Global News Podcast - The Happy Pod: Love, cake, and a long-lost mother

Episode Date: October 11, 2025

We hear how a man's search for his birth mother ended in an unexpected but familiar place - his favourite local bakery. Vamarr Hunter was shocked to discover that the bakery's owner, whose company and motherly advice he'd enjoyed for years, was the woman who'd given him up for adoption when she was 17. Lenore Lindsey says being reunited has made her a warmer person and it feels like they were never separated.Also: The international football star who cycles to work, uses public transport and wears second-hand clothes. Héctor Bellerín, who plays for Real Betis in Spain, uses his profile to champion greener choices - arguing that with power comes responsibility.Green turtles have recovered from the brink of extinction, in what scientists are describing as a major conservation victory. They've been classed as endangered since the 1980s but their numbers are bouncing back.The winner of one of the world's most prestigious prizes describes how he initially thought his wife was playing a joke on him. Fred Ramsdell missed the official announcement that he'd been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine because he was on a hiking trip.Plus the cafe that's providing work as well as food for the homeless, and a kind stranger who drove hundreds of miles just to return someone's lost bag.Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world. (Photo credit: Lenore Lindsey)

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It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and in this edition, how one man's search for his birth mother

let him back to someone he already knew. It's like I automatically knew him. I felt like I hadn't been separated from him. She was already a lady that I respected, and I felt like the conversation was always like that of a mother figure. Also, with power comes responsibility, and hopefully, you know, with this platform, we can become stronger, you know, and be able to change all these things that truly can be changed. The international football star who cycles to work and wears secondhand clothes. Green turtles have bounced back from the brink of extinction.

It just tells this great story of how people across the planet can come together to turn things around, and that is amazing. Plus, why the man who won one of the world's most prestigious awards initially thought his wife was joking. She started screaming, my God, my God, and she said, you won the Nobel Prize. And I said, I did not win the Nobel Prize. She said, I have 200 text messages that said you won the Nobel Prize. Well, first, we start with an incredible story about separation, love, and cake. Vermar Hunter loved to visit the Gimme Some Sugar Bakery in his home neighborhood in Chicago, enjoying the cakes, pies, and cookies, but also the warm company of the owner, Lenore Lindsay.

Vermar had a tough time growing up and only discovered he was adopted when he was in his 30s. Years later, he decided to look for his birth mother. A genealogy expert tracked her down and told him to expect to call. When his phone rang, it was the bakery, and his birth mother was none other than Lenore. Mabin Azar spoke to them about the moment they discovered their unbelievable connection. So I called in, he said, Miss Lenore. And I said, yeah. He said, give me some sugar, Miss Lenore?

I said, yeah. And he said, it's Vermar. For Mar Hunter. So hold on, so straight away, he knew you with the woman in the bakery. He knew because he had my number in his cell phone. And I called him from the bakery phone because I wasn't exactly sure who he was. So he wouldn't have my real number. It took a second for me to put it together.

I knew I was calling my son. Okay, he didn't know. But he didn't know who was calling him. So therefore, when giving me some sugar popped up, he's just thinking, why did you give me some sugar? calling me right when I'm waiting for a call from my mother right how did the conversation progress how what what did you actually tell him we didn't say anything we just realized the minute I'm hearing his voice and he tells me who he is then I knew oh my goodness he'd been coming in all this time and this was my son and they were just like clicked in my spirit and I knew it was real and that this was true

so we're just like crying and screaming on the phone and we just ah ah for a like five minutes or something like that, and this was unbelievable because the complete miracle of it. She was already a lady that I respected, and I felt like the conversation was always like that of a mother figure. Like, you know, she'd be like, so when are you going to get married? He had a play house and, you know, like that. So that's, that was always the interaction. The next step was to organize a meetup. You know, his other, his family was going to want to meet me. and everything and some of his friends. And so we actually had a big meeting at the church.

That was a pretty exciting day. Were you nervous? No. I mean, I know you. She actually fit in with my circle and how I move amongst people anyway. So it was really, for me, it was kind of like after we had that conversation, it's like I automatically knew him. I felt like I hadn't been separated from him, which is really what my friends.

and families say they kind of go, you just like went zoop and connected and being around him more. He is like so much us, it's crazy. He is just like my family without having been around my family. And that's what's so absolutely cool. Lennon, would you say the reunion has changed you in some way? Yeah, it's made me a lot more open. It's made me, I think I'm more emotional now. this made me more motherly, yes, toward Rachel, too.

It's a weird thing. It's like almost like now I'm free to be a mom, sort of, where before I had to lock that down from, so it's like from the time I was 17, you know, that was on lockdown. And you didn't have those kind of emotions. And you had to get through your life. And my job was to march through life. So, yeah, I was feeling things in a lot different ways. So now, you know, Rachel and I will be on the phone for three or four hours at a time.

I can't even describe it. It's just how much warmer I am and how much more, you know, attentive I am to her life. I'm just, I'm a mess, you know, mostly these days about both of them. Yeah, I think she's awesome as a mother. Like, at this stage of life, I view things a lot. differently than somebody who probably has had their mother for the entirety of their life. At my age, you've had your parents in your life long enough to say, you get on my nerves. I'm sick of y'all.

I don't feel like it, you know, whatever. But of course, they still love their parents, but there's that level of you take them for granted. And for me, there's none of that. It's like, man, you know, I'm eager to learn more about her. I love everything about my mom, you know. I love a sincerity or humor, you know, a word. ethic. But it's fun to talk about our differences because we're both at a stage where we can do it in a healthy manner and a respectful manner. And we have ears open because

we both want to hear. I want to know what you're thinking. You know, she wanted to hear, know what I'm thinking. It's like, there's that curiosity. And it's been awesome, you know. Vermar Hunter and Lenore Lindsay. And you can hear more from them on Lives Less Ordinary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now, around the world, the top players in men's football are associated with luxury lifestyles, Rolexes and all of that. But one player is determined to do his part to change that image, opting instead to cycle to work, use public transport, and wear secondhand clothes.

Ector Bellarine, who plays for the Seville team Real Betis in Spain's La Liga, is passionate about trying to live a more sustainable life, something he shares with his 3.7 million followers on social media. He's just been named global champion at the BBC Green Sport Awards, and he's been speaking to the BBC's Elizabeth Conway. Well, I feel with power comes responsibility, you know, I think it's some sort of duty for the people that we have these kind of platforms and not just on social media, but like just football itself. Every time they put a microphone next to you, there's always a chance to talk about issues.

For me, sustainability has something, it is something that has touched me pretty close since I was pretty young. I'm a kid that has grown up in nature, in the sea, in the mountains. Football has brought me to many different cities and to question the way I and we consume, we move around, we eat.

There's so many decisions that I feel that I could take and I could promote these messages to just try to generate and promote a better life and a safer space for everyone, you know. So when we talk about what you do on a daily basis where you make more sustainable choices, can you give us some examples of things you do daily which other people perhaps wouldn't that you try to encourage? The first one, which for me is the most important, and it's not something that happens every day, but it's something that we all must do, which,

vote. For me, that is the number one way that we can all change. There's always governments that are more willing to take in projects and laws in favour of a greener planet. And when we talk about our day-to-day lives, I always feel that there's is important to take time to really think every time we consume and where from. I think we're bombarded constantly. with like ads and publicity making you feel the need that you need to buy something that was probably something that two days ago you didn't even think about I've been consuming secondhand clothes and shoes for a really long time

but I remember there was a time that I saw these shoes it took me six months to buy them and I wear those shoes almost all the time and that's just a way of not just questioning before you consume but once you consume a good make sure that you use it, make sure you give it a good life and when you never you don't need it anymore for whatever reason make sure that another life is given to that product and we also hear that you don't often take the car and when you can

you would cycle to train it and yeah the heat here is like pretty overwhelming at times but I move around walking all by bike around the city I also take the bus quite a lot here in the city I know it will be easy how many times to just ring a cab you know i'm very privileged i know i have the the chance to do it but i feel that's the way it should be and i know sometimes i need to plan my journey the day before and sometimes it's a bit more uncomfortable to be honest most of those decisions are a bit more uncomfortable but if you have the chance of making them and you have the time i feel the more demand there is on it as well

the better the public transport would be and i think it's the right thing to do you know we need greener cities with less cars and it's a joy when you just walk down the street and the air is cleaner the streets are for everyone and they're for us to enjoy and we need to also ask for cities that everyone can enjoy

and I think that in itself creates more community Is it difficult to have your opinions on the fact that football needs to be more sustainable when things like the World Cup happening this summer are across three different countries with more countries than ever, so much air travel. Is that a difficult conflict for you? Well, definitely it is.

I'm not the one that makes the choices over here. I've come to the realisation with time that just because football works that way, I'm not going to stop doing what I've worked for and what I love. I'm very conscious of how the football industry works but I'm just a football player and I don't even think that I can change anything

but I can raise my voice and hopefully with this platform that we have we can become stronger and be able to change all these things that truly can be changed. Ector Bellarine now to a major conservation victory green turtles have been rescued from the brink of extinction

They were once hunted extensively for their meat, eggs and decorative shells and had been listed as endangered since the 1980s. But thanks to decades of global efforts, green turtle populations are now rebounding. The Happy Pod's Harry Bly asked our science correspondent Helen Briggs just how significant this is. The red list of endangered species is updated regularly and more and more species are added to the list all the time. and generally it's bad news, things going from bad to worse.

So it is quite remarkable to get a story like this where numbers are rebounding. But a long history of exploitation, a massive conservation effort across the world over five decades to protect the green turtle and news that it's been downgraded on the red list to have least concern, as Dr Nicholas Pilcher of the Marine Research Foundation based in Sabah, Malaysia explains. It just tells this great story of how people across the planet can come together to turn things around and turn the negative trajectory of turtles into a positive one. And that is amazing. It really is. We've got to be careful, though, because while this is a great story, there are other species that aren't faring anywhere near as well. Let's use this win as a catalyst to achieve numerous other wins. Helen, tell us more about how this was achieved.

Lots of things. So working across the whole life cycle of the sea turtle, if you like, of the green turtle. On land, it was about protecting the beaches where the females lay their eggs. So patrolling the beaches, protecting the females, protecting the eggs, releasing the hatchlings out into the ocean. At sea, sea turtles tend to get accidentally caught in fishing nets. So it's developing technology to try and help them. something called a turtle excluded device

which is sort of like an escape hatch that's added to a net so that if a turtle gets stuck in the net it can find its way out an education and public awareness that these animals are endangered working with local communities to protect them.

So a massive effort across the world involving huge numbers of both conservation scientists but crucially local people and the general public and this work has to go on as well. So even though numbers are rebounding, they have to keep doing this conservation work to protect the green turtle. So presumably some of these methods that have helped green turtles,

you've mentioned there, the turtle escape hatch, will also be good for other animals which are endangered or under threat. That's right, yes. So a lot of work on stopping fishing nets, catching accidentally species that shouldn't be there. And it's a lot of work. And it's a lot of work on stopping fishing nets, and it's about protecting a whole ocean habitat and whole ecosystems really. So by protecting some of these species that grab the line light like sea turtles, because they are incredibly charismatic, you can also protect whole areas of ocean and lesser-known species that perhaps don't get as much attention as Dr Pilcher here explains. You can't deny that green sea turtles have everything going for them.

The little baby hatchlings are some of the cutest things on the planet. And so what happens with species that aren't quite that majestic? Well, one of the things I think is that sea turtles can actually bridge that divide. There's a whole bunch of seahorse species, for instance, growing in seagrass beds where sea turtles feed. and if we protect sea turtles, that means we have to protect seagrass beds, which means indirectly we're protecting those less charismatic seahorses. We need to step up and we need to recognise that it's all species on the planet that require protection. It's not about just the pretty ones.

The scientists, they sort of tell me their lessons from this. It's about celebrating this win, but using it to get. galvanise support for conservation, inspiring people to make a difference and inspiring people to love the oceans. Because despite all of the depressing stories we hear about species sliding to extinction, we can all do little things that can make a difference. Harry Bly, speaking with Helen Briggs. Coming up in this podcast, the cafe that's helping homeless people with jobs as well as meals. What a great community. You're feeling welcomed and everybody loves you. I mean, truly, they welcome you and trust you. Massively uplifting.

But what's happening in America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redmond in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. It's been the week of Nobel Prizes, recognizing some of the amazing discoveries that are improving lives around the world.

And in medicine, the prize went to three scientists for their discoveries that explain how our immune systems attack hostile infections, but not our body's own cells. The work of Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and U.S. researchers Mary Brunco and Fred Remstel is being used to develop new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer. But while the rest of the world learned who won the award on Monday, Dr. Ramzell didn't hear the news for a while. as he explained over the phone while on the road to my colleague Tim Franks. My wife and I and my two dogs often take a long, extended camping, backpacking trip right after Labor Day.

And we did so this year. And we were in the high country in western Wyoming, a little bit east of Yellowstone National Park, up pretty high in the mountains. So there's no service of any kind up there. So I stick my phone in airplane mode. and we had a bunch of snow, but we managed to get out. It was our last day of the trip, actually, and we drove through Yellowstone looking at elk and moose and all sorts of other things. And then as we got out of the mountains, my wife's phone essentially exploded while I was walking in my gods. And she started screaming, my God, my God, and we're actually in grizzly bear country at this point. And so I started looking around for a grizzly bear, which was not the problem. And she said, you won the Nobel Prize.

and I said, I did not win the Nobel Prize. And she said, I have 200 text messages that said you won the Nobel Prize. And so we still weren't in cell communication space. So actually, we had drove down to a small town in Southern Montana, which is where we were headed anyway. And I went to the front desk of a hotel and said, I need to check in like now. So I get service, which is what I did.

By then it was probably 3 o'clock in the afternoon here. I called the Nobel Committee. Of course, they were in bed because it was. probably 1 o'clock in the morning there. So then I started calling my fellow laureate and good friends and started returning phone calls, et cetera. So it was an interesting day. My goodness me, an interesting day is a wonderful understatement.

I just wonder, I mean, so many questions spring to mind, I just wonder whether, I mean, first off, whether it's the sort of trick that you might imagine that your wife would play on you. She couldn't be that cruel. No, she couldn't. And my first thought was, okay, I have a lot of friends, but they're not coordinated enough to pull.

off this joke. Not with that many of them at the same time. So I knew it wasn't a joke. And I knew it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility, but I certainly didn't expect a Nobel Prize at this point. Well, I mean, just enormous congratulations. And I presume that your drive to where you managed to get a signal or Wi-Fi must have been one with hands shaking. But now that you've had a little bit of time, I mean, you've probably had zero sleep, but now that you've had a little time to digest. I mean, your reaction to the news itself. It's obviously amazing. I was actually doing a television interview and the person came on before he went on. I said, you're smiling. And I said, how could I not be smiling right now?

It's fantastic. Beyond the personal recognition, which is great, but the team, I've been in constant contact with the team, those involved in us. And, you know, they're over the moon excited. I love the fact that my two co-loriates are being honored because they're both incredibly deserving. You could argue people who should be on this list. I'm not going to quibble with the Nobel Committee on any of that. But it's great to have the work recognized and to really highlight what can take decades to come to fruition with some perseverance and some luck and really just some really hard work. And so it's just incredibly gratifying to me to see the work and the field get the recognition that it really deserves.

Tim Frank's speaking with the Nobel Honorary Fred Ramstill, and you can find out more about his research and that of all of the Nobel Prize winners on the BBC News website. A central London project set up as an emergency response to those left homeless on the streets during the early stages of the COVID pandemic has just celebrated its fifth anniversary. It now serves up to 90 in a pop-up restaurant inside a church hall, supported by prestigious hotels and private members clubs

in the city's wealthy Mayfair district. The project also runs a cafe that's open to the general public and it's staffed by homeless people and others trying to get back into work. Bernadette Keough went along to find out more. In the grounds of a Mayfair church, a large crowd of supporters gathered to celebrate the milestone,

as well as to witness the launch of a new community vegetable growing project. It's the latest development in a much more humble, original outreach initiative. So I'm Father Dominic Robinson. I'm the parish priest here at Farm Street and I run also the Central London Catholic Church's homeless services which we started five years ago in Trafalgar Square at the time when everywhere was being closed down because of the pandemic. There were about 200 to 300 people left on the streets and we provided food for them.

Everything's gone up several notches since the early days with support from prestigious local hotels and private members clubs, such as the Connort and Annabels. My name is Linda McHugh and I am the volunteer coordinator and it's different from the norm. We do not peel potatoes and cook food from scratch. What we've done is get together with lots of very prestigious restaurants, hotels and clubs and they provide us

with the food. We're not running a soup kitchen, we're running a restaurant where they come in, sit down, they have waiters and waitresses who are our volunteers. Volunteer, Mark Smith, reflects with pride on how the original charitable project is now twinned with a going concern, a stylish cafe open to the public, which is giving people who've fallen out of the world of work a second chance. The restaurant service that we offer on Wednesday, stays and Saturdays. He's a sit-down service for homeless and precariously housed individuals. But then an outgrowth of that project was the development of the Cana Cafe. And we employ people who are guests upstairs, so they're homeless or unemployed,

in the capacity of cooking and serving in the Cana Cafe, serving regular folks who come in off the street to pay for the food. Martin started off as a guest at the drop-in luncheon. and has progressed into a position of responsibility in the cafe. I basically run the cafe in terms of organisation, management and administration and the selection of volunteers. We have people that are having some disabilities, some people that suffer from certain substances use.

So, I mean, we try to get them involved, you know, as much as we can. There are people who can't really work that many hours, but they can still work a little bit, or people that can have some problems of concentration, you know, and so they can do little tasks and contribute. Brian has also benefited from being part of the project. I'm the dishwasher, so I get to wash all the dishes, and I get to cook a little bit too. What a great community. You're feeling welcomed, and everybody loves you.

I mean, truly, they welcome you and trust you. Yeah, massively uplifting. But it's certainly not just about food, as Father Dominic Robinson explains. We have also creative writing, we have pilates, we have job creation, days. We have wonderful relationships with different businesses here. It's a real local success that the local community have come together to realise that those who are on the streets and for whatever reason they've hit hard times and need our help and need to be shown dignity. Father Dominic Robinson ending that report by Bernadette Keogh. And finally for this week, we wanted to share

the story of a simple act of kindness. That will hopefully make you some mile. It's about a hotel worker who went above and beyond, driving hundreds of miles to return a forgotten bag to a stranger because he could tell the things inside the bag meant a lot to its owner. Kieran Galpin tells us more about the journey. Driving back after staying by Loch Lomond, Sharon Bolton realised she'd left her handbag, containing several sentimental items at the Queen of the Loch Pub. She said she was really upset about it, but couldn't get a courier because it would cause as much as the contents of the bag.

Soon after, her phone rang. Here she is describing the call from Andrew Leggett, a staff member at the pub. He just floored me with this conversation saying, oh, I hear what happened. And I hope you don't mind of having looked through your bag. He said, look, I can see there are some things in this bag which is a sentimental value,

and you really ought to have. I believe there is a solution to all problems. And he was so upbeat. So I thought, oh, thank you. His solution to this problem was to drive 400 miles, taking over seven hours to meet Sharon near her home. Then he handed over her bag without anything in return. He explained why.

It was the right thing to do. There was some personal things in there. And she'd be honest with you. It was often next year, and I thought, why not? It was really good to get your belongings back to you. When I met with the outside of the Mawson's probably mad outside of, the smiling me faced with enough for us. So it was a good job.

day. And if you hadn't already realised from his chipper tone, Andrew had no regrets about the 800-mile trip. It was a good journey down. It was well worth her journey. Kieran Galpin, reporting. That's all from the Happy Pod for now. But if you have a story you think we should cover or you'd like to comment on anything you've heard,

we'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is Global Podcast at BBC.com.com. UK. And you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for The Happy Pod. This edition was produced by Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley and mixed by Rebecca Miller. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time, goodbye.