A good restaurant owner knows that it takes the entire team to ensure success. From the head chef creating the menu to the front of the house that cleans the floors, everyone plays an important part. With that in mind, The Standard Restaurant in Toledo, Ohio decided to treat the entire staff of over 60 people to a Caribbean cruise. 

During the first week of January 2026, The Standard closed its doors so its workers could get on a flight and enjoy a three-day Royal Caribbean cruise to the Bahamas. The whole staff from cooks to servers enjoyed karaoke, basketball, the beach, scavenger hunts, and delicious group dinners. 

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Chef Jeff Dinnebeil and manager Megan Lingsweiler, the husband and wife owners of the restaurant, also provided holiday bonuses and ensured no lost wages so the employees could relax while they were away.

For many employees of The Standard, this was the first time they’d ever had such a vacation.

“At first, I was nervous because I’ve never been on a cruise. I’ve never been in a plane. I’ve never been anywhere, so it took me a minute,” cook Andrew “Duke” Jackson told The Toledo Blade. “I had never been in the ocean before, so that was the first for me. Chef kind of made me get in there. But once I got in there, it was everything.”

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“It was just such a unique experience getting to see 60 of your co-workers around the boat,” said server Allison Latta. “And some of these people, it was their first time flying, and it was their first time seeing the ocean.”

The Standard’s high standards for work and play

The Standard touts itself as an American bistro that serves meals during dinner hours. The food and service contribute to the dozens of positive Yelp reviews from Toledo residents. The owners are happy that the customers are happy, but wondered what they could do to make their employees happy, too.

Grateful for their work, Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler wondered how to best thank their staff. When their family went on a cruise themselves, inspiration struck.

“We made that decision on January first of 2025, on a boat that we were on with our kids. We followed through with it, and it was the best thing we’ve ever done,” said Dinnebeil. “Our staff is everything—they’re the blood, life, and the heart of that restaurant.”

“This is what we live for,” said Lingsweiler. “We live to experience and to enjoy, and there’s no greater people than the ones that are working for us.”

The staff was excited for the trip, but ultimately appreciative for the camaraderie and support that their employers gave them. Treating them as valued members of a team and as cared-for individuals motivated them to continue working at their best for The Standard.

“Everybody went on there as employees, and, when we left and went back home, everybody was like family,” concluded Jackson.

Other ‘boss lottery’ wins

There are other employers like Dinnebeil and Lingsweiler who acknowledge their employees with generosity. The owner of a Chik-Fil-A restaurant in Pittsburgh gave employees expensive Christmas gifts ranging from a week’s worth of salary to a Toyota RAV4 car. The owner of a Baltimore commercial real estate company gave out $10 million in bonuses to his 198 employees. After his family-owned business in Louisiana was sold for $1.7 billion, the owner gave all 540 full-time employees an average of $443,000 per worker.

It goes to show good bosses knows that success and cooperation are at their best when each employee is shown gratitude and shares in the rewards.

A single door can open up a world of endless possibilities. For homeowners, the front door of their house is a  gateway to financial stability, job security, and better health. Yet for many, that door remains closed. Due to the rising costs of housing, 1 in 3 people around the world wake up without the security of safe, affordable housing. 

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has made it their mission to unlock and open the door to opportunity for families everywhere, and their efforts have paid off in a big way. Through their work over the past 50 years, more than 65 million people have gained access to new or improved housing, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Since 2011 alone, Habitat for Humanity has expanded access to affordable housing by a hundredfold. 

A world where everyone has access to a decent home is becoming a reality, but there’s still much to do. As they celebrate 50 years of building, Habitat for Humanity is inviting people of all backgrounds and talents to be part of what comes next through Let’s Open the Door, a global campaign that builds on this momentum and encourages people everywhere to help expand access to safe, affordable housing for those who need it most. Here’s how the foundation to a better world starts with housing, and how everyone can pitch in to make it happen. 

Globally, almost 3 billion people, including 1 in 6 U.S. families, struggle with high costs and other challenges related to housing. A crisis in itself, this also creates larger problems that affect families and communities in unexpected ways. People who lack affordable, stable housing are also more likely to experience financial hardship in other areas of their lives, since a larger share of their income often goes toward rent, utilities, and frequent moves. They are also more likely to experience health problems due to chronic stress or environmental factors, such as mold. Housing insecurity also goes hand-in-hand with unstable employment, since people may need to move further from their jobs or switch jobs altogether to offset the cost of housing. 

Affordable homeownership creates a stable foundation for families to thrive, reducing stress and increasing the likelihood for good health and stable employment. Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes with individual families, but it also strengthens entire communities as well. The MicroBuild® Initiative, for example, strengthens communities by increasing access to  loans for low-income families seeking to build or repair their homes. Habitat ReStore locations provide affordable appliances and building materials to local communities, in addition to creating job and volunteer opportunities that support neighborhood growth. 

Everyone can play a part in the fight for housing equity and the pursuit of a better world. Over the past 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has become a leader in global housing thanks to an engaged network of volunteers—but you don’t need to be skilled with a hammer to make a meaningful impact. Building an equitable future means calling on a wide range of people and talents.Here’s how you can get involved in the global housing movement:

Speaking up on social media about the growing housing crisis 

Volunteering on a Habitat for Humanity build in your local community

Travel and build with Habitat in the U.S. or  in one of 60   countries where we work around the globe

Join the Let’s Open the Door movement and, when you donate, you can create your own personalized door 

Shop or donate at your local Habitat ReStore

Every action, big and small, drives a global movement toward a better future. A safe home unlocks opportunity for families and communities alike, but it’s volunteers and other supporters, working together with a shared vision, who can open the door for everyone. 

Visit habitat.org/open-door to learn more and get involved today. 

Football is a dangerous sport. From ACL tears to concussions, athletes risk it all from the moment they step foot on the field. An NFL career without at least one catastrophic injury is a rare exception.

Watching it at home, however, is supposed to be relatively safe. One man’s story proves that isn’t always the case, especially when fans get a little over excited by a generational folly.

Kicker’s flub causes fan to laugh way too hard

Mark Toothaker of Kentucky was watching a game from the comfort of his home last season. The New York Giants were taking on the New England Patriots, and Giants’ kicker Younghoe Koo was lining up for a routine field goal.

In inexplicable fashion, Koo missed. He didn’t just miss the field goal uprights, he missed the ball entirely, with the toes of his right foot slamming into the ground several inches away from the ball’s laces.

Koo has been a good kicker throughout his career, but this was one of the worst misses of all time. Few analysts had seen anything like it before. The broadcasters were besides themselves. Unfortunately for Koo, the slow-motion, close-up videos of his blunder quickly became viral meme fodder.

Toothaker was right there watching along with everyone else, but he didn’t get to enjoy the moment for long. He was laughing so hard after watching and rewatching the replay that he suddenly collapsed.

“I’ve never felt anything like this in my life,” Toothaker told the AP. “I felt like I got electrocuted.”

Toothaker had suffered a seizure. Further testing showed a surprising result.

Toothaker’s wife, Malory, called paramedics and an ambulance quickly got him to the hospital. Doctors determined he had had a seizure—his first—but that’s not all.

CT imaging revealed a large tumor on Toothaker’s brain: the source of the seizure. He’d suffered no symptoms at all until his intense laughter preceded the intense seizure.

Seizures can have all kinds of fascinating triggers, including music, being startled, or even laughter. Some specific forms of epilepsy have precise triggers like a certain body part being touched or having your natural stride broken by someone stepping in front of you.

It’s impossible to say if the laughter from Koo’s viral miss caused the seizure, but don’t tell that to Toothaker:

“I........

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