Darryl Brandt is no stranger to hardship. In the span of a single, devastating month, he lost his father, his family, his business … and his sense of peace. Known as The Dreaded Barber—a nod to both his hairstyle and his craft—Darryl faced deep depression in the aftermath. When he began to find his footing again, he made a deliberate choice: to turn his pain into purpose. As he puts it, “We all do things to put a roof over our heads; but we also need to do something that helps us sleep at night.” A master barber, he knew he wanted to offer free haircuts to the marginalized, but he was determined to do more than that. Darryl trained to be a Certified Peer Support Specialist, drawing directly from his own experience with depression to be able to help others. He also became a Narcan educator and an ACEs trainer, equipping himself to offer a confidential, non-judgmental, trauma-informed space. Each day, he asks himself, “What can I do in the 25 minutes someone is in my chair that can change their life?” From that space, he opens conversations about mental health, suicide prevention, and the opioid epidemic. He helps people connect to mental health support and care for challenges ranging from depression and suicide prevention to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and substance use. Today, Darryl operates a mobile barber shop out of a repurposed city bus, finding new ways to serve those who need it most—starting with the scissors in his hand, and the words, “What can I do to make life easier for you?” He's already given 1,000 free haircuts in 2025. In the comfort of the barber chair, people share, and lives are touched. As Darryl says, “if all you see is a free haircut, you’re missing the point.” Click here to learn more about The Dreaded Barber: https://thedreadedbarber.org/ Original air date: December 18, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More than 20 years ago, he was honored as a “Living Legend.” In the following 23 years, Dr. Warren H. Stewart, Sr. has continued to change this world for the better. Congenial and warm as always, Pastor Stewart looks back at his time in ministry, as a respected civic rights leader, proponent of immigration reform, social justice, equality, and at his 48 years serving as pastor at the historic First Institutional Baptist Church. More recently, he’s embracing his role as grandpa. Pastor Stewart’s name is synonymous with the six-year battle to pass the Martin Luther King holiday in Arizona. He has a reputation for dealing with conflict with honor – but he’s not above challenging the status quo. He has impacted lives, and he has impacted history. His philosophy is to see the Christ in every person he meets. Pastor Stewart continues working to fulfill the last line of the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance: liberty and justice for all. Click here to learn more about Pastor Stewart and First Institutional Baptist, click here: https://www.fibcaz.org/pastor-emeritus Original air date: December 11, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When she took the reins of the Assistance League of Phoenix in 2012, Aimee Runyon was the first executive director in the history of the organization that had served the community – totally run by volunteers – since 1960. She was recruited by another organization briefly but returned to the Assistance League in time to escort the nonprofit into another new era as they disaffiliated from the national Assistance League and became the all-local Delivering Dreams of Arizona. One of the milestones where she has left her greatest footprint during that time is through starting three Delivering Dreams buses – vehicles retrofitted to be mobile clothing stores, including dressing rooms. These travel to schools around the Valley to help students each choose an entire wardrobe worth $300. Delivering Dreams helps children in many other ways, including: Wee Help program – providing basic items such as diapers, wipes, infant clothing, and blankets to new mothers being helped by partner nonprofits. Books Gifts program – providing books to low-income children in kindergarten through eighth grades, and to social service agencies who in turn put those books in the hands of needy kids. They distribute more than 25,000 books per year. HUGS Program – partnering with first responders by donating cuddly teddy bears for children experiencing crisis. The Thrift Boutique – a resale store that carries gently-used clothing, furniture. She leads a mammoth army of dedicated volunteers, working together to improve the lives of children through fulfilling basic needs, fostering self-esteem, and enhancing their quality of life. Click here to learn more about Delivering Dreams of Arizona: https://deliveringdreamsaz.org/ Original air date: December 4, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jacque Salomon was lost. Her 11-year-old son had just died following a severe allergic reaction to a prescribed pharmaceutical. She and her other children were reeling, fighting their own health issues. But she found an answer. Through a whole plant foods lifestyle, meditation, yoga, and psycho-spiritual remediation, she and her boys rediscovered health, and in the process, rediscovered themselves. Today, Jacque is a trauma-informed health and wellness coach with a focus on plant powered nutrition and stress management. She adopted a whole plant-based lifestyle, which resulted in her losing 164 pounds and reversing her Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. She now dedicates her life to helping others do the same, and educating people through her nonprofit Seeds to Inspire. As an indigenous woman from the island of Boriken (Puerto Rico) born and raised in New York City, Jacque’s heart is to support underrepresented, underserved, under-financed, and marginalized communities in the Phoenix metro area and surrounding reservations. She addresses health inequity and disparity through the lens of cultural colonization and plant-based health. Through Seeds to Inspire, she leads programs rooted in community wellness through food for health, health & wellness coaching, teaching kitchens, and healing gardens, advancing health and well-being for all. Click here to learn more about Seeds to Inspire: https://www.seedstoinspire.org/ Original air date: November 20, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Ted Taylor is a small-town kid. He grew up in Globe, AZ, raising animals in 4-H and passionate about the debate team. As an adult he’s worn many hats, working in the cotton business, for an aerospace company, a law firm, construction business, and in healthcare technology. But 15 years ago, he found his true calling – as CEO of Family Promise-Greater Phoenix, a shelter for unhoused families. Family Promise has five locations in the metropolitan area. They vow to help families move toward independent housing and self-sufficiency. They also promise to keep children, parents — and even their pets — together while providing meals, clothing, childcare assistance, computer access, bus passes, housing, education, and financial assistance. More than 7,500 volunteers from 34 area faith congregations shelter families in their worship facilities each night. They provide family-style meals, activities, and private bedrooms for each family. Families may then progress to shared housing, and ultimately permanent housing. Even then, Family Promise continues working with them for up to 24 months, providing case management, emergency assistance, employment, parenting, and financial coaching. This success is repeated at Family Promise locations throughout the country and together, 63,000 families were helped last year. Join us and learn more about the array of services that Family Promise provides to those in need. Click here to learn more about Family Promise of Greater Phoenix: https://familypromiseaz.org/ Original air date: November 13, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jana Ferraro earned a double major in biology and criminal justice, but her heart for service pulled her into the nonprofit world. Now her job is making sure other organizations have the right tool for the job. The Phoenix ToolBank is a nonprofit tool lending program that provides fellow nonprofit organizations with year-round access to an inventory of tools to use in volunteer projects and maintenance. The organization maintains an 8,000 sq. ft. warehouse and an inventory of nearly 600 different types of tools and equipment in volumes large enough to equip thousands of volunteers at a time. They also have special event supplies like tables and chairs, pop-up tents, sound systems, parking stanchions - even T-shirt launchers! In total, more than 37,000 items. Access to ToolBank tools eliminates the need for agencies to incur the expense of purchasing, repairing, and storing tools, reducing the costs associated with service projects and allowing these agencies to focus more of their resources on their mission. Even more exciting is the city of Phoenix Neighborhood Services Department recently formed a partnership with the Phoenix ToolBank to expand its lending program, supporting neighborhood revitalization, community events and volunteer-led neighborhood improvement efforts. ToolBank currently partners with more than 800 community organizations. Click here to learn more about the Phoenix ToolBank: www.phoenixtoolbank.org Original air date: November 6, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mary Kaech’s first experience with refugees was spending time with the “Lost Boys” from South Sudan. From there began a growing respect, deep friendships, and a passion for seeing these new neighbors not just survive, but thrive. That passion led to mobilizing with others to build a community where our refugee neighbors could belong. She got involved with the young organization, Phoenix Refugee Connections (PRC), with people from several different churches and a shared vision to see even more churches embrace our forcibly displaced neighbors, personally living out God’s many commands to welcome the stranger and love our neighbors as ourselves. In addition to helping refugee friends become thriving, self-sufficient American citizens, they educate individuals and churches on how they can help walk alongside people forced to flee their home countries due to human violence and persecution. The organization also encourages families to seek other ways to help, such as through an unaccompanied minor foster care program, with the opportunity to open their homes to these children. Mary herself has a grown daughter from the DR Congo and a son from Afghanistan. She invites others to live out Matthew 25:35, by feeding the hungry, offering drink to the thirsty, and inviting the stranger into your community. Click here to learn more about Phoenix Refugee Connections: https://www.phxrc.org/about Original air date: October 30, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Harold Grandstaff Moses likes to say he grew up under a grand piano. His mother – a concert pianist – helped instill a love of music in Harold that shaped his life. Harold is a composer, pianist, violist, choir director, and lecturer. But his greatest gift to the world is as co-founder of The Institute of Harmonic Science, and the therapeutic use of music and the power of the voice to transform individuals and communities. Harold worked with Mind-Body Department at Cancer Treatment Centers of America for nine years, and pioneered Improvisational Harmonic Singing. Learn about the fascinating science and how it impacts healing. To learn more about Harold, click here: https://highervibrationsmusic.org/ Original air date: October 9, 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jeff Coury had a vision of helping foster youth living in group homes – he wanted them to become “the heroes of their own lives.” He got together with a couple of friends, and in 2023 the Fostering Heroes Foundation was born. The focus is to deliver mentorship, life skills and experiences to provide kids aging out of the foster system with the skills, beliefs, encouragement – and love – necessary to succeed. More than that, the goal is to reach out not just sometimes, but reach out each and every day. Keynote of the program is the Future Heroes Summer Camp, that provides a blend of personal growth, skill development, and outdoor adventure in Northern Arizona. This year, Jeff passed the baton of leadership to his daughter, Galadriel Coury, who left her job as a math teacher to take the organization to the next level. Today, she is leading the organization to educate, empower, and encourage foster youth as they transition into adulthood. Click here to learn more about the Fostering Heroes Foundation: https://www.fosteringheroes.org/ Original air date: October 2, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We sometimes think the issues raised through growing technology as a negative. But Jared Bodine leads an organization that addresses the challenge of castoff computers, and creates a win/win/win situation, by refurbishing them, reusing them, recycling parts, and doing it all while teaching students marketable skills. In the past year alone, Arizona Students Recycling Used Technology – AZ StRUT – has: Refurbished and distributed 9,041 computers. Prevented 1,098,513 pounds of discarded electronics from becoming landfill waste. Distributed $642,758 worth of refurbished equipment to individuals and organizations. If that’s not enough, the organization’s Techie Camps not only introduce students to the world of computing and technology, but allow participants to take a refurbished computer home to use! Click here to learn more about AZ StRUT: https://azstrut.org/ And if you want to see Jared's Fun Finds that spotlights really neat old donations, check him out at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6Ww4tAgxdEL8fUzroWCJGZjyGTtQSMi2 Original air date: September 25, 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kimberly Vehon is the proud mom of seven children, four of whom experienced Arizona’s foster care system. She’s also the grateful wife to an amazing husband that supports and encourages her to dream big and change the world. As a foster parent who was preparing to adopt, Kimberly was haunted by the reality of more than 13,000 children still waiting in foster care. Then one day during her morning commute, an idea struck—she could share their stories through video to raise awareness. This sparked the creation of Foster Arizona. From those first few videos in 2013, the organization has grown to offer hope through connections and systemic advocacy. Programs include: Young Adult Housing – Safe housing and resources for foster youth ages 18–24 transitioning into adulthood. Kid Initiatives – Providing fun, connection, and essentials for foster children and families. Foster Cooperative – An online community connecting foster parents, caregivers, and organizations to resources, peer support, and training. Education Initiatives – Real Stories, Fostering Voices podcast, and videos connecting the public to foster care realities. Advocacy – Using Foster Arizona’s platform to support systematic changes for children and families impacted by foster care. Foster Arizona was born out of a belief that one person can make a difference simply by bringing their talents, heart, and connections to the table and engaging others to do the same. Click here to learn more about Foster Arizona: https://fosterarizona.org/ and the Foster Arizona Housing Project: https://fosterarizonahousingproject.org/ Original air date: September 18, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Lauren Daniels was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 35 when her youngest child was just one month old. She had to have three surgeries over a four month span of time, and there were many challenging days during her recovery. She wasn’t able to lift her baby for months after her surgeries. Despite all that, just six months after her diagnosis she founded the Happily Ever After League (HEAL) to provide support to local mothers fighting cancer. Forming the nonprofit drove her to put her focus on helping others. It is no wonder the acronym is HEAL – it became an important part of her own healing process. HEAL distributes monies to mothers with cancer who have at least one child living at home, to help pay for groceries, gas, utilities, and medical bills. Additional support is offered to newly diagnosed moms through back-to-school outreach, holiday gift programs and farmer’s market days at the Healing Farm. The farm’s residents include mini horses Butch and Chance, mini donkeys Louie and Diego … and a mini pig named Lord Hamilton. Click here to learn more about the Happily Ever After League: https://www.happilyeverafterleague.org/ Original air date: Sept. 11, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sam Fowler once began a student body president election speech in sixth grade by saying, “I’d like to demonstrate my greatest skill.” Then, he stood there and said nothing. “Listening. That’s right, listening,” were the next words out of his mouth. Since that time, he’s been listening to people tell their stories… and then encouraging them find ways to participate in stories bigger than themselves. He also has had two complementary careers. First, as a pastor, including starting a non-traditional community of faith through partnership with a NASCAR track; and then for the past 17 years working with Boys & Girls Clubs in Idaho and Arizona. Sam continues to touch lives with the organization that’s roots date back to 1860. They have provided a safe haven for more than 3 million youth, giving them an opportunity to discover their great futures. Click here to learn more about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley: https://www.bgcaz.org/ Original air date: September 4, 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
When Michele Collier’s two young children were diagnosed with autism, she already suspected she was also on the spectrum. She knew she was “different” - uncomfortable in social situations and exhausted by social interaction by the end of the day. As an adult, late diagnosis autism is often a relief, and a step toward understanding how your neurodivergence makes you handle things differently. Michele’s reaction was to start sharing her journey on TikTok, as a way of processing what she was learning. What she didn’t anticipate was the reception her videos would receive, not just across the country – but around the world. Reactions range from, “I’ve never felt so understood,” to “Oh. My. God. You just connected SO MANY DOTS,” and “I’ve been white-knuckling it through life. Your videos are saving me.” Michele has expanded to Instagram, where she’s already earned 48,000 followers in 10 months. Some of her posts have received up to 9 million views. This is a show you don’t want to miss. If you’ve ever wondered if you or someone in your family deals with autism, this will resonate with you. If you haven’t, you really must listen in to learn more about what neurodivergence means to people you know and what a gift these people are in your life. Click here to learn more about Michele’s journey: https://www.instagram.com/michelevision/ or https://www.tiktok.com/@michelevision Original air date: August 14, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Cathryn Richards likes to say she came to the Arizona State Parks and Trails department “inadvertently,” following 20 years leading volunteers with law enforcement in Colorado and again with the Department of Economic Security in Phoenix, serving the disadvantaged and those living on the streets. Those experiences made Cathryn the perfect person to take on the role of the Parks’ Volunteer Program Manager. Her mission is to equip and support thousands of volunteers, from those who spend a couple of hours a week working in a park store or leading interpretive hikes to campground hosts who live onsite. There are more than 30 parks throughout the state, from the high-country Ponderosa forests, to lush riversides and colorful deserts spotted with saguaros. Some of the roles may be different than you expect. Volunteers take part in reenactments, bringing history to life for park visitors. Those handy with tools help with general maintenance and small construction projects. There are always administrative roles and entry station support to help visitors’ first park experience be positive. Other volunteers help conduct research, create displays and work with scout and youth groups. Cathryn has a gift for coordinating all those positions, and ensuring the experience is positive for volunteers and a tremendous support to the parks. The state parks, with the help of those volunteers, work as a team to connect people with the outdoors and history of Arizona, to build a lifetime of memories. Click here to learn more about the Arizona State Parks and Trails volunteer program: https://azstateparks.com/park-volunteers Original air date: August 7, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Kim Ketola doesn’t just write about abortion; she’s lived through it. She’s taken her thoughts, memories, and emotions about the experience and created a resource for the eight to 10 million American women seeking healing from their own abortions. She provides spiritual guidance, hope, and practical tools to reconnect with God’s love and grace through her book “Cradle My Heart: Finding God’s Love After Abortion.” In addition to sharing her personal journey of redemption after abortion, Kim also interviews other women who have walked that path and woven their stories through biblical narratives, creating a compassionate guide for healing after abortion. Click here to learn more about Kim Ketola: https://kimketola.com/ Original air date: July 31, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More households in the U.S. have pets than have children in the home. When hardship strikes, however, often people must choose between keeping a beloved animal or accepting help for their own basic needs of food, shelter, and safety. Leanna Taylor is CEO of the Arizona Pet Project (AZPP), a nonprofit that keeps pets with the people who love and need them most by connecting vulnerable community members and families in crisis with services and resources to prevent the unnecessary surrender of their beloved companions. It’s estimated that 20 percent of the unsheltered own pets, and depend upon them for emotional support and companionship. Last year AZPP served 4,403 pet families. They keep thousands of pets out of shelters and provide families with emergency veterinary care, free spay and neuter surgeries, vaccines, post-op pain medications, e-collars, pet food, and critical pet essentials. The AZ Pet Project is committed to removing barriers that low-income pet owners face in accessing life-saving resources, while reducing the number of homeless pets. Their unique approach and revolutionary programs are focused on improving and saving the lives of both people and pets by keeping pets with the families who love them. AZ Pet Project recently marked a full-year of onsite support of UMOM New Day Centers, a first of its kind program which is now being rolled out at other nonprofits Remarkably, AZPP is the only organization of its kind in the United States solely focused on bridging these gaps, working to keep pets where they belong: with the people who love them. Click here to learn more about the Arizona Pet Project: https://azpetproject.org/ Original air date: July 24, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
God has a way of teaching us in the most unexpected of ways. By many measures, John Kralik should have been on top of the world. A graduate of the prestigious University of Michigan Law School, he was living in the sun-soaked hills around Los Angeles, running his own small law firm. Instead, he found his life at a terrifying low: that law firm was hemorrhaging money; he was struggling through a painful second divorce; he had grown distant from his two older children and was afraid he might lose his young daughter; he was living in a hot, cramped apartment; his girlfriend had just broken up with him; and a lifelong dream of being an idealistic, principled lawyer who becomes a respected judge all seemed to be fading into oblivion. On a dreary New Year’s Day, he sought solitude hiking in the hills above Pasadena. Weighed down by the seeming hopelessness of his life, he heard a Voice. “Until you learn to be grateful for the things you have,” It said, “you will not receive the things you want.” That voice led John on a journey of writing a thank-you note every day for a year. As he learned to live a life of gratitude, things began to change. Many aspects of his life improved, but something more important happened: John himself changed. He wrote a book about that experience “365 Thank Yous” (reprinted as “A Simple Act of Gratitude”). The book has continued to touch lives around the world for the past 15 years, including that of a woman in New Jersey who was inspired to pen 10,000 thank you notes of her own. John writes, “While before I could not find anything for which to be thankful, my life now is like a wedding, or a wild kids’ birthday party, where the gifts and kindnesses are flowing so fast one needs to work hard just to keep up.” Click here to learn more about John: https://johnjkralik.com/ Original air date: July 17, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Laura Hackett has always had a passion for animals. Her heart typically leads the way. When she was going to school she began volunteering at the Humane Society – and ended up working there. Then she volunteered at the Phoenix Zoo – and was hired as a zookeeper. She also volunteered at Liberty Wildlife, and today is the education manager and a wildlife biologist. Liberty Wildlife is a nonprofit rescue, rehabilitation, education, and wildlife conservation organization. They work with more than 10,000 animal patients each year, treating and returning them back to the wild when possible. Those that can no longer survive on their own have the opportunity to become “animal ambassadors” to educate the public at the site, at schools, and at community events. Liberty Wildlife’s vision is of a time when wildlife is recognized as an integral part of our natural world, to be protected and preserved, and a time when the community as a whole participates in the safekeeping of the natural world. Click here to learn more about Liberty Wildlife: https://libertywildlife.org/ Original air date: July 10, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More than 2 million Arizona residents are protected by volunteer or combination fire departments. These organizations are mainly in rural or semi-rural areas where residents and structures are spread over a wide range of terrain. The volunteers donate their time, and salaries for the firefighters who do get paid are typically below poverty level. Despite the millions of people depending on them, critical ongoing training is typically out of reach financially. That’s where Eric Kriwer and the Arizona Fire School fill the gap. A project of the Arizona Firefighters Fund, the school has gifted more than $1 million in scholarships for continuing education for firefighters including live drills and skills to equip them with the latest techniques in firefighting. They train nearly 1,000 firefighters and fire prevention professionals each year, making not just the public safer, but the firefighters as well. Click here to learn more about the Arizona Firefighters Fund: https://www.azfirefightersfund.org/ Original air date: July 3, 2025.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.