I recently discovered a wonderful community resource. I challenge you to explore the Sesame Street in Communities website and familiarize yourself with all of the free resources there. You may run across something that will help you. But, also, if you know what’s there, you can pass these tools along to community members who may need this information.

In this podcast episode, I’m going to talk about an organization created to provide support to the patients and families of the Heart Institute at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital. This organization is called Big Heart Fund and we created to honor the memory of Kellen Austin Dorse.

In this podcast, I’m going to talk about just one aspect of the work of Healing Hands International: the agricultural component. Ever since I first wrote an article about HHI, I’ve been fascinated by the way they work to discover the needs of a community and find practical, sustainable solutions to help meet those needs. The agriculture program empowers communities to fight hunger by providing instruction on basic gardening techniques that can be used even in drought prone areas.

Tennis star Serena Williams has teamed with the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse project to help us all understand the devastating effects of financial abuse and give us an opportunity to share conversations about how we can bring this to an end. I also share my story of surviving financial abuse.

This podcast invites us to look closer at the lives of people around us and to take time to hear their stories. This week I reflect on what happens when we fail to look to see the truth about other people. I challenge all of us to create a common table where we can share our stories honestly and boldly in order to help bring about peace and hope in our hurting nation...a nation grieving over tragedies in our communities.

I’m Chris Pepple and today I’m once again going to talk about an individual instead of a nonprofit group. This week, however, I’m not going to talk about a public figure. I’m going to talk about a private individual…a person who could be defined as an average person in America with a career and a family. Today's episode is about a mentor and a financial coach. This is dedicated to all of the quiet heroes among us who often work without recognition. (Bonus poetry reading)

An overview of the publishing career of author Julie Cantrell and a glimpse into how she uses her voice to help spread information about domestic violence every October. Challenge: let’s be educators from time to time and pass along accurate information that can help others understand the struggles of others. And let’s agree to be educated…let’s read these posts rather than skim past them.

A short story read by author Chris Pepple...a story which challenges us to work to bring positive changes to our communities and challenges us to listen to the stories of the people in our local and global communities. "I knew that when more people began to hear my voice, then more people would want to silence my voice."

I wanted to know more about how an organization that aims to serve our community gets a start—how do you tackle large societal issues such as homelessness, poverty, and abuse when you are starting with just a vision? Here’s what I learned from a woman named Timishia Ortiz who is the founder and CEO of The Jasmine Center in Memphis, Tennessee.

I’m Chris Pepple and today I’m going to talk about a program that empowers the refugee community in Memphis, Tennessee, and the surrounding areas through many educational and encouraging programs--the Refugee Empowerment Program.