The magic of baseball is its fluid connection between players, each in the right position at the right time, playing their part to perfection. When a team is on the site of competition, there is nothing more breathtaking than baseball. But it takes a lot of practice to look effortless.

That’s what was happening —practice —one afternoon when the Valley High School team was distracted by a scream for help. Coach Brett Sawyer heard the noise and saw the en-tire team rushing towards the parking lot, jumping over fences.

One of their schoolmates was stuck under a car that had accidentally backed over her. One of the players, Chas Roberts, remembered afterward, “You had to do what you had to do to save someone’s life.” The players quickly surrounded the car, each taking a hold, and lifted the car. An assistant coach was then able to pull the girl out from underneath the car. She is expected to make a full recovery.

Maybe it’s the connection human beings have with each other, rushing in to help when it’s needed. And maybe playing together as a team became natural because each knew what to do. Or maybe it’s both. Maybe, deep inside, we all know that we are on the same team.

The next day, the varsity team lost their last game of the year. But winning was a little less important to them that day. The coach was proud of them for what they accomplished and said, “To be honest, we might not have the best baseball team around, but we do have a great group of guys.”

The magic of life is the fluid connection between people: how they love, how they share, how they help. There is nothing more breathtaking than the game of life well played.

At just 17, Lauren Schroeder has already made a significant impact on her community. Her voyage began at 14, volunteering at a food shelter. While packing boxes with canned goods for needy families, Lauren detected a substantial shortage: fresh vegetables. This observation sparked an idea that soon grew into a community-wide initiative.

Lauren pictured transforming part of her family’s 150-acre farm into a garden committed to growing produce for local families. Her proposal was met with a hint of concern from her mother, Katie Schroeder. While supportive, she also foresaw the extensive labor involved. Despite the agricultural background—her family typically planted soybeans and corn—vegetable cultivation was a novel pursuit. Nevertheless, Lauren was eager to tackle the nutritional deficiency she had uncovered.

The hard work began in earnest. Not discouraged by potential obstacles, Lauren dived into research to be a seasoned vegetable cultivator and secured a grant (拨款) from the National FFA Organization to cover initial costs. Subsequently, she spent two to three hours daily watering her crops by hand through the hot Iowa summers, sandwiching this commitment between softball practices. Furthermore, she carefully tended to her garden, combating weeds and harvesting crops, with green beans proving particularly challenging.

Eventually, with assistance from her younger brothers and sisters, Lauren’s half-acre garden produced 15 varieties of vegetables. In its first year, the garden generated 40 pounds of produce, benefiting food banks, nursing homes, and soup kitchens.

Motivated by the early achievements, Lauren doubled the garden’s size. To date, she has donated over 7,000 pounds of produce, valued at approximately $15,000, commanding community respect. Her work has found a deep echo among others, notably a mother from a local shelter who was grateful for the fresh food that reminded her children of home.

Lauren’s inspiration is straightforward yet deep-seated. “I wanted to have something that would impact people,” she told KWQC. Her actions demonstrate her belief in the power of community and the joy obtained from helping others—a feeling that will undoubtedly shape her future initiatives.

When Brantley Harrison and her family rescued a tiny, injured squirrel back in October 2010, then released her back into the wild, they didn’t expect to ever see her again. Nine years later, however, little Bella, they called the squirrel Bella, still comes to visit them almost every day — as long as snacks are provided, of course.

As a baby, the terrible attack made by an owl （猫头鹰） left Bella near death, she was carefully taken in by the Greenville County, South Carolina family, and raised by them alongside three other squirrels named Larry, Curly, and Moe. Bella stayed with the Harrisons until spring 2011, at which point she had healed （痊愈） successfully thanks to a regular diet of fruit, nuts, and baby food, and was ready to jump on the trees in the forest. The sweet squirrel never goes too far from her adopted home, though, and stops by to say hello whenever she can, despite how much time has passed.

“Bella sits right at the front door waiting for someone to notice she has come by for a visit. If no one notices her, she will jump over to the dining room window to wait for someone to see her,” Brantley told The Dodo. The little lady just isn’t ready to part with the family that succored her life. Whenever she stops by, she asks for nothing more than a handful of nuts.

What is the most amazing part? A few years after Bella’s original stay at the Harrison house, she found her way back to them with an injured foot — and a belly full of babies — spending another few months of recovering. “It was truly amazing to watch the baby I raised raise her own babies,” Brantley said. Bella now even has her own Instagram page, where her human family documents her adventures, with almost 4 thousand followers!