A young man from Zimbabwe is replicating his experience for talented students in his home country—launching their academic journeys into schools like Northwestern and Stanford. Like many young Zimbabweans, Eric Khumalo didn’t have a lot of options, even for a curious mind like his. He found a breakthrough moment, however, in a U.S.-sponsored school near his home town of Bulawayo.
A fascination with coding grew and because of his background in teaching-so did the desire to share the knowledge. He started Emzini WeCode, an education program that has grown from teaching locals in Zimbabwe classrooms at the American embassy to hosting online classes for more than 1,000 students. “I graduated high school in 2018, and within the government there was a shortage of STEM teachers, so I applied for a year and a half. I taught at three high schools and got accepted into UC Berkeley on a scholarship from the Mastercard Foundation” Khumalo said.
Khumalo said he started out studying chemistry but it was the chance encounter with the fabled “good professor” that launched his computer science journey. “I was just like asking questions, and then he told me just about his journey, about how when he was a kid he learned to code; he would make games, and for me I just admired the wonderful things he could accomplish with just code,” says Khumalo. “I found it interesting—this power to create, and this power to solve problems, or if you have a solution—scaling it is possible with computer science.”
Despite the popularity of his classes, he has kept them free, or as cheap as possible, covering only the costs of buying the data necessary to stream in the teachers from local and U.S. universities. “Usually, like two U.S. dollars a month,” says Khumalo. “The group that I usually target most is people who I know are facing challenges in the community.” His focus is broad in scope, avoiding a strict focus on any particular coding language, and opting instead to inspire students to see computer science and coding as a way to solve problems, in whichever career they focus on.
Khumalo feels a sense of pride that keeps him motivated when he sees the students taking his course moving on to other schools and other careers. “If one of my students can get into Stanford, then ten of my students should get into Stanford,” he said smiling. He wants to expand the opportunities he gave to them to more people, and he’s currently designing a computer science curriculum for high schools.
“The main problem I wanted to tackle was job creation,” explains Khumalo, whose January classes are now open for enrolment online for 1,000 students. “I have a vision that local universities here, have young people skilled with world-class knowledge getting hired to solve some of the problems that we have here.”
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Retired U.S. Marine, Shawn Triplett, started a GoFundMe after witnessing a devastating interaction with a mom and her child after they were displaced by the tornadoes. Triplett works as a volunteer at a local elementary school and was recently helping out at a church shelter when he saw the mother and her young child after the storms. The sadness of the moment lingered with him.
Triplett said “I saw a child, no older than 6 years old, crying in his mother’s arms. She was crying too, but you could tell she was doing her best to look strong,” he recalls. “The boy told his mom, ‘I’ve lost my Christmas.’ It was at that moment that I broke down and had to walk outside. It gut-punched me and hurt, I felt actual pain at that moment. I tried to sleep that night but I couldn’t. The pain in that kid’s voice broke me in half. I had to do something about it.”
After taking the night to think about how he could help he decided to ask friends and family to donate money so he could buy toys for the children who were impacted. He said “I was going to give them back their Christmas. That was my mission,” he explains. “There was so much support in the community for water, generators and food, but nobody was thinking about the kids. At least, not in the way it should be, so close to Christmas.”
“The reality is that most of these families were already living in low-income housing. Most had probably never had a ‘great’ Christmas. Most of the kids’ families were already on a strapped budget,” he adds. “Now their house is gone, the parents’ jobs are gone, their parent or parents might be gone, school friends… It just made me focus on the task that much more.”
Triplett launched a GoFundMe page to help purchase holiday gifts for the children, which quickly spread on Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Since launching the page, he has raised over $92,000. Triplett partnered with the local Walmart, which has agreed to provide a 25% discount on all purchases for the endeavor.
Triplett said the support has been unreal. “It started as just family and friends helping, to now donations coming in from all over the globe. Our original goal was to support 30 kids, but because of the GoFundMe, we’re able to reach hundreds of kids — and that’s my biggest joy, being able to give these kids so much,” he adds. “The support has been humbling and overwhelmingly incredible.”
While the toys are fully covered by the donors, Triplett says he’s been footing the bill for wrapping paper — and plans on personally delivering them in a Santa costume closer to Christmas. “This isn’t a ‘me’ project by any means,” he notes. “This has been the result of thousands of people spreading the word and making it happen. To all those who have helped with your donations, your time, even just by sharing the cause, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart,” he adds. “Everything you have done for this cause has meant the world to me. Children need to be children, they don’t need to be reminded of trauma every day.”
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When the freshmen basketball team at Notre Dame Prep in Pontiac, Michigan, made a group text to coordinate practices, a teammate added the wrong number, resulting in an unforgettable exchange. Teammate Vinny Tartaglia meant to add his teammate Luca but was one digit off, accidentally adding the number of Buc’s cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting.
Jason Whalen, whose son is on the team, wrote about the exchange on Twitter. Murphy-Bunting responded to the group text. “Did you mean to add me to this group?….this is Sean. Do you know who I am?” Whalen explained that the boys thought their teammate was messing with them. Murphy-Bunting sent a selfie in the Bucs locker room but even with a selfie, the boys still thought that this might be a prank from one of their teammates.
To prove his identity to the disbelieving teenagers, Murphy-Bunting switched over to FaceTime, and introduced the shocked students to some of his teammates, including tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Mike Evans, running back Leonard Fournette and Tom Brady. “Leonard Fournette walked us through the locker room and showed us all the players,” said Tartaglia’s teammate Nate Seaman. “Sean Murphy-Bunting, Mike Evans, Lavonte Davis, Gronk, Richard Sherman. That’s when we all said, where’s the GOAT?”
Leonard Fournette turned the phone over to Tom Brady, who had finished up a meeting. Brady,
a Michigan alumni himself, talked about the impromptu exchange with ESPN news “That was fun. That was really fun. It was really good to see all those young kids hyped up. I didn’t know who it was.[Leonard said, ‘Here’s my boy’ or whatever he said. It was nice. It would have been nice for me when I was in high school too.”
Wrong numbers and misdials happen to everyone and sometimes end up a funny story to tell but most are usually forgettable. For the members of the boys’ freshmen basketball team at Notre Dame Prep in Pontiac, Michigan-this one will likely be passed down to their grandkids.
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The Night of A Million Lights is a holiday light show spectacular that delights thousands of visitors and raises millions to give sick children and their weary families a vacation. ‘Give Kids The World Village’ has launched their second annual holiday lights extravaganza, running until Jan. 2. The show began as an innovative pandemic pivot for raising funds but has become a holiday tradition.
More than 92,000 guests attended Night of a Million Lights in 2020, named by USA TODAY the “Number One Thing To Do In Orlando In December.” The display features 1.25M linear feet of lights, including 3.2 million lights that were donated by Walt Disney World. Last year’s event grossed $2.8 million to make wishes come true for children struggling with illness and their families.
Since 1986, Give Kids The World Village has welcomed nearly 177,000 families from all 50 states and more than 76 countries. When wish-granting organizations receive a request from a critically ill child who wants to visit Central Florida (or Disney World), Give Kids The World fulfills the wish – providing every child and his/her family with an all-inclusive dream vacation that includes transportation; accommodations in one of the Village’s 166 storybook villas; all meals and snacks; donated theme park tickets; nightly entertainment; daily gifts; and priceless experiences at the Village, featuring accessible rides and attractions.
For 52 nights the open house will once again provide the public with a rare glimpse inside Give Kids The World Village, an 89-acre, whimsical nonprofit resort that provides critically ill children with magical weeklong wish vacations at no cost. Tickets, which start at $25 but vary depending on the date and special add-ons, such as dessert parties, enable guests to immerse themselves in an exquisitely decorated fairytale neighborhood—the place where wish families call home during their stays. All proceeds from Night of a Million Lights will support Give Kids The World, rated Four Stars by Charity Navigator 15 years in a row.
Guests can explore a sparkling tree trail, take photos at one-of-a-kind step-in frames and backdrops, and enjoy a guided storytelling tour of 100 magnificently lit villas from the comfort of a tram—all of which are included in the price of the ticket.
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Two Ohio siblings have donated nearly 50,000 toys over the past six years to one of the largest pediatric hospitals in the country through their annual holiday toy drive. It all started when the Slaven siblings teamed up in 2015 with one mission: to help children who are in the hospital on Christmas. This holiday season, Tyler and Monica Slaven are hoping to bring another 11,500 toys for the children at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
The siblings began utilizing their school’s expansive network of students and staff to get volunteers and donations. The Ohio Virtual Academy, an online public school for K–12 students, serves more than 18,000 kids from across the state, according to Tyler Slaven. Tyler said “The school does a tremendous job of helping us get the word out every year and reach new people, since we are a statewide school.”
With the help of the students and faculty, the Slaven siblings would start placing toy donation boxes in different towns across the state. They also stop by droves of businesses that are “very eager” to help them out with monetary donations as well as donating actual toys. Every year, the Slavens collect donations until Dec. 10th and then they and their team of volunteers use the donations to buy toys at local stores.
In 2015, they were able to donate 800 toys to the hospital. One year later, that number more than doubled, amounting to 1,700 donations. In 2017, they donated 3,000 toys and in 2018 and 2019, the toy drive broke the hospital’s record for the single largest donation with 9,200 and 20,300 toys, respectively. Every year, the toys are packed in a U-Haul vehicle and various cars and taken directly to the children.
Not only do these toys bring holiday cheer to the children and their families, but they also take their focus off of being in the hospital, Tyler said. “Seeing a child who truly understands … the joy of Christmas is priceless.” Tyler said they just wanted to help the kids still have that joy, for those who are in the hospital during Christmas and it quickly became an annual drive. “Once you get on the hospital property, it is just phenomenal. They’re so friendly and welcoming … and spirited. It’s a true joy to be around” Slaven said.
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Amy and Tony D’Orazio have been serving their community with their 300 acre farm by giving away nearly everything they grow. Their non-profit Carversville Farm Foundation (CFF) runs a certified organic farm raising top-quality vegetables, poultry, beef and eggs. Located in Mechanicsville, PA- the farm has given away 74, 143 pounds of meat, 431,424 pounds of vegetables and 97, 417 cartons of eggs since 2015.
The farm grows vegetables, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens, turkeys and bees. The animals feed unfettered on fresh grass and forage from the fields. They are moved from field to field every day, clearing and fertilizing with their manure as they go and building healthy soil. CFF donates over ninety percent of their harvests to Philadelphia-area soup kitchens and food pantries. Their partnerships include Rolling Harvest Food Rescue, Broad Street Ministry, Bucks County Audubon Society, Cathedral Kitchen, Coalition Against Hunger, Manna and Urban Creators, among others. Together, they are dedicated to feeding low income families throughout the area.
In 2020, CFF gave more than 120,000 pounds of food, including pastured poultry and grass-fed beef and a wide variety of fresh produce to the Philadelphia area community. They’re on track to donate even more this year. They’ve committed to donating fifty thousand pounds of organic vegetables to low-income residents through the Bucks County Opportunity Council (BCOC) this year. Carversville Farm Foundation has been donating to the Bucks County Opportunity Council since 2016 and helps feed over 10,000 families each year.
Carversville Farm Foundation also offers an apprenticeship program to train future farmers with apprenticeships in Farm Management and Livestock. Volunteers are welcome every Wednesday and Saturday to harvest carrots and kale, pull weeds, and otherwise support their mission to grow top-quality food to donate to neighbors in need.
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When Suzanne Burke of Cincinnati Ohio learned her favorite Dunkin’ Donuts employee had been evicted, she wanted to help. Burke and Johnson’s friendship first started three years ago in the Dunkin’ drive-thru line. “I go every morning. Ebony has worked at the drive-thru for three years and really has provided amazing customer service.”
After noticing that Johnson was not working her usual shift for a few weeks, she reached out to her to make sure everything was okay. She learned that Johnson, a mother of three, had been evicted from her Mount Healthy home and had nowhere to live. Burke knew she had to do something to help. “I just wanted to see if I could help her just improve her life and the life of her kids. ” Burke said.
With assistance from local nonprofit organizations and designers, Burke was able to surprise Johnson and her kids with a new, fully-furnished home — just in time for the holidays. She called New Life Furniture Bank, a gently-used furnishing bank for those in need, and staging designer Jo Potvin of Design to Market for help. Potvin and the local organization ended up working together to fully furnish and decorate the new home for Johnson and her kids so that it was move-in ready.
The final result was unveiled to Johnson and her family and the emotional moment was captured by a local news organization. “Thank y’all so much,” Johnson said through tears. “Thank you so much for helping me.” Ebony told the news station “The Lord really looked out for me because I kept praying and saying ‘can I be at home before Christmas?” Ebony and her three young kids all shared smiles, tears and excitement during the unveiling.
Potvin said she couldn’t think of a better time to have surprised Johnson. “It’s the perfect time of the year to feel like you’re spreading joy” Potvin told the station. Executive director of New Life Furniture Bank, Dana Saxton shared the same sentiment. “It’s as much a gift for us as it is for them, to be able to provide this for them,” Saxton said.
New Life Furniture Bank also shared the happy moment in a Facebook post. “We’re so pleased to partner with Jo Potvin and her talented design team at Design to Market Home Staging to make Ebony’s family feel LOVED during the holiday season. Ebony, a hardworking mom and beloved Dunkin’ employee… found herself homeless. A group of caring people in our community worked together to make sure Ebony and her kids are living in a warm and comfortable home -just in time for Christmas.”
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Mark and Kenda Mullert, owners of Black Mountain Handyman, Inc in Black Mountain NC saw a need for help with home repairs in their community and set out to help. Mark had already been helping people who could not afford desperately needed home repairs and had seen houses with debilitating damages, a problem all too common for low-income and older members of the Swannanoa Valley community.
When he made a facebook post to “Nominate a Neighbor” he realized the need was greater than he thought. “I thought ‘Oh we’ll get 10 people, five people, I don’t know how many,'” Mullert said. “We ended up getting over 60 people who needed help.” He took off work from Thanksgiving to Christmas, taking his crew of five to address the most urgent needs for three weeks. He hated having to pick and choose which projects to tackle, but it opened his eyes to the serious need in the area.
Along with his wife, Kenda, Mullert invited business owners, building contractors and anyone who was interested to meet in 2019 to figure out how to create an organization, that could do the work so many people required while maintaining affordability. They saw momentum with the amount of businesses that were willing to help. In May 2020, Mullert organized another meeting and determined what was necessary to create a nonprofit, a means to raise funds and funnel the money to contractors to get the repair work done. Mullert chose five people with specific skills to function as the board, asking Ben Fortson to act as the leader of Hammer & Heart.
“We need folks who are in our community, who can see the home repair issues and send them our way,” Fortson said. Originally starting in Black Mountain, Fortson said the organization expanded its reach to the entire Swannanoa Valley after conducting research on what areas were most in need of assistance. He said repairs are not limited to a specific area and can include electrical issues, plumbing, roof work, accessibility concerns or anything else that if the problem persists, things will only get worse.
“Or it could be something that’s a hazard to their health,” Fortson said. “Maybe their heat doesn’t work. Maybe they’re elderly and the entrance to their home is rotted so it’s a struggle for them to get in and out of their home.” Fortson said often, these sorts of homeowners need help but don’t know where to ask for it. Through a careful vetting process, Hammer & Heart determines where the need is for applicants and how to best provide assistance. Their mission is to provide urgent home repairs to neighbors of the Swannanoa Valley who are financially unable to maintain their homes in a safe or livable condition. Local businesses and volunteers are vital to their efforts to better their community.
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A GoFundMe set up for Kevin Strickland, the Missouri man freed after serving 43 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit, has raised over $1.6 million dollars. Missouri law states that only DNA evidence can lead to someone wrongfully imprisoned receiving $50 per day of post-conviction confinement but Kevin Strickland was not freed through DNA evidence so a GoFundMe was launched.
Strickland was sent to prison in 1979 but has maintained his innocence for four decades stating he was home watching television at the time. No physical evidence ever linked him to the crime scene and Cynthia Douglas, the sole witness to the crime, said detectives pressured her to pick Strickland out of a lineup. Two suspects, Kim Adkins and Vincent Bell, were later arrested. Bell was a childhood friend of Strickland’s, and lived at a house nearby. Police found a fingerprint belonging to Strickland on Bell’s car; Strickland says this was because he had driven the car before, but the last time he had seen Adkins and Bell was at 5 or 6 p.m. on the night of the murders. Both Adkins and Bell confessed to the murders and said Strickland was not involved.
Cynthia Douglas attempted several times to recant her testimony before her death in 2015. In 2009, she emailed the Midwest Innocence Project, saying, “I am seeking info on how to help someone that was wrongfully accused. I was the only eyewitness and things were not clear back then, but now I know more and would like to help this person if I can.” Douglas said police told her, “Just pick Strickland out of the lineup and we’ll be done, it will all go away, you can go on and you don’t have to worry about these guys no more.”
The Kansas City Star did an investigation into Strickland’s case in September 2020 which prompted prosecutors to review the case. Former prosecutors in Strickland’s case then said they thought he was innocent as well, along with federal prosecutors for the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the Mayor of Kansas City Quinton Lucas and more than a dozen state lawmakers.
On November 23, 2021, Judge James Welsh overturned Strickland’s conviction “since it was not based on physical evidence but on eye-witness testimony, who later recanted her account”. Strickland was released on the same day and exonerated after more than 42 years in prison, making his case the longest confirmed wrongful-conviction case in Missouri’s history.
Strickland, now 62 and confined to a wheelchair, said the first thing he did when released was visit his mother’s grave, who passed away in August 2021. Strickland said he plans to find a place to live where he can be alone, have some pets and make arrangements to try to unite his family who he says are spread out in Florida, California and Michigan. “I’d like to spend my final days trying to get everybody together and have a big family get-together where we all get together and see who’s who.”
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Bob Vogelbaugh is known around Moline, Illinois, as “Mr. Thanksgiving,” and for good reason — since 1970, he has organized community dinners on Thanksgiving for anyone who wants to break bread and celebrate the holiday. Vogelbaugh used to own a grocery store called Bob’s Market, and when he learned that 91-year-old customer Rose Hanson had nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, he quickly set up a dinner for her and eight other elderly people he knew, serving turkey and the trimmings in the back of his store.
Hanson died just a few weeks later, and Vogelbaugh said he initially thought it would be a one-time only thing, but Rose changed that. “I didn’t want people to be alone” he said. The dinner grew every year, and has changed venues to accommodate more people. For the last 30 years, Vogelbaugh and volunteers have been holding the feast at SouthPark Mall, with thousands of people typically showing up.
Every year, with the help of hundreds of volunteers, Vogelbaugh hosts a free Thanksgiving dinner. “It’s not a charity dinner, it’s a community dinner” he said. “It’s just a Thanksgiving gathering of friends and people you don’t know and some people have become friends through this over the years.” Vogelbaugh is retired from the grocery business, and now focuses on fundraising throughout the year to pay for the dinner. “I used to have a live band and then there was dancing. Then I went to a DJ, and so it was really a Thanksgiving party,” he said of previous years.
The past two years with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Vogelbaugh kept his tradition going but switched things up. Instead of hosting a seated dinner, Vogelbaugh and his volunteers set enough for people last year with many families not getting together because of the COVID outbrup tables outside so people could drive over and pick up meals. “I figured that it was hard eak and stuff, and so I thought we’re gonna go ahead and we’ll do a drive by,” he said.
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