Hey cool cats! Adam here 👋
This is my newsletter where I share cool stuff people do on the internet.
You might remember me from my CatGPT 🐈⬛ project. I created it in a single day to show that people can make fun stuff with AI, and millions of people loved it!! 😻
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As someone who builds software for healthcare organizations, I have a special place in my heart for people finding clever ways to care for others 🧡
Especially people going out of their way to help!
This week, we’re bragging about 3 “late-night do-gooders” who turned their personal side projects into lifelines for others:
A former nurse who turned her 2,000 square foot basement into a sanctuary for disabled cats 🐱
A Meta engineer whose food video went viral and saved a 30-year-old deli 🥪
A photographer whose sons’ treehouse inspired playgrounds for children displaced by war 🛝
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A former nurse who spent $17,000 turning her basement into a sanctuary for disabled cats
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Boxes? 📦
An old treadmill? 🏃
About 3 in 10 US homes have basements, but unlike many that sit unused, Sarah Carolyn turned hers into a 2,000-square-foot home for 9 disabled rescue cats 🐱. Her story is even more heartwarming 😻👇
But her plans don’t stop there.
Sarah’s sister Emily Stone-Francati (who has Down syndrome) helps care for the cats too 🧡, which helped inspire Sarah’s next idea: a standalone cat sanctuary that could employ people with disabilities, like her sister Emily!
I love it!!
Sarah and Emily… some lucky little housemates you’ve got there 👏🐾
What about you, bragger?
What's the most over-the-top thing you've ever built or customized for an animal in your life? Reply to this email and let me know!!
The Meta engineer whose “burnout project” generated 4M views… and saved a 30-year-old neighborhood deli
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Feeling disconnected from other humans, Shuayb Qureshi (a Meta engineer by day) started filming conversations with strangers around New York.
Then a user on Reddit asked him to visit Star Deli in Brooklyn: A 30-year-old, family-run Polish deli making delicious sandwiches 🥪, but struggling to keep its doors open. They only had 17 reviews! 🤯
That all changed when Shuayb came along and decided to give this deli's story the internet introduction it deserves 👇
Owner Zbigniew, known as Mr. Z, had been running Star Deli for 30 years, but the shop had very little online presence. “The situation was very bad,” he said.
Shuayb’s Star Deli videos went on to generate over 4 million views, bringing new customers through the door and helping the shop climb from 17 Google reviews to more than 250. That’s a biiiiig deal, especially because half of people won’t try a business with less than 20.
He even started a GoFundMe which has since raised $11,000 for a new freezer!
Shuayb, you’ve got me craving a cheesecake now (Mr. Z’s signature!) 😂🍰 👏
The photographer turning his sons’ treehouse idea into playgrounds for refugee kids
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When you see families fleeing war on the news, it can be hard to imagine what you could personally do to help.
Alexander Meininger, a London-based photographer, found his starting point in something he’d built for his own sons: an indoor treehouse!! 🛝🧡
His boys absolutely loved it.
But it left Alexander stuck on a question about the refugee kids on the news… where do THEY get to play together? Mostly nowhere, it turns out... even though lots of people care👇
Here’s a crazy stat: over 45 million kids around the world were forced from their homes by conflict and violence by the end of 2025, according to UNICEF. That's nearly triple the number in 2010.
Playgrounds are generally expensive to install and difficult to maintain in temporary settlements. That's why long-running camps like Aysaita in Ethiopia (open since 2007) can have 10,000 children under the age of 10, and not a single playground.
So Alexander brought together architects and engineers to create Playrise: a kit of timber pieces that can become climbing structures with ropes, nets, monkey bars, and basketball hoops 🏀 for children who lost their homes to conflict and disaster.
The play structure can even fit different spaces without permanent foundations, so when settlements move or expand, the playground can easily pack up 🧳 and travel right alongside the kids!
How smart!!
I love that Alexander took something his own kids enjoyed and thought about what it would take to give other kids that same experience.
Alex and the crew… that’s one heck of a treehouse upgrade that could help millions of kids!! 👏👏👏
Who gets your purr of approval? 🐈
What’s something you know how to do that somebody around you could use a little help with? 🔨📱
Maybe you’re good at fixing things, or maybe making videos. Or figuring out why something is so frustrating to use! That skill might feel ordinary to you, but those skills can do a surprising amount of good for someone else 🧡
Like Sarah, who took her nursing background and built a home sanctuary for special-needs cats 🐈.
Or Shuayb, who used a camera 📸 and some video editing skills to save a 30-year-old neighborhood deli from going out of business.
And Alexander, who took something he loved making for his own kids (a treehouse!) and helped adapt the idea for other kids living in refugee camps 🛝
So what's yours, bragger?
How can you use something you’re good at to care for somebody this weekend? Reply to this email and tell me!!
 Adam Bragg |
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 Bragging about cool stuff humans are doing on the internet. |