Last year Ode launched its first annual Intelligent Optimists Issue where we featured people who are not famous yet but should be because of the work they are doing to bring positive change to their communities, their countries, and the world. As part of this special issue, we would like to hear your nominations, too: tales of ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Just tell us who your nominee is and write a few lines explaining why this person is special and why their work is important. Nominate your favorite Intelligent Optimist!
Dr. Susan Corso changes my life. Yes, actively and consistently! She is simply my fairy Godmother. Dr. Susan Corso is not yet famous, but she isn’t so ordinary. Susan Corso posses two invaluable yet often mutually exclusive skills: a hypnotic command of the written and spoken word and the uncanny ability to deeply listen, hearing the hidden desires of the speaker’s heart.
A powerful wordsmith and author of “God’s Dictionary: Divine Definitions for Everyday Enlightenment,” Susan reveals the inner meaning of language. Her writings are pithy seeds of inspiration (her weekly e-reminder ‘Seeds’ celebrates its 10th year), morsels to satisfy cravings for positive ways of living (‘Seeds for Sanctuary’, her personal blog), and divine 3 course meals of peace, love and enlightening entertainment. Read more...
In January, Helen Little, a 77 year old Methodist from Clayton, NC will make her 43rd trip to Haiti. Her mission, to help the people of this poverty stricken country anyway she can.
Helen’s husband, Reuben died of leukemia in 1984, months after he was diagnosed with the disease. He was 56. A short time later, Helen attended a church service and listened to the spokesperson from Mission to Haiti describe the extreme poverty which had overtaken this nation. Two years later, she retired and took the first of 42 trips to the poverty-stricken Caribbean country. She traveled to remote towns with doctors to instruct people on how to take donated medicines. She was horrified by what she saw, little boys walking around naked, families living in 12-foot wide huts, women bathing in filthy water from a ditch. Read more...
Charlotte Hunter was born January 19, 1949 in Harlem, New York City. From a young age she was always looking beyond the limits of the world around her, seeking a kinder, more loving reality, and longing to bring joy to other, less fortunate children.
At the age of 29 she embarked on an inner spiritual journey that also led her to travel far and wide, in search of a way to make a difference in the world. Read more...
In 1991 Rosanne established Common Ground, a non-profit organization that has become the preeminent supportive housing provider in the country and an innovative developer of strategic solutions for the problem of homelessness.
Common Ground has created more than 2,000 units of permanent and transitional housing in New York City, Connecticut, and upstate New York. Read more...
Mary Saint-Marie, as a luminary and bringer of beauty, is in global service to the Whole.
She is both an intelligent optimist and a Keeper of the Ideal. Following is the story: Mary Saint-Marie responded to the call of global Oneness in 1997 when she had a vision of the profound unification of earth care by the people themselves. EarthCare Global TV. Read more...
Dr. Weidemann, known worldwide as a microlending specialist who has written extensively on this topic, understands the power of microfinance programs.
The Weidemann Foundation, established in 1998, identifies and collaborates with organizations conducting exceptional programs that have the greatest potential to become self-sustaining when donor support is withdrawn. The Foundation also assists individual donors to identify excellent projects around issues or regions they wish to support. Read more...
Gary Schineller founded Hello, From My Heart Days in 2002 in order to promote Peace and eliminate violent crime. The simple invitation from September 11th - 21st, coinciding with the International Day of Peace, is to greet everyone we meet with a smile and the words "Hello, From My Heart."
This allows us all to participate in a way that can and has changed the world wherever practiced. We would all like to live in a happier, healthier, more peaceful communities. If we seek change, we must become the change we seek. "Hello, From My Heart" greetings are simply a way to be that change. This is the only statistically measured successful peace effort to show a drop in crime as well as lower rates of absenteeism. Read more...
Deb Naybor is founder and executive director of Both Your Hands, a nonprofit that connects caring communities for global self sufficiency. She owns her own small land surveying business, is working toward her PhD in Global Gender Studies and remodels her 1940’s log home in environmentally responsible methods and materials in her “spare time.” She is an award winning photographer and poet and author of “Making A Difference: 182 ½ Ways to Change the World.”
But Deb’s true passion is helping communities in impoverished areas of the world to create their own opportunities through economic, educational, infrastructure and health development programs. Both Your Hands works with adults and children on over 60 projects in 14 countries. Her programs range from as little as a $50 microloan to $5000 in school improvements. Both Your Hands has provided Christmas gifts of snow suits for children of battered women in arctic Alaska, built the first free secondary school in Malawi and provided traditional drum making lessons to orphans in Uganda. Deb has a hectic life but she believes that if she can find time to help the poor, anyone can. “I work 60 hours a week, go to school at night and save the world on weekends,” Deb says with a smile. Read more...
My wife/partner Mary has helped completely rejuvenate the Chemical Dependency Treatment Center here in Charlotte, now under a new name, Anuvia, pushed by Mary. She is the first marketing expert they've had on the board and is working hard with other board members to make Anuvia more appealing aethetically on both the inside and outside. The Anuvia Treatment & Recovery Center has helped thousands of people in our community recover fully from the ravages of addiction. Mary's marketing expertise has helped make the Center's ability to service our community stronger than ever. She is passionate about it!!
Mary is active in her Rotary Club, as am I, whose motto is "Service Above Self." Mary truly embodies those three words. When I first met her here in 1990, she was always at work in this activity or that ranging from St. John's Episcopal Church to Friends of the Opera to the Symphony Guild. Read more...
Jim and his wife, Terry, began My Brothers Keeper after being moved by a film of a mother and child who had no home. The website is : mybrotherskeeper.org. This will tell their story much better than I could summarize. It is a blessing to know this couple and their selfless ways and extraordinary faith. Read more...
You must be a registered user to nominate an Intelligent Optimist. If you are already registered click here to login or Click here for our fast, free registration.