All People Making a Difference
Kidsave brings children in need of homes and US families togetherThe nonprofit program brings orphans and foster children from abroad to the US for a summer visit, where they stay with potential adoptive families.
Forget peanuts and Cracker Jack: These baseball teams have stadium-grown greensDirt is for more than filling base paths at the ballparks of these 'farm teams' 鈥� it鈥檚 for growing food too.
Divine Chocolate is delicious 鈥� and a boon to its growersCocoa farmers in Ghana formed Kuapa Kokoo, the 'Good Cocoa' co-operative, which helps its farmer-members in many ways.
Difference MakerTanya Jisa paired her love of fresh food with a desire to help women ex-convictsBenevolence Farm, nestled in pastoral lands west of Durham, N.C., will serve as a transitional living program for just released female ex-convicts.
Cambodia uses 'life-saving' rats to sniff out deadly landminesTheir work could prove vital in a country where unexploded devices, including mines and unexploded shells, have killed nearly 20,000 Cambodians and wounded about 44,000 since 1979.
Greenhouses in Peru's high Andes provide roots for innovationHigh-elevation communities in Peru are using greenhouses to grow more nutritional crops than the climate ordinarily allows.聽
Women lead effort to protect Sri Lanka's mangrovesSri Lanka is the first nation to promise to protect all its mangrove trees, which provide breeding areas for marine life and protect coastal communities from storms and erosion.
A college student brightens lives in IndiaThrough her nonprofit Brighter Today, Mansi Prakash has brought cheaper, better lighting to more than 5,000 homes in a rural village. And she's not stopping there.
High-energy dogs find careers in conservationRescues 2the Rescue, a partnership between the International Fund for Animal Welfare and Working Dogs for Conservation, places high-energy dogs in jobs that benefit from their spunk.
Indian farmer harvests a climate-smart crop 鈥� sunshineA pilot project offers farmers in India the opportunity to sell the excess energy generated by the solar panels that drive their water pumps.
Warren Buffett donates $2.8 billion to five charitiesThe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was once more the biggest recipient of Warren Buffett's $2.8 billion in charity this year.聽
Maja Mataric looks for female students who want to be 'The Next MacGyver'The engineering professor is seeking to lure more young women into STEM fields. The Next MacGyver competition is one way.
Difference MakerIan Tilling went to Romania to help children in need 鈥� and never leftToday the retired British policeman's nonprofit Casa Ioana is a place where women and children can go to feel safe and learn how to rebuild their lives.聽
Music success story started under the stairsThe nonprofit KEYS program in Bridgeport, Conn., schools now enriches the lives of hundreds of students who otherwise wouldn't receive music instruction.
Difference MakerMark Hecker pairs pupils and student tutors 鈥� with dramatic gains for bothAt Reach Incorporated the tutors are only about six to eight years older 鈥� high school students who themselves have been struggling academically or socially.
New website helps people donate directly to human trafficking survivorsThe first-of-its-kind website 6degree.org allows people to aid individual survivors of human trafficking through online donations.
The Theatre Lab helps people tell their own storiesDeb Gottesman and聽Buzz Mauro conduct a tuition-free Life Stories program that gives opportunities for self-expression to hundreds of individuals not typically reached by the arts.
How Australians survived a 13-year drought by going low-techResidents of Melbourne, Australia, cut water consumption in half by capturing rainwater and using efficient toilets and washing machines.
Why Newtown's path to healing goes through Oklahoma and ColoradoNewtown, Conn., teens traveled to Oklahoma and Colorado to do service projects. The trips are designed to give the teenagers perspective and to empower them.
New app helps farmers in Kenya find climate-smart seedsThe free MbeguChoice mobile phone app, the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, helps farmers chose the right seed for their local conditions.