Year in Review: 10 Stories of Benevolence in 2011

From local history to an historic gift, from kids doing good deeds locally to kids doing good deeds in other areas of the country, here are some of the headlines full of good will from the past year.

1. Local hedge fund billionaire Jim Simons and wife Marilyn pledged the largest donation ever made to a SUNY school, which will expand opportunities for students, add faculty, and help fund a new cancer research facility.

2. . A plan to excavate an historical site in Setauket yielded the foundations of history: "a sense of place" for the local Native American and African American indigenous descendant population. 

3. A youth group based at Setauket Presbyterian Church traveled to rural Kentucky to help make home improvements for those in need.

4. Several kids in the community were inspired to take up charitable causes.

5. The community came together to help Japan in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. , and .

6. Students and teachers at raised more than $10,000 for – and two anonymous donors matched that amount, resulting in a donation of about $30,000 to the new hospital.

7. A new nonprofit provided makeovers to military women as part of a larger program to help them get reintegrated into society.

8. Five teens from Three Village worked to clean up a backyard space for a Brooklyn nonprofit that helps women who have been victims of domestic violence.

9. When community hero Joey DiBernardo Jr. , he left behind a who was adopted by a new owner soon after.

10. The Child Life Program at Stony Brook Children's Hospital sponsored a role reversal day of therapeutic play for patients at the children's hospital.