Outside-the-Box Service
For eight weeks straight, every day of the week, Swiss-born designer and conceptual artist Markuz Wernli Saito carried out 'At-Your-Service', a relational art experiment on the streets of Kyoto: for an hour, he offered citizens a chance to participate in outside-the-box interventions in urban areas. Every Tuesday, for example, was "I Love Trash" day, when people left thank-you notes on trash bags,... posted on Feb 26 2007, 2,318 reads

Rachel's Challenge
As part of her essay at Columbine High School "My Ethics, My Codes of Life", Rachel Scott wrote, "Compassion is the greatest form of love humans have to offer." This essay was found in her room by family members a few weeks after Rachel died -- the first victim in the Columbine shootings in 1999. Rachel's Challenge, a program started by her family, consists of five challenges based on Rachel's jou... posted on Feb 21 2007, 4,946 reads

Riders for Health
Andrea and Barry Coleman share a passion for global health -- and motorcycles. On a visit to Africa the couple was struck by the number of broken-down motorcycles and vehicles they saw across the continent. When they witnessed a woman in labor being taken to the hospital in a wheelbarrow, they knew they had to do something to change the system. Together they founded Riders for Health, an organizat... posted on Feb 20 2007, 2,459 reads

The Strings of Soweto
When professional viola player, Rosemary Nalden found these kids, they were playing music in a community lavatory dubbed "Carnegie Hall". They were from Soweto, the sprawling South African township struggling against poverty, unemployment and HIV. BBC Radio broadcasted a report on the young musicians in 1991; tuning in that morning was Nalden, who knew at once what she wanted to do. Together with ... posted on Feb 15 2007, 2,797 reads

A Hero Twice Over
When Michael Keenan ran into a burning building to save a dog -- a dog that didn't even belong to him in a home where he didn't live -- he ended up saving a life, but also ended up in serious condition with only a 50% chance of survival. Friends and family weren't surprised: he had already proven himself a hero six years earlier when he jumped into San Francisco Bay to save two strangers who had d... posted on Feb 13 2007, 2,233 reads

Being The Cause
In his former life as a senior management consultant at a top firm, Sukh Chugh didn't have to pay for his car, gas, apartment, or even food. In his own words, he "had it made". But 9/11 and subsequent events brought him to a dramatic turning point.. Says Chugh, "The question that hit me then was what is most important in life? I vowed that my next action would be to help the people that needed hel... posted on Feb 12 2007, 3,085 reads

From Loss to Compassionate Action
Seven years ago, Pam and Randy Cope’s lives revolved around their son’s baseball games, their daughter’s dance lessons and family vacations. All that changed dramatically in 1999, when their fifteen-year old son, Jantsen, died unexpectedly of an undetected heart ailment. With his death, Mrs. Cope said, "we were instantly transformed into different people. We couldn’t resume normal life." S... posted on Feb 09 2007, 2,610 reads

Mother To 40 Special Children
Rachel Wheeler-Rossow is a remarkable woman and mother to 40 special children in a family that has caught the hearts and imaginations of the world around her. Yes, 40 children. Three are biological and the rest are children by virtue of adoption and foster care, most of whom were born with severe physical and mental disabilities. But then, Wheeler-Rossow's definition of special maintains that labe... posted on Feb 05 2007, 2,495 reads

Teen Grocer Revives Community
Not just bagging cans and produce, 17-year-old Nick Graham owns the only grocery store in the small town of Truman, Minn. The high school senior bought and reopened the store a month ago, making him "something of a hometown hero." Locals -- many far older than Graham -- credit him with restoring life to the town's struggling Main Street and saving them a 24-mile roundtrip to another store. "I didn... posted on Feb 02 2007, 2,778 reads

Nigeria's Lady Mechanic
Sandra Aguebor, an activist known to Nigerians as the Lady Mechanic, has turned a personal passion into a successful project in female empowerment. The energetic mother of two rose from humble beginnings to national prominence as the creator of the Lady Mechanic Initiative. It's a thriving enterprise that trains disadvantaged women in Africa's most populous nation to learn a trade once considered ... posted on Jan 30 2007, 1,547 reads