Simple Acts, Big Impact

Overripe bananas, soft avocados, wilting greens — most of it isn't trash, it's still good. Sid, founder of Waste2Taste in Houston, turned his passion for food recovery into a nonprofit and a cookbook, Still Good, teaching people how to rescue "wasted" food before it hits the bin. In this episode, we cover practical food-waste-reduction tips, how food recovery organizations work, and why so much edible food gets thrown away ne...

What does teen-led community impact look like? For Alejandra, a Miami high school senior, it's Literary Speaking — a nonprofit offering free academic tutoring and mentorship to underserved students and adults.

In this Season 5 premiere of Simple Acts, Big Impact, Alejandra breaks down how she built her program from the ground up, the challenges of leading as a teenager, and why mentorship matters.

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For the last episode of season four, I'm honored to share a special conversation with Sarah Jakle, the founder of a nonpartisan nonprofit organization called DemocraShe, which offers online training to high school girls. Democrashe creates a vibrant community that uses a peer-led model to teach resiliency skills, leadership, and civic engagement. I hope this episode inspires all of the future leaders who are listening to know that ...

A walkathon is a fun and relatively easy way to raise awareness and funds for a cause you care about. My guests today, Makenna and Stella, launched the Mayo Miles Walk to raise awareness around visual impairment, a condition that has affected both of their families. Their walk, happening in North Carolina next weekend, provides a unique and meaningful twist: walk-a-thon team members are blindfolded and rely on their teammates for s...

Young people, especially young girls of color, continue to struggle with mental health issues even six years after the pandemic. Access to services and support is spotty, and many tweens and teens feel isolated and unseen. My guest today, 14-year-old Mila, understood this struggle and wanted to help girls in her community access resources. She started MH Boxes, delivers care packages, made by Black girls, for Black girls, pack...

I think we can all agree that sometimes, a simple phone call from a friend can brighten your whole day. And for a lonely or isolated older adult, that phone call might be one of the only points of human connection they will have. My guest today, Nolan Z. from Massachusetts, was inspired to launch Golden Voice Outreach when he realized how meaningful phone calls with his grandmother became after she moved into an assisted living fac...

We all know that books hold the key to language and literacy. My guest today, Sahana, a high school senior from Ohio, has always had a passion for words and reading and was a finalist in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She launched the Young Learners Foundation, an organization with the goal of advancing youth literacy with free books and programs, which has already donated over 18,000 books to children in need.

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My guest today, HS sophomore Evan Z., cares deeply about making the streets of his community safer for everyone - drivers, walkers and bicycle riders. He started NextGen Community Builders, an organization dedicated to empowering youth through traffic and transportation safety programs. Evan is involved in the highest levels of his town's government and has been recognized with a Community Achiever Award recognizing his dedication ...

Origami is a traditional Japanese art of folding paper, typically without cutting or gluing, to create intricate, beautiful and colorful shapes. It can be a meditative practice, and is an art form often passed down from one generation to the next. My guest today, Juan R.F. shares the story of Origami for Good, an organization with the mission to spread joy, one fold at a time. Volunteers in chapters around the world create origami ...

Over the four years of doing this podcast, I have had the privilege of learning about some incredible social impact projects that take a unique approach to solving a difficult problem, but my guest today has one of the most interesting stories I've heard.  Keshav, a high school junior from Houston Texas, started playing the bagpipes in 2nd grade. After making a connection between lung capacity and the practice of blowing into ...

After the loss of her beloved grandmother, Jiya J. from Texas realized that she missed the warm connection she had with her grandmother, and reached out to local senior centers and nursing homes to find a way to volunteer to paint with the residents. Her nonprofit, Young and Old United, grew out of this personal passion project and has spread across the state of Texas, engaging over 100 student volunteers. Jiya's joy around this wo...

Reading opens doors and provides opportunities, and for young people who find themselves in the hospital, research shows that books can boost positive emotions and oxytocin levels, while lowering stress hormones. My guests today, Sanvi and Sumedha from the Chicago area, understood the many benefits of reading and launched The Bookmark Project, a book collection and distribution effort, to empower young people and to spread literacy...

Today, as we kick off Earth Month, I am honored to share this conversation with Crystal and Ellie, two college students who became friends while doing Model UN in high school. They bonded over their shared concern for the environment, and launched LEAP, or Live Environmentally Active in the Present, a youth-led organization spreading awareness through education and a powerful publication called The Climate Chronicles.

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Sometimes the simplest efforts are the most impactful. Big-hearted high school senior Ryan T. launched Read Aloud Buddies along with his sister during the early days of the pandemic. The organization aims to match every child with an experienced high school or college student. The student volunteers read to their "buddy" improving language skills and literacy. Ryan also runs Little Acts of Kindness, baking cupcakes for children cel...