
00:04:30.040 --> 00:04:34.040
called gifted word learner dogs. They're capable of learning the

81
00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:37.040
names of hundreds of toys. Here's what the scientists did.

82
00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:39.959
In one group, owners directly address their dogs while introducing

83
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.720
and naming two unfamiliar toys. In the second group, the

84
00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.160
dogs just observe their owners discussing the toys with another person.

85
00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.879
In both scenarios, the dogs heard each toy's name for

86
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.040
total of about eight minutes. Later, the toys replaced another

87
00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:54.480
room and they said, hey, dog, go get the whatever.

88
00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:57.560
The dogs selected the correct toy eighty percent of the

89
00:04:57.639 --> 00:05:00.720
time when directly addressed and listen to this one hundred

90
00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:04.680
percent of the time when they learned by only overhearing it. Huh,

91
00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:06.759
I could tell you one word they know and it's

92
00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:10.240
spelled O U T those A your five could do

93
00:05:10.319 --> 00:05:10.959
stories for today