Good News of the Week: Shop Donates to MS, Skydiver Recounts Near-Miss

As a local news organization, Patch covers stories of all kinds, from heartbreaking tragedies to nitty-gritty breakdowns of government and school district issues. But some stories are simply inspiring, often showing that at the heart of our communities is a desire to do good. Here are some of the touching headlines from the past seven days.

A new boutique in St. James may look like your average specialty shop, but there's something very different about what it does with the cash it makes.

MS CUREosity's Closet gives most of the money it makes to support research into multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease that affects thousands.

The shop is run by Filomena Lombardi, whose family is well known on Long Island for its Lombardi's markets, catering halls and eateries. Lombardi operates the store under the Cure MS Foundation of NY.

The boutique sells both donated and consigned goods.

Readers of any news site, including Patch, tend to notice that it's often the bad news, the tragedies or accounts of crime in our towns that can get the biggest attention. But this week what could have been a tragic event was avoided when skydiver Amber Gandolfo got tossed around in a surprise wind and ended up in a tree, dangling high above the ground.

"The hardest part was waiting for the ladder," she told Patch. "You're hanging 60 feet above the ground – that's where you're going to get injuries. I was praying that the parachute would stay where it was. I couldn't have survived that fall. And if I had, I would have had broken limbs, or worse."

East End cycling team Sam Scram last weekend raised more tha $18,000 to benefit the Wounded Warrior project by participating in the in Soldier Ride, a charity bike race that raises bot cash and awareness for our soldiers who are injured in the line of duty.

The Sam Scram team also ride memory of World War II hero Army Staff Sgt. Tom Collins, a life-long East Hampton resident who died in 2011.

Port Jefferson native Steve Gordon has received the 2011-2012 National Junior College Athletic Association Academic Student-Athlete Award for Exemplary Academic Achievement for earning a 3.6 GPA while playing on the school's baseball team. Congrats to Steve from all of us at Patch.