Each Monday, we focus on good news headlines from our community. We’ve followed that tradition for many, many years for one simple reason — our community is by and large filled with much more good than bad.

The community critics poke fun at the practice from time to time, but not paying more attention to the great things that happen here is to miss one of the best parts of living in the Natchez and Vidalia area.

A great example of that occurred last week in our community — literally out of the ashes of a family’s tragedy.

Janis and Carl Norris lost their house and all of its contents last week to a fire.

Like many fire victims, the fire was devastating to the family. From the family’s life savings to the family pets and countless memories, everything was destroyed.

A kind donation from an anonymous donor provided the biggest, most immediate need the couple had — a house. This anonymous Good Samaritan said, simply, the house had been a gift to him so he wanted to pass along the gift to someone else in need.

Amazing generosity abounds in our community; it’s all around us, but sometimes it stands out among the myriad of bad news to truly shine brightly.

We applaud the kind stranger and hope his gift encourages others to remember to step up and help others in need.