True Stories of Good People

Brittany's Baskets of Hope is a nonprofit organization that makes and delivers baskets to celebrate the arrival of babies with Down syndrome. Since delivering their first basket in October 2016, they have now sent over hundreds of baskets to families in all 50 states.

Today we're catching up with two wonderful returning guests, Mike and Jenny Shaw of Team Jenny Bean. Jenny Shaw was only 6 years old when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Despite going through such a scary experience at such a young age, she kept her spirits up the whole time, and helped her family do the same. Fast forward to today, Jenny is cancer free, and has turned her experience into a...

Brooke and Breanna Bennett always wanted to make a positive impact in their community, but weren't exactly sure where to start. When they heard about young students in their mother's class at school who couldn't afford menstrual hygiene products, they came up with an idea for how to help—and it turned into something that grew bigger than they ever imagined.

Katie Ishizuka and Ramón Stephens are the powerful duo behind "The Conscious Kid", an education, research, and policy organization dedicated to equity and promoting healthy racial identity development in children. In addition to their incredible advocacy work and their amazingly popular Instagram account, they have recently harnessed their community to help provide rent relief for families struggl...

Christopher Vane has always had a deep connection with animals. In 2017, he moved to Southwest Florida to be closer to his parents, and at the same time left his career in real estate because he no longer had passion for the work. He was thinking about what to do next, when a new dream came to him, suddenly clear: Chris wanted to open an animal sanctuary to give a safe and happy home to animals li...

To her local community, Marcella Thompson is a living angel. Marcella saw that many local families were struggling to make ends meet and felt compelled to help. And so, for the past 4 years she has been helping to feed and clothe the children in her neighborhood. The impact she has had in these kids' and families lives is profound, and has grown to encompass so much more than providing meals.

Minneapolis-area parents Ron and Shani Johnson have always taught their two young daughters to love other people and to give back. After the death of George Floyd, Ron was feeling lost. Following in her parent's footsteps, Kamryn, Ron & Shani's oldest daughter, came up with an idea for how to help their community when it needed it most — and the results surprised everyone.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted millions of families across the United States. People are facing job loss, depleted savings, food insecurity, and so much more. Minda Brusse and Alex Iskold wanted to figure out a way to make an impact for these families, and came up with a truly innovative idea that has taken on a life of its own.

Karida Collins is a small business owner based in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to her passion for hand-dyed yarns and fibers, which she sells at her store Neighborhood Fiber Co., she is also deeply passionate about her local community. Following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the protests that erupted around the country, Karida had an idea for how to get her community involved i...

Ever since Ellie Laks was a young girl, she felt a deep connection with animals. Their gentleness and unconditional love has always touched her, and even helped her get through some dark times in her life. Fast-forward to 1999, Ellie was on an errand and happened to drive past a petting zoo that was keeping the animals in terrible conditions. Outraged, she set out to rescue as many of the animals...

In the summer of 2017, 20-year-old Gabi Angelini was on the job hunt like most young adults her age. What she didn't anticipate, however, was how many employers would turn down her application because she has Down Syndrome. Rather than letting the frustrations of the job search bring her down, Gabi decided to open her own business instead: and Gabi's Grounds was born.

Sean Sotaridona is an 18-year-old master magician who has gained a following of over 12 million on TikTok. Sean is passionate about using his platform for good, so in addition to creating videos that bring joy to people around the world, he has teamed up with his father, Leo, to help feed struggling families in Leo's home country of the Philippines during the COVID-19 crisis.

Black Lives Matter.

Grace Berbig was only 10 years old when her mother passed away after a three-year fight with leukemia. Grace promised herself she would do something meaningful to honor her mother's memory — and Letters of Love was born. Grace's efforts have helped send over 60,000 cards filled with love to children around the world who are battling cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. With the world now g...

Hoops 4 Hope is a nonprofit organization that provides a basketball league for men experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. Over time, multiple shelters across the city got involved and every game day brings so much excitement. The love of the sport brings everyone together, but the most powerful part of Hoops 4 Hope is the community that has formed as a result.

For the past 7 years, Alex Branson has been entertaining and educating children in Brooklyn, New York through her dynamic music classes called, "Lavender Blues". She pours her whole heart and soul into each class, and works  to create a warm, inclusive atmosphere where children along with their parents and caregivers can enjoy a loving experience with each other, and build community with other fam...

Evan Feinberg is the executive director of the Stand Together Foundation, an organization that aims to end the cycle of poverty in America by building a movement of bottom up human empowerment, which includes building community among nonprofit organizations across the country that are doing work in these spaces. When the COVID-19 crisis hit, there was more need than ever, and most of the organizat...

For over 25 years, Mohamed Bzeek has been exclusively taking in foster children who are sick or terminally ill. Mohamed's inspiration comes from his late wife, Dawn, a former foster mother and advocate for better foster care, who passed away in 2014. Today, Mohamed honors Dawn's legacy by dedicating his every waking moment to providing a loving home for these children.

Rob Kaiser is a proud resident of Wilmington, North Carolina. Aside from his time spent publishing at a local newspaper, he is passionate about his community and the people who live there. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Rob was heartbroken to see how many people were being affected, and especially the front line workers and first responders who were putting their health and safety second to other...

Maggie Vo's family started the Sate Grill food truck 31 years ago, and have been feeding the Boston community ever since. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, they, like many other food establishments were hit extremely hard. But, despite the fact that their beloved, decades-old family business is in danger of not surviving this crisis, they have chosen to focus on helping others.

Jen Wickens is the founder of Impact Public Schools, an organization that works to close the opportunity gap for diverse communities across Washington state. When all schools were officially closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jen knew that not all of the families she works with would have access to things like computers or even wifi -- so she set out to do something about it.

The artist community in Durham, North Carolina is something special. From their rich history to the deeply supportive nature of the community, looking out for one another is nothing new. So, when Heather Cook saw the COVID-19 pandemic start to affect her fellow community members in extreme ways, she knew she had to do something -- and the result is truly mind blowing.

In fall of 2019, devastating bushfires broke out in Australia and continued to rage for months, making it the worst fires in the continent's history. Over 1 billion Australian wildlife perished in the fires, and our collective hearts broke around the world watching this terrible event unfold. Sometime in January of the following year, plush koalas started popping up in New York City, hugging signs...

You might remember brothers Mike & Nick Fiorito from an earlier episode of our podcast where we introduced you to their incredible grassroots nonprofit organization, Blankets of Hope where they distribute warm blankets and notes of encouragement to people experiencing homelessness all over the country. Or from when they hosted the GoFundMe Heroes Celebration in San Francisco last november! Well, i...

Nine year old Justin has loved frogs for as long as he can remember. So when he learned that nearly one-third of the earth's frog species are in danger of extinction, he sprung into action and began raising money for his long-legged friends. But frogs were just the beginning. Now, Justin has become interested in recycling and has set his sights on turning the planet's plastic trash into treasures.