I had a wonderful interview with Matthew Bannister of the BBC recently. His questions were penetrating and well-informed; a man who’d done his homework and was a pleasure to talk with. You can listen to the entire interview here, which follows another discussion with the Sabastiao Salgado, a photographer who captures the human condition with images of…Read More


After losing his 14-year-old daughter, Mariah, when a drunken driver hit her as she walked with friends on a sidewalk in Butte, Montana, Leo McCarthy started a scholarship to keep teens away from alcohol.  As part of her eulogy, he made his offer: “If you stick with me for four years, don’t use alcohol, don’t…Read More


Retirement can sometimes be the time to start really making a contribution.  When John Mika, 58, discovered how much teachers in Buffalo, N.Y., were spending, out of their own pockets, for school supplies, he decided to do something about it: Name: John Mika Role: Substitute teacher, everyday philanthropist The Problem: As a substitute, he discovered…Read More


A boy in Africa has the disease Samuel Jackson had in Unbreakable. His bones snap at the slightest impact. His mother has to carry him four hours to the nearest clinic for treatment. They slap her for mistreating her boy. He lives in genuine poverty, but with cheerful pluck he goes to school and works…Read More