Americana Facts

In August 1923, a 2-year-old Scotch Collie named Bobbie was separated from his family during a road trip through Wolcott, Indiana - 2,551 miles from home. Six months later, on February 15, 1924, he turned up at his family's door in Silverton, Oregon: gaunt, paws bloody, claws worn to nothing. He had crossed the Continental Divide alone, in winter. He came home.

25,000 grocery workers walked off the job to save the CEO their board had just fired. No union. No pay. No budging. Market Basket's board sacked Arthur T. Demoulas for paying workers too well. 71 stores emptied. Sales crashed 95% in six weeks. Customers drove past Market Basket to shop at competitors. The board folded and Arthur T. bought the company back for $1.5 billion.

Diane Hendricks handcrafted a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband Bill - a Marine Corps Reserve major in Los Angeles - to find an organization that could give it to a child in need. No such organization existed. So he started one. By Christmas, his Marine unit had collected 5,000 toys. Toys for Tots has since delivered over 708 million toys to 314 million children.