This Fifth Grader Won a Gubernatorial Race

Hey there, welcome. I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. My name is Krista Bopilanco, and this is CNN 5 Good Things. I didn't think that I could have this much power. Just... as a fifth grader. Meet Nebraska's first kid governor and her platform will make your heart melt. Then we go down under to unpack the letters in a bottle written over a century ago that were just found by beachcombers in Western Australia.

My husband and I said to each other, it's like a movie. It's like, this is crazy. Later on, hear the heartwarming history behind the nation's favourite Christmas tree. Christmas is really special to us and our family. It's our favourite time of the year.

And I'm just really excited that we get to share our family tree with the world. Plus, the clock is ticking to vote for your favorite do-gooders to be this year's CNN Hero of the Year. When we come back, if you think you know how turkeys spend November, wait till you hear about this one.

This is a real good story about Bronx and his dad Ryan, real United Airlines customers. We were returning home and one of the flight attendants asked Bronx if he wanted to see the flight deck and meet Captain Andrew. I got to sit in the driver's seat.

I grew up in an aviation family, and seeing Bronx kind of reminded me of myself when I was that age. That's Andrew, a real United pilot. These small interactions can shape a kid's future. It felt like I was the captain. Allowing my son to see the flight deck will stick with us forever. That's how good leads the way.

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This time of year, it's not the best time to be a turkey, but New York City has one who's living her best life. Meet Astoria. She's the only wild turkey living in Manhattan, strutting through the battery like a feathery Carrie Bradshaw, except she likes unsalted peanuts instead of Cosmos. She arrived earlier this year after a long stay on Roosevelt Island and a chaotic stopover in Midtown.

The first time I saw her sitting on that balcony in the East 50s on Sutton Place, oh my God, I fell in love right away. Her biggest fan is local birder Stella Hamilton, who spends hours a day with her. The pair now has a daily routine. Stella shows up at the Southern Manhattan Park around 3 p.m., shoes away off-leash dogs, gently corrects the people who try to pet or grab her, and occasionally feeds Astoria her favorite snacks.

I say occasionally because park officials don't want people to be doing that. And then her personality. I mean, she's really very sweet and she's like bronze and gold and with a touch of red and green. She's very pretty. Battery Parks manager Sean Keeley says she pulls her weight around, too. I was like, wow, we have a new weeder in the park, you know, and help us get rid of the actual weeds and left the flowers alone. And I thought that was pretty amazing.

And while the turkey dating scene in Lower Manhattan is pretty bleak, Stella feels Astoria is here to stay. I think she's really found her home. I am proud of her, yeah. I mean, this girl, I mean, she's just...

I don't even know how she survived traffic in Manhattan, for God's sakes. My name is Charlie and I want to be Nebraska's kid governor. I believe in everyone having a good life in this state and I want to help raise awareness for cancer. Charlie Couch is a fifth grader at Meadows Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska.

And she was just elected by her peers statewide to be the state's first ever kid governor with a heartwarming platform. So vote for Charlie for kid governor, and we will make an impact in and around cancer. I was speechless, and trust me, that doesn't happen very often. I mean, proud was definitely an understatement. I think she ran on a great platform, had great support of our kids here at school.

Charlie's teacher, Ben Billisbach, says he wasn't surprised. Just over 600 fifth graders from around Nebraska voted in the election. The other six finalists for Kid Governor will become part of Charlie's cabinet for her one-year term, which starts on January 13th. And really, they're all working on helping Charlie instill her platform.

of cancer awareness throughout Nebraska and the schools. I know the other six cabinet members get to work on a little bit of their own individual platforms too that they ran on, but I think a lot of them are there to help Charlie as a governor, just how a governor's cabinet would. The Nebraska Kid Governor Program is designed to teach fifth graders about state government, voting, and community leadership. Connecticut, Oklahoma, Oregon, Vermont, and New Hampshire also participate.

Charlie will get sworn in at Nebraska State Capitol by Senator Merv Reepy. And then she'll get started on her agenda to support families facing cancer. We can host fundraisers to raise money. for treatment. We can meet with doctors, nurses, and patient families to let them know about helpful programs. And she says she's looking forward to it all. I didn't think

that I could have this much power just as a fifth grader. Seeing her take that risk, doing something new, doing something that's going to reach so many kids, so many people in Nebraska is going to be awesome to see.

Over a century ago, two Australian soldiers sailing to fight in World War I tossed a bottle overboard with letters tucked inside. Last month, those messages in a bottle finally surfaced on a beach in Western Australia. I still sometimes pinch myself after all this time that that bottle has been waiting for somebody to find it for 109 years. Deb Brown and her family have been going to Wharton Beach for over 40 years.

They love it so much, they often go on trash cleaning expeditions. Back in October, Deb says her daughter found quite the treasure. And she found this dear little glass bottle, right... On the shoreline, she picked it up and realized straight away she knew that there was a message in the bottle, which we've always wondered about being beachcombers, but never had come across anything like it. Deb believes the bottle never drifted far.

She thinks it was buried in the sand dunes until recent storm swells unearthed it. Though the paper was wet, both letters, dated August 15, 1916, were still legible. The first came from Private Malcolm Alexander Neville. a 27-year-old from South Australia. Now, the letter to his mother said, Dear Mother, having a real good time. Food is real good so far, with the exception of one meal which we buried at sea.

The dear old Ballarat, which is the name of the ship, is heaving and rolling, but we are as happy as Larry, your loving son, Malcolm. Australian war records show Malcolm was killed in action almost eight months after writing that letter. But his message finally reached his family. Someone needed to have that letter. It was really important. And if it was my family, I would want to know about it.

Deb eventually got in touch with Malcolm's great-nephew, Herbie Neville, who said his family has been brought closer together by the discovery he called unbelievable. The second letter was written by a 37-year-old soldier named William Kirk Harley. His message was short and it had more water damage, but it was just as hopeful. May the finder of this letter be as well as we are at present.

hoping to get back to the sunny south as soon as this business is over so once again he was in high spirits and thankfully William survived the war and came home. He married his childhood sweetheart and they had two daughters. So we have direct descendants because his granddaughters, who are my age, are still with us. So that was wonderful to be able to give them their letter as well.

William's granddaughter, Anne Turner, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp it feels like he had reached out to them from the grave. My husband and I said to each other, it's like a movie. It's like, makes your heart happy.

Next Wednesday, December 3rd, is not only my husband's birthday. Shout out, babe. It's when the iconic Rockefeller Center Christmas tree will be lit in a ceremony that's taken place every year since 1933. CNN affiliate WRGV captured when the magnificent 75-foot Norway spruce was cut down earlier this month in East Greenbush, New York, which is about 140 miles north of Manhattan.

My son and I went to visit the tree last year and that kind of got the wheels turning that maybe we have something big here. The tree grew for more than 60 years on the Russ family's property. And Judy Russ donated it in honor of her late husband, Dan.

She told NBC that they always talked about it being the Christmas tree. Edward Doran and Maddie Mae Doran planted the tree sometime around 75 years ago, and my son is the fifth generation to now live in the house, so it's just nice that our family tree gets to become the world's Christmas tree. Her seven-year-old son Liam told NBC he's excited the whole world can see it now. And when the holiday season ends, the tree gets a second life.

Rockefeller Center says the lumber will be donated to Habitat for Humanity, where it'll be milled into beams and used to build homes across the country. It's really exciting knowing that Habitat for Humanity is going to get the wood after. Next family gets to build a home and make their own Christmas traditions and holiday traditions just like we did here.

Meet the top five CNN heroes so you can vote for this year's CNN Hero of the Year. But before we take a quick break, we'd love for you, our lovely listeners, to give us a call and tell us what some of your favorite stories were that we covered this year. One that got the happy tears flowing maybe, or maybe it made you feel hopeful about the future, or just made you laugh or smile. Let us know. The number is 404-981-2293. We'll be right back.

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Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Wow. That is fantastic news. Thank you. I'm incredibly excited. That's, wow, we're going to New York for, okay. So I'm just trying to get my, okay, so this is for real now. I'm so excited. I really didn't know if this was going to happen. I'm speechless. I do. I definitely accept. I'm so, so, so excited. Those are the moments some incredible changemakers heard the news that they're in the running to be named the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year.

They're the top five CNN heroes, and they all get prize money to continue their inspiring missions. But there can only be one CNN Hero of the Year, and you have a say in who that is. Let's meet them, shall we? First up is Tim Woodward. from Gallantin, Tennessee. He co-founded Animal Rescue Corps in 2011. The group swoops in with law enforcement to save cats, dogs, and other animals living in horrific conditions.

and they give them the TLC they need to heal. We've rescued well over 10,000 animals. The change in the animals is always remarkable. They come out of situations where they have no trust. And then over time, slowly, with time and attention, they begin to literally blossom. In Indiana, Deborah DeVines is changing the lives of people who are incarcerated with a pen and a notebook.

My goal with Indiana Prison Writers Workshop is to create a sacred space where they can come in from their structure and let their shoulders down and just... write and just talk and just get out all of that frustration you know chances are they're going to get out one day they meaning the prisoner and why not equip them with skills that can help them have an easier or better transition out

On the other side of the country, Hillary Cohen saw something on Hollywood's sets she couldn't ignore. Trays of untouched food heading for the trash. No one in America should be hungry because we have enough means to feed people. We're just not... being responsible logistically with what we do with our waste. So she co-founded Everyday Action, organizing crews to collect that extra food from TV and film productions and deliver it to people facing hunger in Los Angeles.

Since 2020, they've rerouted well over a quarter million meals. Staying in California when wildfires raged a few years ago, Heidi Carman noticed how much comfort firefighters found in her therapy dog, Kareth. Good girl, Kareth. Oh, that's cute. Good girl. Cortisol levels go down when you're petting a dog. The endorphin levels go up. I can feel that goodness just coming up the leash. And it's just such a simple thing, but it's just so powerful.

That's what inspired First Responder Therapy Dogs, a nationwide network of hundreds of trained dog and handler teams that visit fire stations, dispatch centers, and disaster zones, supporting more than 150,000 first responders dealing with stress and trauma. And in Chicago, Keelan Blackwell is making empty inner-city lots bloom with eco-friendly flower farms. And he employs 25 young people to grow, arrange, and sell the flowers through his non-profit shop, Southside Blooms.

This is about creating real and tangible opportunity in a place that desperately needs it. One of these five will be named CNN Hero of the Year and receive $100,000 to keep their work going. You can learn more about them and vote for your favorites at cnn.com slash heroes. I know it'll be hard to choose one, but luckily you don't have to. You get 10 votes total each day, but hurry, voting ends tomorrow night, Sunday, November 30th.

The link is in our show notes. To find out who will be named Hero of the Year, watch the 19th annual CNN Heroes and All-Star Tribute, hosted by Anderson Cooper and Laura Coates, airing on Saturday, December 6th at 8 p.m. Eastern.

All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing wherever you get your podcasts. It's all about next week's draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Washington, D.C. Have a good day. Take care. Till next time.

Now streaming on CNN, candid conversations between Hollywood's hottest actors. New episodes of Variety's acclaimed series, Actors on Actors, premiere exclusively on CNN. Go to cnn.com slash watch to subscribe or log in with your TV provider. This week on The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish. Over the last year, we've seen plenty of stories about the resurgence of religion in America.

While some people are returning to religion, others are moving in the opposite direction towards modern witchcraft and paganism. And across all of these spaces, the pattern is the same. People are overwhelmed, institutions feel shaky, and there's this growing desire for something more grounding, ancient, or frankly, something just more meaningful than what they've had before. Listen to The Assignment with me, Audie Cornish, streaming now on your favorite podcast app.