calls the “right thing to do” fed more than 41,000 people that day. Named one of Toyota’s 2016
Mothers of Invention, Ahmad uses the company’s $50,000 grant to boost Copia’s services throughout the U.S. Recently, German and Austrian gov- ernment officials expressed interest in expanding the service to help feed Syrian refugees in their countries. Friends Margot
CHANGE MAKERS “
McNeeley and Janet Boscarino, in Mem- phis, Tennessee, looked around for local problems they could fix and took ac- tion starting in 2008. A former retail entre- preneur, McNeeley
McNeeley INSPIRED TO ACT by Linda Sechrist
the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts, or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good,” says Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ph.D., a world-renowned author and Jungian psychoanalyst specializing in post-trauma counsel. Thousands of people each day
O
choose to see a world radiating with hope and light, despite ever-present conflict and strife. Their talents and gifts, alliances and collaborations are inspir- ing a new story that ripples outward into our communities and beyond. In The Ten Gifts: Find the Personal
30
Peace You’ve Always Wanted Through the Ten Gifts You’ve Always Had, author Robin L. Silverman affirms that every- one can reach within, even in the worst of circumstances, for treasures that can be used to improve the lives of others. She concludes, “We are not meant to use our gifts simply to survive, but to Long Island Edition
urs is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend
satisfy our souls and inspire others to do the same.”
Meeting Basic Needs Komal Ahmad was unaware that her single act of kindness in simply offering to share her lunch with a homeless veteran in 2011 while she was attending the Uni- versity of California, Berkeley, would lead
Komal Ahmad
to a multiplying mission to feed Ameri- ca’s hungry. His heartfelt expression of gratitude for his first meal in three days sparked an epiphany: Her school was regularly throwing away thousands of pounds of food while neighbors were going hungry. Today, Ahmad is the founder and
CEO of Copia, an app that matches non- profits serving in-need veterans, children, women and others with companies that have leftover gourmet food. Following the 2016 Super Bowl, she used Copia’s tech- nology to organize food pickups through- out the San Francisco Bay area. What she
www.NaturalAwakeningsLI.com
Margot
didn’t want food to go to waste and created the Project Green Fork certification program after learning that 95 percent of restaurant waste can be diverted from landfills. Her nonprofit helps res- taurants to conserve water and energy, develop recycling and composting systems and switch to biodegradable containers and environ- mentally friendly cleaning operations. Boscarino’s experience in business
Janet Boscarino
development and sales, combined with her disdain for litter, led her to found the nonprofit Clean Memphis, which began in 2008 with volunteer crews picking up litter. In recent years, the initiative’s community-wide strategy has expanded to involve local governments, business- es, neighborhoods, faith-based organiza- tions and 20 local “sustainable schools”. In 2017, Project Green Fork will become a part of Clean Memphis. Throughout
two decades of educational activism, John G. Heim’s passion for clean water as a human right has not waned.
John G. Heim
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56