Serving Stories – Serve the City International

A superhero always strives to clean up their city... but these volunteers are taking that task literally! Join Serving Stories host Ani Deal as she leads a Trash Tour in Amsterdam, and discover innovative environmental projects in Luxembourg and Wavre, Belgium.

Serving SHORT Stories are mini-episodes that you can devour quickly and share with others! In this episode, Shan from STC Gold Coast in Australia, shares a story of how two small stones helped heal a difficult situation.

When Wonder Woman was told it was impossible to cross No-Man's-Land, she said, "But I'M going to do it!" Today we meet some wonder women from Serve the City Australia, who are persisting in starting a volunteer movement in their cities, despite obstacles. They want to encourage you too to just keep on going!

Serving SHORT Stories are mini-episodes that you can devour quickly and share with others! In this episode, Ingeborg from STC Maastricht in the Netherlands shares a story of hope that started with just making a hand-lettered card.

Every superhero has to contend with supervillains who menace their city . As volunteers, we too must stand up to villains such as poverty and instability, fighting them with kindness rather than force. In this episode, STC Kenya leaders tell us how they are standing against the villains of gender-based violence, destitution, and ignorance in their cities.

First Serving Short Stories episode! Carlton Deal, Serve the City founder, tells how a setback on the very first STC event turned into a catalyst that started the movement.

"Every superhero has to go through a moment when they have to examine and choose. Will they choose a path that Will I choose a path that follows my own desires, or will I choose to live a life that serves and helps others around me?" This moment of choice for a superhero is known as their ORIGIN STORY. For volunteers who choose to serve their city, their origin story is also an important part of t...

Loneliness is one of the top mental health issues in cities—one touching people of all ages and backgrounds . Serve the City Maastricht, responding to their city's crisis of loneliness with hope, has introduced the Noah Friendship Platform. The team matches individuals with potential friends based on common interest and personalities, and host events where new connections are the goal. Whether...

Who doesn't hope to be seen for their talents rather than their limitations? When four teenage girls from Amsterdam embark on a voyage of volunteering, they overcome the perceptions of themselves as "learning-disabled" and demonstrate abilities that inspire hope in all of us. And when a group of physically-disabled people in Kosovo step up to lead volunteer projects, we see that thos...

There's a line in every city that separates... and in Mitrovica, Kosovo, that line is a bridge. Serbs stay on one side and ethnic Albanians on the other—unless they just happen to be volunteering together with Serve the City, crossing the line with love. Volunteers at a Big Volunteer Weekend in Mitrovica tell us about what loving across the line means for them. And they also put it into action...

A Big Volunteer Day gives the chance to spread love around a city! Every month, Serve the City Peninsula volunteers further multiple projects in a disadvantaged community in Newport News, VA, in the USA. As we accompany them on projects ranging from Bingo with the elderly, to Valentines for families facing hardship, to building a greenhouse for an urban farm, we discover how persistent love builds...

The two most multicultural cities in the world are Brussels and Dubai (Belgium, UAE). People move there dreaming of opportunity... but what happens if opportunities fail to materialize, or when it is time to go back? Meet Marie and Karen, two ladies who help other women find the courage to dream new dreams in these cities ... and also one more who has succeeded in making her dream come true. Marie...

Violence in Haiti has again become world news. And in the midst of chaos, the Serve the City Haiti team continues to serve with courage, addressing the roots of the crisis. In this Serving Stories episode, we explore how Serve the City Haiti volunteers have been trying to address the root causes of this crisis, working on the very issues that have fed the rise of gang rule. We hear about projects...

Bonus episode! Ever wondered about the people behind the list of names as the end of our podcast? Our Serving Stories production team introduce themselves, and discuss their own experience of serving the city, as well as their favorite episodes!

Cead mile failte: an Irish phrase that means "a hundred thousand welcomes." That is what Lucy Alexia Dube wants to offer new migrant parents coming to Ireland . Having been a refugee herself, she compassionately supports them in the midst of cultural transition—and sometimes prejudice—through STC Ireland's Cairdeas (Friendship) program . Come meet a lady numbered among the "Top...

Let's combat compassion fatigue! On the 2nd anniversary of the Ukraine war, Nikita and Artur, two refugees in Krakow, recount their stories—and how kindness became contagious for them.

Safi Ebrahim and Peter DeWitt, of Serve the City Paris, lay out for us how compassion can change the trajectory of the life of an immigrant . And Safi should know, as he himself came to Paris as a refugee from Afghanistan! He shares his journey of finding first the means of communication, and then a door to community, as he encountered Serve the City volunteers and became one himself. Be inspired...

What if giving gifts to those in need could boost self-respect instead of creating dependency? Saint Nicholas understood this when he gave money anonymously to an impoverished family to supply dowries that would allow their three daughters to marry and have a future. And Serve the City volunteers step in St. Nicholas' stockings —not just on Christmas, but throughout the year—when they recogniz...

In Krakow, Poland, as in many other big cities around the world, respectable people pretend the homeless person they pass on the street is invisible. There are, the respectable feel, so many reasons not to respect the man sleeping on the bench: alcoholism, lack of a job, grubbiness, asking for handouts. And if he doesn't seem to respect himself, why should they? So they pretend blindness... un...

It’s pretty easy to volunteer when you feel like the task you are doing is big and important. But when the job seems mundane and messy—maybe even smelly—some volunteers might hesitate. In Serve the City, however, volunteering with humility means we are not too proud to do the little things, and to clean up things that are are dirty. And this includes not just dirty streets, but dirty bits of histo...

Turns out: Randy Newman had it wrong. Short people have lots of good reasons to live! In this episode, focused on volunteering with Humility , we ask: Do you have to be big to do great things? We met with the shortest members of the Short family (the kids) to find out, and to ask them about their experiences and insights from serving. And along the way, we also meet their parents and other familie...

"Small people doing small things together can make a big difference." Meet Lucy, the 11 year old daughter of the Serve the City Baltimore director, Erin. Lucy has been volunteering for half her life in a variety of projects—including some on the mean streets of the inner city. She and her mom share with us how the humility of a kid serving others can make a big difference. This unpublish...

For the year 2020, Serve the City chose as their theme, "Kindness Starts with Me." Little did they know how the events of this year would draw on the creativity of volunteers in showing kindness! In this episode, we hear stories from around the world (Geneva, Newport News, Nairobi, Accra, Paris, Luxembourg and South Jersey) about how they have seen a viral spread of kindness as a pandemic was bein...

It's been a more than a good idea to stay inside during the COVID outbreak in Brussels— it's the law. But some residents have found that there are some important humanitarian reasons to venture out in the streets, motivated by compassion that fuels their courage.

As we revisit the first four cities in Season 1 — Lisbon, Chesapeake, Berlin and Tallinn — we find out that agility is everything. In each city, we discover how the expertise, partnerships, and concerns developed in everyday volunteering are being adapted to show kindness in this crisis—and the touching stories that result.