From Sparks to Light - Inspiring Stories for Challenging Times

“I get a call, … I’m waiting outside on the street corner. … A pickup truck shows up, with a fridge on it. Two guys get out and drop this fridge on the street. And that’s literally the way it started. These two anonymous guys, who drop this fridge on the street. … And there’s this guy named Ruben. And he’s the gatekeeper of the block —making sure everyone’s on good behavior and nobody messes up the block and he says to me, ‘What is...

“If we’re not in community with other people, it’s much easier to throw rocks at each other.” - John Crowley, Aqus Community Foundation.

Perhaps you’ve had the opportunity to travel to England or Ireland and experienced it first hand. You step inside a darkly lit room, hard wood paneling defines the space. You step up to the bar, littered with glasses, beer taps and warm bodies waiting to be served. The walls are filled with dozens ...

It is a phone call no parent wants to receive. A child is missing —or even worse, presumed dead. That was the call that Sally McQuillen and her husband, Joe, received on a cold January day, nine years ago. Their 21 year old son, Christopher, and three friends, drowned in a boating accident when the canoe they were in capsized on an icy lake in Wisconsin. Sally shares her journey through that life changing experience in Reaching for...

"When I sit down with someone and hear their life story —when we’re just hanging out and I’m getting to know them and getting to be with them, there’s this feeling of mutuality in getting to be together, of getting to melt down the walls between us. There’s something really beautiful about that,” says Michael Larson, the founder and visionary behind Humans for Housing. 

When Michael Larson was just two years old, his parents we...

This is part two of a two part episode. If you haven't listened to part 1, go back and listen to that one first.

When Brian McNaught was in eighth grade, Sister Claire Marie, IHM, a nun at his school in Birmingham, Michigan, pulled his mother aside and proclaimed, “Your son is a prince of a boy.” 

‘Did Sister Claire Marie say that because I was well behaved? Nice? Funny? Or did she see in me a vibration as the empathetic soul I ...

When Brian McNaught was in eighth grade, Sister Claire Marie, IHM, a nun at his school in Birmingham, Michigan, pulled his mother aside and proclaimed, “Your son is a prince of a boy.” 

‘Did Sister Claire Marie say that because I was well behaved? Nice? Funny? Or did she see in me a vibration as the empathetic soul I aspired and imagined myself to be.” writes McNaught in his new memoir, A Prince of a Boy.

It was that vibration that l...

"Trust your heart, because in addiction, we lose faith in our own judgement and what we see as right or wrong," says “Taylor”, the name he gave himself after he embraced sobriety After years of struggling to leave addiction behind, he works to help others find their way to a sober life.  "Have faith in yourself,” he says. “Believe in yourself because that's the only way that you're going to get sober and st...

"We think we're so different across our communities. We may come from a different country. We might work in different jobs. We might work the land, or work in tech, but we're not all that different —we're human,” says Brian Muegge of the divisions so prevalent in society today.  “There really needs to be a better way to connect across the urban-rural continuum. I hope it's through  food. and I hope it can b...

“…Give without remembering,” encourages Bryan Driscoll, the creator of the goodness game who prefers to give out of the spotlight. “It’s not about me, “ he says, humbly.  Driscoll suggests several “rules” for playing the goodness game. “One way is to be the only one who knows what you’re doing… helping from afar. [The] second is where only you and the recipient knows what you’re doing. There’s no bragging. No posting on social medi...

This is part 9 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, a program of  San Francisco’s Shanti Project, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.

“I think that's the purpose of volunteer work," says Lilian Talero of her work with the HIV/AIDS immigrant community. "We think, ‘I'm going to give my time for free. I'm going to do this for [other] people,’ but a...

“Just getting to hear her life story was so incredible, the difficult things she’s been through in her life —it really puts it into perspective… it makes me just want to ask any senior I talk to, ‘What is your story?’ because everyone has a story.” - Lee Stumbaugh

As we begin the spring semester of From Sparks to Light, I have a special treat for you. I’m joined today by a few of my students, Jenn, Mikayla and Lee, who wer...

“Hi, My name is Matt and I’m a teacher. Today I’m going to tell you a story about a sticky note.”

Perhaps, like me, you’re one of the more than 345K followers who tune in to Instagram or Tik Tok to hear one of Mr. Eich’s wildly popular stories about his students. Matt Eicheldinger is an author and sixth grade language arts teacher who has amassed a treasure trove of stories, lessons that  help him, and us, learn what it means to be ...

This is part 8 of a special series focusing on the community of Honoring Our Experience, and their work with long-term survivors of the HIV/AIDS virus.

“I was a reluctant activist,” says Vince Crisostomo of the humble beginnings of his advocacy for LGBTQ communities. He’d done his share of sitting by the bedsides of friends and community members as they succumbed to the deadly virus, but it would be a few more years until he would s...

“There’s a longing that runs through our species. People are so hungry for belonging and recognition.”

Irwin Keller was in third grade when he knew he wanted to be a rabbi, but it would be many years before he would heed his calling. Along the way he became a lawyer and gay rights advocate and a marginally famous singing drag queen for 21 years with America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, the Kinsey Sicks.

With war rag...

It was just a ham sandwich.

Karen Olson walked that route hundreds of times. Heading home after a long day of work in New York City at pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert, she noticed a woman sitting in front of Grand Central Station who appeared to be homeless. Instead of walking past as she’d done so many times before, she ran across the street and bought the woman a sandwich and a bottle of orange juice. “Thank you,” the woman ...

Traei Tsai was 6 years old when her family emigrated from Taipei, Taiwan to make a new start in Vancouver, Canada.  New to a country and community where they didn’t speak the language, Traei began school where, for the first time in her life, she began to recognize that she was different. Some othe the children teased her, and to manage the discomfort she found solace in books. She began learning English through reading, even thoug...

At the age of 19, Manizha Wafeq traveled to Oklahoma City with 13 women to participate in Peace Through Business, a program to support women from her native Afghanistan to become entrepreneurs. No sooner had they arrived in the United States when it became clear that three of the women did not speak enough English to follow the lectures. Manizha volunteered to serve as an interpreter. She taught them to type in Farsi on their lapto...

Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Someone who is giving back to their community? Working to make our world a better place? Send an email to suzanne@suzannemaggio.com. Nominate them for a future episode of From Sparks to Light.

To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.

To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.

T...

This summer we’re replaying some of our favorite episodes from season 3, episodes that offer inspirational ideas to help you get involved in making a difference in your community.

This week we’re revisiting an episode with Koen van Rompay, an infectious diseases researcher and the founder of Sahaya International. In this powerful episode, Koen reminds us that action begins with one small step.

For the full show n...