In celebration of our nine-year anniversary of the podcast, I feature the letters of listeners who have been transformed by "Food for Thought." The stories are as diverse as the listeners and reflect varied ages and backgrounds, but they all share common threads of hope and compassion. I hope you are as moved by the letters as I am humbled by them. If you ever once thought that "people don't change," then you're in for quite a treat.

This episode is dedicated to amazing animal activist Lisa Shapiro, 1964-2015. Her fire is put out but not her light.  We will carry on for the animals and hold her in our hearts forever.