Pork Pond Gazette

Send us Fan Mail You can feel it before you can explain it: you show up, you speak, and it’s like the decision was made before you walked in. Now zoom that feeling out from a meeting to an entire neighborhood and you start to see what civic alienation and political powerlessness do to real human lives. I wanted a quiet, solo conversation about what happens to a community when large groups of peopl...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of people say they want to support veterans. Jon King is building systems that actually do it, one mentor match and one shared meal at a time. John spent over 20 years in the Air Force and Army, flew medevac missions, and lived the kind of pressure most of us can’t fully picture. After leaving the service and navigating disability, career shifts, and a major layoff, he put h...

Send us Fan Mail Human trafficking can feel like a distant headline until someone explains what it really is and how it actually works. We talk with Stephanie Page , co-founder and executive director of Stories Foundation , to break down the definition in plain language: trafficking is driven by force, fraud, or coercion, and it includes both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Stephanie explai...

Send us Fan Mail A sober living home can be more than a roof. It can be a turning point. We sit down with Amber Miller , the founder of Angels House of Healing , to hear how she turned grief, addiction recovery, and a promise to break a generational cycle into a real transitional living community for women. Her story starts with losing her mother to alcoholism at 44, and the clarity that the deepe...

Send us Fan Mail  *This episode includes open and honest discussion about suicide, suicide loss, and mental health struggles. We talk about lived experiences, prevention myths, language that reduces stigma, and ways to seek help when safety is at risk. If these topics are difficult or activating for you, please listen with care. You may want to pause, step away, or skip this episode entirely if it...

Send us Fan Mail One bad stretch can make you believe you’re stuck as the worst thing that happened to you, and that’s exactly what we push back on with Jesse Lewis. Jesse is a professional stage hypnotist whose live shows vanished during Canada’s COVID shutdowns, and the fallout hit fast: lost income, a divorce, and a season of life where he lived in the cab of his truck on the side of a mountain...

Send us Fan Mail A car overheats on a scorching Sunday in 1969. No phones, no call boxes, no easy way out. What happens next is the kind of true story that quietly rewires your brain: a young cowboy pulls over, tows a stranded father and son into town, recruits a mechanic after church, and turns a miserable breakdown into one of the best days of their lives. That’s the heart of my conversation wit...

Send us Fan Mail The moment you realize “the system” can’t carry this for you is the moment you become your child’s advocate. I sit down with Ashlyn Thompson , co-founder and executive hope director of Parent Empowerment Network , to unpack the kind of courage that gets built in hospital rooms at 2 a.m. Ashlyn shares the story of her daughter Emery’s rare congenital condition, bladder exstrophy, a...

Send us Fan Mail A lot of us know the feeling: you’re doing your best, your kid needs you, and inside your own head the weather turns. I sit down with Kendall Consini Moore, the writer behind Cloudy Day Chronicles and the author of Mom’s Cloud and the Beach Adventure , to talk about a simple idea that can change family communication: giving big feelings a name kids can actually use. We get specifi...

Send us Fan Mail Silence can feel like a conversation killer, but what if it’s the fastest path to trust? We sit down with John Nepper , a speaker, educator, and leadership trainer with 35+ years of experience, to unpack a practical approach to kindness and leadership that works in real workplaces, not just on posters. We talk about why storytelling in leadership matters, how small talk becomes me...

Send us Fan Mail Kindness can sound like a soft idea until you meet someone who survived because other people refused to look away. I’m joined by Betsy Ronel , host of Heavens To Betsy: Let’s Talk Midlife , and her story is as heartbreaking as it is human: she lost her husband suddenly in a car accident, right as they were growing their family, and her life changed overnight. What happened next wa...

Send us Fan Mail What if generosity were as simple as pressing play? We sit down with Dave Lewis, a San Diego accountant and solo pianist who built Playing To Pitch In, a project that routes 100% of streaming royalties directly to six vetted charities. No tip jars, no detours—just music funding impact through automated splits to organizations like the Against Malaria Foundation, Helen Keller Inter...

Send us Fan Mail What if kindness isn’t a bonus trait but the backbone of how we build, lead, and create? We sit down with Minneapolis-based multidisciplinary artist Joe Charley—model, actor, musician, choreographer—to explore how empathy becomes skill, how structure unlocks flow, and why tenderness is a form of courage in high-stakes spaces. Joe traces his journey from child performer to intentio...

Send us Fan Mail What if Alzheimer’s didn’t close a life, but opened a new way to see it? That’s the question at the heart of our conversation with author and advocate Marilyn Raichle, whose book “Don’t Walk Away: A Care Partner’s Journey” chronicles how a reluctant daughter discovered joy, humor, and dignity alongside her mother living with dementia. We move from fear to curiosity as Marilyn shar...

Send us Fan Mail Ever feel like you’re sprinting through life in the wrong shoes? We sat down with inner glow coach and author Angie Hawkins to unpack how compassion, boundaries, and vulnerable honesty can move you from chasing approval to living with grounded confidence. Angie’s memoir, Running in Slippers , becomes a vivid metaphor for growth: sometimes playful, sometimes painful, always real. S...

Send us Fan Mail What if a warm cup and a square of chocolate could turn fear into trust? We sit down with speaker and community builder Andrea Putting , the heart behind Chocolate and Coffee Break, to explore how small, shared rituals help people feel safe, heard, and human again. Born from the aftermath of the Sydney siege and the #IllRideWithYou wave of solidarity, Andrea’s simple practice has...

Send us Fan Mail New to The Kindness Matters Podcast? Start here. If you’re looking for uplifting podcast episodes , real stories about kindness , or inspiring conversations that restore hope , this episode is the perfect place to begin. With over 150 episodes, we’ve pulled together 5 of the most impactful, meaningful, and inspiring stories that truly represent what The Kindness Matters Podcast is...

Send us Fan Mail Compassion gets called a “soft skill,” but what if it’s the hardest form of strength? We sit down with Tammy Ward , a former RCMP leader who spent 24 years across federal, provincial, and municipal policing—from major crimes to remote northern posts—to unpack how empathy saves relationships, reduces conflict, and sustains teams in the toughest moments. Tammy shares clear, lived ex...

Send a text What if the strongest form of advocacy didn’t sound loud, but felt deeply human? We sit down with Whitney Price , founder and executive director of Unpuzzled Parents Connect , to unpack how empathy, clarity, and community can move mountains for families raising neurodiverse kids. From West Virginia’s resource deserts to two-hour doctor trips and long insurance battles, Whitney shows ho...

Send a text What if the strongest performance tool you have isn’t a dashboard, but dignity? We sit down with Paul Meunier , executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association , and author of the book Relationships Are Everything: What Youth Workers Teach Us About Leadership , to unpack why kindness and empathy are not soft—they’re the hard, practical skills that power trust, retenti...

Send a text Welcome to The Kindness Matters Podcast — a space for people who believe small acts still change the world. In a culture that feels loud, divided, and quick to judge, this podcast explores something quieter but stronger: kindness. Not as a cliché. Not as a slogan. But as a daily decision that shapes families, communities, and the tone of our hearts. If you’re tired of outrage fatigue a...

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Send a text A bold claim said empathy is “toxic.” We took that personally—and turned it into a rich, practical conversation about what empathy really is, how it works, and why it makes families, classrooms, and communities stronger. With consultant, author, and caregiver Linda Lemos, we move past slogans and look at empathy as a skill you can learn, teach, and use every day without lowering standa...

Send a text Grief can stop you in your tracks—or it can become the ground where purpose takes root. We welcome Debbie Simmons, a “legacy architect” whose life moved from devastating loss to intentional impact, as she shares how she traded the unanswerable why for the empowering how and designed a life that serves families for generations. Debbie tells the story of losing her quadruplets at 26 week...

Send a text The world feels sharper than it used to. Conversations cut faster. Systems feel colder. And many good people feel tempted to harden—not because they don’t care, but because they’re tired. In this final bonus episode of The Kindness Matters Podcast, Mike shares why staying soft in a harsh world is not weakness—it’s courage. Drawing from his new book, Still Changing A World: Small Acts o...