Free Film Screenings in Rural Mexico
"Because the price of a movie ticket is often 20 percent of a family's monthly income, 90 percent of the Mexican population doesn't have access to the movies," 27-year-old Ariel Zylbersztejn says. So he started Cinepop, which projects movies onto inflatable screens and shows them free in public parks. Now reaching upwards of 350,000 people ever year, Mr. Zylbersztejn works with microcredit agenc... posted on Mar 12 2009, 2,121 reads

The Gift-Economy House of Kelowna
"Once in a while you are given an incredible opportunity to really make a difference in one family's life," said a group of volunteers in a small Canadian town of Kelowna. Just like a popular reality TV show, their idea was to demolish and then rebuild a new house -- yes, a whole new house! -- for an amazing family of nine in their community. There was only one caveat: it was 100% community funded... posted on Mar 11 2009, 2,228 reads

NY Cabbies Help Orphaned Twins
Almost 100,000 New York City cabbies are coming together to contribute to help raise and educate 13-year-old twin boys whose parents were killed in a hit-and-run accident. The taxi federation asked both yellow and livery cab drivers to donate one day's tips, a sum the group estimates averages about $15 to $20. The twins are being raised by their uncle, Akram Audah and aunt, Fatma Elnahal. Audah i... posted on Mar 07 2009, 3,014 reads

Australian Slumdog Millionaires
Mark and Cathy Delaney don't need to see the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire. The Australian couple experience slum life in India every day. For the last 13 years they have lived in the shanty towns of the Indian capital, New Delhi, raising their children and sharing their lives with the locals. Their two sons, Tom, 12, and Oscar, 7, were born in India and have lived most of their lives in slums. ... posted on Mar 06 2009, 9,607 reads

Ironworkers in Boston
It has become a beloved ritual at Dana-Farber's Cancer Institute, where they are building a new facility. Every day, children who come to the clinic write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the windows of the walkway for ironworkers to see. And, every day, the ironworkers paint the names onto I-beams and hoist them into place as they add floors to the new 14-story Yawkey Center for Ca... posted on Feb 24 2009, 5,958 reads

The Frankel's Extended Family
Chris and Georgia Frankel's house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, now has 12 people calling it home. In addition to their three daughters, ages 3, 6 and 17, this large-hearted couple shares their space with five adults and two teens. The family started taking in people a long while ago. They are all there for various reasons, from difficult family situations to trouble with former roommates. Some are ... posted on Feb 22 2009, 2,945 reads

Trading Guns for Nail Polish
In the most dangerous neighborhood of Guayaquil -- Ecuador's largest and most crime-ridden city -- a dozen youths are busy working in the Paz Urbana Print Shop. By the entrance, a young man designs a T-shirt logo with graffiti paint. In the back, amid the hip-hop music and paint fumes, tattooed young men with baggy pants and baseball caps compile an order of worksheets for schools. The print shop ... posted on Feb 21 2009, 3,371 reads

If I Had Three Wishes
Hurrying to get out the door on a Monday morning, Kathy Smith started to scratch her name on her son's homework assignment when she stopped to read what he had written. The fourth-grade creative assignment was pretty straightforward: If I Had Three Wishes. Kathy smiled as she read the first item on her son's bucket list: a golden retriever. His second wish was to play professional basketball, hard... posted on Feb 19 2009, 6,925 reads

Benjamin Zander's Shining Eyes
There are 2 ways to approach this talk: 1. A man talks about classical music 2. A man discusses how to experience life and throws in some Chopin for good measure. Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it -- and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections. ... posted on Feb 15 2009, 4,719 reads

Gifted Hands: The Story of Ben Carson
Benjamin S. Carson went from an angry street fighter in Detroit to become director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Carson, who attributes his escape from the poverty of his youth to the support and love of his mother, is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. His autobiography, "Gifted Hands", chronicles the road from a broken home and poor self-esteem to his life today.... posted on Feb 11 2009, 5,442 reads