News about Mitch Albom

In the midst of unrest in the area (inset), which has so far killed more than 15,000 people, Florida is brace for a surge in Haitian refugees. Since crime boss Jimmy 'Barbecue' Cherizier (right) took power, the Caribbean nation has been thrown into chaos. Haitians are trying to escape, with 65 of them being rescued by the US Coast Guard after they were discovered crammed aboard a ship (left) off the coast of the Bahamas, causing a surge of violence and food insecurity. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared on Wednesday that 250 additional state guardsmen would be sent to the southern coast for 'protection.'

More than 50 Americans and Canadians are awaiting a missionary flight to bring them out of Haiti, where a bloody revolution has closed down airports. On Sunday, US Embassy employees were evacuated under the cover of night, but many more people remain trapped in the chaos. Ex-pats who are attempting to escape the violence have called Florida-based Missionary Flights International, according to the company.

Morrie Schwartz, a former Brandeis University professor, died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 1995, not lay down and die. Rather, the instructor from Newton, Massachusetts, used his impending death to inspire others to accept their own endings. He began hosting weekly gatherings at his house, which he referred to as 'living funerals,' in which he discussed learning to live while still starring death in the front. Jack Thomas, a Boston Globe reporter who wrote a short story about Morrie in the newspaper in March 1995, was immediately taken note of the meetings. Morrie was then invited on the show Nightline, and when Mitch Albom, one of his former students, came across the TV segment, he called out to Morrie. Mitch began attending Morrie's weekly meetings and wrote a book about it, which later turned into a film; Morrie died in November 1995.