Shoe Shiner's Journey
As an impoverished, illiterate shoe-shine boy on the streets of Sao Paulo, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's job was to polish battered shoes and make them appear shiny and new. After winning the presidency in 2002 by the biggest margin in Brazil's history, Lula came closer to realizing his life long mission -- a day when everyone in the world's fifth largest nation can eat three times a day. A former ... posted on Dec 06 2003, 952 reads

Riding The Waves
In late October, a 13 year old lost her arm to a shark bite while surfing in Hawaii. Eye witnesses say she never screamed or panicked, although she lost more than half her blood and all but four inches of her arm. "There's no need for that," she told the press three weeks later. Bethany Hamilton was a top amateur surfer who was expected to turn pro; now, she may never be able to compete again b... posted on Nov 29 2003, 1,675 reads

30 hour Marathon
It was a marathon of a marathon. She stopped every mile to stretch and tested her blood sugar every two hours. She took breaks, but didn't sleep. Twenty nine hours and 45 minutes after she started -- more than 27 hours after the first runner crossed the line -- Zoe Koplowitz walked, aided by crutches, across the finish line of the New York City Marathon on Monday. Diagnosed 30 years ago with mu... posted on Nov 21 2003, 866 reads

To the Rescue in Bangladesh
Driving in Old Dhaka (Bangaldesh), she saw a cycle-rickshaw standing by the side of the road. Under the decorated hood were two women; one looked young and "very confused." Then she noticed a vehicle with two men in it coming down the road. She sensed something was wrong. "It looked like a dalal (pimp) and his client. I thought "I have to do something!" I looked at the young girl and said, 'Do y... posted on Nov 07 2003, 1,042 reads

Forty years ago, George Raveling found himself on stage as Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. After the speech, Raveling asked a question that changed his life. "I was only about four people off to the side of King," he remembers. "I don't know what possessed me but I walked up to King and calmly asked 'Can I have that copy?' Without hesitating he turned and handed it ... posted on Nov 02 2003, 1,398 reads

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A thousand dollar loan. That's what Mimi Silbert took out to start a university of the streets, one she calls a Harvard for losers -- a concrete campus that has graduated 14,000 former pimps and prostitutes, junkies and drug dealers, armed robbers and homeless waifs. Since the 1970s, the smiling dynamo of a woman has operated Delancey Street, an alternative rehabilitation program run solely by i... posted on Oct 25 2003, 763 reads

Gary Erickson's company has grown 30% every year since 1998 but still, it's different. He and his wife refused a $100 million offer to sell their business. In 2000, Gary hired a staff ecologist, who took steps such as eliminating shrink-wrap on bulk-product boxes, which now saves 90,000 pounds of plastic annually. From inception, they launched the 2080 program at work where employees can do vo... posted on Oct 09 2003, 879 reads

Ron Clark never planned on being a teacher. After college, he traveled around the world, living a life full of adventure; but after getting terribly sick, he ended up back at home in rural North Carolina, teaching at a local school. After five years of teaching, he heard about schools in East Harlem, New York that were failing because of a lack of good teachers. So he quit his job, packed his bag... posted on Oct 07 2003, 827 reads

Blind Leading the Blind
She's blind herself. So when she arrived in Tibet to help the blind, the community could hardly believe their eyes! Sabriye Tenberken is a German voyager to this Himalayan region known as the "roof of the world" and created the first Tibetan Braille system. Her 'Braille without Borders' program is also expanding to various other regions of the continent.... posted on Oct 02 2003, 1,240 reads