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Features Giving Back Kindness in Action

Tiger Woods’s Legacy Beyond the Golf Course: How His Foundation Aims To Help Youth Achieve Their Dreams Through Education

Golfing legend Tiger Woods is most proud of his foundation’s work in educating youth. His TGR Foundation is led by Cynthia Court, whom he tapped in June 2023 to become CEO and expand the educational initiatives the foundation offers in under-resourced communities across America.

According to Mrs. Court, if students do not have access to qualified teachers, stable learning environments, educational resources, extracurricular activities, and advanced classes, they are less likely to graduate from high school or pursue a post-secondary education. This means that they would not be able to secure meaningful work that pays a livable wage.

In 2006, Mr. Woods first set up a TGR Learning Lab to encourage students in fifth to 12th grades to thrive in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and possibly develop future careers in those fields. Since then, the foundation has established other satellite campuses around the country, in Washington, D.C., South Florida, and Quantico, Virginia.

Mr. Woods occasionally visits the Learning Lab to chat with students. (Courtesy of TGR Foundation)

Students are introduced to different subjects from forensic science to marine biology to biotechnology. High school students in particular have access to hands-on experience through paid internships, shadowing professionals, or helping to complete projects at real businesses.

The foundation also provides mentorship for students who are accepted into the  Earl Woods Scholar Program (named after Mr. Woods’s father), with mentors committing at least two years to advising students on their journey to post-high school careers. Many maintain relationships with the students throughout their college years and beyond. Mrs. Court shared that one of the program mentors recently attended the wedding of her mentee—whom she met 17 years ago in the foundation’s first cohort of scholars.

American Essence spoke with Mrs. Court and Mr. Woods about the meaning of their mission.

Tiger Woods Foundation CEO Cynthia Court with an alumnus of the foundation’s program, Natan Santos. (Courtesy of TGR Foundation)

American Essence: Could you share with us a touching example of a youth who found success after participating in a TGR Foundation program?

Cynthia Court: One of the many students who has touched our hearts over the years is Sammy Mohammed. Sammy is the oldest child of an immigrant family and always dreamed of becoming a first-generation college student. Growing up in an under-resourced community in Anaheim, California, he began his journey at our TGR Learning Lab in fifth grade to participate in a week-long STEM field trip focused on marine biology. Motivated, Sammy returned for additional STEM classes through high school where he discovered a passion for computer science and engineering. Sammy was accepted into the Earl Woods Scholar Program in 11th grade and gained Tiger as a mentor. Since graduating from Stanford University, Sammy has begun his engineering career (at Google!) and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at his alma mater. He has not only achieved his personal goals, but he also inspired his younger siblings to enrich their education through TGR Learning Lab programs.

The foundation’s Learning Lab is based in Anaheim, Calif. (Courtesy of TGR Foundation)

AE: How can more youth from under-resourced communities receive access to education and be encouraged to take advantage of programs like those provided by TGR Foundation?

Mrs. Court: Forming strong relationships with the communities we serve, local school systems, educators, and other community-based organizations has allowed TGR Foundation to serve thousands of youth through our educational programs and enrichment activities each year. We have also extended our reach by providing professional learning to teachers across the country.

Additionally, TGR Foundation is in the process of expanding our physical footprint. We are opening new TGR Learning Labs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles, California, in 2025 and 2026, respectively. The new locations will allow us to provide significantly more youth with educational programs tailored to their specific needs. For example, only 6 percent of the students enrolled at the 42 Philadelphian public schools located within a 3-mile radius of our forthcoming TGR Learning Lab achieved proficiency in math on state assessments. We are already offering math tutoring at local schools to start addressing the need for educational enrichment.

Elementary school students learn about forensic science by solving a simulated jewelry heist. (Courtesy of TGR Foundation)

AE: What is the greatest challenge TGR Foundation faces heading into 2024? What direction does TGR Foundation wish to take going forward to achieve greater success for the next 25 years?

Mrs. Court: The footprint of TGR Foundation will have tripled in size once the TGR Learning Labs in Philadelphia and Los Angeles open. Executing this expansion will be a significant challenge for the organization, but an important first step towards serving significantly more youth from under-resourced communities. This is a pivotal moment for TGR Foundation, and I am excited to help actualize our vision: a world where opportunity is universal and potential is limitless.

AE: What is it like to work with Mr. Woods? Any examples of a shining moment so far?

Mrs. Court: I recently spent an entire morning with Tiger on a practice green strategizing about a sustainable growth strategy for the organization. After a considerable amount of time discussing strategic direction, Tiger took a moment to stress that the most important thing to him was the quality of our educational programming and the impact we are having on each individual life. He is deeply committed to helping students pursue their passions through education.

I also witnessed some terrific chip shots that morning.

Children get to explore STEM subjects at the Learning Lab. (Courtesy of TGR Foundation)

AE: Mr. Woods, of all your incredible successes, which milestone (personally and professionally) are you the proudest of, or do you feel is the best accomplishment thus far?

Tiger Woods: The legacy we’re building at TGR Foundation is going to outlive me, and it’s one that’s bigger than what I’ve done on the golf course.

AE: How has your vision for TGR Foundation impacted youth since its inception?

Mr. Woods: When I was a kid, my parents instilled a simple principle in my life: Try to make an impact in one person’s life, every day. At TGR Foundation, we are doing just that, making a meaningful impact on the lives of youth one day at a time. We believe that everyone can be a champion.

From Jan Issue, Volume 1

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Features American Success Giving Back Kindness in Action

‘Wonder Years’ Actress Danica McKellar Wants To Inspire Goodness, Whether It’s Through Movies or Teaching Math

After a lifetime in southern California’s eternal sunshine, Danica McKellar made the move to rural Tennessee last year. It appears she’s taken a page right out of her Hallmark and Great American Family movies, which often take place in a small town filled with kindhearted people and blessed by seasonal beauty.

Since her move, the actress and producer has indeed been marveling at “the most amazing Bob Ross painting at every turn,” she said.

Ms. McKellar is widely known for playing the character of Winnie Cooper in “The Wonder Years.” The comedy-drama, which ran from 1988 to 1993, followed the highs and lows of young Kevin Arnold (played by Fred Savage). Set in suburban, middle-class America in the late ’60s and early ’70s, the series, and the messy and complex affairs of the heart it depicted, kept viewers coming back episode after episode. For many, their coming of age happened alongside the protagonists’—including McKellar’s character.

Etched onto the public consciousness, she became the epitome of the sweetness of first love. Late-night show host Jimmy Fallon once referred to Winnie Cooper as “the coolest girl in any TV show ever.” 

An adult Kevin Arnold narrated:

Once upon a time there was a girl I knew, who lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes. When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I cried. Every single thing that happened to me that mattered, in some way, had to do with her. That day Winnie and I promised each other that no matter what, we’d always be together. … It was the kind of promise that can only come from the hearts of the very young.”

This Christmas season, Damon Runyon and Ms. McKellar star in “A Royal Christmas Romance” on the Great American Family cable network. (Rachel Luna/Stringer/Getty Images)

Math Whiz

On-screen Winnie Cooper was smart and sweet, and because Ms. McKellar knew that young people were looking up to her character, she felt the need to live up to being a role model. 

She went on to graduate summa cum laude from UCLA with a major in mathematics, with the distinction of co-authoring a mathematical physics theorem called the Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem.

In 2000, she testified before a congressional subcommittee about the importance of women in math and science. When she read that young girls’ interest and confidence in math eroded significantly by the eighth grade, even though they performed as well as boys, she reflected on her own self-doubts while in college:

No one ever told me I couldn’t do math or science; I just saw it as inaccessible and foreign. The strange thing is, at the same time that I harbored all of these self-doubts and feelings of alienation in regards to math, I was graduating high school with really good grades in math. True, I had struggled in middle school to even get a ‘C’ in math, but now I was in the top 3 percent of my high school, graduating with honors and an A+ in the highest AP Calculus course offered in the U.S.

She went on to write 11 math books for kids spanning ages 0 to 16. She knew that she had to change the stereotype about math and make it not only accessible but also cool, initially targeting girls at the middle school stage, a time when math gets harder and new social factors also come into play. Because of this, her bestselling books incorporate confidence-boosting messages.

(This is a short preview of a story from the Dec. Issue, Volume 3.)

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Features Giving Back Kindness in Action

What Gives Tim Tebow the Greatest Joy? A Higher Purpose Post-Football

For Tim Tebow, “MVP” has a whole different meaning. Far from the limelight of the sports field, the 36-year-old Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback has long set his sights on helping the world’s “Most Vulnerable People.” The Tim Tebow Foundation, founded in 2010, works in 86 countries to transform the lives of orphans, people with special needs or significant medical needs, and those caught in the snare of human traffickers.

His favorite night of the year, Night to Shine, celebrates people with special needs, offering them a prom night experience, and takes place simultaneously around the world—in over 1,000 cities and 56 countries. (Next year, it will be held on February 9, 2024.)

The timing, the Friday before Valentine’s Day, is no accident.

“We wanted this to be a night where every person with special needs ‘Shines,’ and we wanted our love and God’s love for them to shine through,” Tebow said.

American Essence had the chance to ask Tebow about Night to Shine, what drives him in life, and the best advice he’s ever been given.

Tebow is also passionate about faith-based content for children and has invested in different media projects. (Hannah Janoe)

American Essence: Please tell us about an inspiring moment or person at Night to Shine that will stay with you forever.

Tim Tebow: I could tell you thousands and thousands of stories just from our first Night to Shine! One that really stands out to me is a mom coming up to me and telling me that her daughter will never get married. She will never have kids. But tonight, at Night to Shine, she felt like she was a princess. Another is the first time we ever hosted a Night to Shine, one sweet girl came down the red carpet in a wheelchair with everyone cheering her on. She had so much fun and loved the experience so much that she came back down again, this time walking with assistance! It was such an inspiring moment.

Another impactful moment was when I got to meet an incredible young boy at a Night to Shine in Haiti. Frantzky had the biggest, sweetest smile, and he danced with so many friends and family that night. Unfortunately, not long after that, he got very sick. Hospitals in Haiti had turned him away before due to him having special needs or simply perceiving him as too complicated to care for. At the third hospital he ended up at, he did not receive the level of care he needed and unfortunately passed away. It was such a shocking reality that it’s our job to love people no matter their circumstances, and that it’s up to us to help other people see the God-given worth and value of every life. I have a painting of Frantzky in a room in my house where I watch movies and football games. That room is somewhat of a break where I can relax for a moment or get caught up in sports, but Frantzky’s picture is displayed as you exit the room as an instant reminder to keep the perspective that there is so much more significance in life than just games and movies.

AE: How has the idea of prom—a quintessentially American tradition—translated to the many different countries where Night to Shine is held?

Mr. Tebow: That’s a great question. One of the ways we’ve described Night to Shine is as a worldwide prom for people with special needs. A lot of countries aren’t familiar with the term “prom,” so we also call it a worldwide celebration for people with special needs. Even though other countries might not be familiar with the idea of a prom, walking down a red carpet, or being crowned as kings and queens, what’s really cool is that once they see it in action, they totally get it—regardless of where they are. A lot of that has to do with our awesome Night to Shine team that walks alongside churches every step of the way. It’s also really neat to see different countries and cultures embrace Night to Shine by bringing in traditions and experiences that are culturally relevant to them, too.

(Tim Tebow Foundation)

AE: You have a great sense of urgency about the causes that your foundation supports. What drives you in life? What gets you up in the morning, ready to take on the world?

Mr. Tebow: …

(This is a short preview of a story from the Sept. Issue, Volume 3)

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Features Entrepreneurs Giving Back

Innovative New Cosmetic Center Takes Holistic Approach to Cultivating Beauty

In the ancient world, beauty was defined by harmonious proportion, where all elements combined into a satisfying, soul-stirring balance. It was an ideal to aim for, and a virtue to embody.

Today, there is a saying that beauty is only skin deep. With this notion, it’s no wonder why we see the pursuit of beauty as something vain and shallow, sometimes even ugly. But what ever happened to the more substantive and transcendent aspects of beauty that our ancestors believed were found beyond the superficial? A new plastic surgery clinic wants to help patients find it.

The project began with a grand goal: create a cosmetic surgical center with a deeper approach to aesthetics. Dr. Jingduan Yang has been working the past year to realize this vision.

Yang is no stranger to running a practice. He is currently the CEO of Northern Medical Center located in New York’s Hudson Valley. The center is a multidisciplinary integrative facility that features both primary and specialty care, such as traditional Chinese medicine, pediatrics, sports medicine, and more.

(Cara Ding)

Holistic Healing

Like Northern Medical Center, Yang holds a combination of medical specialties that lend to his holistic mindset. He began his medical career as an acupuncturist—he’s a fifth-generation practitioner of Chinese medicine—and then became an attending neurologist. Later, he was board certified in both psychiatry and integrative medicine.

Yang said he never imagined that his career would branch into the realm of cosmetics. But he wanted to find a way to help people transcend the often shallow reputation of the beauty industry, and embrace something more substantial. “We want to make a paradigm shift to help people to become healthier, happier, and more beautiful,” Yang said.

Dr. Jeffrey Yager (Larry Dye)

The new clinic, called SY Aesthetics, is set to open later this year. Dr. Jefferey Yager is one of the surgeons on the team. Last year, Yager was set to retire from a 26-year career in plastic surgery because he felt his job had become tedious. But Yang’s idea gave Yager new inspiration for his profession. He realized that there were elements that his previous work had been missing.

“Technically, my skills were such that I could repeat excellent results. But what I found frustrating was I could get the same result on several different people and have different satisfaction levels,” Yager said. “If their problems stem from a deeper emotional or traumatic event in their past, or a poor relationship with their partner, I’m not gonna be able to fix that, no matter how well I perform the procedure.”

In addition to offering top notch cosmetic surgery, SY Aesthetics aims to address the matters that the scalpel can’t touch, by providing treatment for the mind and spirit. The underlying philosophy of the practice is to treat what Yang and Yager call the four dimensions of beauty: structural, biochemical, energetic, and spiritual.

The first dimension, structural, is what every plastic surgeon specializes in. This is what we see at the surface that can be changed with surgical procedures.

But dive a bit deeper, and you’ll find the biochemical dimension of your body. Things like hormonal imbalances and nutritional deficiencies aren’t things we often associate with physical beauty, but Yang says these biochemical factors play a large role in how we look and feel. “These chemical components are what the body needs to sustain, to nourish, and to function,” he said. “Therefore, by supporting the chemistry, we support the appearance.”

Common herbs in traditional Chinese medicine: goji berries, dong quai (female ginseng), dong gua pi (winter melon peel), zhi zi (gardenia seeds), rougui (cassia bark), and dang shen (codonopsis root). They are used to regulate energy imbalances in the body, which can lead to a healthier, more radiant complexion, according to Dr. Jingduan Yang. (Tatsiana Moon for American Essence)

Deeper still is the energetic dimension. It is usually associated with ancient forms of medicine, such as traditional Chinese or Ayurvedic practices that work with energy forces such as qi or prana. The forces themselves may be invisible, but their manifestations are clear. Someone who suffers from deficient qi, for example, can see reflections of this deficiency in their appearance and their overall health.

Spirituality

The most profound factor in the SY Aesthetics evaluation is the spiritual component. This dimension is embodied in the thoughts and beliefs that we hold. These are also invisible elements, but they definitely reflect on how the world sees us. “When you’re around somebody who has true beauty, you don’t really notice the physical defects,” Yager said. “It’s the way they make you feel. You just enjoy being around them because they radiate this positivity and energy that’s infectious. That’s what we’re trying to bring out.”

A spiritual approach to plastic surgery may seem unusual, but Yang says it’s essential to a truly holistic vision of beauty. Patients who address this dimension before going under the knife may even conclude that they don’t really want plastic surgery, or realize that they’re pursuing it for all the wrong reasons. “Actually, we would like them to do that if that is the case,” Yang said. “Sometimes they know what they want in their head, but they absolutely don’t want it in their hearts.”

Acupuncture treatment is a key feature of traditional Chinese medicine. (Cara Ding)

Even if patients decide that surgery is necessary, Yager said going into a procedure with a strong spirit helps with the whole process. He points to a body of research which shows that spirituality is associated with better health outcomes. Such studies reveal that prayer and spirituality is an important aspect of the healing process, particularly in plastic surgery. 

“Even the patients who are doing aesthetic surgery can benefit so much from the advanced nutritional therapy that we can offer … These should not be underestimated,” Yager said.

If a patient shows issues with trauma, nutrition, or some other imbalance, they can still elect to get physical changes once they’ve addressed these deeper concerns. And Yager believes all these factors combined will lead to a more satisfying, and ultimately more beautiful outcome, both for himself and the patient. “I consider what I do the easy part,” Yager said. “All the patient has to do is go to sleep, and I can do all the work for them. But I can’t fix these spiritual, energetic, and biochemical things with such rapidity. Those are the processes that take longer, and they’re harder work.”

In the past few years, some cosmetic surgery practices have been moving toward a more holistic bent, but Yang and Yager want to encourage a revolutionary shift in the entire industry. Last fall, the SY Aesthetics team held an international conference to share their direction, philosophy, and research. A second conference is planned for this fall.

“This is about really moving the field of aesthetics and beauty forward to the next level. And our hope is, other people do the same,” Yager said.

From May Issue, Volume 3

Categories
Features Generation to Generation Giving Back

Innovative Program Teaches High Schoolers How to Build a House—and a Career

Learning how to apply the Pythagorean theorem while on a construction site, earning competitive wages per hour, all while working toward a matching scholarship that can be used for future tuition or employment needs—this is the model by which unCommon Construction hopes to encourage youth to explore a career in the trades, and break stereotypes about the industry. 

Aaron Frumin, founder of the New Orleans-based after-school program for high school students, unexpectedly found his way into the construction industry. He went to a standard, four-year college after graduating high school, but he dropped out in his third year when he was unsatisfied with the education he was getting. When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Frumin traveled there to help out as a Red Cross volunteer. He ended up working as a day laborer on a construction site, and he stayed in the city. “I was using my brain and I was using math skills and engineering principles and social skills. I was making good money. … No one would have ever thought of that career path for me,” Frumin said. He later went into teaching, and while working as a reading and social studies teacher in middle school, he realized the traditional classroom experience was not for him.

Aaron Frumin, founder of unCommon Construction, hopes the program can help dispel stereotypes about the construction industry and allow high schoolers to see it as a viable career. (Courtesy of unCommon Construction)
(Courtesy of unCommon Construction)

That’s when Frumin thought about a program that could make education more relevant to developing students’ real-life skills. “How can we have a real return on investment for them so that they have a little more skin in the game?” So in 2015, Frumin started unCommon Construction as a nonprofit that would hire students to build houses, with the employees being selected from partnering schools that would recommend highly motivated students to apply for the after-school program, while earning school credit and wages.

Students work 10 to 12 hours a week, with 6 to 8 hours on a job site and 2 to 4 hours in the classroom on “framing character”: learning career building and professional development skills, as well as receiving technical training. They spend most of their time in the field because “we want to treat young people like they have value, and that their time is valuable, and we’re not just doing worksheets that are easy for them to dismiss,” Frumin said. 

At the same time, Frumin wants the program to develop skills in the students that will be helpful no matter what career they pursue in the future. “We put a very intentional emphasis in our alternative learning environment on the development and demonstration of soft skills,” Frumin said. That includes learning teamwork, ethics, problem-solving, communication, and professional attitudes. 

(Courtesy of unCommon Construction)
(Courtesy of unCommon Construction)

The program operates much like a real-life construction company, with students completing the building of a house in a school year. The house is then sold on the market. When the house is purchased, the company matches their paycheck with a scholarship, which can be used during their first year after graduating high school—whether for tuition, school supplies, or paying expenses related to their future job, should they pursue a career right after graduating.

Frumin hopes the program can help eliminate the stigmas associated with the construction industry, such as that it’s a dirty job primarily for men or “the non-college material,” as Frumin put it. “Some young people who may be seen as college-bound, like I was, may never be presented with opportunities that help them become self-actualized members [of society],” Frumin said. “They’re held up or put down by a society that does or doesn’t value blue-collar jobs.”

Students earn wages, and when a house is sold on the market, the company puts “equity” toward their scholarships. (Courtesy of unCommon Construction)

But the fact of the matter is that the industry employs a great variety of professions. “Big construction companies still need lawyers, and they still need an accountant. They rely on emergency medical services, they have security positions, and they require insurance,” Frumin said. 

It is time to value the construction industry, he added. “There’s a whole economy that surrounds our industry, and in fact, our industry makes up the backbone of the American economy. … We have to be part of changing the narrative for all the different people who are involved.”

From March Issue, Volume 3

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Features American Success Entrepreneurs Giving Back

Philanthropist Earl W. Stafford on How Faith Taught Him to Give Wisely: Help People Help Themselves

East of Philadelphia, over the Delaware River, lies a hamlet named Mount Holly. This New Jersey town is where Quakers first settled in the late 1600s. At one time, during the Revolutionary War, it became the state capital.

And, in the late 1940s, Earl W. Stafford was born in this same tight-knit community—a community he dubs “one of those George-Washington-slept-here towns.”

Raised in humble circumstances with meager means, Stafford is one of 12 children. He believes his upbringing made him the industrious business leader and philanthropist he is known for being today. He learned the values of charity, ethics, and kindness surrounded by the love of family and neighbors. “We weren’t rich by any stretch. If we wanted money, we shoveled snow, recycled bottles, cut lawns. It stuck with me,” Stafford recalled. He was fortunate, thanks to a neighborly, business-minded woman, Ms. Mason, who taught him the basics of business selling hot dogs and soft drinks around the block. He said that that entrepreneurial spirit still resonates within him today.

A Business Idea

After high school, Stafford went on to honorably serve in the United States Air Force for two decades, specializing in air traffic control. Equipped with leadership skills, along with an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an MBA from Southern Illinois University, and a graduate certificate from Harvard Business School, Stafford was ready to serve the world.

He had hope for success upon leaving the Air Force. Stafford founded a new aviation-related manufacturing company in Washington, D.C., called Universal Systems & Technology, Inc. (Unitech). He utilized his expertise in air traffic control services to create training programs and simulation technology used by the FAA and the Department of Transportation.

But it was difficult for the first four to five years.

“I wasn’t getting paid, and the lights and phones were sometimes cut off,” he admitted. “We endured; God worked it out for us. I stepped out in faith based on the values I was raised with.”

Stafford’s company eventually rose in revenue to the tune of millions. The success wasn’t lost on him or his faith community.

Stafford (L) and his wife Amanda, following his reenlistment in the Air Force, 1971. (Courtesy of Earl W. Stafford)

“One day, my pastor called me. He wanted me to go to Haiti to build a church. I thought of every reason not to go. But I found myself in Port au Prince, a bit disgruntled,” he said. “After a week or so there, getting dirt under my fingernails,” he continued, “I realized that these people were not looking for a handout. They were looking for a helping hand.”

Humbled by the experience, Stafford returned home with a new perspective. His belief in God opened his heart and eyes to recognizing similar circumstances in which people needed help, he said.

The Meaning of Giving

In serving others, Stafford found purpose outside of his career. In 2002, he founded The Stafford Foundation as a faith-based philanthropic endeavor. One of its capstone projects early on was the People’s Inaugural Project, an initiative to bring disadvantaged Americans to experience Washington, D.C., and celebrate the presidential inauguration in 2009. Stafford’s vision brought together several nonprofits that helped to select and welcome some 400 individuals from all walks of life—including wounded veterans and men and women staying in homeless shelters—and from all over the United States. It was a grand event.

With first-class accommodations and dressed in tuxedos and fine gowns, the charity recipients mingled with multi-millionaires. “You couldn’t tell the haves from the have-nots! They intermingled and integrated into the ball filled with over several thousand people.” Stafford continued for the next five years working side by side with those organizations to support the recipients through job training programs and scholarships. The foundation also ran a “Give Before You Get” program: giving homeless or at-risk populations an opportunity to lend a helping hand by building homes and volunteering at hospitals and assisted living centers.

(Adhiraj Chakrabarti)

These projects allowed Stafford the opportunity to explore exactly how to serve others—to do good in the world. “One of the things the Foundation realized,” said Stafford, “is that we live with our hearts instead of our heads. We want to help everyone.”  He believes that the Lord has helped him find the missions that need the money most.

The work Stafford feels is most pressing today is for the foundation to provide assistance in Africa. Across more than 25 countries, the foundation has helped to build over 20 churches along with orphanages, training centers to teach women to read and write, and a business center to help small businesses grow. “We want to help people to help themselves. In fact, there are more ways to be helpful than writing a check. Helping others doesn’t have to be on a grand scale or on the front page of the news to impact people. We are judged not by what we give but how we give,” he said.

With grandfatherly wisdom, he believes it is important to listen to God. “When God uses you, it doesn’t mean you are the total solution. It means that sometimes you are part of a solution. When I reach the usefulness needed, God allows others to step in and help further.” He believes wholeheartedly that one can impact others in immeasurable ways. In the community where he grew up, if someone was in need, others gathered and tried to help, even if they didn’t have much themselves. “I knew my mother more than once sent a pot of something to a family who needed it more than we did.”

These kinds of values Stafford understood as an obligation to be “your brother’s keeper”—and he says we still have that obligation to each other today. “It’s not about ego. And it’s not about evaluating impact,” he stated. “We must continue to serve and plant the seed, and one day we will see what grew. We can’t be so satisfied with ourselves when we don’t know the impact we have had,” he said.

From January Issue, Volume 3

Categories
Features American Success Entrepreneurs Generation to Generation Giving Back

Remembering Henry Villard, the Renowned 19th-Century Railway Financier, Through the Eyes of His Great-Granddaughter

Her name alone is nearly poetic, but it is history and grandeur that give Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave her befitting nomenclature.

She is the great-granddaughter of Henry Villard, a Bavarian native who came to America with only 20 borrowed dollars in his pocket—only to make groundbreaking financial ventures and become president of the Northern Pacific Railroad and owner of the New York Evening Post. He also built what has become one of Manhattan’s most recognizable architectural landmarks: the Villard Houses, a Gilded Age mansion that today houses the luxurious Lotte New York Palace hotel.

He believed so much in the greatness of America that he put his whole soul into the railway company—allowing it to complete the country’s second transcontinental railroad—and funded Thomas Edison’s early experiments in electricity, Alexandra reflected. Meanwhile, the Villard Houses remain one of the few surviving examples of stunning design by the acclaimed architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White.

Villard de Borchgrave attends the American Ballet Theater Gala in Washington, D.C., circa 1985, when she served as the chairwoman. (Photo credit: Joan Marcus)

The American Story

Villard immigrated to the United States in 1853 from Germany at the age of 18. Within five years of arriving in America, he mastered the English language and began working for leading daily newspapers at the time. Villard covered the famous presidential debates between Abraham Lincoln and Democratic Illinois senator Stephen Douglas over the issue of slavery. Lincoln took a shine to him, and included him in his entourage. Villard was the only correspondent, then working for the Associated Press, to accompany the president-elect on his inaugural train from Springfield, Illinois to the nation’s capital. Then, during the Civil War, he was a war correspondent for The New York Herald and later for the New-York Tribune. In his coverage, he made sure black soldiers were properly commemorated for their service.

Henry Villard was a man of grit and determination. Portrait taken circa 1881. (Photo credit: Corbis Images/ Courtesy of Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave)
Henry Villard (R) with his wife, Fanny Garrison Villard, and daughter, Helen, at their Dobbs Ferry estate in New York state, circa 1898. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave)

He was there when Thomas Edison famously lit up the first incandescent light bulb at Menlo Park, New Jersey in 1879. Villard would later hire Edison to install lighting aboard his new steamship, the S.S. Columbia. That was the first commercial installation of Edison’s invented light bulb. The installation was successful as the ship made its trip around South America. “Of all of my patrons,” Edison said, “Henry Villard believed in the light with all his heart.”

In 1881, Villard secured control of the Northern Pacific Railroad company through what modern-day finance would call a leveraged buyout. At the time, Villard was the president of major railway companies operating in the Pacific Northwest. But one major competitor, Northern Pacific Railroad, stood in the way. He started buying shares of the company quietly. But it was not enough to gain control. He came up with the idea, known as the ”blind pool,” of raising money for the venture by asking his friends to invest in a secret opportunity. By not revealing the plan, the investors became eager to get in on the novelty. Meanwhile, his intentions would be hidden from the competitor company. The tactic worked, and he became president of the Northern Pacific Railroad.

Later, he bought two of Edison’s electric utility companies, Edison Lamp Company and Edison Machine Works, and formed them into the Edison General Electric Company in 1889. He served as president until its reorganization in 1893 into the General Electric Company.

A horde of visitors attends the “last spike” ceremony announcing the opening of the Northern Pacific Railroad, September 1883. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave)

Villard built his wealth from the ground up and was generous with it, paying off debts for universities and financing some of America’s most iconic colleges and architectural preserves, including Harvard University, the University of Oregon, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

He was so inspiring to his great-granddaughter, Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave, that she honored his legacy in a 2001 biography co-authored with John Cullen called “VILLARD: The Life and Times of an American Titan.” The book tells of his remarkable rise from humble beginnings, eventually becoming a powerful financier and befriending luminaries like then-general Ulysses S. Grant (while covering the Civil War), and steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, among many others.

The Descendant

As a photojournalist, Villard de Borchgrave built a reputation on the merits of her own talents, with her work appearing on the covers of international magazines such as Newsweek and Paris Match. The late president of Egypt Anwar Sadat, Henry Kissinger, and the late U.S. president George H.W. Bush are among the many world leaders she photographed, and her portraits hang in government offices around the world.

Villard de Borchgrave covers the October War in Egypt as a photojournalist, 1973. (Photo credit: J.R. Bonnotte)
Villard de Borchgrave greets Anwar Sadat, the third president of Egypt. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave)

She went on to establish a charitable organization called the Light of Healing Hope Foundation, which gifted books of hope to comfort patients receiving treatment at hospitals and hospices. With an eye toward helping those in the military, her foundation donated thousands of gifts to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Navy Seal Foundation, Wounded Warrior Project, and American Gold Star Mothers. During its 12 years of activities, her organization also provided uplifting books and journals to several children’s facilities, including St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Ronald McDonald House Charities, and the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. Villard de Borchgrave donated over 70,000 gifts which included her books of poetry and musical DVDs, for those who could not read, to over 100 medical centers nationwide. She developed and shared a total of eight inspirational publications including her first book, “Healing Light: Thirty Messages of Love, Hope, & Courage.”

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, United Nations secretary-general during the 1990s, wrote the foreword for “Healing Light.” Villard de Borchgrave and her husband Arnaud, who enjoyed a long career as chief foreign correspondent for Newsweek, had become friends with Boutros and his wife Leia while in Cairo in the 1960s. The couples were having dinner together in Paris when Villard de Borchgrave asked him to write the foreword, and so he did. “He just took a paper napkin on the table,” she recalled, and “penned it.”

Villard (R) holds his first grandson, Henry Serrano, with his son Harold beside them. (Photo credit: Courtesy of Alexandra Villard de Borchgrave)

Despite her many accomplishments, Villard de Borchgrave is most proud of her long marriage. She and her husband Arnaud, who passed away in 2015, were bonded for more than 45 years by their love of adventure and for each other. “In the 47 years since the first moment we met, Arnaud never failed to inspire me with his courage and determination,” Villard de Borchgrave passionately professed.

She also humbly pays homage to her parents, describing her mother as “a warm and giving person” and her father as someone who instilled a good work ethic in her, having worked on the U.S. Marshall Plan that helped rebuild European countries after World War II. Most of all, Villard de Borchgrave said, she draws inspirational humility from those who have been forced to overcome unspeakable tragedies. “I’m most inspired by the ability of those who are suffering,” she said, “to find a way to express gratitude despite the pain and hardship they are experiencing.”

Alexandra at the launch party for her book of poetry “Love & Wisdom,” at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., 2018. (Photo credit: Colleen Dugan)

Not only has Villard de Borchgrave honored her great-grandfather’s legacy through her biography about him, but has also, through her own work, continued to carry forth the same message of hope, courage, and resilience that he displayed throughout his life. “Henry Villard believed in America,” she said. “To this day, our country offers unique opportunities to anyone with the courage and determination to realize a dream, just as he did.”

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine. 

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Giving Back

Colombian Immigrant Draws on Childhood Experience to Mentor Florida Youth

Erika Obando, 47, was 5 years old when she was smuggled from Colombia through the Bahamas to Miami by her parents. The family was subsequently detained. At the time, however, Obando recalls that police officers did their jobs with empathy and compassion.

The first photo of Erika taken in the United States. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“They saw where we came from,” Obando said. “These were officers who were arresting families en-route, so I guess being part of that experience moves you in a way. I have no idea what’s going on today but there is definitely a lack of empathy.” Back then, Obando said children were not separated from their families when they were caught illegally entering the U.S.

“We stayed in a facility that catered to families where the women and children stayed on the first level and the men, whether they were fathers of a family or single, lived on the second and third floor,” Obando said in an interview. “Twice a day, we had the ability to meet in the courtyard with my father. We were also allowed to eat all three meals with both my parents present.”
Obando became a resident in 1987 during Ronald Reagan’s amnesty program and eventually a United States citizen in 1997. The family settled in Elizabeth, New Jersey where Obando faced another obstacle.

Erika at age 8. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“I was beaten quite often by my mom,” she alleges. “She was a severe hoarder and so the conditions of the home were detrimental. My mom and dad would fight all the time because my dad didn’t want those conditions and my mom had an illness, which turned into severe depression. The living conditions were atrocious and I would receive the brunt of her anger.”

Obando escaped at the age of 14 after confiding in a friend who was becoming a nun about her home situation.

“I didn’t want to tell the authorities because I was afraid of what would happen to my parents,” she said. “My friend told me about a home next door to a convent that catered to women who didn’t have anywhere to stay.”

The nuns who managed Home of Nazareth, which was located less than a mile from Obando’s family home, offered Obando shelter after she explained the situation.

Sister Filomena from the Nun’s House. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“My dad ended up signing me over for the nuns to rightfully care for me on a temporary basis and to stay at their house,” she said. “I lived there for two years.”

Obando graduated from high school, married and had a child. Today, she lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and works as an author, lecturer, and advocate for at-risk teen girls with organizations such as the Pace Center for Girls Broward, Women of Tomorrow, Johnson & Wales University, Lynn University, and Junior Achievement of South Florida.

“I feel like I have a responsibility,” she said. “I didn’t go through all that to say it at a party or at a bar. I went through that because there is a purpose for me at the end of the day and that is for me to give back and help empower people who feel like they just can’t keep going. I’m here to show and tell them that ‘Yes you can go on.’”

Erika with her partner Dwayne Norman and her son Cristian Chavez. (Courtesy of Erika Obando)

Obando uses the book “Without a Voice: A Woman’s Journey to Resiliency,” which she wrote and self-published in Nov. 2020, to teach during coaching sessions with others.

(Courtesy of Erika Obando)

“I empower the youth,” she added. “I am part of a lot of nonprofits here that particularly cater to young women in at risk situations. They bring me in as a mentor so I can help them through different challenges like depression or anger management and I teach life skills.”

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Features Giving Back

From Torpedo Builder to Education Entrepreneur

Yolanda Kennedy once built torpedoes for the United States Navy. Now, she’s building a better future for more than 100 young people each year.

The youngest of nine children raised by a single parent in Cherokee County, South Carolina, Kennedy always displayed a passion for learning. “I was a pretty good student” with a strong aptitude for mathematics, she said, earning business and middle school education degrees and teaching math in her hometown of Gaffney. 

Growing up in a region rife with poverty, Kennedy was mindful of how her mom had to stretch a dollar. Although Kennedy yearned to go to college immediately, “I didn’t want to put the struggle on her,” she said, and instead signed up with Uncle Sam. Her first Navy assignment took her to Hawaii, where training in electricity and electronics prepared her to help build the Mark 46 antisubmarine torpedo. She later served as a military paralegal before retiring to her hometown after 20 years of service. 

Disturbed by the memory of a sister who was kidnapped and murdered, “I knew I wanted to do something for the community,” Kennedy said, so she dug into her pocket to start a community center. Its mission is fundamental: help young people—from preschool through college—become more educated and responsible so their aspirations can become reality.

Launched in 2008, the Academic Technology and Wellness Academy (ATWA) provides about 135 students a year with free or low-cost programs that expand upon the curricula of Cherokee County’s public and private schools. ATWA offers after-school care and tutoring for kids aged 4 to 13; “life lessons” on topics such as behavior, money, and etiquette; Teen Talk Tuesdays via Facebook Live; pregnancy prevention classes; and a summer camp providing instruction in reading, writing, and mathematics along with field trips. Transportation from area schools to ATWA is free, as are hot, balanced meals.

Kennedy mentoring a teen at the ATWA. (Courtesy of Yolanda Kennedy)

While her focus is on young people, Kennedy also stages a Feed The Veterans event each November to demonstrate the community’s appreciation for their sacrifices.

At ATWA, Kennedy makes it a point to withhold program fees if it appears a family is incapable of paying. That’s especially true of tutoring. “We just help them as they need help,” she said. “Mostly, it’s math, and since I’m a math professor, I don’t mind helping.” Over the years, the academy’s growing popularity has prompted local philanthropists and businesses to support it. “We never turn a child away, whether they can pay or not,” Kennedy emphasized. 

Kennedy takes a selfie with children at the ATWA. (Courtesy of Yolanda Kennedy)

“Her program has just been very successful with both of my grandsons,” said Vickie Littlejohn, grandmother to a 6-year-old who sang in the academy’s choir and a 14-year-old with Asperger syndrome who blossomed when the robotics team he joined won an inter-school competition. “It just made such a big difference in his life and it prepared him for school as well, interacting, because he goes to a regular school,” she added. The robotics program helps students enhance their teamwork and creativity and deepens their problem-solving skills. It is headed by Tony Adams-Wray, Kennedy’s husband.  

While last year’s COVID-19 lockdown prompted a scaling-back of in-person programs, it also gave Kennedy the opportunity to introduce the Teen Talk series, which proved to be a big hit. During the one-hour interactive sessions where teens are mentored by their peers and adults, discussion topics are chosen based on “what’s troubling teens today,” said Shanese Dawkins, the series’ director. Over the past year, talks were given 48 out of 52 weeks.

“We had a young lady on. She was pregnant as a teenager [. . .] dropped out of school for a little while, went back, got her GED [. . .] went on to get her master’s and then she got her doctorate,” Dawkins noted. Another speaker, a graduate of Gaffney High School who received a four-year college scholarship, explained to young men how athletics is not the only pathway to success.

Jonna Turner, ex-CEO of the Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, believes the innovative curriculum at ATWA not only helps kids overcome childhood challenges, but also prepares them to enter the job marketplace. “What she’s doing is preparing these students to be productive citizens,” Turner said. “So I feel that with Yolanda’s mission and her passion and her vision to educate students of all ages, and the partnerships that she is growing in the community with manufacturing companies, with community colleges, [and] four-year institutions, I mean, that is a definite investment into the future.”

“We’re just trying to reach as many youth as we can,” said Kennedy.

Neil Cotiaux is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and business journals, mostly in the Southeast and Midwest. His work has largely focused on community and economic development, immigration, and health care. He works out of Spartanburg, South Carolina.

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Features Generation to Generation Giving Back Kindness in Action Small Farms

Building Beautiful Friendships, One Cup at a Time

Tea has always been a part of the Stowe family. What initially started as a traveling tearoom in 2011, bringing tea and baked goods to families all over Middle Tennessee and parts of Alabama, has transformed into what is now a physical tearoom on a 68-acre farm in Campbellsville, Tennessee. Three Sisters Tearoom is run by Jennifer Stowe and her three daughters, Julia, Andrea, and Meredith.

The Stowes would drive in the family car and set up base at various sites, including local senior centers, nursing homes, and libraries, to bring tea and cookies to local communities. The family would organize discussions about the history of tea, teach patrons about the different kinds of tea, and offer tea tastings.

The girls enjoying a cup of tea outside their Airstream camper trailer in 2011. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

Three Sisters Tearoom

After the family’s barn burned down in 2014, they had the idea of rebuilding and transforming the place into a physical tearoom. “We just thought maybe we didn’t need to travel so much bringing tea to people—we could have them come to us,” said Jennifer, mother to the three girls. Despite sitting on a large farm, the tearoom itself is tiny, with maximum indoor seating accommodating up to 20 guests at any one time. Weather permitting, there are an additional eight seats outdoors. “Six years on, that little tearoom has been home to all of our events and gave our traveling tearoom a home,” said Julia.

The three sisters: Andrea, Julia, and Meredith. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

All three sisters have a role in the tearoom, from greeting guests, to baking the numerous sweet treats on offer, to washing dishes after a long day of entertaining guests. “Meredith was only six when the tearoom first opened. She was our greeter and just hugged everybody! And a lot of our clients are seniors, some of them widowed, so it meant a lot to them, getting a hug from a little girl,” Jennifer told me.

Jennifer’s second daughter, Andrea, is responsible for the analytical and organizational aspects of the family business, like filling out the spreadsheets, scheduling, sending newsletters, and other administrative duties. Julia oversees the baking. “She has mastered the scones. We have our signature lavender white chocolate scones, which she makes so well with lemon curd,” said Andrea. The youngest sister, Meredith, still greets all the clients, even at the age of 13. She also irons all the tablecloths.

Julia’s famous lavender white chocolate scones. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

Operating a family business has its advantages. Jennifer said if she didn’t have the chance to run the tearoom with her daughters, she probably wouldn’t run one at all. “For me, it’s really the best situation. I get to do something that I love, express creativity, extend hospitality, and work with my most favorite people in the world.” The tearoom simply serves as an extension of the Stowe family home, and this translates into the domestic comfort and warmth it provides to its patrons.

The most important part of running a tearoom is building a community, Julia told me. “It’s very much a place to build friendships, and seeing people through the years who were strangers now become very dear friends, both with us and each other, is a treasured aspect of having a tearoom.”

A Place of Deep Friendship and Community

The tearoom served an important role to the local community after the pandemic lockdown restrictions were lifted. “Mom brought a lot of joy into their lives,” said Meredith. “It was just a time for them to come and enjoy peace, and spend time with people after being home for so long.”

Jennifer explained that a lot of women who visit her tearoom have suffered many heartbreaks and tragedies, whether that be losing their husbands, jobs, or other family members. However, the tearoom offers them much-needed solace and friendship.

One of the most touching aspects is the uniting of patrons, regardless of age or experience. “When you see a senior and young adult who just find similar passions and can converse about it, that, to me, is just amazing,” said Meredith.

Three Sisters Tearoom patrons share many smiles around the tea table. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

The tearoom also offers events, one of their popular ones being their Afternoon Tea Flight, which involves learning about a different country each month. “We enjoy tea the way they would have it, and we eat their food,” said Jennifer. The owners provide a small presentation on the origin of the tea, along with cultural aspects like music, food, and even the use of incense. The tea flight starts from China, continuing all the way through Europe, and eventually landing in the United States. Each attendee receives a little passport and gets a stamp for every Tea Flight attended. Jennifer said it offers customers the opportunity to experience different cultures, something they may never have gotten the chance to encounter coming from a small town.

They have even featured yak butter tea, a popular beverage in the Himalayas of Central Asia, particularly in Tibet. This drink was traditionally drunk by the Tibetan people of the North to provide energy and to keep warm in the harsh winters.

Literary tea events are another community favorite, where, according to their website, ladies of all ages are invited to join book discussions over delicious cream teas. The event features a perfectly curated, themed menu that reflects the essence of the book.

Fresh Produce Straight From the Farm

Three Sisters Tearoom uses locally produced ingredients in all the items on its menu, including eggs, greens, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, rhubarb, peppers, and even fruit. The family grows just about everything on its 68-acre farm.

Andrea tending to her tomato plants on the family farm. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

The family also owns many animals, including chickens (for meat and eggs), ducks, and a small herd of Highland cattle (for milk and meat), as well as a few dogs and cats.

The tearoom is sometimes closed for a week or two during the height of summer, when the garden is bursting with fresh produce. This allows the family to finish canning and processing the food and to get ready to open again the following week.

Looking to the Future

Over the years, the Stowes have brought much joy to the lives of everyone they have encountered. They grew from a simple traveling tearoom to building a beautiful paradise for the local community to visit and relax in. But their journey doesn’t end here. The family has plenty of exciting plans for the future, from organizing tea talks on the road to taking their love for tea into classrooms, libraries, and historic homes in the form of educational classes and lectures.

Jennifer has also written many titles and tea-themed books, like “Book of Days: An Artful Guide to Life-Long Learning,” “Afternoon Tea: Rhymes for Children,” “Infused: Tea Time in Fine Art,” and “Wee Bites and Nibbles: Manners and Menus for the Tiniest Tea Drinkers.” Her daughter, Julia, is a graphic designer and frequently aids in the artistic production of the books.

The family’s old barn was repurposed into a tearoom. (Courtesy of the Stowes)

Other short-term plans involve planting more perennials to liven up the grounds, building a courtyard garden, and building an outdoor room where they can serve tea and host more people.

Outside of the tearoom, the girls share their admiration for tea with their friends in college and while traveling. “It draws people and builds relationships, even outside of the tearoom business,” commented Andrea.

“Our tearoom is certainly very dear to my heart,” said Julia. “And whatever different paths it may take in the future, it will still be part of our lives in some way.”

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Entrepreneurs Features Giving Back Kindness in Action

‘Don’t Forget the Poor’

Children play outside their house in Colonia de Carton in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on July 8, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Sky Cross is a nonprofit, strictly volunteer-led charity organization that operates along the Texas–Mexico border. Its mission is to provide food, clothing, medicine, and first-aid supplies to impoverished children, families, and orphanages. The organization works closely with missionaries of various denominations who offer education to the poor, primarily in Mexico, in substandard villages called colonias, which lack basic living conditions such as running water, sewers, and electricity.

The organization was founded in 1995 by retired U.S. Air Force Col. Terry Bliquez and his wife, Kathy. David Young serves as the current president, having been a board member and mission pilot since 1998. Before that, Young worked for the Civil Air Patrol (part of the U.S. Air Force), another nonprofit organization, which performs search-and-rescue missions.

When Bliquez first discussed Sky Cross’s mission with Young, it sparked a keen interest. Young would often accompany Bliquez on aid missions to the U.S.–Mexico border to deliver clothing, medicine, and nonperishable food to the needy. Together, they flew multiple times to migrant centers and orphanages, such as those in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, and Matamoros, which is across the river from Brownsville, Texas.

Young said Sky Cross used to dispense secondhand clothing as well, but those deliveries have slowed down exponentially due to the pandemic. The organization has, however, distributed about 15,000 masks and more than 600 gallons of hand sanitizer across the migrant communities it serves.

The Importance of Helping the Needy

David Young, president of Sky Cross, unloads boxes of masks from his aircraft in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 8, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

“The primary purpose of Sky Cross is to help provide food for the needy people, the poor on the other side of the border—they’re very, very poor. Many of them come up to the border hoping to be able to come across, and they end up being in the colonias on the border, such as the one in Matamoros,” Young said.

Years ago, people in colonias such as Matamoros would dig holes in the ground, scavenge coverings for the holes, and live in the burrows. Young remembers “being over there one time and looking at what they had on a grill that they were cooking outside—it was fish heads that they had scrounged for,” he said. “I was amazed that people could even survive with that type of food.”

Sky Cross delivers nonperishable food in the form of beans, rice, cornflour, noodles, and more. “I feel like God has placed in my heart a love for the poor and for their plight,” Young said, after being asked why the mission at Sky Cross resonated with him so deeply. “It’s such a blessing to me personally to go out and be amongst these people and, with my resources, be able to help them live a better life.”

Young said that when he was growing up, his parents instilled in him a deep desire to dedicate time and effort to helping those in need. “My dad was a homebuilder, and he would donate his time to work around the church. He had me help paint the back end of a church building one time—it demanded stacking scaffolding because it was so tall. He and I donated our time and efforts to that when I was just a 14- or 15-year-old boy. My father enjoyed giving himself to the community, and that carried over to me.”

Making a Difference in the Lives of the Poor

Children play outside their home in Colonia de Carton in Piedras Negras, Mexico, on July 8, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Through donations, Sky Cross also helped the Matamoros colonia develop to a point when residents could build a school. To support efforts like this, the Mexican government will provide water and electricity once a school is built, in turn helping the colonia become a sustainable community.

Many children in poverty-stricken communities such as Matamoros suffer from malnutrition. According to Young, children’s hair will often show signs of this. “Normally it would be black, but they would have red streaks in their hair, which was showing that they were not getting good nutrition. With time, those red streaks went away,” he said. “It’s a blessing to be able to do that and witness that as time goes on.” For Young, results like these are important, highlighting the difference Sky Cross makes in the lives of needy children.

Young said that his time at the organization is completely voluntary. Nobody who works there is a paid staff member, and 100 percent of the donations go straight to helping the poor. Young’s personal assets, including airplanes, fuel, and other equipment, are also put to charitable use for the organization, transporting volunteers to the border.

Aside from filling his role as president at Sky Cross, Young serves as a board member for a school in northwestern Peru that has 200 students. Together with his wife and family, he also helps more than a dozen children at any given time along the Texas–Mexico border. The Youngs provide money each month to keep those children in school rather than out scavenging the dangerous fields in search of food and money.

“We sent a couple on to the university; one of them became a dentist and came back. They are now practicing within one of the colonias there in Mexico,” Young said.

Sky Cross helps upwards of 30,000 people each year. It has supported six orphanages and helped build clinics in several Mexican colonias along the Texas border, providing quick access to medical care for families in need. “We’ve built a school in Nuevo Progreso where they would train the women to sew and work on computers. We have seen the results of that, to where the people will get out of the cycle of poverty and actually begin to have the skills to go out and earn a living,” Young said.

Physically Poor but Spiritually Rich

Through his time volunteering for Sky Cross, Young has learned many important life lessons—especially about how the needy can find happiness in the midst of their poverty. “The children are especially amazing to me. They can take a simple ball and have fun with that and laugh and enjoy life because they don’t want anything else. And what spoke to me is that some of the things we take for granted in our own society are more precious to them,” Young said.

“What I have learned in doing what I do is that the poor will find joy, and have more faith in their poverty than a lot of people that have all the things they would want in life. We in America need to understand that even the poorest of us are probably richer than 95 percent of the world. We place too much emphasis on the material things in life and not enough on the spiritual.”

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A Love of Learning Features Giving Back Kindness in Action Reading

‘I Am Here for a Purpose’—Exonerated After 27 Years, John Bunn Gives Back Through Literacy

John Bunn (Samira Bouaou)

Wrongly convicted and incarcerated at the age of 14, John Bunn has endured many struggles from a young age. Born and raised in Brownsville, New York City, to a single mother of three, Bunn had to learn to fend for himself without much guidance. Having lost his father before he was born, he spent the majority of his teenage life without the support of any male figures.

“In the environment I grew up in, the males would come around to exploit, not to come around with love and affection,” he said. 

‘I Grew Up in Prison’

Bunn was forced to spend 17 years of his life behind bars, in an environment devoid of sympathy.

“It was predator-prey. If they [prisoners] felt you got a weakness, they took advantage of you,” he said.

He spent a further 10 years on parole, fighting for his innocence.

Before he was arrested and taken into prison, Bunn struggled with illiteracy; which only escalated while he was incarcerated.

“When they had me on trial, they told me to write down any questions I had. I couldn’t write down anything. I didn’t know how to express myself. That was the most trapped and embarrassing feeling you can ever imagine,” he said, breaking into a sob. 

With the help of teachers, he finally learned how to read and write by the age of 16. It changed the course of his life. 

“It made me stronger. It made me feel like I could fight for my life,” he said. Learning how to read and write is what drove Bunn to later go on to become a facilitator of an anger management program while in prison. From there, he met many other young men struggling with the challenges of illiteracy. “And I would talk to them about my illiteracy issues. And I told them that this was not something to be ashamed of,” he said.

The Unheard

Today, Bunn is the founder of AVoice4TheUnheard.org and helps bring positivity into communities, schools, houses, and prisons of New York City.

Meeting other young men struggling with illiteracy was the driving point that led him to found his literacy program after being exonerated.

In 2017, it initially started as a book drive aimed at refurbishing the libraries at Rikers Island and providing under-resourced communities with educational literature, according to the program website.

Today, the program also offers roleplaying activities to at-risk youth where they’re tasked with group interactions. “We put individuals in real-life scenarios and give them the option to put themselves in other people’s shoes. We try to make them think before making decisions. This is what we call consequential thinking,” Bunn said.

Finding His Passion

The program began during Bunn’s nearly 12 years on parole.

“It [parole] put my life in a limbo state. I knew I was innocent. Everybody knew I was innocent. And that’s what I was fighting for,” he said. While still waiting for a final decision to be made on his conviction, Bunn channeled that restlessness into something positive.

“I needed to put my energy into something more progressive,” he said. “A voice for the unheardI don’t even know when it became the whole phrase, but it always represented me and what I felt inside my spirit.” 

After suffering many setbacks and losing out on the prime years of his life while stuck in prison, Bunn refocused his attention on helping others who may be at risk of getting ensnared in the prison system.

“Where I come from,” Bunn said, “we don’t have too many role models. So my message is, if you don’t have anybody to show you the way, you make your own way. Don’t let that be the reason to discourage you from going forward. And that’s what I stand for. And that’s what we stand for.”

John Bunn visiting a school in NYC. (Samira Bouaou)

Making Positivity Cool for Kids

Part of Bunn’s mission is passing his positivity on to others. “The greatest champions have to go through adversities for them to have the empathy to deal with the world from a different perspective,” Bunn said.

“Our main message is about making positivity cool,” he tells me about his organization. He said that in today’s world, children are vulnerable to absorbing harmful messages from the media they consume. A lot of music nowadays romanticizes being tough, drugs, skipping school, and gang culture. But “that’s not real life,” Bunn says. His organization advocates for changing this narrative so that kids begin associating positivity with coolness. 

A Voice 4 the Unheard not only provides prisons and schools with an abundance of literature but also offers numerous resources and networking opportunities to young people and children from underprivileged backgrounds.

“There’s a lack of resources in these communities, and we want to open them up to other resources that they may not know we have available today,” Bunn said. One of the ways the organization is working to bring resources closer to disadvantaged students is by building a network with other nonprofits and educational groups. 

George Garber, who works alongside Bunn as one of the core members of the organization, says, “We’re working on creating a student portal on our website where kids could go and connect with other local nonprofits to fulfill their passions, whether that would be music, poetry, art, or the environment.” 

The team has many future projects in mind, such as building a kids’ center to provide students with a safe physical location to study and access certain educational materials that may not be readily available in their immediate communities.

“A safe place where they can feel like it’s cool to learn at,” Bunn said.