Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Courtesy of NBCNews. BLOCK ISLAND, RI — For more than half a century, Mary Donnelly — still toiling as a state nurse at the spry age of 83 — has helped nurse fellow Islanders back to health after surgeries, difficult pregnancies and countless other ailments.

But when she saw how her neighbors — the 1,000 or so who live on the island year-round — were struggling financially, especially through the winter months, Donnelly wanted to help.

The Mary D. Fund was established in 1979. Donnelly is the lone administrator. The non-profit raises money every year — the Mary D. Ball in August is the social event of the season — and helps locals pay for everything from mortgage payments to doctors’ and electricity bills when they can’t.

Donnelly’s popularity tends to surge when the jet-setters who crowd this quaint New England getaway from Memorial Day to Labor Day head home. “Closed” signs suddenly dot storefront windows, streets empty, quiet settles in.

Making ends meet becomes a real test of discipline and faith for many residents who stick around past tourist season.

“So, it’s a hard time,” Donnelly says. “They’re either running stores or restaurants or taxis or whatever. But then, as you can see down at the taxi stand, it’s just empty now.

“So they have, they have a problem.”

But she’s got the checkbook. Last year, Donnelly put more than $50,000 worth of assistance in its registry.

And while she doesn’t approve every request for aid, when she does, it usually comes with a caveat or two about how to stretch budgets and survive life on the island.

After all, she’s done it for 53 years. On a nurse’s pay.

U.K.’s Tony Blair Pays Tribute to American independence

Courtesy of CNS Sunday Morning – Americans aren’t the only ones with something to say about the meaning of our war for Independence. Proving there are no hard feelings, here’s a retired leader from country we gained our Independence from. None other than Tony Blair.

It may be strange for a former British Prime Minister to offer thoughts on America when the country will be celebrating its independence from Britain.

But the circumstances of independence are part of what makes America the great and proud nation it is today. And what gives nobility to the American character.

That nobility isn’t about being nicer, better or more successful than anyone else. It is a feeling about the country. It is a devotion to the American ideal that at a certain point transcends class, race, religion or upbringing.

That ideal is about values, freedom, the rule of law, democracy. It is also about the way you achieve: on merit, by your own efforts and hard work.

But it is most of all that in striving for and protecting that ideal, you as an individual take second place to the interests of the nation as a whole. This is what makes the country determined to overcome its challenges.

It is what makes its soldiers give their lives in sacrifice.

It is what brings every variety of American, from the lowest to the highest, to their feet when “The Star-Spangled Banner” is played.

Of course the ideal is not always met – that is obvious. But it is always striven for.

The next years will test the American character. The world is changing. New powers are emerging.

But America should have confidence. This changing world does not diminish the need for that American ideal. It only reaffirms it.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Veterans help wage battle against raging storms

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Using natural disasters as a bridge between the battlefield and civil service, Team Rubicon—a small group of combat veterans—prove that the drive to serve one’s country never goes away. NBC’s Ron Mott reports.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The People Who Make U.S. Products

‘World News’ Series highlights the men and women who make American products.