Better Place Project with Steve Norris

Alan Graham Started Mobile Loaves and Fishes in 1998, a social outreach ministry that provides food and clothing, cultivates community, and promotes dignity to men and women in need.  He and four friends boldly answered their call to “love your neighbor” by delivering meals to men and women experiencing homelessness from the back of a green minivan. Since its founding, MLF volunteers have served more than 5 million meals with a side of hope to men and women living on the streets of Austin, and the organization has spawned similar food truck ministries in other cities across the U.S.

Alan also is the lead visionary behind MLF’s Community First! Village—a 51-acre master planned development in northeast Austin that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for men and women coming out of chronic homelessness. Alan is a published author of the book Welcome Homeless: One Man’s Journey of Discovering the Meaning of Home. He also is the host of the Gospel Con Carne podcast, which explores the woundedness of society through untold stories of individuals who have encountered homelessness.

For more information and/or to donate to this incredible organization, please visit: https://mlf.org/

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

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 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
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Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
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Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Anaise and Carine Kanimba are the adopted daughters of Paul Rusesabagina, the humanitarian famous for saving 1,200 refugees during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, whose true story was told in the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda. Since then, he’s published the autobiography, “An Ordinary Man” in 2006 and has received many humanitarian and civil rights awards, including a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005 from President George W. Bush.  Now Paul Rusesabagina, who angered the Rwandan government with his pointed criticism from exile in the years after the genocide, has gone on trial in a prosecution that has drawn broad international condemnation. In August 2020, he was seen in handcuffs in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, with no explanation from authorities as to how he had come to be there. Rusesabagina faces 13 charges including terrorism, complicity in murder, and forming an armed rebel group. He is facing trial with 20 alleged rebel fighters. In this conversation with Anaise and Carine, we discuss the current trials and how we can help free Paul Rusesabagina.

To sign the petition for Joe Biden to demand the release of Paul Rusesabagina, please visit:
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-president-to-demand-the-release-of-paul-rusesabagina?fbclid=IwAR3fAwlkiivvt3X--Ft3LtHcLfIPpcx-EQyVnx2KmL-yvsD_7jrjBP68uws

To learn more, or to donate to the legal defense fund, please visit:
https://hrrfoundation.com/

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Season 1 Finale:  Chad Pregracke grew up near the Mississipi River in East Moline, Illinois. From his childhood experience and first job as a clam digger, he decided he wanted to do something about all of the trash collected in the river. At the age of 17, Chad started making calls to government agencies to notify them of the problem, assuming someone would take care of it.

But overtime, the problem only got worse. In 1997, Chad decided that if no one else was going to clean up the river, he would. In 1998 at the age of 23, Chad founded Living Lands & Waters. The crew averages nine states a year along the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio Rivers, as well as many of their tributaries.

Most recently, Chad expanded the mission of the organization to include Student Educational Workshops, The MillionTrees Project, Adopt-a-River Mile, Invasive Species Removal and The Great Mississippi River Cleanup. He’s received an abundance of awards and honors over the years including the Jefferson Award or Public Service and he was named CNN’s hero of the year. Chad is also the author of From the Bottom Up: One Man’s Crusade to Clean America’s Rivers.

For more information, or to make a donation, please visit:
LivingLandsandWaters.org

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

As seen on 60 Minutes, the Last Slave Ship, known as the Clotilda, is a mysterious story that can’t be told in a hurry. As a matter of fact, it’s taken 159 years to be told and is still not finished.

It started with simple people living simple lives in their ‘own’ African country, before being captured by a rival tribe, sold to a wealthy slave owner from America and forced to live in squalor on a two-month voyage across an unforgiving Atlantic Ocean.

And despite a then 50-year-old federal law against importing Africans, Clotilda and its cargo of 110 ‘human beings’ still dropped anchor at Mobile Bay on July 9, 1860…capping a gut-wrenching two-month plus voyage for those terrified captives. The Clotilda was burned and sunk in an Alabama River after bringing these slaves across the Atlantic in 1860. Two years ago, its remains were found. We had the honor of speaking with two descendants of slaves that were on that ship, as well as the captain’s descendent who brought the slaves from Africa to Alabama. Darron Patterson is the descendent of the slave, Polle Allen, and Gary Lumbers is the descendent of the slave, Cudjo Lewis. Mike Foster is the descendent of Captain William Foster who built and sailed the ship. The three of them have come together in an unlikely friendship to make sure the story of the Clotilda, and the legacy of the 110 slaves on board, lives on forever.

To learn more about this story and/or to make a donation please visit:
 https://theclotildastory.com/
https://www.cudjolewisfamily.org/gallery

Music Credit:
Clotilda's on Fire by Shemekia Copeland

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

The Last Slave Ship, known as the Clotilda, is a mysterious story that can’t be told in a hurry. As a matter of fact, it’s taken 159 years to be told and is still not finished.

It started with simple people living simple lives in their ‘own’ African country, before being captured by a rival tribe, sold to a wealthy slave owner from America and forced to live in squalor on a two-month voyage across an unforgiving Atlantic Ocean.

And despite a then 50-year-old federal law against importing Africans, Clotilda and its cargo of 110 ‘human beings’ still dropped anchor at Mobile Bay on July 9, 1860…capping a gut-wrenching two-month plus voyage for those terrified captives. The Clotilda was burned and sunk in an Alabama River after bringing these slaves across the Atlantic in 1860. Two years ago, its remains were found. We had the honor of speaking with two descendants of slaves that were on that ship, as well as the captain’s descendent who brought the slaves from Africa to Alabama. Darron Patterson is the descendent of the slave, Polle Allen, and Gary Lumbers is the descendent of the slave, Cudjo Lewis. Mike Foster is the descendent of Captain William Foster who built and sailed the ship. The three of them have come together in an unlikely friendship to make sure the story of the Clotilda, and the legacy of the 110 slaves on board, lives on forever.

To learn more about this story and/or to make a donation please visit:
 https://theclotildastory.com/
https://www.cudjolewisfamily.org/gallery

Music Credit:
Clotilda's on Fire by Shemekia Copeland

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN is an anti-diet registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and author of the book Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating (Little, Brown Spark 2019). She offers online courses and private intuitive eating coaching to help people all over the world make peace with food and their bodies. Since 2013 Christy has hosted Food Psych, a weekly podcast exploring people’s relationships with food and paths to body liberation. It is now one of Apple’s top 100 health podcasts, reaching tens of thousands of listeners worldwide each week. 

Christy began her career in 2003 as a journalist covering food, nutrition, and health, and she’s written for publications including The New York Times, SELF, BuzzFeed, WIRED, Refinery29, Gourmet, Slate, The Food Network, and many others. Learn more about Christy and her work at christyharrison.com.

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

In this Global Storytelling Series episode, we chatted with Irmela Mensah-Schramm and our friend and translator from Germany, Petra Nikol.

Irmela Mensah-Schramm is a 75-year-old activist who set out to erase symbols of hate in the world. Often referred to as “Graffiti Grandma", she’s spent the last 3 decades removing and covering up Nazi imagery and racist graffiti in Berlin, Germany. She was featured in the 2017 documentary, The Hate Destroyer, and has received several awards including The Göttingen Peace Prize and The Erich-Kästner-Prize . Irmela’s removed 88,300 Neo-Nazi stickers since 2007 and continues to fight against racism and discrimination. In this episode, Irmela describes her experiences growing up in post-World War II Germany and the events that led her to find purpose in removing racist and xenophobic graffiti. We hope that her extraordinary story will leave you feeling inspired as we begin the new year.

 If you wish to make a donation, visit www.hass-vernichtet.de

Song credit for this episode: "Liebe" by German band Neufundland

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Ibu Robin Lim CPM is a Filipino–American midwife, mother, grandmother, and founder of Yayasan Bumi Sehat a non-profit organization in Indonesia. Lim also serves on the board of Bumi–Wadah Philippines, where she is known as “Lola Robin.” Her Passion is Human Rights in Childbirth. She believes that each individual is an essential “Piece of Peace” therefore by protecting the mothers in childbirth and the newborns (our smallest citizens of Earth) we may build peace, one Baby, one Mother, one Family at a time.

Listen in as she tells the story of  how the tragic death of her sister during childbirth 30 years ago, led her to a life's work that is saving lives and changing how the world views childbirth.

To learn more about Ibu Robin, please visit https://bumisehat.org/

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

Imagine being on top of the world as a young, bright successful 29 year-old entrepreneur living in Nigeria, with your whole world and your whole life ahead of you. And then one day, in almost the blink of an eye, you suddenly find yourself locked up behind bars, in an overcrowded, filthy, oppressively hot, rat infested, maximum-security prison, for a crime you did not commit. Imagine the torture of waiting 14 long years for a trial, only to then be sentenced to death by hanging or firing squad.

For most of us, this would be an unimaginable nightmare straight out of a fictional movie. For Clinton Kanu, this was just the first semester of his 27 years in prison. 27 lost years, for a crime he did not commit.

Last year, the Supreme Court of Nigeria finally acquitted and released Dr. Kanu. We say "Doctor," because while in prison, he earned his Bachelors, his Masters and not 1, but 2 PhDs. What’s equally astounding, is that in spite of losing so many years in the prime of his life, Dr. Kanu not only holds no resentment towards his captors and his government, known for its depth of corruption in its prison system, but is determined to dedicate the rest of his life towards helping others, both wrongfully accused, but also as he says, to help the “downtrodden, poor and forgotten people around the world.

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

In this Christmas Bonus Episode, we chat about our own holiday traditions growing up and what we look forward to the most about the holidays. We even take a trip down memory lane and listen to clips of some Norris original Christmas songs from the 90s and early 2000s. That’s right, we have our own Christmas album. Pour yourself some eggnog or hot cocoa and enjoy this holiday special!

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj
 
 To follow Steve & Erin on Instagram:
@SteveNorrisOfficial
 @Erinorris

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]

To stay connected with Better Place Project and for updates and behind the scenes info, please follow us on social media:

Website:
https://www.betterplaceproject.org/

Instagram: @BetterPlaceProj

To follow Steve on Instagram
@SteveNorrisOfficial

Facebook: Facebook.com/BetterPlaceProjectPodcast
Twitter: @BetterPlaceProj
Email: [email protected]