Today’s five selected stories cover the role of trust in fighting a pandemic, protecting meat packers and the food supply, the value of an online college class, the rise of reconciliation within families, and American dads stepping up at home.

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Pay it forward.” 

Well, 173 years later, the Irish are returning a favor. 

In 1847, in the depths of the Great Potato Famine, members of the Choctaw Nation gave $170 (worth about $5,000 today) to Ireland. Why? Long-distance empathy.

Just a few years before, some 60,000 Native Americans (including the Choctaw, Cherokee, Creek, and other tribes) had known suffering, starvation, and death during a forced relocation march known as the Trail of Tears.

Today, the Navajo Nation has been hit harder by COVID-19 than any other Native American reservation. And many Irish have responded by supporting a GoFundMe campaign that’s raised more than $1.9 million for the Navajo and Hopi nations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. 

“Thank you, IRELAND, for showing solidarity and being here for us,” wrote Vanessa Tulley, one of the Navajo relief organizers in Arizona.

On Monday, Joseph Webb donated $50 and wrote: “In remembrance of your ancestors and their kindness to the people of Ireland. We are one world and one people, together we will get through this. Be safe.”

Empathy knows no borders. And kindness has no expiration date.