In high school, my mother and I waded out into the water of our cold Crane Creek to fill up some vials with creek water. For me, it was just another one of my mother's many volunteer activities. She had decided to become a Stream Team member, and so I would help her determine the health of the stream. She and I together were one little team doing one little job in small town Missouri.

But together the efforts of little teams really can make a difference. I didn't know it at the time, but about 68,000 other Missourians across the state were (or would be) doing the same thing. This means that about one in every one hundred people in Missouri have been partners with us in caring for our streams over the last 25 plus years: cleaning them, monitoring water quality, advocating for better policies and/or educating others.

Here’s a story that was sent to me a few weeks ago:

[Amanda] Dye, 23, opened the Energy of Hope orphanage last January in Zambia, a South African nation where 16.5 percent of the population has HIV or AIDS. Now the orphanage has 13 children, ages 6 to 14. Dye, who runs the orphanage from Liberty, [MO] is the children’s legal guardian and is responsible for financing their care and education.

The most amazing thing about this story...

Last week, I posted a story about a man in Kansas City who draws from his experiences with drug dealing everyday to help kids learn about their own potential. This week, I wanted to share a story I heard on NPR about a former police officer turned school security guard who’s really trying to make things work in struggling New Orleans schools. His story is inspiring to his students and to those of us who are trying to figure out how to make schools better across the country...

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be posting some amazing stories about amazing people doing amazing things that have been sent to me or that I’ve read over the last few weeks. This is the first story — about Pat Clarke, a coach in Kansas City who’s using sports to mentor kids. He used to deal drugs as a teenager, but now he’s all for prevention — getting the kids while they’re young and showing them the variety of opportunities they can have. You can read the full story at the Kansas City Star website, but I’m adding a few excerpts below:

Clarke tells whoever will listen, whether it’s Mayor Mark Funkhouser, a City Council member or LINC staffer Charlane Scranton, who assists him, that inner-city kids exist within a state of emergency…

[Clarke] wanted to do something that mattered. Selling drugs looking over his shoulder wasn’t it. He began organizing sports teams for kids…

In one of his first games [with the kids], his pitcher threw a straight shot over the plate. The batter slammed it toward the third baseman, who dived off the line and caught it backhanded. The third baseman’s mother was a crackhead. Clarke had bought his shoes for him. The boy looked at Clarke, who returned his stare briefly and then turned to hide his tears. He was proud of the boy, of his coaching, of something he had done. Nothing else had ever meant anything like it.

Zack and I visited a small church outside of Charleston, SC, a couple of months ago where they were showing a video about the Convoy of Hope.

The emotional video tugged on everyone’s heartstrings, as the church leaders asked for volunteers to participate in a one-day event where tons of food would be distributed, and where resume assistance, free haircuts and medical care would be provided. We knew we couldn’t attend the Charleston event, but we kept looking for another opportunity to see Convoy of Hope in action.