To know that Chuck Fitzgerald currently serves as the Sergeant at Arms for the Arizona House of Representatives is to know only a tiny piece of the man. He has been instrumental in causes ranging from foster care to human trafficking, and most recently promoting peace. He has served on the board for Neighborhood Ministries, 2-1-1 Arizona, CityServe Arizona, Communities in Schools, Leadership West, and Shoebox Ministries. He has facilitated the Arizona Faith Council ( www.godenriches.org ) for ov...
Jun 18, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 7
As the mom of seven, Kathleen Winn holds a special distaste for human trafficking. As the executive director of Project 25, she’s able to do something about it. Her career includes stints as a news reporter, real estate and Community Outreach and Education Director for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Click here learn more about Project 25: https://www.project25.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 11, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Bryan & Erica Lamca have dedicated their lives to helping others around the globe. From short-term missions in Peru to working with college students and their current assignment in Ecuador. Erica is partnering with Casa Elizabeth, a crisis pregnancy center and home for teenage girls. More than 16 percent of teenage girls in Ecuador get pregnant, and 80 percent of those are unwanted. Bryan is working with young men, helping them learn how to become better and more responsible fathers. Togethe...
Jun 04, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Forty years ago, Mark Napier accepted a position as a police officer in Iowa, and he’s been in law enforcement ever since. Most of that time has been in Southern Arizona, and he has become an expert in many areas, from border issues to drug trafficking. His stories about the changes in the past couple of decades of law enforcement will give you insight to the challenges our first responders face every day. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 28, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Angela Harrolle’s world came to a stop the day her husband lost his life in the line of duty as a DPS officer/paramedic, leaving her a widow with two young children. The 100 Club of Arizona was there to help her, and today as the organization’s CEO/President she is helping to extend comfort, hope and advocate for safety programs for Arizona’s public safety members and their families throughout the state. They stand behind the men and women who stand behind the badge. Click here learn more about ...
May 21, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 3
For 20 years, Jeff Boles’ expertise was corporate IT. He had a knack for cutting edge technology and solving problems. Then he took those skills a totally different direction, and now changes lives as director of the Creighton Community Foundation. The foundation was established to support Creighton School District and the surrounding neighborhood to bring resources to some of the most impoverished families in urban Phoenix. The organization seeks to achieve better developmental outcomes for chi...
May 14, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 2
The image of a 15-year-old girl jammed into a dog crate so small her knees were forced against her chest and then was forced into prostitution was pivotal in Peggy Bilsten’s fight against sex trafficking. She was a teacher before being elected to the Phoenix City Council, and three years later elected vice mayor. She used that cultural capital to fight against domestic violence in Arizona and advocate for people with disabilities. She played a role in opening StreetLightUSA in Phoenix, a Christ-...
May 07, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 1
When Tammy Abernethy was raising her kids as a single mom, she had first-hand experience with the fears, insecurities, and hopelessness that parenting in a crisis brings. She was fortunate to be supported by a community of friends, family, and faith, but her heart was burdened for the women who were doing it alone, without a community or an understanding of resources available to help. Now as the CEO of Hope Women’s Center, she is helping to provide a safe haven for at-risk women and girls to ge...
Apr 30, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Thinking back, Susan Howe thinks having two sons who went to war played an important role in her resolve to start an Honor Flight Hub in Arizona. She first heard about the Honor Flight program in 2008, and was inspired by the story of the organization dedicated to honoring our nation’s veterans with an all-expenses paid trip to the memorials in Washington, D.C., a trip many of our veterans may not otherwise be able to take. She took her father, a B-24 nose gunner, on an Honor Flight from Ohio an...
Apr 23, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 51
Brenda Combs’ life is drastically different now compared to what it was like not long ago. After 10 years living on the street with what seemed like a hopeless drug addiction, she went on to earn three college degrees and then to create and run a foundation that helps the homeless. Brenda grew up in a middle-class family, but fell into a bad crowd, began using drugs and dropped out of school. During her darkest days on the streets, she endured years of unspeakable trauma, including being beaten,...
Apr 15, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Colonel Heston Silbert began his career with the Phoenix Police Department as a patrol officer in the South Mountain Precinct, and in the years to come he worked gang and drug investigations, undercover, mentoring at-risk youth and selected to be a member of the Special Assignments Unit (SAU/SWAT). Today, he leads the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Hear how the DPS has weathered the past year of pandemic, politics and more. To learn more about the Arizona DPS, click here: https://www.azdps...
Apr 09, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 49
Scott Clark retired from the Army National Guard after 27 years of service. He spent part of that time in Afghanistan, where he survived a horrific helicopter crash. Once home and physically healed, his unresolved combat trauma continued to take a toll on his family and his life. It wasn’t until a friend of his from church whose son suffered with PTSD, presented him with a book and asked him to give his thoughts on it that began to change. Admittedly, Scott tossed the book aside for a while, but...
Apr 01, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 48
John M. Perkins was born in 1930, a sharecropper’s son who grew up in New Hebron, Mississippi amidst dire poverty. His mother died of a malnutrition disease when John was only 7 months old. When his older brother was murdered at the hands of a town marshal, he fled to California at age 17, vowing never to return. However, after his conversion to Christianity in 1957 and three-year discipleship, he returned back to his home state of Mississippi in 1960 to share the Good News of God’s love. While ...
Mar 25, 2021•26 min
Nicolee Thompson’s life was full of excitement and promise. She graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s in teaching and a masters in liberal arts English. Her love of sports, including volleyball, led her to be a college coach. Then her family was rocked by the loss of her brother Mitchell in a drowning accident. Their response was to form Mitchell Swaback Charities (MSC), and seven years later when recession threatened American families, they opened Harvest Compassion ...
Mar 17, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Eric Sheldahl grew up on a farm just north of Des Moines, and had a successful career as a real estate developer. He and his wife Mary came to Phoenix planning to stay for a few months to flip houses – never knowing they would fall in love with Arizona. When they learned about an organization called Midwest Food Bank that was ranked in the top 10 out of 7,000 nonprofits, they had to learn more and in 2017 they opened the Arizona Midwest Food Bank in Gilbert. They began by serving food at absolut...
Mar 12, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 45
It’s no small task to coordinate and support the work of a corps of nearly 3,000 volunteers in Central in Northern Arizona, whose mission is to “Feed. Clothe. House. Heal.” families across the state. It takes someone with years of experience with large events and even bigger staffs. John Junker has been with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul for eight years. The Phoenix Council of the organization is regarded as the largest for St. Vincent de Paul in the U.S. – and if you count the scope of ser...
Mar 05, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 44
In the 40 years that he has been a pastor in the Phoenix area, Rick Efrid has seen a lot. But this past year of the pandemic has brought new challenges to churches and the clergy who run them. He now serves as the Director of Church Partnerships for Phoenix Seminary. In that position, Rick works to encourage, network and resource other pastors and ministry leaders. His conviction is that it takes healthy leaders to have healthy churches. Rick loves to shepherd God’s people through teaching bibli...
Feb 26, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 43
Mary Jo West is beloved by Phoenicians for many reasons. Known for being the city’s first female prime-time news anchor in 1976, her life in front of the camera and behind the scenes has been one of service ever since. She debuted with Bill Close as co-anchor for then KOOL-TV, Channel 10. She went on to work as an anchor and reporter for the CBS network's pioneer all-night news program, NIGHTWATCH in New York. She also was the Chief Anchor and Managing Editor for KTVK-TV, Channel 3 in Phoenix. A...
Feb 19, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 42
Mario D’Ortenzio is soft-spoken with an easy smile. He began his career as a football coach at Morningside College, but found his great joy was leading kids to Christ through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He soon joined the FCA Staff full time in 2000 and later became vice president of the Breakthrough Ministry. Then came an incident that rocked him to his core, and ultimately led to his founding Death2Life Revolution (D2L), reaching the hopeless, hurting and suicidal with love, hope and...
Feb 09, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 40
Josiah Friedman has always been passionate about the unborn, but it was when his mom told him a story about an early pregnancy she had that he realized the greatest impact could come from working to change the culture. He is the CEO and founder of Voices for the Voiceless, a nonprofit movement advocating for a world where every preborn life is valued and no one faces unplanned pregnancy alone. He works across political and ideological boundaries to build support for pregnant women in relationshi...
Feb 05, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 40
From his early days as a classical concert pianist to capturing the hearts of millions of American Idol viewers with his engaging presence and vocal prowess, Scott MacIntyre has never let challenges keep him from achieving his dreams. Blind from birth and a two-time kidney transplant recipient, Scott knows what it means to persevere despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. He was first diagnosed with stage-four kidney failure at nineteen years old, and after becoming extremely ill, he began e...
Jan 29, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Kristen Polin has a passion for ensuring youth arrive to adulthood healthy and whole. The CEO of notMYkid (NMK), has 24 years of experience working in nonprofit management and is a respected leader in the prevention and behavioral health sector. Her successful career began at Community Bridges and her transition to notMYkid in 2015 carved out her true heart work and passion for working with youth. The decision kids make today can impact their tomorrow – in good ways, or bad. At notMYkid they pas...
Jan 22, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Dr. Alyshia Smith spent the first 20 years of her career working in varied aspects of nursing and management for a large private hospital system. She began her VA career as the Deputy Chief Nurse at the Washington, D.C. VA Medical Center, leading initiatives including implementation of a hospital-wide cardia monitoring system, facilitating the opening of the Emergency Department Overflow Unit and Fast Track Area. Dr. Smith joined the Phoenix VA Health Care System in 2015, and has developed stron...
Jan 15, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Jaime Jorge began playing the violin at the age of five. Born and raised in communist Cuba, he was given many opportunities-including an offer to study in Russia at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music in Moscow with some of the greatest musicians of our time-if only he and his family would renounce their belief in God. They refused. When Jaime was ten, miraculously, his family was given the opportunity to leave the country. Despite his musical gift, he dreamed of being a missionary doctor, but...
Jan 08, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Pastor Julius Keller knew early on that he was called to make a difference in people’s lives. For 25 years he worked as an attorney to help people through investigating fair housing complaints in six states. Then he received a call to the ministry, where he helped save people’s souls for nearly 20 years. Original air date: September 17, 2020 Rebroadcast: December 31, 2020 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 01, 2021•26 min
Lisa Kingry has been an ICU nurse for 8 years, but since COVID-19 she’s been on the front lines in a way she could have never imagined. Come join her as she talks about what the days are like for her and her colleagues, and her assessment of the situation in Arizona. Original broadcast August 19, 2020 Rebroadcast December 24, 2020 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 25, 2020•26 min
As a business leader, Marianne Gouveia was a successful executive working in aerospace nearly 30 years when she decided to leave corporate America to become an executive coach. Her youngest son Eric struggled with medically prescribed opioids from a high school injury. He had seven surgeries and was left with chronic pain, but eventually his injury became more about addiction than it did about pain and he transitioned to heroin. The shame and disappointment he carried in his heart created a mome...
Dec 18, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Terry Hamlin grew up in a Mormon (LDS) family rife with alcoholism and gambling, and at 24 was excommunicated for refusing to follow church doctrine. The family legacy followed him – his middle name, spelled Allin, was pronounced All-in, his gambling father’s inspiration, and Terry became an alcoholic himself. Escaping God and religion, he became director of the local ski patrol, a leader in business and civic pursuits, an entrepreneur, councilman and mayor. At 42, he developed a personal relati...
Dec 11, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Stephanie Siete likes to say her world is drugs, Cubs and dogs. Passionate about all three, she reaches out throughout the community to help families fight the challenges of addiction, and educate children on the dangers of drugs. Stephanie has been with Community Bridges since 2002. She began her work as a Prevention Specialist in Valley schools and soon moved into a role of Community Outreach providing education to students, parents, teachers and administrators. She continues to train law enfo...
Dec 04, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Julie Supplee, CEO of the House of Refuge Sunnyslope, talks about how COVID-19 and the dropping economy has impacted their clients. Their goal is to catch people before they become homeless on the street, bringing them to their 11 properties in North Phoenix in programs for men, for women, and for single women with children. Julie shares how their program to love, house and equip has actually grown during COVID-19, rather than been forced to shut down like many organizations. Originally aired Ju...
Nov 27, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 30
