I have learned that no matter how far down you fall you can still find good in your life. After experiencing three stokes, cancer surgery, addiction problems, bankruptcy, and homelessness, I can tell you that the key to a good life is to know yourself, be yourself and love yourself.
In this recession, many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, but people in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, have a unique safety net of sorts: Sal Dimiceli. Raised in poverty, Sal vowed when he was 12 years old that he'd always help people in need, and he's spent nearly all of his adult life making good on that promise, partly through his newspaper column, which invites those who've fallen on hard times to write to him.
Enchanted Makeovers is celebrating its fifth year working in women's shelters to transform interior spaces -- drab bunks and windows -- with cheery designs, but, ultimately, the non-profit organization wants to transform the inner hearts of people by genuinely caring for their souls.
A Japanese-American soldier who single-handedly stormed machine gun nests in World War II clearing the way for an entire battalion to escape was awarded the military's second highest honor yesterday, the Distinguished Service Award.
In a country that prizes physical perfection, Korean Pastor Lee Jong-rak, his eyes opened after caring for his own disabled son, has been taking in unwanted infants, who if not for the drop box in the front of his building would be left in the street. To Pastor Lee Jong-rak, babies with Down syndrome or cerebral palsy are all perfect and they have found a home here.
After being fortunate enough to receive a scholarship that allowed him to get a college education, Gilbert Cisneros said he and his wife are donating some of their lottery millions to give college scholarships to Latino students in Pico Rivera who need them.
In the largely improvised scramble to set up an alternative to leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime, the Libyan rebels are leaning heavily on Ali Tarhouni, a University of Washington economics professor who abruptly left his family and students to join an uncertain revolution. As finance minister, he even jumped on a fishing boat recently to personally deliver salary money to the besieged city of Misrata in the Gadhafi-controlled west.
In one of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods, one grandmother has opened her door and invited gang members to come inside. She hoped that by providing them with support and a place to go, she would ensure that her own daughter and other kids would be safe and able to focus on their future instead of gangs.
On the 17th anniversary marking the start of the Rwandan genocide, comes the story of Carl Wilkens -- the only American to stay in the country, remaining behind to protect Tutsi friends.
Hilton Kelley left a burgeoning career in Hollywood in 2000 and moved back to his Texas hometown, a refinery and chemical manufacturing region, to clean things up. Mr. Kelley has won a lot of victories in 11 years. Now, the Port Arthur native has received a $150,000 Goldman Environmental Prize for his efforts to fight pollution.
80 percent of the workers hired at the Tennessee factory that makes artificial grass are disabled, but owner David Morris doesn't see them that way. Every worker and manager with cerebral palsy, downs syndrome, or schizophrenia is considered able.
A Houston man killed last year protecting a woman from a gun-wielding purse snatcher has been named a finalist for an award created by U.S. servicemen who have been recognized for similar selfless acts during war.
Like white knights, dressed in their hazmat suits, a band of 180 men have volunteered to continue working in extreme conditions, to help keep strangers safe from nuclear radiation at the Fukushima plant.
Growing up in the Kenyan slums, Peninah was surrounded by drugs, prostitution and dire poverty. Peninah turned to education as her lifeline, walking nine miles to attend school every day, and learning basketball within one month to secure a scholarship to college. Now she created Safe Spaces to help other girls.
13,000 low-income workers in Pakistan are getting nearly-free health care thanks to Asher Hasan, a successful surgeon who left the US in 2007 to create his micro-insurance program, Naya Jeevan.
The subway hero who saved a woman pushed to the tracks by a psycho meet his own hero Wednesday night when he was honored at the Knicks game.
A gritty granny armed only with her handbag fought off six robbers who were smashing windows in a jewelry store on a busy UK street. Amateur video filmed by a passerby shows the courageous senior citizen swinging her purse with a ferocity seemingly brought on only by her shock at the thugs' mid-day audacity.
With snow totals of anywhere from one to two feet falling across nine midwestern states along with brutalizing winds, the February snowstorm of 2011 left a 2000-mile trail of misery (and some deaths) all the way to Maine. But, other acts of nature -- tales of kindness and generosity -- were just as prolific.
A young freshman college baseball player was facing a life of declining health until his coach stepped up to the plate and donated a kidney.
After his brother was murdered by Hamas, Yuval Roth turned his loss into a way to promote peace. He and his organization, On the Road to Recovery, transport sick Palestinians into Israel so they can receive quality medical care.