Listen To This Story
As the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted people’s lives, it’s hard to find positive news these days, but one Lincoln man wants to change that.
Sixty-four year old Nebraskan Kim Bate lost his sister and twin brother to pancreatic cancer in 2016 and 2018. Then, he found himself battling the same disease, but beating it into remission for over a year now. Since then, Bate said he started reflecting.
“I just really tried to take a look around more at the world around me and to be quite honest, I thought, it was difficult to find good news," he said.
In late August, Bate realized how lucky he was to be alive after celebrating his older brother’s birthday, who committed suicide 20 years ago. Bate said he knew he had to do something about the lack of positive news in the world.
“I just sat down and said, ‘There's got to be a way to get good news out to people," he said. "And I thought, this is a good way to do it, let's develop a platform that lets people get involved."
Bate launched Positive News, a website that allows people from around the world to submit positive or inspiring stories they’ve reported or found online. Bate also encourages people to submit their own personal good news.
“I'm trying to find a good use of the time that I have left," he said. "But I also want to do it in a way that it might give somebody else a few minutes each day, away from the ugliness and the news in the world that's not very positive.”
Positive News is run by a small editorial team that consists of Bate and his son, Patrick. Bate says he knows there will be challenges running the website, but he just wants to keep the ball rolling while he still can.