Episodes

Four words written on a piece of paper: “shelter, warm, comfort, dignity.” This is where ShelterBox began. Tom Henderson, the original founder of ShelterBox, turned with his idea to his local Rotary Club in Helston, England for support, and they took up the mantle. Today, over 20 years later, Rotary International is still a key partner. Here in the U.S., Kerri Murray is at the helm of the largest ShelterBox affiliate in the world. Since 2015, Kerri has personally overseen relief efforts for some...

Marie Haas has worked with, and touched the hearts of, some of the most vulnerable citizens in our society – kids with autism and their families. She began and grew a company in Singapore called Embrace Autism. It was the fusion of science and art, born of a passion to care, connect and communicate. But that’s not what she set out to do, at least not officially. She actually just wanted to dance. LINKS: Marie Lynn Haas Embrace Autism The Autism Treatment Center of America Emergent Improvisatio...

In the mid- 1980’s, Debra Ruh was nurturing a successful career in the banking industry and looking forward to starting a family. But in 1987, her path took an unexpected turn after the birth of her daughter Sara. And today, that path has led her around the world to work with multi-national companies, nations, the UN and more. As an advocate for accessibility and inclusion, Debra has dedicated her life to improve the lives those with disabilities. LINKS: Ruh Global Impact website Debra’s Podca...

Staci Tinkelman and Becky Pyles realized early in the Covid-19 pandemic that masks were going to become a critical need – not just for front-line medical staff, but for the community at large. By combining Becky’s sewing talents and the infrastructure at Staci’s printing company, Quaker Chroma Imaging, they realized that they could help those in need, and get some of their people back to work. LINKS: Quaker Chroma Website Full Transcript Chris Straigis – 0:01 Welcome to Scrappy the podcast a...

Michael Morin and his brother Bryan were beginning to gear up for a new year at their family-owned pizza shop in New Jersey. Then, out of the blue, Covid-19 changed the scope of what their bustling business would look like going into the Spring of 2020. Faced with state mandated closure of walk-in businesses, their first thoughts were of the 20 employees that were the cornerstone of their success. So, following the advice of their father to “always take care of the people who take care of you”, ...

Henry Salinas was called to service throughout his life – helping to tend farms with his parents as a boy, joining the Army as a young man and raising a family of his own. Then, he found an even greater mission: devoting his time, energy and passion to helping children in his hometown of Chandler, Arizona, find a better way forward than with the drugs and gangs that were destroying their neighborhoods and stealing their futures. He became a staple of his community and devoted himself to building...

Hani White’s mother and grandmother made sure that cooking was a family event as she grew up near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. For them, cooking was a shared experience that strengthened family and community bonds. And in her part of the country, a great deal of that cooking involved readily available vegetable oils. Disposing that used oil was as simple as throwing it into a local trash pit. After immigrating to the US, Hani continued those same cooking traditions – but trying to dum...

As a young boy growing up in Nepal, Avishek Malla dreamed of being a famous athlete, a cricket champion. His career ended after college, though, and he took on a new passion. He garnered inspiration from carrying out some environmental work in rural areas of his home country, and had a medal bestowed upon him by a king. Today he helps his country’s residents pull power from the sun, and irrigate their once-dry fields. And his work is changing the lives and lifestyles of Nepal’s people. LINKS: ...

Jennifer’s journey is quintessentially American. It’s a story of a daughter of hard-working, immigrant parents who came to this country and strove to make good in the land of opportunity – a daughter who followed in her father’s footsteps, fostering a family legacy and living the American Dream. Until, that is, a terrible accident changed the course of her life, and forced her to reckon with her new normal. Just like her parents and grandparents before her, she faced her challenges head on, and ...

Growing up on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, the beach was David Katz’s playground; and his father, a merchant marine and craftsman, would take the young David on adventures out to sea. This upbringing instilled in him a love of the ocean and the precious beauty of nature. But as time passed, David noticed a growing problem – the constant flow of plastics and trash washing up on the shores. With the passion passed down from his father, and a natural tack towards problem solving, D...