All People Making a Difference
- Rise in animal welfare laws? Thank Judie Mancuso.
Animal rights laws are the foundation for changing how we think about pets and wildlife. This lobbyist’s work is being replicated nationwide.
- With the blink of an eye, anyone can play music
If music is the language of the soul, shouldn’t everyone be able to try their hand at it? EyeHarp helps people of all abilities play from the heart.
- Difference MakerTo clean up East Baltimore, this mentor shores up buildings – and youths
To clean up East Baltimore, COR Health Institute develops community structure – among youth and the very buildings and streets they inhabit.
- On wildfire patrol: Volunteers gauge success by blazes that don’t start
The wildfires that don’t start are a gauge of success for this corps of volunteers who educate hikers and bikers while keeping an eye out for smoke.
- Difference MakerBoxing and talking: How a 1988 Olympian gives back
Facing adversity in a high-poverty, high-crime neighborhood, students channel the impulse to fight into the discipline of boxing, gaining life skills.
- Riding with the wildlife rescuers: No creature too big, small, or wild
When rescue facilities closed in Southern Arizona, Lisa Bates created her own wildlife animal hospital. Her Tucson Wildlife Center cares for 5,000 animals each year.
- How a remote Ugandan village became a hub of progressIn a little more than two years, Ojok Okello has helped transform a small Ugandan village into a model of rural development, adding a preschool, a boxing club, a shea butter co-op, and an adult literacy program. It’s a vision of progress in the heart of Africa. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- How one organization turned a hot shower into a hub of radical hospitalityKris Kepler leads LavaMaeX, a California organization that provides mobile showers for those who are unhoused, and creates Pop-Up Care Villages, providing everything from haircuts to job interviews. A story of hope, empathy, and innovation. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- Difference MakerThis East St. Louis grocer tends an oasis of uplift in a food desert
An East St. Louis corner store is a lifeline for residents who have to travel far to a supermarket for food. It’s also a hive of social connection.
- How Theresa Betancourt fosters resilience and healing in ex-child soldiersProfessor Theresa Betancourt of Boston College has studied why some child soldiers in Sierra Leone heal after the trauma of war. But she took it a step further. She’s helping create programs that foster resilience, love, and hope. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- What a 12-year-old can teach us about empathy and kindnessTwelve-year-old Daisy Hampton’s mission is to forge friendships with peers who have disabilities and help close the digital access gap for kids who face income inequality. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- Lessons in awe and wonder from Kenya’s Travelling TelescopeSusan Murabana’s mission is to give all Kenyans equal access to the skies, and to inspire the next generation of scientists. She and her partner have reached about 200,000 schoolchildren with their Travelling Telescope program. A tale of dream-building and love. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- Sowing peace, science knowledge, and empowerment with seeds and a trowelGlobal Gardens is active in more than a dozen elementary schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yes, it helps kids grow gardens. But sowing seeds is also a path to learning how to cooperate, manage conflict, and nurture critical thinking skills. It's a program about peace, science, and hope. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- A stranger’s act of kindness restored hope, and changed a lifeMegan Cohen struggled with addiction and homelessness for nearly a decade. But then, aided by small acts of kindness by strangers, she turned her life around. Today, at age 28, she leads The Grace Project, which brings food and medical supplies – and hope – to people who are experiencing homelessness and dealing with addiction in Philadelphia. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- Difference MakerMariachi singer turns loss into love for arts – and community
Mariachi singer Veronica Robles channeled the loss of her daughter into the creation of a cultural center that fortifies Boston’s immigrant community.
- Mending lives with secondhand sewing machinesMargaret Jankowski has given away more than 3,300 secondhand sewing machines. But The Sewing Machine Project is also a vehicle for teaching empathy, generosity, and how to repair lives. And she has learned to trust that a good idea has power, and is often shaped in ways she could never have imagined. Hosted by Dave Scott.
- Difference MakerÉléonore Laloux helps France see disability differently
Éléonore Laloux – the first elected official with Down syndrome in France – is proving that her unique perspective is an asset to her town.
- Difference MakerWhen prison doors swing open, these mentors open their arms
Society often treats formerly incarcerated people as broken. At the Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, they find healing together.
- Difference MakerFrom inside a Ugandan camp, one refugee helps others tell their stories
He fled home at four years old. Today James Malish lives in Bidi Bidi settlement with his wife and children, and gives voice to others’ experiences.
- Glenn Hening strives to keep the ‘selfish’ out of surfing
Glenn Hening pioneered two volunteer organizations that reflect a holistic vision for the health of the ocean and the people who surf it.