Stories of Giving
Kenny Hardin: “Airlift Hope’s pilot of the year in North Carolina is a Fayetteville resident” (FayObserver)
Kenny Hardin still remembers the look on the little girl's face. Hardin was flying the girl, who was about 7 years old, in his single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza. She was en route to have a medical procedure done. Hardin asked the girl if she'd like to sit up front and help him fly the plane. ...Read More
Lucille Webb: Women’s History Month Spotlight: The Mentor
March is National Women's History Month! This year's theme is "Writing Women Back Into History," and throughout the month, we'll be publishing a series of stories and interviews that highlight women givers from different North Carolina communities. We invite you to join us in "writing women back into history," as we celebrate the MANY contributions of time, talent and treasure made by women in our state. ...Read More
Amber Smith: “Woman makes volunteerism life’s work”
As a teenager growing up in Raleigh, Amber Smith longed to “make a difference” in her town, but she didn’t know how. ...Read More
Maria Tucker: Women’s History Month Spotlight: The Dancer
March is National Women's History Month! This year's theme is "Writing Women Back Into History," and over the next few weeks, we'll be publishing a series of stories and interviews that highlight women givers from different North Carolina communities. We invite you to join us in "writing women back into history," as we celebrate the MANY contributions of time, talent and treasure made by women in our state. ...Read More
Jocelyn Negron-Rios: “The two-way street of giving”
Inspired by the Latina teens she is helping prepare for college, Jocelyn Negron-Rios, a wife, mother and full-time worker, has almost completed her freshman year at Strayer University. ...Read More
Students of Lucile Souders Elementary : “School kids raise dimes, awareness”
Every weekday morning from Nov. 3 through 13, during the daily-announcements video broadcast, Principal Tammy Holland talked about giving to the staff and 430 students at Lucile Souders Elementary School of Math and Science. Following her talk, fourth and fifth graders on the broadcast quizzed one another about the meaning of philanthropy. ...Read More
Lynn Kennelly: “Woman left life earnings to charity”
After she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, Lynn Kennelly and a group of her friends helped form a team for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure 5K event in Charlotte. An avid runner who competed in the event every year, winning her age group at least once, Kennelly took to walking in the event after the disease returned in 2006, metastasizing as bone cancer. And last summer, when the cancer ravaged most of her body, Kennelly turned to Abigail H. Kerr, a friend, fellow breast-cancer survivor and Komen teammate, to help her create an estate plan. ...Read More
Reggie McAfee: “Retired exec teaches kids to persevere”
The slogan "Attitude is everything" is inscribed on Reggie McAfee's business card. McAfee should know: A child of public housing in Cincinnati, he became a star runner in high school in Ohio and college in North Carolina. Now, he heads a Charlotte-based nonprofit that uses running as a tool for teaching kids to keep on keeping on. ...Read More
Vilma Jose: “Fayetteville woman bridges cultures”
After his first day of kindergarten in Fayetteville, Ian Jose arrived home in tears, having been teased because he looked different. His classmates told him to go back to China, not understanding that he is a native North Carolinian, born to a mother from the Philippines. ...Read More
Susan Springer: “Volunteer enriched by giving”
On Christmas Day, 350 volunteers from the Jewish community in Chapel Hill and Durham will fill in for employees at roughly two-dozen local nonprofits, letting them take the day off for the holiday. ...Read More
What Are These Stories?
From barbershops to quilts to fondue, North Carolina is overflowing with inspiring stories of giving — stories of people who are truly making a difference in their communities.
What's your story? We'd love to hear from you.
