For nine years Linda Brown and her husband David organized a nightly drop-in shelter where homeless people in Springfield could eat, shower, do laundry, use a computer, and socialize during bingo games and karaoke—but they wanted to do more. They raised $4.75 million and opened Eden Village in 2018. They transformed an abandoned mobile home […]

My partner found him outside — alone, trembling, so very small. He didn’t bark, didn’t run. He just stood there, frozen in fear, his eyes wide like the world had already let him down. When he was picked up, he didn’t resist. He simply leaned in, as if he was too exhausted to run, and […]

In 1837, a young blacksmith in Vermont watched his business fall apart. He couldn’t pay his creditors. And back then, that meant one frightening word: debtor’s prison. Faced with the grim threat of jail, he made a daring decision— He packed his tools and family and headed west to Illinois, chasing opportunity and a fresh […]

At 8:45 this morning, I got Alyssa out of the car and she instantly spotted a state trooper through the window at Dunkin. The line inside was packed, stretching all the way to the door. But she didn’t hesitate. She ran straight past everyone, right up to the officer at the front of the line, […]