All People Making a Difference
Comet, a cuddly canine pal, cheers nursing home residentsVisits from so-called therapy dogs like Comet, a golden retriever, help those in nursing homes stay engaged, active, and communicative.
The mass shooting that didn't happen: What we can learn from Antoinette TuffWhat can we do to help men who seek to commit violence find another way to deal with their problems? The story of Antoinette Tuff suggests that kindness is part of the answer.
What happens when a social enterprise and an oil giant join forces?Social enterprise d.light has teamed up with French oil and gas company Total to sell solar lights to low-income rural households in Africa and India.
Difference MakerGinger Passarelli is a good Samaritan with a soup ladleRushing to the scene of emergencies and disasters, Passarelli and her Soup Ladies nourish the helpers.
'Alternative Nobels' awarded to Congolese surgeon, Swiss pest control pioneer, and two othersThis year's four Right Livelihood Awards winners will share $312,000 in prize money. The winners are an American anti-chemical weapons advocate, a Palestinian human rights campaigner, a Congolese surgeon who helps wartime rape victims, and a Swiss pioneer of pest control for sustainable agriculture.
For Sandy Martin The Little Nature Museum is a lifelong passionStarted in Sandy Martin's bedroom when she was 13, The Little Nature Museum has received thousands of visitors who experience the results of her intimate knowledge of and love for nature.
Angelique Namaika finds strength in God to help the displaced in the CongoSister Angelique Namaika 鈥� a nun working in the Congo 鈥� has helped transform the lives of more than 2,000 women and girls forced from their homes and abused by the Lord's Resistance Army.
SunFunder uses crowdsourcing to finance solar projects in Africa, IndiaMore than a billion people lack access to electricity. Solar power could be a big part of the answer, says SunFunder founder Ryan Levinson.
Scott Harrison found meaning in life by starting charity: waterBy building freshwater wells, rainwater catchments, or providing sand filters, charity: water finds simple solutions to help solve the world鈥檚 water crisis: Roughly 1 in 9 people around the globe lack access to clean water.
Rachel Faller launches socially conscious fashions in CambodiaKeoK鈥檍ay, an innovative fashion label in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, combines social and environmental responsibility with contemporary designs.
Difference MakerStephen Wade uncovers 'The Beautiful Music All Around Us'He's a folk music detective, revealing the lost artists who helped create American folk music.
Honesty earns Boston homeless man $104,000 鈥� and countingGlen James found more than $40,000 in a backpack and turned it in to police. After reading media accounts of James' honesty,聽 Ethan Whittington, started a fund for James on the crowdfunding site, gofundme.com.
Books to Prisoners answers pleas of inmatesBooks to Prisoners, a nonprofit group that sends free reading material to prisoners across the United States, operates on a shoestring but with dogged determination.
An American mom helps build a school in Uganda'Give it up for Gulu' began as a simple fundraiser by a stay-at-home mom but became a long-term passionate project aimed at building a pre-school in Uganda.
Volunteering helps to promote 'One America'Points of Light is sponsoring One America, an effort to get people of all political, social, and religious backgrounds to work together as volunteers on 'roll up your sleeves' projects.
Ninety percent of kids give to charityChildren whose parents talk to them about giving are 20 percent more likely to give than those whose parents don鈥檛, a recent study finds.
Satellite images of Syria help a nonprofit gather data, keep witnesses safeSatellite imagery allows Amnesty International to gather critical data quickly and without putting witnesses or researchers in danger.
Difference MakerJohn Dennis Liu inspires people to save Earth's ecosystemJohn Dennis Liu says humans can stop destroying their planet. He's documented ecological restoration projects around the world to prove it.
SolePower puts a charge in your stepSolePower鈥檚 shoe insert converts walking energy into electrical power, a potential game-changer in the developing world, where many people now have cell phones but poor access to electricity.
Young leaders from the Middle East gather to tackle the region's big challengesAt an intensive six-week session in Portland, Ore., this summer 18 students studied ways to create jobs and resolve conflicts in their home communities.
