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CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
Hundreds of Spooky Displays for a Sweet Cause
CNN 5 Good Things
Oct 18, 2025
What started as a dad’s epic Halloween display turned into a nationwide movement that raised spirits – and nearly $1 million – for kids with cancer. Meet the fish with mysterious markings that have anglers and scientists hooked. This cheese expert from Philadelphia made history at the Cheese Olympics. High school students in New York City got to chef for the country’s largest school district. Plus, Italy's oldest barista on how she's brewed up joy for generations.
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Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson
Showrunner: Faiz Jamil
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: Maya Blackstone
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
Hey there, welcome. Let's jump right into the good stuff. Hearts, smiley faces, are these fish trying to tell us something with their mysterious spots? Plus,
Emilia D'Albero
00:00:10
Americans have really always been viewed as the underdog in the global cheese community and it was really an honor to represent and show where we are now and how far we've come on the world stage.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:23
An American has won what's considered the Cheesemonger World Cup for the very first time. We'll also have a story for you that'll make you go, yes chef! Then we go to Italy to meet a centenarian that's been serving for generations. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo Polanco, and this is Five Good Things.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:40
Up next, a story where Spooky meets sweet.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:50
'Halloween is less than two weeks away, and front yards across the country have come to life with spooky decorations. Well, for six years now, hundreds of those creepy and silly displays have yielded a lot more than just a good scare or fun-sized candy. They've been for a good cause. They're part of a grassroots movement called Skeletons for St. Jude that's on a mission to raise one million dollars for the children's cancer research hospital. All started by one dad in Holly Springs, North Carolina.
Jeff Robertson
00:01:21
So it started in 2020. I was just being a goofy dad, put some skeletons out on the house. We had all of our windows were boarded up so it looked like it was a house under attack!
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:32
Jeff Robertson said it was the first year he ever took Halloween decoration seriously. And when a local news crew covered it, he asked his kids how they could use the attention for good. So they added a St. Jude donation sign to their Halloween display. And this one interaction changed everything.
Jeff Robertson
00:01:48
A car pulls up in front of our house and it's a young couple and they have a daughter in the backseat. So she was just smiling, just grinning from ear to ear. And the adults were sort of a wreck. He's emotional, crying. And the gentleman said, We are a St. Jude family. And my daughter's going through treatment, and you know, we want to thank everybody that's helping raise money for families like us. That moment I had kind of been looking for a purpose. I retired from the service and I was looking for kind of a meaning. And I said, man, this girl like is going through this really tough time in her life, but she sees these goofy plastic skeletons in my front yard, and it puts her in an awesome place.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:30
From there, skeletons for St. Jude was born. Jeff started a Facebook group to spread the word, and it's grown every year since. Today he says about 550 homes nationwide have donation signs in their yard displays. And they're on track to top 1,000 by Halloween.
Jeff Robertson
00:02:45
We've raised 972,000 over the past six Halloweens. So I suspect we'll we'll break a million dollars, I hope, in a week or so.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:54
'This year Jeff and his family went all out with their display. Okay, so picture twenty-five or so skeletons on and off a 25 foot phantom pirate ship bursting through the first and second floor of their house.
Jeff Robertson (explaing the display)
00:03:10
On the bow of the ship is a 12 foot skeleton. At the very top of the house, it's where the skeleton army has planted their flag, staking its claim to this property.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:22
But what keeps Jeff coming back each year isn't the spectacle.
Jeff Robertson
00:03:26
There are thousands of people right now that are out there engaging their neighborhoods, engaging their friends and their families, asking to support St. Jude to help out these families. And at this time of the year, everybody's working towards a common goal.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:38
If you would like to donate or learn how you could participate in Skeletons for St. Jude, head to skeletonsforhope.org. The link is in our show notes, and so are pictures of Jeff's epic displays over the years. Check it out.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:52
Did you know that redfish, also known as Red Drum, have these unique black spot patterns on their tails that sometimes take the shape of symbols, letters, and even some famous cartoon characters? It's actually pretty crazy. So for more than a decade, Florida fisherman Andrew Brown has been catching, photographing, and releasing redfish with these mysterious markings.
Andrew Brown
00:04:17
I've seen heart shape spots, smiley face spots, the whole alphabet and numbers zero through nine, Popeye the Sailor Man, Roadrunner, I've seen all these. So it's a full gambit of different things that covers language, pop culture, emotion. It's amazing.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:37
Scientists believe these spots, also known as "false eyes," are meant to fool predators to attack their tails, so they have a better chance of escaping. Birds and butterflies use the same trick too. So yes, it seems it's a pure coincidence that these redfish spots look like symbols we recognize. But for avid anglers, it's hard not to wonder if there's something more going on here.
Steven Crowder
00:05:02
I had a client on the boat that caught this massive redfish that was way larger than normal.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:08
Steven Crowder is a sport fishing charter boat captain based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Steven Crowder
00:05:12
'And he just so happened to have the letters perfectly spelled out - DC in capital - in perfect alignment. And it just so happened to be the guy's initials, which made it that much crazier. That fish literally has your name written all over it, man. It's just I think you'd have a better chance of winning the lottery than having that line up the way that did.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:32
Andrew hears wild stories like that all the time. So back in 2015, he created a community around these crazy fish markings, a website and Instagram page called Drum Spots.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:44
Anglers share photos of their unique catches, attend redfish tournaments, and champion conservation efforts by encouraging catch and release. Andrew says it's taught him to slow down and appreciate the winks and nods nature can give us.
Andrew Brown
00:05:57
So the heart shaped spot and the smiley face spot, those are the number one and number two most often found unique spots. And I think what it is is that, you know, God is telling us to be happy and to love each other.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:13
This next story is for our cheese lovers out there. Emilia D'Albero, who's based in Philadelphia, made history in Tours, France last month.
Announcer
00:06:21
S'il vous plaît, applaudissez Emilia D'Albero pour les !
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:27
That's Amelia's proud boyfriend, Tommy Amorim, cheering her on when she became the first American to win the gold medal at the Mondial du Fromage. That's basically the Cheese Olympics, or Cheesemonger World Cup, held every two years in the Loire Valley.
Emilia D'Albero
00:06:43
Cheesemongers do not make cheese. We are to cheese as like a somalier would be to wine or a butcher would be to meat. Our job is to understand the cheese and help guide you through that selection to walk out the door with exactly the cheese that you need.
Announcer
00:06:57
Number three, Team USA!
Emilia D'Albero
00:07:00
I was part of the very first all female Team USA, along with my my teammate Courtney Johnson. And she also placed third, which was so exciting for us.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:11
'18 cheesemongerers from 14 countries competed in an eight-hour marathon of nine challenges, from blind tastings and precision cutting to written exams and perfect pairing presentations.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:22
'One of the hardest challenges for her was the cheese sculpture. She carved a three-dimensional moon inspired by a fairy tale.
Emilia D'Albero
00:07:29
So when I was little I just remember my parents telling me, oh, the moon is made of green cheese and I thought that maybe doing a sculpture representing the phases of the moon made out of cheese would be a cool idea.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:43
She hopes this victory inspires foodies everywhere to take American cheese more seriously.
Emilia D'Albero
00:07:48
'Our cheese culture isn't quite as developed as some of the other places like Italy or France. You know, when you hear the term American cheese, you think of, you know, the the orange squares, the plastic wrapped squares. I think every cheese has its place, but it goes so much deeper than that. Americans are making award-winning cheese all over the country. Doesn't matter who you are, where you live, how much money you have, cheese is for you, and you should be eating it if you enjoy it.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:18
In high school cafeterias across New York City, food reviews have been mixed. So thanks to a new competition, some students are getting a say on what's being served.
Christopher Tricarico
00:08:27
The only way to really improve our menu is to have student feedback. And what better way to have student feedback than to have them develop recipes for our menu?
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:34
Chris Tricarico runs the Office of Food and Nutrition Services for city schools. And he teamed up with students at Francis Lewis High School in Queens to host the city's first ever competition to design a cafeteria menu item.
Christopher Tricarico
00:08:48
The goal? Teach them to understand where their food comes from, why it's important to eat healthy, and how to cook safely. Chef Neil Syham is a culinary arts instructor, and he says he wanted the students to embrace their cultural backgrounds in the process.
Chef Neil Syham
00:09:02
We try to run this kitchen just like any professional kitchen, maybe some of them will take this to move forward, to feed themselves during college or get a job or even go into the industry.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:12
The winning dishes, drumroll please, were honey garlic chicken with broccoli, and a Greek inspired cucumber salad. Both meet the city's nutrition standards and are now being dished out at school cafeterias across the city. And the student chefs walked away with more than just recipes.
Peter Gatanas
00:09:33
If you wake up and you eat very bad, you're gonna perform very bad throughout the day.
Peter Gatanas
00:09:36
'It has honestly helped me focus a lot. It's kept me off my phone. I love how it's hands-on. They give us a lot of creative freedom.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:45
You can watch the full story on CNN 10, and you know where to find it. Up next, meet a lady who has made a cup of joe, her life's work.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:05
'Anna Possi or Nonna Anna to some, is a legend. At 100- years-old, she's a grandmother, a business owner, and she holds the record of Italy's oldest barista. Nona Anna is the owner of Bar Centrale, nestled in a tiny village in northern Italy. On any given day, including Sundays and holidays, Nona Anna can be found behind the counter.
Anna Possi Translation
00:10:28
I like it because I'm surrounded by people.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:31
Anna's been serving coffee since World War II and opened the bar with her husband Renee, who died in 1974.
Anna Possi Translation
00:10:38
I got widowed here 51 years ago and carried on by myself.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:43
Locals consider the spot to be more of a community hub than just a bar or cafe. It opens every day before sunrise, and patrons can get an espresso, pick up mail, or even ask Anna to call a town hall.
Anna Possi Translation
00:10:57
It's a bit like family, you know? It doesn't feel like a bar to me. It feels like a meeting place.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:03
Anna turns 101 next month and plans to keep things simple and work for as long as she can.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:17
Join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you so so much for listening. Take care. Till next time.
