Rescuers radio show

When Michele Collier’s two young children were diagnosed with autism, she already suspected she was also on the spectrum. She knew she was “different” - uncomfortable in social situations and exhausted by social interaction by the end of the day. As an adult, late diagnosis autism is often a relief, and a step toward understanding how your neurodivergence makes you handle things...

Cathryn Richards likes to say she came to the Arizona State Parks and Trails department “inadvertently,” following 20 years leading volunteers with law enforcement in Colorado and again with the Department of Economic Security in Phoenix, serving the disadvantaged and those living on the streets. Those experiences made Cathryn the perfect person to take on the role of the Parks’...

Kim Ketola doesn’t just write about abortion; she’s lived through it. She’s taken her thoughts, memories, and emotions about the experience and created a resource for the eight to 10 million American women seeking healing from their own abortions. She provides spiritual guidance, hope, and practical tools to reconnect with God’s love and grace through her book “Cradle...

More households in the U.S. have pets than have children in the home. When hardship strikes, however, often people must choose between keeping a beloved animal or accepting help for their own basic needs of food, shelter, and safety. Leanna Taylor is CEO of the Arizona Pet Project (AZPP), a nonprofit that keeps pets with the people who love and need them most by connecting vulnerable community mem...

God has a way of teaching us in the most unexpected of ways. By many measures, John Kralik should have been on top of the world. A graduate of the prestigious University of Michigan Law School, he was living in the sun-soaked hills around Los Angeles, running his own small law firm. Instead, he found his life at a terrifying low: that law firm was hemorrhaging money; he was struggling through a pa...

Laura Hackett has always had a passion for animals. Her heart typically leads the way. When she was going to school she began volunteering at the Humane Society – and ended up working there. Then she volunteered at the Phoenix Zoo – and was hired as a zookeeper. She also volunteered at Liberty Wildlife, and today is the education manager and a wildlife biologist. Liberty Wildlife is a...

More than 2 million Arizona residents are protected by volunteer or combination fire departments. These organizations are mainly in rural or semi-rural areas where residents and structures are spread over a wide range of terrain. The volunteers donate their time, and salaries for the firefighters who do get paid are typically below poverty level. Despite the millions of people depending on them, c...

Lisa Jernigan’s calling as a peacemaker has led her into borderlands, conflict zones, refugee camps, and sacred spaces of reconciliation. She is the founder and president of Amplify Peace, a global movement that promotes the principles of peacemaking through the teachings of Jesus to create change in our world. What does that look like? It’s a movement that educates, immerses, trains,...

Rabbi Robert Kravitz says he never actually planned to be a rabbi. One day, he was a Connecticut-born college student studying radio, TV, and film at Syracuse University; the next he was driving to Cincinnati where he conducted Shabbat services, studied voice, and accepted a three-year cantorial position at a nearby Conservative synagogue. It became clear it was a calling. Over the next 50 years,...

Jake White never really got into drinking. But that didn’t mean he didn’t want to be want to be social and have a good time.  So he started hosting parties without any drugs or alcohol. They grew in popularity, and within a semester hundreds of students attended his signature “sober parties.” He helped other learn how to throw the parties and get sponsors, and dubbed t...

The Bible is full of stories about God working astounding miracles in people’s lives. We need to remember, however, that He is still in the business of touching lives. Mark Ellis is a storyteller who shares those modern-day miracles. From an astronaut’s transformative encounter with Jesus on the moon, to Vincent van Gogh’s unappreciated journey with Christ, Mark has devoted himse...

Meaghan Rodeck has a gift for making things happen. She uses that gift to help restore peace to families pulling themselves out of homelessness, providing everything from emergency shelter to affordable housing. She is the Vice President of Strategy and People Operations at UMOM New Day Centers, an organization started 60 years ago and once known as the United Methodist Outreach Ministries. Their...

Ron Friesen is a spiritual director. He’s also an educator, community activist, pastor, shepherd, counselor, and author. Most of all, he’s a servant, going where God calls him. That journey has taken him many places, from Canada to Phoenix, to founding two churches, serving the unhoused, and hospice chaplaincy. Ron has a heart for people of all ethnicities and socio-economic background...

Stefanie Calens is on the front lines of helping victims of sex trafficking in a ground-breaking program, the nation’s first family two-year transitional housing model for adult female victims of sex trafficking and their minor children. She is the community engagement liaison for the Arizona State University Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research (STIR), bringing both spiritual dep...

Dr. Bob Fauer tended patients for 40 years as a family physician, much of that time in upscale Scottsdale, AZ. In 2011, he also began serving a different clientele – the homeless in Phoenix – during the Occupy Movement, protesting the gaping economic inequality in our country. He began by driving the streets and alleyways of Phoenix, handing out money and supplies to those in need. Rea...

Open the door and the warm aroma of coffee welcomes you. There are couples in animated conversation; friends playing games; and small groups in deep discussion. There may be musicians tucked in the corner. It feels like home. That was the goal for Amie Pierone, founding director of the Eden Tea and Coffee House on the edge of the Arizona State University campus. With a degree in mathematics and an...

Mark Upton shares a vision with the organization he leads: a future in which every child is loved and nurtured in a Christ-centered family. Christian Family Care helps both kids and families live their best lives through a rich collection of impactful programs, including not just adoption and foster care assistance, but also counseling for adults, children and families; Hand in Hand Pregnancy Coun...

Aaron Higginbotham is an athlete’s athlete. In high school, he excelled in football, wrestling, and track, and had a stellar career on the gridiron for the University of Arizona. His love for sports is eclipsed only by his love for Christ. Today, as state director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) in Arizona, he helps engage, equip and empower coaches and athletes to know and gr...

The world is full of caring people who want to help, and there are certainly many people who need that help. Sometimes the challenge is getting those two groups together. The CarePortal is designed to connect compassionate people to help meet the needs of kids and families in crisis. It works with the local church and others to let them know about the vetted, urgent needs of individual families in...

People suffering severe burns deal with the pain of healing and the resulting PTSD, sometimes for years. The Arizona Burn Foundation is there to support them and their families through the entire time, through recovery until they no longer identify as a victim, but as a human being of intrinsic value and worth. Rex Albright has been a nonprofit leader for 19 years for chambers of commerce, Dignity...

The local church cares for the community. But who helps the pastors and staff of the local church be the best they can be? Jeff Gokee is the executive director of PHOENIX/ONE, an organization he helped form to unify the local church through care and connection. The goal is to help church staff and their spouses be healthier through a wide range of innovative services. There’s the LOVEWELL ap...

A clay tablet dating back to 2300 B.C. written in cuneiform. A fire-damaged page from a 1611 King James Bible. A 300-year-old Hebrew Torah fragment. A leaf from a 1529 Martin Luther translation of the New Testament. A leaf from the Guttenberg Bible. Rare versions and pages from Bibles dating back hundreds of years were the passion of Craig Lampe when he started The Bible Museum in Goodyear, AZ. To...

The children know her as Miss Debbie, and for two hours every day after school, she has a live call-in radio show that reaches kids across the nation. Her listeners eagerly call in their answers to the Bible quiz question of the day to win a prize, and quote the Bible verse of the day they’ve memorized. Adults know her as Deborah Eckelbarger. Her pastor father started a Christian station in...

He remembers delivering newspapers from the back of a truck as a kid in the ‘70s, and 50 years later, he’s still with The Arizona Informant. Cloves Campbell, Jr. continues the family legacy as the paper’s publisher, serving as a voice for the Black community in the state. The credo of the Black Press across the country is that America can best lead the world away from racial and...

He’s written more than 70 books. He led one of the most historic churches in Chicago for 36 years. And he is respected as a speaker – on the air, in the pulpit, and around the world. Dr. Erwin Lutzer has touched perhaps the most lives through his writing, addressing issues and questions with books such as  “One Minute After You Die,” How to Say No to a Stubborn Habit,&...