Tom Shadyac isn’t your average hero. The guy is best known for directing box office comedies like Ace Ventura and The Nutty Professor - you've seen those, right? - but Tom isn’t your typical Hollywood hot shot either. A life threatening accident left him thinking about his happiness and how he aims to really achieve it. Part of Tom’s decision included moving from his 17,000-square-foot mansion and luxurious lifestyle to a modest, yet comfortable mobile home. Talk about downsizing… Take a look at his life now.

Tom also created a documentary in search of what exactly was wrong with the world and what we can do about it. This video is incredible and really eye opening. Below is the trailer for I Am: 

Tom’s story reminds us how important it is to be grateful for what we have in this world and to share our fortunes when possible. Thanks Tom, for shedding some light on the importance of community and intrinsic happiness.

What do you think of Tom’s lifestyle change? Tell me your thoughts the comments below. And if you know an everyday hero, let me know about them and they could be featured on the site. 

Diane Latiker raised eight kids in the Roseland neighborhood on the Southside of Chicago. She saw firsthand a generation of young people that were caught up in violence, dropping out of school and veering off path. So she decided to do everything she could to get those kids off the block.  

Check out the video below to hear Diane’s story and learn more about her nonprofit organization, Kids Off the Block:

Stories like this are a great reminder that one person can do something to ignite change. Diane, thank you for devoting yourself to the youth, our future. 

To support Kids Off the Block check out their website and find out how you can get involved. 

Do you know an Everyday Hero? Let me know about them in the comments below and they could be featured here on the site.

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If you watched “The Revolution” last Monday you met Birke Baehr, a 13-yr old organic farmer whose TEDx speech about our nation's food supply went viral and turned him into the poster child, literally, for incredible kids making a difference just by asking smart questions. For instance, one of his questions is, "Would you rather pay a farmer or pay the hospital?" Give that some thought next time you're grocery shopping. 

Birke is another example of an Everyday Hero. But maybe we should call him an Unexpected Hero. Sometimes you see a kid like this on YouTube and you think his parents must have coaxed him into this. People are skeptical that a kid his age would care less about video games and texting than about issues like organic farming. I think it's probably normal to question why a 13-year-old boy would have more interest in learning about the dangers of the industrial food system than finding cheats for Modern Warfare. But let me tell you, after spending just a couple of minutes with Birke there's no doubt he's the real deal. He's on a mission and I'm pretty sure our world will be a better place for it. 

You can learn all about his message and how this young man came to be so passionate about sustainable living by visiting his website. He also has a great book titled Birke on The Farm.  

Maybe something Birke has said or written will motivate you to really think about where the food you feed your family is coming from. And maybe you'll make some changes. Let me know what those changes are, and I'll let Birke know!

What do you think of Birke’s message? Let me know in the comments. 

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I’m on the road a lot. And since my schedule takes me all over the place I’ve stayed in my fair share of hotels. One thing I’ve always wondered is what happens to all those toiletries hotels give you once you’ve checked out? I know some people take them home- but what about the rest of the perfectly good products that get left behind every day?

Well, it turns out the amount of discarded soap was even bigger than I thought: an estimated 2.6-million soap bars are discarded in the U.S. every day. This number didn’t sit well with Derreck Kayongo, a former refugee who knew firsthand that millions of people around the world were living in compromised environments with little access to clean water or soap. 

So he decided to do something. Derreck created the Global Soap Project an organization dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of sanitation and the consequences in many parts of the world. The idea was simple: recycle partially used hotel soap and provide huge benefits to those in need. 

Here’s a powerful video about the cause:


Changes the way you look at that bar of soap, right? If you’d like to get involved in this awesome cause check out the Global Soap Project website.  

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me about them below and they could be featured on the site. 

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In 2005, Bruno and his mother, Caterina, visited the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim. On their tour his mother noticed that there was a 6-year old boy eating potato chips for dinner- his family couldn't afford a proper meal. Caterina insisted that Bruno make some pasta for the child. 

They soon realized that there were many more of these hungry 'motel children', so Bruno begun making pasta for 72 children, 5 nights a week. Today, Bruno feeds nearly 300 kids, 7 nights a week and has served over a quarter of a million meals to date.

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In December Bruno was honored as one of CNN’s heroes. Here’s a video highlighting his work:


Sometimes we might forget that there are kids going hungry here at home, but Bruno, thank you for reminding us… and taking matters into your own hands. 

If you’d like to donate to the cause, click here or check out the website for more info. 

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me about them below and they could be featured on the site. 

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Photo Source: TheCaterinasClub.org

Do you guys remember Jeneece Edroff, the incredible teenager who created the “Penny Girl” campaign to raise money for sick kids and their families? 

Well I recently got an email from Jeneece’s mom, updating me on the opening of the brand new facility, Jeneece’s Place:


Just last week Jeneece’s Place opened its doors to families with a family member that needs medical services in Victoria. The facility is 10,500 square feet, with ten bedrooms, a communal kitchen, dining, living, game and media rooms, and an outdoor area where kids can play- pretty impressive right? 

Here’s a great video commemorating the journey that led to Jeneece’s Place:


Congratulations Jeneece! You are one-of-a-kind and your ability to chase after that dream to help others inspires us all. 

To learn how you can support Jeneece’s Place check out her website here. 

Do you know an Everyday Hero? Tell me their story below and they could be featured on the site. 

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In 1994, Jill Gurr started volunteering at a boys' juvenile detention center in Los Angeles, helping the boys write a screenplay as part of a creative writing exercise. She quickly learned that many kids were illiterate but thanks to her program, they learned how to read and write and some were even inspired to go back to school. Intrigued, Jill repeated the process at a coed detention facility and saw the same positive results.

Two years later, Jill founded a group call Write Now to teach literacy to troubled youth through creative writing. Over time, Write Now grew to become Create Now, using music, visual art, performance art and writing to inspire at-risk kids, teens and young adults.



The program has helped nearly 4,000 people and here's just one example of their success:



Help them continue to grow by making a donation, becoming a sponsor, or volunteering your time.

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me their story below and they could be featured on the site.

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You guys know I love a good book, but even if you haven’t had the time to read a book in years, I bet you read when you were a kid. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who never enjoyed a Dr. Seuss story or a good reading of Goodnight Moon. As a kid, books are the ultimate source of learning, imagination, and entertainment.

So I was really saddened to hear about kids who aren’t given the chance to read due to a lack of books where they live. In fact, in rural areas of many developing countries, most kids have never seen anything other than a textbook and schools don’t teach literature. The school day is filled with reciting facts and memorizing – there is no room for creativity. So it’s not that surprising that in many of these places, less than 25% of the population completes 6th grade.  Less than half makes it through 3rd.  That’s pretty bleak.


Enter Kae Robb. On a trip to Guatemala in 2000, the Spanish teacher from Arizona experienced these statistics first-hand after visiting some schools and speaking with teachers. She was distraught by what she saw and she knew she had to make a difference. When she returned to the States, Kae quit her job and founded Books for a Better World, a non-profit dedicated to bringing literacy to developing countries. BBW had humble beginnings - Kae, along with a handful of volunteers, would personally deliver books to Guatemala one backpack at a time. Over time, however, the movement took off, and just a few years later BBW was serving nearly 40 schools in and around Mexico, Central America, and South America. Check out this video to see the impact they are having:


Sadly, in 2004, Kae Robb died after a long battle with cancer. She was dedicated to her cause till the very end and her memory lives on. Books for a Better World has continued to thrive and is on track to deliver over 5,000 books in 2012. Help them reach their goal with your support here, or get hands-on and deliver books.

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me their story below and they could be featured on the site.

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David and Michelle Fein are making Christmas a little brighter for families in need in Colorado Springs.


For the second year in a row, the couple is donating hundreds of fully decorated Christmas trees to families who, for one reason or another, aren’t able to get trees themselves. It all started last Christmas when David and Michelle decided they wanted to give away a Christmas tree, so they posted an ad on Craigslist. It wasn’t until they received a flood of responses that they realized just how meaningful a Christmas tree can be to a family. Once they knew the tremendous need, they couldn’t stop at just one family- so they set out to help. Their effort quickly gained media attention, like the clip below:


Soon, their idea transformed into a citywide effort- all hands were on deck to donate, decorate, and deliver. They called it The Christmas Tree Project, and within 12 days, they had donated over 300 trees, 7,000 ornaments, 1,000 candy canes, and over a mile of Christmas tree lights.


David Fein told a local news station, “We met a mother with 11 children and this is their first Christmas tree; we had a 90-year-old woman from a nursing home call us and we delivered it to her. It’s a whole range of people. In this economy, I think people are struggling more than normal.”

The donations were met with overwhelming gratitude. They received hundreds of letters like this one:

“We've had a rough 2 years… we couldn't get the kids much for Christmas. We have 3 kids (1, 3 and 10 years old)… Our three year old kept asking me ‘when will Santa bring us our Christmas tree with lights’ as we drove past house after house -all sporting twinkling trees in the window. YOU helped my heart stop breaking. You truly get Christmas. Thank you! (times a million).”

This year, The Christmas Tree Project is back in full force. They’ve already donated over 90 trees, but they hope to reach over 300. If you’re in the area, help them meet their goal by donating a tree. If you live somewhere else, you can still help them by making a donation through their website.  And check out their Facebook for more stories and information. It’s people like the Feins that make the holiday season the season of giving.

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me their story below and they could be featured on the site.

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Photo Sources: The Christmas Tree Project, Tumblr

There are an estimated six to eight million dogs and cats in U.S. animal shelters and each year over three million of them are euthanized.


Images shown in rescue ads are taken right after the dog has arrived at a shelter.  The pictures are normally low quality, poorly lit, and show the dog at its most afraid and traumatized, and often caged.


So when professional photographer Ginger Monteleone took in Cali, her first foster dog, she decided to take her own pictures of the pup and post them on Facebook in hopes of finding Cali a permanent home.


There was almost immediate interest, and when Ginger quickly found a home for the pit bull mix, she almost didn’t want to let go. 

She knew she had to keep helping dogs in need, so she started volunteering her services at Miami-Dade County Animal Shelters. Ginger set out to showcase dogs’ personalities with her photos and entice people to adopt. After volunteering for a while, it became clear to Ginger that big dogs needed her help the most. She learned that small dogs and puppies draw much more interest and tend to get rescued much faster and more often. At best, the big dogs were left to sit in their cages next to hundreds of sick or diseased dogs. At worst, they were euthanized - an estimated 50-100 dogs are put to sleep every day in Miami-Dade Animal Services.

A long time lover of big dogs, Ginger knew she had her work cut out for her, and so she founded Big Hearts for Big Dogs.


The foster-based non-profit works to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome large dog breeds that people don’t normally take in.  Ginger takes care to capture each dog’s personality and posts the pictures online for prospective adopters. 



Since its founding in 2010, Big Hearts for Big Dogs has been extremely effective in rescuing and rehoming dogs in need.  If you’re in the South Florida area, you can offer your support by volunteering or fostering a dog in need.  If not, you can still help by donating here. 

And if you’re able to, consider adopting a furry friend from your local shelter this holiday season- you could be saving a dog’s life.

Do you know an everyday hero? Tell me their story below and they could be featured on the site.

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