John Loughlin thought he would be on the streets in Philadelphia forever. At 57 years old, he was living in his wheelchair, still coping with the injury he sustained years ago when he was shot in Kensington.

“I had given up on people completely,” John said. “I was a real salty guy.”

And then came Lolly Galvin. Lolly and her friends were giving haircuts to homeless people in Center City. When John walked by, they offered him one. He said no. That is, until, two weeks later when John says his hair got out of control and he saw Lolly again.

“And then it all started with a haircut,” John said, giggling.

John grew up in Ardmore on the Main Line. He went to private school and had two dedicated, involved parents. His parents divorced when he was four-years-old, so he mostly grew up with his mom who he says was his best friend. But when John was 14, his mother passed away.

“I just gave up,” he said. “I know my mom wouldn’t have wanted me to do that.”

From that day on, John’s life was a series of bad events. He got into drugs, which forced him to lose financial control. From there, he couldn’t pay for his apartment. John was living on the streets, traveling back and forth between Center City and Kensington.

While in Kensington one day about four years ago, John says he got shot and suffered severe leg injuries. After some treatment, John was back on the streets. Then, about a year ago, John got hit by a car. After visits to different local hospitals, John found himself back on the same Philadelphia streets.

“I was living in my wheelchair,” John said. “I pretty much thought I’d be on the streets forever.”

That’s when Lolly came and gave John his haircut. From there, Lolly could see John’s injuries and how much help he needed.

“I knew what this was going to be if I took this on,” Lolly said. “I kind of took him under my wing and we’ve been getting through this together ever since.”

Lolly is no stranger to helping the homeless. In 2016, Lolly started The Dignity Project. She says it began as a GoFundMe with a goal of $500 simply to raise money for her to do random acts of kindness for the homeless. From there, she says, social media helped the project spiral.

With the help of friends, family, and plenty of strangers, Lolly and her friends have kept the project growing. She and a friend started Philly Street Cuts, where they give free haircuts to the homeless. Through an outpouring of donations, Lolly has given 254 sleeping bags to the homeless. Lolly also hands out “dignity bags," which she fills with hand warmers, socks, chapstick, deodorant, and other essentials.

“I’m really most proud of the response from other people,” Lolly said, referring to the hundreds of donations she has received from people across the globe. Those donations include ones sent for John.

With Lolly’s help, John was transferred to different local hospitals before he found one that could give him the surgery he needed to heal from being hit by the car. Eventually John got back surgery to treat the injuries he sustained, and now, John is out of his wheelchair and walking again.

“She’s my angel, my best friend,” John said. “If I’m having a bad day, I call her. One person changed my whole life.”

To celebrate The Dignity Project’s one-year anniversary, Lolly and some friends are throwing a “Chili Cookoff” on Saturday, January 28 at Warehouse on Watts. The event is open to the community with a $10 suggested donation. All proceeds will benefit The Dignity Project and other Philadelphia-area nonprofits. You can find more information on the event here.

As for John, he says the next step is finding housing and hopefully fulfilling his dream of getting on “Ellen." One thing he knows for sure, though, is that Lolly will help him through it. He says he is constantly amazed by the amount of donations and love he receives from people around the globe. But none of this would’ve been possible for him without Lolly, he says.

“I got more love than a little bit,” John said, laughing.

Hundreds of protesters are dancing outside the Republican Policy Retreat in Center City.

The group gathered for a “Guerilla Dance Party” outside the Loews Philadelphia Hotel on 1200 Market Street where the retreat is taking place. The same group held a “Queer Dance Party” last Wednesday outside Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Washington, DC.

"The Republican Congressional Retreat is in town to make plans on how to steal our healthcare," protest organizers wrote. "As they try to take away our health care, to police Black, Brown, Trans and Queer bodies, to regulate our bodies, we’re here to say #WeAreQueer #WeAreHere #WeWillDance."

Market Street is currently closed at 12th Street due to the protest.

Both President Donald Trump and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning are expected to appear at the retreat Thursday. Another protest with an estimated 3,000 people, is expected to take place outside the Loews that day as well.

Here are the 10 things you need to know to start your day from your friends at NBC10.

TODAY'S TOP STORY

Protesters Hold Dance Party Outside GOP Retreat in Center City: Hundreds of protesters danced outside the Republican Policy Retreat in Center City. The group gathered for a “Guerilla Dance Party” outside the Loews Philadelphia Hotel on 1200 Market Street where the retreat is taking place. The same group held a “Queer Dance Party” last Wednesday outside Vice President Mike Pence’s home in Washington, DC. "The Republican Congressional Retreat is in town to make plans on how to steal our healthcare," protest organizers wrote. "As they try to take away our health care, to police Black, Brown, Trans and Queer bodies, to regulate our bodies, we’re here to say #WeAreQueer #WeAreHere #WeWillDance.” Market Street was closed at 12th Street during the protest. Both President Donald Trump and former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning are expected to appear at the retreat Thursday. Another protest with an estimated 3,000 people, is expected to take place outside the Loews that day as well.

• MORE ON THE RETREAT

YOUR FIRST ALERT FORECAST  

Thursday is expected to be mostly sunny with a chance of rain showers in the morning. But temperatures are expected to stay in the 50s. Temperatures are expected to drop back to the 40s for Friday and Saturday. But it is expected to stay dry through the weekend. Monday is expected to be cold and sunny. High Temp: 56 Degrees. Get your full NBC10 First Alert forecast here.

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WHAT YOU MISSED YESTERDAY

Crews Work to Repair Jersey Shore Beaches Damaged by Nor'easter: This week’s nor’easter triggered severe beach erosion, coastal flooding, and dangerous cliffs at the Jersey Shore. There are now growing concerns about floods happening far more often in coastal areas.

• MORE ON THE REPAIRS

AROUND THE WORLD

Draft Order Would Halt Refugee Processing for Syrains: A draft executive order obtained by The Associated Press shows that President Donald Trump intends to stop accepting Syrian refugees and suspend the United States' broader refugee program for 120 days. The president also plans to suspend issuing visas for people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria or Yemen for at least 30 days, according to the draft. All are predominantly Muslim countries. Trump is expected to sign the order this week. It was not clear if the draft will be revised before then.

• MORE ON THE ORDER

Pickup Truck Dangles on Edge of Sinkhole: A boil water advisory is in effect for customers impacted by a large sinkhole that opened up overnight in the middle of a Montgomery County community. The sinkhole opened up along Brooke Road near Argyle Road in Glenside, Cheltenham Township, before 4 a.m. Wednesday, gobbling up the yards of at least two homes, leaving a pickup truck teetering on the edge and creating fears that the homes could sink.

• MORE ON THE SINKHOLE

SPORTS SPOT

Sixers Beat the Bucks: The Sixers won 114 to 109 against the Milwaukee Bucks. Get your full sports news at CSNPhilly.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

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See more Top News Photos here.

THROUGH IGER'S EYES

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@placespicsandnotes captured this cool photo of Dilworth Plaza.

Have an awesome Instagram photo you'd like to share? Tag it with #NBC10Buzz.

TODAY'S VIRAL VIDEO

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This baby elephant is not happy he can't catch his dog friend. Watch more here.

Woman Helps Homeless Man in Wheelchair Walk Again: John Loughlin thought he would be on the streets in Philadelphia forever. At 57 years old, he was living in his wheelchair, still coping with the injury he sustained years ago when he was shot in Kensington. “I had given up on people completely,” John said. “I was a real salty guy.” And then came Lolly Galvin. Lolly and her friends were giving haircuts to homeless people in Center City. When John walked by, they offered him one. He said no. That is, until, two weeks later when John says his hair got out of control and he saw Lolly again. “And then it all started with a haircut,” John said, giggling. John grew up in Ardmore on the Main Line. He went to private school and had two dedicated, involved parents. His parents divorced when he was four-years-old, so he mostly grew up with his mom who he says was his best friend. But when John was 14, his mother passed away. From that day on, John’s life was a series of bad events. But Lolly is no stranger to helping the homeless. With Lolly’s help, John was transferred to different local hospitals before he found one that could give him the surgery he needed to heal. Eventually John got back surgery to treat the injuries he sustained, and now, John is out of his wheelchair and walking again. Read more.

That's what you need to know. We've got more stories worthy of your time in the Breakfast Buzz section. Click here to check them out. 

New Jersey may soon be getting a new area code.

The state's Board of Public Utilities said Wednesday that it is considering a request to add a new area code because numbers in the 609 area code are running out.

Neustar, the Federal Communications Commission's numbering plan administrator, says that numbers in the 609 area code will run out in the third quarter of 2018.

If the request is approved, new numbers in the 609 area code would receive a new area code. Customers will keep their old phone numbers, but would have to start using 10-digit dialing systems.

A public comment period is open through Feb. 27.

The parents of a 7-year-old Newark boy who died from blunt force trauma have been indicted on charges of manslaughter, officials from the Essex County Prosecutor's office said.

Khadejrah Rawls, 28, and her boyfriend, Christopher Spearman, 29, both of Newark, were indicted by an Essex County grand jury Wednesday in connection with the killing of her son, Michael Moore Jr., officials said.

The pair were indicted on several charges, including first degree aggravated manslaughter.

Newark police officers responded to the couple's home near Munn Avenue Oct. 2 following reports of an unresponsive child, officials said.

That's when authorities discovered the 7-year-old unconscious in the bathtub of his family's Newark apartment with broken bones. He was taken to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from blunt force trauma. 

His death was ruled suspicious, and a medical examiner was called in to perform an autopsy. The state alleges that Moore went into cardiac arrest after being assaulted, officials said.

Moore's death came less than a month before his eighth birthday. 

Rawls was charged with child endangerment in the case. Spearman was charged with aggravated assault. Both were charged based on the child's injuries.

Attorney information for the two wasn't immediately available.

Authorities said that the boy's four siblings, his mother and her boyfriend all lived in the apartment, along with three puppies. All of them were removed from the home.

High school senior and Newark native Davanna Booker is inspiring teens everywhere to make a change in their communities.

The New York-based model started Pillows4change to give homeless people in New York and New Jersey a small token of comfort.

Booker was inspired to create the pillows of positivity when she noticed homeless people digging through the garbage looking for food to eat during her commute from New Jersey to New York.

With sewing skills she learned from her grandmother, Booker sprung to action by founding and creating Pillows4change.

Although she is a busy high school student, Booker hand-crafts each pillow, which take about 30 minutes each to make. The pillows are inscribed with phrases, including “God loves you.”

Booker wants to encourage other people to make small acts of change in their own communities and give back regardless of their age. 

“It doesn't matter how young you are or how old you are, you can do something to make a difference,” Booker said.

People looking to donate to the cause can purchase a pillow online. For more information about the project, visit the organization’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

Two NJ Transit passengers have been arrested in separate attacks on the commuter rail's employees, one accused of throwing a hot cup of coffee on a bus driver's face and the other accused of shoving a train conductor, officials say.

Last Friday, a 40-year-old woman was getting off a NJ Transit bus in Newark when she allegedly threw a cup of hot coffee in the operator's face, burning her, NJ Transit police say.

The driver suffered minor burns and was treated and released at a nearby hospital, police said.  

The suspect, Sakinah Byrdie, was arrested a few blocks away, and faced additional charges when police discovered a controlled substance in her possession, according to police. 

On Monday morning, a 33-year-old Linden man was getting off the North Jersey Coast line at the South Amboy station when he allegedly shoved a train conductor, authorities said. Officials said the two had had an argument about the fare. 

Grella was charged with aggravated assault and hindering apprehension from outstanding warrants. The conductor refused medical treatment. 

If convicted, Brydie faces up to five years in prison and $15,000 in fines. Grella faces up to 18 months in prison and $10,000 in fines if he is convicted.

It wasn’t immediately clear if either had an attorney.

Who you gonna call when you drop your wedding ring through a sewer grate?

Con Edison, apparently.

That was the hard-won, if obvious, lesson for Wallace Collins, whose painstaking attempts to find the right people to retrieve his precious ring underground finally paid off Wednesday. 

Collins was walking to a lunch meeting from his midtown apartment near East 39th Street and 2nd Avenue last week, juggling papers in his hand, when his ring slipped off.

"I was thinking three blocks ahead to where I had to be and I guess I was fiddling around with the papers I had in my hand, thinking 'does the mail come first, or the bank on the corner? I gotta put that slip on top,'" Collins told NBC 4 New York.

As he shuffled the papers in a rush, Collins felt his ring fall off.

"It rolled along the sidewalk and it was kind of like a slow-motion, 'Wait, that's my ring!'" said Collins. 

He dived onto the grate.

"I was down on my hands and knees, and my hand was on the grate because it was there for a split-second, and I thought, 'Oh I can get it!,' and then it fell through," he said. "And I looked down and it was deep grate, it was about 15 feet under." 

Collins said he went on to his lunch meeting.

"I told the guy what happened. He said, 'That's unbelievable! Let's go back to the grate and get it!'," Collins said. "I said, 'I don't think it's gonna be that easy.'"

But the lunch partner confidently told him, "The two of us can do it!" 

The two men went back and held their phones over the grate, trying to shine a light on the missing ring. Then they realized that was probably an easy way for them to drop their phones, too, so they backed away. 

Collins talked to the doorman of the building by the grate, then to a police officer walking by. The officer said to call 311. But 311 couldn't help.

"I come back to the doorman and ask if the maintenance guy has access," Collins said. "And he's the one who said, 'I think that's Con Ed.'"

Operators for the utility rolled Collins from gas leak concerns to bill pay and finally "to a very nice lady in customer service who said, 'You know, OK, I'll put you on the list but it's not an emergency because it's not a gas leak or anything like that, but we'll get to it when we can.'"

That was last week. The wait was agonizing. 

"Every day since, I had to walk by here and pass over this grate, I would peer down and go, 'Oh, it's there,'" said Collins, who also contacted NBC 4 New York in his quest to get back his ring. 

"I knew it was safe where it was, until someone came to get it, but it was eating at me, that I know it's right down there, if they could just come and get it out," he said.

Finally, on Wednesday, after NBC 4 New York reached out on behalf of Collins, Con Edison sent a crew to the grate. Operations supervisor Kaitlin Slattery said after getting a call from her manager she rounded up a crew a few blocks away.

"At first they thought we were kidding, they were like 'There's no way someone lost their wedding ring down a vault,'" said Slattery, laughing. "I was like, 'I promise, it's real!'" 

At the scene, two workers put up the familiar orange and white barriers, flipped open the grate and used a letter to descend underground. 

Then, with little fanfare, a worker popped up from the ladder and stretched out his gloved hand toward Collins, ring firmly in his grip. 

"Whoa, there we go!" exclaimed Collins.

"Back where it belongs," he said, slipping his ring back on. 

Collins thanked the Con Edison workers. He vows to be more careful: "I'll always be paranoid about it now." 

For all of his fretting, though, Collins' wife remained calm.

"She was like, 'Come on, it's not like an engagement ring, it's not that expensive. If you don't get it, you just buy another one," he said. 

"I would have made up a better story if I was making up a story," he quipped.  

An East Stroudsburg University student has been charged with using the SnapChat app to sell drugs out of his dorm room.

University police began investigating after noticing increased marijuana use on campus this year. The search led members of the Monroe County Drug Task Force to the dorm of 18-year-old Jahmir Mapp, where authorities found a refrigerator containing several small bags of pot and additional marijuana concealed in a tobacco package wrapper.

All of the cannabis was wrapped in dryer sheets and a washcloth. The pot was packaged for sale, police said.

During an interview with police, Mapp said he sold marijuana to about a dozen students daily using SnapChat, which lets people send pictures and short video messages that disappear shortly after they're viewed.

He gave authorities permission to search his cellphone at which time police found texts and photographs indicating Mapp also sold cocaine and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax to other students.

Mapp was arrested Wednesday.

Mapp applied for a public defender, according to online records, but that office said Thursday it doesn't represent him yet. [[238427591, C]]

As he sat down, one of the dozens of besuited lawyers said to a colleague, "So this is how the movie ends."

Within minutes, a 91-year-old attorney no more than five feet tall told the jury at the Market Street collapse civil trial that they were "watching a Broadway play."

The hutched-over attorney before the 12 jurors and four alternates Wednesday was Richard Sprague, who began a 90-minute closing argument for his fellow nonegenarian, the developer Richard Basciano, who Sprague represents.

Basciano is one of six defendants in the civil trial for the Market Street collapse catastrophe. The courtroom drama has stretched more than four months. The other defendants are Basciano's company STB, his project representative Plato Marinakos, demolition contractor Griffin Campbell, Campbell’s excavator operator Sean Benschop, and the Salvation Army, which owned and operated the store that Basciano’s building crushed the morning of June 5, 2013.

Sprague, one of Philadelphia's most respected -- and feared -- litigants, began his argument by telling the jury he wanted "to talk to you from my heart."

He argued that no one involved wanted anyone killed. And now more than three years later, he said, the families of the seven people killed and the surviving 12 people who were injured in the collapse "don't want justice."

"They seek revenge," Sprague said. "And revenge can blind you."

The elder attorney, however, did not have the last word in the two days of closing arguments. That duty was for another attorney with his own reputation for leading some of the largest civil lawsuits in recent Philadelphia history, Robert Mongeluzzi.

Mongeluzzi, representing the 19 plaintiffs, addressed Sprague by name in the midst of a blistering attack on the defendants -- in particular, Basciano and the Salvation Army, who would have the most assets up for grabs if found liable.

"I'll tell you, Mr. Sprague, you are dead wrong," Mongeluzzi said.

He began his own 90-minute closing by repeating a turn of phrase, "When it was time to," in comparing what he claimed were the defendants' actions leading up to the deadly catastrophe with their actions during the trial.

"When it was time to" demolish the Hoagie City shop, "they chose the inexperienced Griffin Campbell," he said. "When it was time to protect themselves, they brought in the legendary Richard Sprague."

"When it was time to protect the public, they chose no one. When it was time to protect themselves, they brought in Dr. (Najib) Abboud," Mongeluzzi said, referring to an engineering expert brought in to testify about the demolition process.

Audible sighs came from the packed gallery of the sixth floor City Hall courtroom when Mongeluzzi told the jury that Abboud was paid $290,000 by the defense.

Attorneys for the defendants have at times during the trial blamed each other's clients for their role in the deadly collapse. Alternately, attorneys for STB and Basciano would blame Marinakos or the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army would blame STB and Marinakos, Marinakos would blame Benschop and Campbell, and STB, Basciano and Marinakos would blame Benschop and Campbell.

Benschop and Campbell are serving lengthy sentences in jail for their roles in the collapse. They are the only two who were criminally tried. Marinakos served as a willing witness for the Philadelphia District Attorney in the cases against the two.

After the closing arguments, Judge Theresa Sarmina will charge the jury to begin deliberations. Sarmina reportedly suspended the trial two days Thursday and Friday, and will charge the jury Monday morning.

The jury will then deliberate over a 36-question verdict sheet, which will determine whether any or all of the six defendants in the case are liable for damages to the families of the seven people killed and the surviving victims.

If any defendants are found liable, the trial will then enter its damages phase, during which attorneys will then present expert witnesses to give testimony about how much value can and should be assessed when life is lost, people are injuries, and trauma is incurred upon victims.

The jury would then deliberate again.

President Donald Trump might have his decades wrong.

During a speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, Trump mistakenly said the city's murder rate is on the rise, when in fact, it has trended lower since an especially bloody three-year period last decade.

Addressing Republican Congressional members gathered in Philadelphia, Trump falsely claimed city slayings were on the rise as he talked of families in America's urban centers.

"Right now, too many families don’t feel secure. Just look at the 30 largest cities. In the last year alone the murder rate has increased by an estimated 14 percent," he said. "Here in Philadelphia, the murder rate has been steady – let me just – terribly increasing."

During the course of the last decade, it has done the opposite. (NBC10.com could not quickly corroborate his claim about a 14-percent increase in the country's 30 largest cities.)

The murder total in Philadelphia reached a dark milestone in 2006 when 406 people died by the hands of others -- or most often, by the guns of others.

The next year, in 2007, 391 people were murdered.

In January 2008, newly elected Mayor Michael Nutter came into office with a new top cop by his side, Charles Ramsey, and together, the two men promised to lower murders by at least 25 percent.

They made good on their promise, though some might say it took longer than they wished. Murders, despite some slight ups-and-downs year over year, have fallen drastically since those bloody years over a decade ago. 

In each of the last four years, murder totals for the city have stayed well below 300, according to the Philadelphia Police Department.

Here is the total per year, according to the department's figures:

2005: 380

2006: 406

2007: 391

2008: 331

2009: 302

2010: 306

2011: 326

2012: 331

2013: 246

2014: 248

2015: 280

2016: 277

Mayor Jim Kenney, who served as a City Councilman throughout the 2000s, called Trump's false claim an "insult to the men and women of the Philadelphia police force."

He then attacked Republicans' "obsession" with undocumented immigrants.

"Our police officers have worked tirelessly and with great personal sacrifice to get Philadelphia’s crime rate down to its lowest point in forty years, while also successfully implementing reforms to strengthen police-community relations and uphold the rights of all our residents," Kenney said. "Our homicides are, in fact, slowly declining, and while we are not satisfied with even our current numbers, we are handicapped by Republican refusal to enact any kind of common sense gun control and by their obsession with turning our police officers into ICE agents – which will prevent immigrants from coming forward to report crimes or provide critical witnesses statements that can put dangerous criminals behind bars."