• Engineering students find solution for penguins' sore feet

    A collaborative program between Northwestern and the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is helping improve quality of life for zoo animals. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

    By Kevin Tibbles, Correspondent, NBC News

    The folks at Chicago's world renowned Shedd Aquarium had a penguin problem.

    A penguin podiatry problem, to be exact.

    After spending long, hard days hanging out on the rocks by the pool, many of the Shedd's tuxedoed residents had developed sore feet.

    "As our birds age and get older...they get sore feet like we do," said Senior Director of Marine Mammals Lisa Takaki.

    Instead of calling Dr. Scholl, the Shedd turned to the brilliant first-year engineering students at Northwestern University who are taking part in the schools' 'Design, Thinking and Communications' class.

    Their task? To design special booties to help the penguins take a load off.

    "My reaction was 'What?" said student Ritij Goel. "This is not engineering. This is arts and crafts!"

    But, as it turned out, it was engineering.

    "Everything in engineering boils down to problem solving," said student Olivia Gann.

    In the eight years of the partnership the students have helped the Shedd out of all kinds of 'fishy' situations: from a delivery system that helps fish take their medicine during surgical procedures, to a decompression chamber that helps sea horses get rid of air bubbles under their skin. 

    "How many people can say they worked on a fish anesthetic delivery system?" asked student Frank Cummins. "I can tell you. It's about four!"

    It is all a perfect combination of deep sea, and deep thought. A great opportunity, too, said engineering professor Stacy Benjamin.

    "Something they never thought of doing in engineering," she said. "To work with fish, as opposed to building a building."

    As for the penguin boots? Well they are, of course, in Northwestern Purple; and student Karis Shang says they're more similar to a bandage than a bootie. "Like a Band-Aid for a penguin"

    "We were developing, taking, engineering principals and applying them to a real life need that the Shedd had," said student Alison Bedell.

    As for the Shedd? Lisa Takaki says "It was so simple and so perfect we said, 'Now why didn't we come up with that?!'"

  • Little League returns to Sandy-ravaged town

    After Hurricane Sandy destroyed Island Park's field, fences and equipment, a nonprofit stepped in to donate much-needed items lost in the storm. It was a homerun for the kids, who got a chance to return to the sport that they love. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    By Amy Perrette, Producer, NBC News

    ISLAND PARK, NY – In a small town on Long Island, still less than half rebuilt after Superstorm Sandy, Little League is finally getting underway. 

    Andrew Barwicki, who has been coaching Island Park Little League for four years, choked up while watching his players take the field for the first time on Saturday.

    “We have 220 kids that are playing this weekend and those kids are having the times of their lives,” he said.

    Click here to learn more about the organization Pitch in for Baseball

    Third baseman Hayden Smith, 10, is thrilled to be back on the field after Sandy made their home uninhabitable. 

    He missed his fellow players while he and his family stayed in a friend’s basement as repairs were being made on their home. Finally, on Little League’s opening day, they were able to move back into their house.

    Baseball is a reason to spend time together, he says.

    “It’s fun because I never got to do this in a long, long time,” Hayden said.

    The storm damaged homes and burst sewage pipes, flooding the whole town under four feet of water.

    “Two days after the storm, I came here, I looked at all of our equipment, and I realized it was completely lost,” said Barwicki, who serves as the president of both the Island Park Little League and Barwicki Investor Relations. “That equipment floated away into the ocean. We lost about $15,000 worth of equipment.”

    Island Park Little League has been a mainstay of the community since it began in 1957, so the possible loss of the 2013 season was devastating. 

    “People were out of their homes, they were displaced, people lost their jobs. I knew we could not go to the people of Island Park and ask them to pay,” said Barwicki.

    That is when Philadelphia-based nonprofit “Pitch in for Baseball” stepped in, replacing all the ruined equipment with donated gear. 

    “Let your equipment play extra innings” is the organization’s motto.

    David Rhode, executive director of “Pitch in For Baseball,” founded the organization in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina when was coaching his own boys. He noticed that expensive gear was piling up in his garage, unused. 

    “There have to be millions of people who have gear in their homes,” he thought at the time. “What if we were able to get that stuff in the hands of kids that really needed it?”

    Since its inception, the organization has supplied over $3 million of equipment to over 300 communities in the United States and over 75 countries worldwide, including Columbia, Haiti, and Iraq. 

    “To give [children] the chance to play, for kids to be kids, for us is a tremendous privilege,” said Rhode.

    The nonprofit is delivering nearly $150,000 worth of equipment to communities devastated by Sandy, including Island Park.

    “Baseball’s incredibly important,” Rhode said. “To be able to give something familiar like playing the game of baseball gives kids a sense of comfort, enables them to heal in a really simple way. Kids have been asked to sacrifice a lot.”

    Hayden’s mother, Sarah Smith, is especially grateful to “Pitch in for Baseball” for providing such a joyous moment for her son. 

    “There’s been a lot of sadness and a lot of loss, so to see him…I’m over the top happy,” she said. “I’ve been expressing sadness for so long, so the happiness is a little unfamiliar, but it’s great.”

    Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

     

  • Food for thought: an actor's new role ... in the grocery store

    Wendell Pierce, best known for his roles on "The Wire" and "Treme" is now launching a chain of grocery and convenience stores in places where fresh food can be hard to find. NBC's Ron Mott reports.

    By Ron Mott, Correspondent, NBC News

    NEW ORLEANS -- As a boy, Wendell Pierce dreamed of leaving his hometown one day for the world stage. Today, the veteran actor with global credits has returned on a mission: rebuilding neighborhoods, brick by brick, aisle after aisle.

    After Hurricane Katrina devastated this city in 2005, Pierce seized an opportunity to help his childhood neighborhood -- Pontchartrain Park, an historic enclave for middle-class blacks -- get back on its feet. He started the nonprofit Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corp. with a goal of replacing hundreds of flood-ravaged, 1950s-era houses with new homes.

    Now, the next item in his recovery recipe is a long-missing ingredient.

    Pierce, 50, and his partners are investing big in something seemingly so small: convenient access to a grocery store. They have launched a chain of convenience stores, Sterling Express, and a full-service grocery store, called Sterling Farms, the latter just unveiled in what is often described as a "food desert," a neighborhood where residents must travel more than a mile to a store selling fresh food. According to 2011 data, 19 percent of all Orleans Parish households have no access to a vehicle.

    NBC News

    A Sterling Farms employee gives away fresh fruit samples. Food education is an important part of Wendell Pierce's mission.

    At last count, in the fall of 2012, there were 26 supermarkets in the city -- nearly as many as the 30 that existed prior to Hurricane Katrina. But "it's not about overall count," says Tulane professor Diego Rose, "it's about distribution." In New Orleans, disparities in neighborhood access to grocery stores worsened after Hurricane Katrina. 

    “The areas that came back first were wealthier,” Rose said.

    In neighborhoods predominantly populated by African-Americans, access was especially limited -- in 2007 these tracts were 71 percent less likely to have access to more than one supermarket.

    'We have a right to be here'
    To hear Pierce's take on the importance of the neighborhood shopping experience, he's selling more than just bread and milk.

    "That's what I hope Sterling Farms is -- that neighborhood grocery store where you see your neighbors, where you build that economic engine within your own community and exercise your right of self-determination," said Pierce, who has starred in the HBO hits "The Wire" and "Treme."

    "We have a right to be here. We have a right to live well and come together as a community."

    NBC News

    Wendell Pierce welcomes the first customers inside his 25,000 square-foot store.

    Community drives Pierce's unseverable connection to home. While he maintains residences on both coasts, New Orleans always calls the actor. And he is always keen to answer.

    His dad still lives in the small Pontchartrain Park house where Pierce's parents raised their family. His mom passed away in October. Pierce said she would have been pleased to see his grocery store open, all those years after mother and son became Friday night shopping regulars at Schwegmann's, their old neighborhood supermarket.

    Mindful of a significant barrier frequently confronted in neighborhoods like Marrero, the New Orleans suburb where the first of several planned grocery stores has opened, Pierce insisted that Sterling Farms provide transportation to customers spending a minimum of $50 who need a ride.

    'You can do well and do good'
    He also made sure his convenience stores stocked up on apples, oranges and bananas as much as candy, chips and soda.

    "I'm a member of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which is trying to end childhood obesity," Pierce said. "I deal with my own issues of weight. So eating healthy is the focus and part of the mission. The two can co-exist. You can do well and do good."

    Actor Wendell Pierce explains why he launched a chain of supermarkets and convenience stores in underserved New Orleans neighborhoods.

    And doing something positive in areas of this city that have shouldered more than a fair share of negative over the years is adding up like the cash registers at Pierce's stores -- landing him warm applause at a recent orientation for some of the five dozen people hired to work at Sterling Farms.

    "I want to compete with all of the other negativities that are out there, especially for young people," Pierce said. "Give you an opportunity to see what it's like to interact with folks, to build your own self-esteem, to build your own wealth, to build your own quality of life, to build your own skill set, to give yourself the best opportunity out there in the world."

    It is a role that appears tailor-made for Pierce -- an opportunity, he found, too good to pass up.

    NBC News producer Leo Juarez contributed to this report.

  • Teenage cycling prodigy leads Afghan women to new freedoms

    Sidestepping threats and jeers, the Afghan women on the country's national cycling team are risking their lives to compete and doing their part to help women's rights race forward in the war-torn nation. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

    By Mike Taibbi, Correspondent, NBC News

    KABUL, Afghanistan --  Salma Kakar just turned 16 but she’s already leading a revolution on two wheels.

    She’s the lead rider on the new Afghan National Cycling Team and, says Coach Abdul Seddiqi, the joyous face of a new phenomenon in the war-torn country: females riding bikes. 

    “I assure you...in the next two or three years you will find girls and women riding bikes, all over Kabul," said Seddiqi.

    Right now, even though Seddiqi says scores of young girls are waiting in the wings, it’s just Salma and her dozen female teammates making a statement in the face of Afghanistan’s male-dominated society: that while women rarely drive cars almost never ride bikes, that’s now history.

    “We are changing minds,” Salma said through an interpreter.  Then, her serious expression changed back to the 100-watt smile that glows like a headlamp when she rides.

    Her dream, she says, is “to wave the flag of Afghanistan in the Olympics, to prove to the world that women in Afghanistan have progressed.”

    Taking risks to ride

    To get there, Salma and the team have a guardian angel in the U.S.: Colorado cyclist Shannon Galpin, who spent years doing relief work in Afghanistan and, in the process, rode her own bike over miles of the country’s remote mountain trails.

    Galpin met Seddiqi and set up nonprofit Mountain2Mountain to find donors of bikes and gear to get the national team off the ground.  And when Seddiqi told her he planned to have a co-ed team, something Galpin hadn’t anticipated, she kicked her non-profit into overdrive.

    “If they’re willing to take the risks ... then the least we can do is support them,” Galpin said of the female riders racing against tradition.

    The bicycle has become a vehicle for social change among a group of Afghan women. Shannon Galpin, a Colorado mountain biker, is helping to push boundaries by nurturing the first-ever Afghan women's national cycling team with dreams of Olympic glory. 

    It’s not an easy road, of course; change in this stubborn, struggling country never is. Seddiqi has the team train in secret, changing locations, sometimes at night.  His female riders, all of them “good Muslims,” wear long pants and full sleeves, and headscarves under their helmets. They still get yelled at; and there have been death threats.

    And at Jada Maiwand, Kabul’s main bicycle emporium where hundreds of male riders gather every morning to tinker with their bikes or buy or trade for a new one, the very idea of women riding bikes -- to go to work, to the market, or anywhere -- gets a uniform "No!"

    “Women should be in the home, in the kitchen,” one bike shop owner said. “And if they are outside, their faces should be covered.”

    “Some men try to humiliate us,” Salma said. “But more and more they encourage us.” 

    A symbol of freedom

    With a mother who’s a pediatrician, a father who’s an engineer, and a big sister who publishes Afghanistan’s first feminist magazine, "Riudad," Salma says women will be riding bikes from now on, and other freedoms will follow.

    Galpin, ready to bring another roomful of high-end bikes and gear to Salma and her teammates, says bikes have always been a symbol of freedom, even in the U.S. where the women won the right to vote soon after they first started riding bikes over the objections of men at the dawn of the 20th century.

    “I did not expect to see Afghan women biking now,” Galpin said. “I thought it was still several years off.  But the bike is an incredible vehicle for social justice … a vehicle for change.”

    For more from Nightly News' "Making a Difference" series, please click here to visit our website.

     

  • Inspired by virtual photo walks, disabled and elderly share stories of hope

    Virtual Photo Walks allow photographers to capture and share 'tours' of popular locations all over the world, giving people a sense of connectedness that they ordinarily wouldn't have. NBC's Ann Curry reports.

    By Anthony Galloway, Supervising Producer, NBC News

    Within minutes of being profiled on NBC Nightly News, John Butterill was at a loss.

    The professional photographer had already received dozens of emails from hopeful people around the country – each physically challenged as a result of disease or age, and each inspired by the possibility of taking a virtual trip of a lifetime. Suddenly 150 more messages streamed in. 

    “I would love to see the Grand Canyon,” wrote one viewer.

    Others anticipated trips to faraway France, Stonehenge, Scotland, Africa, the Amazon River, Indonesia and the Great Wall of China.

    With increased awareness of the virtual tours, Butterill says his organization, appropriately named Virtual Photo Walks, faces new financial challenges to keep up with growing demand.

    NBC News

    Photographer Dominic Phillips is one of 200 volunteers who signed up to host virtual photo walks. Phillips toured the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor in February, live-streaming the images to a group of World War II veterans in Cameron, Mo.

    Using Google+, Butterill organizes live, interactive tours of destinations near and far, tapping a network of more than 200 professional volunteer photographers around the world who, he says, are “making the walk for those who can’t."

    One woman, a self-described mom, wife and grandmother diagnosed with terminal cancer, could only dream of sand and water flowing through her toes with a tropical drink in her hand.

    “I love the ocean and the beaches,” she wrote. “Thank you so much for considering me.”

    Butterill founded Virtual Photo Walks in February 2012 and was later joined by technical partner Bruce Garber. As things go in the virtual world, the two have never met in person.

    Now organizing photo walks has become Butterill's full-time priority, and he's donated his life savings to the cause.

    “We will need significant donations as this is scaling out of control on its own,” said Butterill, who is seeking contributions and recently secured non-profit 501(c)(3) pending status for Virtual Photo Walks.

    He says the emails and messages prove his effort is worth it.

    “I rarely go out and this program sounds so wonderful because I would love to see what the outside world has to offer,” a person with fibromyalgia wrote.

    Another letter, from a mother of three with systemic lupus read: “The only place I have always said I would like to go before I die is Australia but also want to see Europe, Asia and South America. I would love to see snow because I never have.”

    One hopeful virtual tourist, diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, wrote: “If I catch a cold it could kill me so I’m not supposed to be in crowds or public places where people could be sick or contagious … I feel as though I could use these to see places that I’ll never be able to go.”

    The letters were candid and personal, many detailing lives of hard work and sacrifice before being diagnosed with life-threatening or debilitating illnesses.

    “The cancer has spread throughout my body and I’m currently undergoing chemotherapy,” a 50-year-old man wrote. “I saw this on the news tonight and I cannot tell you how wonderful this is! There is so much I’d like to see.”

    “I have lupus and am very limited on what I can do and where I can go,” another letter read. “The only time I really ever leave my home is to go to the doctor. It makes my life difficult. I love nature and the outdoors, but it seems that chapter in my life is closed now.”

    A disabled Army veteran wrote: “I would love to see around the world through your eyes.” 

    One former photographer wrote that he was searching to find even a sliver of his former life. “I would love to see the birds I used to photograph through the lens once again.”

    “This would be a lifesaver for my wanderlust and freedom which my cancer and rheumatoid arthritis has taken away from me,” wrote one person who used to travel frequently. “I would love to go anywhere you are going.”

    Butterill hopes Virtual Photo Walks can help all of them fulfill their dreams.

  • Giving kids the gift of better vision

    Children across the country have poor eyesight – but some don't have proper vision care and never get the glasses they need. An organization called Vision to Learn is changing that, helping thousands of Los Angeles schoolchildren see clearly. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

     

    Tonight "Nightly News" profiles an organization called Vision to Learn that's helping kids whose families can't afford to buy them eyeglasses. Not only is it improving their eyesight -- it's also ensuring the children are better able to learn. 

    Learn more about the organization by clicking here to visit their website and watch the video below to hear from the Vision to Learn founder on how the organization got started. 

    Austin Beutner, the founder of Vision to Learn, explains how the program works and how better vision gives children a chance to learn.  

  • Detroit coach gives kids a fighting chance

    A coach on the east side of Detroit is offering kids a place to work out, study and find community in a bleak area of the city that's seen great hardship. NBC's Chelsea Clinton reports.

    By Mary Murray, Senior Producer, NBC News 

    DETROIT -- Khali Sweeney, a boxing trainer on Detroit's east side, paced the cement floor and stared at the clock. It was 4 p.m. and just a handful of his 65 students had shown up for class.

    "They'll be here," he promised.

    But, over the next 30 minutes just one other kid walked through the door of the Downtown Boxing Gym.

    We were there to shoot a story for ‘Nightly News with Brian Williams’ but, as the afternoon was slipping away, so too was our natural light. We were getting nervous.

    ‘No Cash For Gas’

    "OK, I wasn't going to tell you but here's what's happening," Sweeney said. "We usually pick the kids up from school. But we ran out of money this month. No cash for gas."

    He added, "Don't think bad on us."

    At the time, his last remark made little sense.  Even outsiders could tell that this gym operates in a bleak place with scarce resources.

    But the coach meant something else. He didn’t want anyone to think that he was complaining or looking for a handout. The 43-year-old Detroit native has a strict code of conduct.

    'Step up and take responsibility'

    For seven years the Downtown Boxing Gym has been a lifeline for a group of kids on Detroit’s east side.

    When Sweeney grew up in the neighborhood, the area was “vibrant, and alive.” While the community had its share of problems, it also had commerce and factories that provided many with a livable wage.

    Today, it is a just a shell.

    Times are so tough that lots of city buses no longer run through this part of town and street lights have been shut off.

    The economy may be rebounding in other parts of America, but here there are no signs that jobs are coming back.

    For Sweeney, while driving around the neighborhood past vacant lots, crumbled foundations, and scores of homes burnt to the ground, many of the streets evoked family memories: the place his grandmother bought groceries, or the barbershop where he cut his hair. 

    “That’s where my daughter graduated high school valedictorian,” he said, pointing at a three-story unused brick building.

    The collapse of the auto industry brought Detroit to its knees.

    “The other manufacturers pulled out,” said Sweeney. “And most everybody else went with them.”

    But he worried about the ones who stayed, especially the children.

    “A kid gets up in the morning, goes to school and he comes back to nothing,” said Sweeney. “At the same time, he sees all this stuff on TV and dreams of getting it, but there’s nobody around to show him the way to become a success.”

    He stated that "kids are led astray when left on their own ... somebody needs to be their gatekeeper. Somebody needs to step up and take responsibility.”

    Students describe the academic focus, discipline and inspiration they've gained from the Downtown Boxing Gym.

    Sweeney opened the gym seven years ago, originally as a business. 

    "I turned out to be lousy at making money," he laughed. But the truth is, Sweeney won’t take money from families that are just scraping by.

    Statistically, Detroit holds the dual distinction of being both the most violent as well as the poorest city in America. The U.S. Census Bureau found that almost six Detroit kids in 10 are growing up in poverty.

    In Sweeney’s experience, that’s overly generous.

    "I dare you to find one kid here living the American dream," he challenged.

    Michigan's official unemployment rate hovers around nine percent and Detroit’s is near 30 percent. Sweeney said at least half of the parents in his community are out of work while the rest earn minimum wage. 

    "Families are just one paycheck away from being homeless,” he said. "It killed me to see parents choosing between paying for food or boxing lessons.”

    So, he opened his doors to everyone, letting the kids train for free.

    ‘No one gives up around here’

    The kids we were waiting for finally arrived after 5 p.m.

    Despite the bitter January cold, the majority had walked at least a mile to arrive at the gym. Most wore nothing thicker than zipped-up hoodies -- no coats, gloves, hats or scarves. This wasn't a fashion statement. The smaller ones were visibly shivering.

    Sweeney had a quick fix: he had the kids sweating soon enough.

    The relative quiet exploded into a jumble of noise -- jump ropes slicing the air, fists pummeling speedballs, and grunts and hisses from kids beating heavy hanging bags.

    Like a general inspecting his troops, Sweeney walked up and down rows of exercising kids and bellowed orders to perfect form. The stance of a seven-year-old was repositioned for better range and balance; another young boy received pointers on his sparring technique.

    When one teen just didn’t throw a cross with his usual speed, Coach ordered, “down on the floor” -- his code for 20 push-ups.

    “When you make a mistake in the ring, you end up on the floor,” warned Sweeney. “When you make a mistake here, you’re gonna end up on the floor.”

    In the course of the afternoon, just about every kid ended up on the cement floor -- including a reluctant teen on his tough first day. Devin Graham’s “mistake” had been to suggest to the coach that maybe he should quit. Sweeney had just reprimanded some girls who had been teasing the 13-year-old about being overweight.

    “No one gives up around here,” Sweeney said, and he worked with the boy one-on-one – he did sit-ups, ran in place, and then Sweeney laced him into his first pair of boxing gloves. Climbing into the ring, the coach held a pad and became the boy’s moving target.

    When they finished, Sweeney brought Devin into a back room.

    “Stop making excuses,” he said. "Boxing is hard work. Just tell me if you're up to the challenge. If you are, I’m here. But, if you’re not, leave now. I don’t like wasting my time."

    In the weeks that have passed, Devin hasn’t missed a day.

    Coach Khali Sweeney and the team behind the Downtown Boxing Gym in Detroit  describe their passion and commitment for the program and detail the way the gym focuses and inspires  students.          

    Hit the books before the bag

    Christal Berry joined the gym last year and said it “changed” her life. “Boxing is all I can think about,” she said.

    She described herself as a “shy girl,” easily wounded by cruel remarks that would trigger her anger. She would obsess when something unpleasant happened.

    “I couldn’t get it out of my head,” she said.

    Christal weighed over 200 pounds when she met Khali last year. Then just 13 years old, the girl was afraid she would die.

    The aerobics, rope jumping, and shadow boxing have helped her lose more than 50 pounds and feel mentally stronger too.

    "I let people get under my skin and I just carry it with me the whole day … I feel a lot better after I get done hitting the bag," she said.

    But before she gets to that, Christal, along with all the children here, must do their homework.

    Lisa Dunn is the teacher who runs the mostly one-woman tutoring program that’s helping Christal raise her grades.

    To stay in the gym, every kid must prove he or she is getting good grades. Both Sweeney and Lisa review school progress reports. A slipping grade means more time with Lisa, and less with the coach.

    Sweeney came into Darien Richardson’s life at a time when he felt no one was in his corner.

    “I just wanted to give up,” he said.

    That was six years ago when Darien was sliding down the slope traveled by two-thirds of teens in this neighborhood. He was on the verge of dropping out of school.

    “The coach convinced me to finish high school and go on to college,” he said. “He's that guy, that man you can talk to when anything's happening in your life.”

    Kadeem Anderson used to get in a lot of fights -- the kind that was going to get him expelled from school.

    The kid had a short fuse, according to his mother, Alice Anderson. She was tired of the constant calls from school to complain about another Kadeem misadventure.

    Boxing brought his temper under control and the discipline to turn down temptation like drugs or wasting time in the street.

    Now, "When bad stuff happens at school, Kadeem is the first to walk away,” said Alice. “I’m so proud of him.”

    The 15-year-old is already a Downtown legend. In his first competitive fight, David won the regional Golden Gloves.

    ‘You give what you get’

    Three people pour their heart and soul into making sure Downtown stays open -- Sweeney, Dunn and an idealist young woman named Jessica Hauser who stopped in one day a few years ago to watch a friend train with Sweeney.

    “Right away I knew Khali was doing something important here and I wanted to help,” she said.

    Little did she know that would mean going broke in the process.

    "My mom's going to kill me when she hears this but I’ve drained my savings account to pay the bills," said Jessica.

    Rent and electricity have to be paid every month along with a $1,200 heating bill in the winter. No one pulls a paycheck. When they can fill the tank, Sweeney and Jessica use their personal cars to shuttle the kids.

    Sweeney has taken side jobs in construction and security when funds have run low. Friends too have stepped in to help.

    Russ Russell manages “Forgotten Harvest,” an organization fighting hunger in Detroit for the past 20 years. Every week, he sends a truck of food to the gym.

    And, we weren’t the only ones who noticed the kids had no winter coats. Russell contacted Meijer, a Michigan-headquartered superstore chain, who outfitted every Downtown kid with warm clothing free of charge.

    Sweeney says many “good people in the community” have come to their rescue including retired attorney Ed Forton, who paid the bills for months, along with local businesses that include Avalon Bakery and Supino Pizza.

    In return, Sweeney insists that the kids give back through monthly community service projects.

    “Poverty is frightening for these kids,” said Sweeney. "They worry about food, about their parents getting sick. Boxing toughens them up.”

    But he also wants to teach the kids that they are not powerless. “If you treat these kids like victims, they get this mentality of being helpless,” said Sweeney. “I’m obsessed with giving every kid in Detroit a fighting chance.”

  • The art of giving

    An elementary school in one of the poorest communities in the country is teaching its students a lesson in giving, NBC's John Yang reports.

    On Sunday, NBC Nightly News featured a school in Illinois that's teaching children how to give back. They teamed up with a charity in New York called Family-to-Family that sends the children much-needed books and backpacks. Older students at the school then choose books to give to younger ones, and spend time reading to them. 

    To learn more about the organization Family-to-Family, please click here to visit their website. 

  • Bus becomes mobile learning center for underprivileged kids

    Estella Pyfrom, a former teacher in Florida, is making a difference in her community by helping underserved children learn more about technology with the use of a mobile classroom she called the 'Brilliant Bus.' NBC's Kerry Sander reports.

    Monday on 'NBC Nightly News,' Kerry Sanders profiled the daughter of migrant farm workers, Estella Pyfrom, who is now providing underserved children with access to technology aboard her 'Brilliant Bus.' It's a project she bankrolled herself after working for decades as a teacher and observing the 'digital divide' first-hand.  

    Click here to visit the Brilliant Bus website and learn more about Pyfrom's organization. 

    Retired teacher Estella Pyfrom, 76, has spent nearly a million dollars -- much of it from her own savings -- to provide Internet and computer access to low-income students in Riviera Beach, Florida.

  • Rising above the violence to pursue a career in health care

    Faces of the Future, a unique after-school program in Oakland and Hayward, Calif., exposes students from low-income communities to careers in health care. NBC's Nancy Snyderman reports.

    Mary Murray, NBC News writes

    OAKLAND, Calif. -- Pediatrician Tomás Magaña has treated it all -- gunshot wounds, drug overdoses and domestic abuse injuries.

    “I’ve seen too many kids die. I’ve lost 10 kids in my practice, five in the past year alone,” he said.

    The doctor’s voice cracks when he talks about his patients. One teen committed suicide while others died in shootings. Some belonged to gangs but a few were killed in the crossfire.

    “I’m trained to treat disease but our kids are dying from homicide, suicide, trauma -- the three leading causes of death for teens. All preventable yet all on the rise in certain communities,” he said.

    Living in fear
    Magaña works at Children’s Hospital in Oakland, Calif. -- one of America's most violent cities and part of Alameda County, ranked first in the state and third in the nation for violent crime.

    Children live in fear, said Magaña, and no one is immune. 

    “Kids hear a popping sound and they run for cover,” he said.  

    The Oakland Tribune recently reported that stray bullets kill about one person a month here. While murders and assaults nationwide are declining, according to FBI statistics, violent crime in Oakland in 2012 climbed 25 percent -- about four and a half times the national average.

    Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County district attorney, has called crime in Oakland “a cancer” and the city newspaper “a police blotter.”

    She attributes 70 percent of all shootings in the city to gangs.

    This year, the city has also seen a surge in domestic violence that includes the death of four teenage girls as well as a disturbing rise in the number of minors forced into sex slavery.

    “Some of the stories these kids tell us are horrendous,” said O’Malley. 

    They’re stories Dr. Magaña hears every day.

    “The boys talk about their fear of the future, how they expect to end up dead or in jail,” Magaña said. “Many of the girls talk about abuse in their lives.”

    Statistically, these are the kids who never finish school. In some Oakland communities, the high school dropout rate runs as high as every six out of 10 kids. 

    Dr. Tomas Magana expands on why he went into medicine and why he is helping prepare the next generation.

    And many get in trouble once they leave school.

    Something Magaña knows all about. A native of East Los Angeles, Magaña was raised by a teenage mom. 

    “She did the best she could. We grew up together and we struggled a hell of a lot.” Magaña believes he too was headed for trouble until other adults, namely his grandparents, interceded and “reframed” his destiny.

    Using that as a prescription for success, Magaña and a colleague started a program designed to inspire at-risk teens to stay in school. 

    And it’s working.

    Building self-esteem, and a passion for health care
    Their program, FACES for the Future, helps teens explore careers in health care. The students get academic credit for volunteering in local hospitals where they shadow medical professionals doing their jobs. The kids rotate through specialties like surgery, anesthesia, pediatrics and neo-natal care. During the two-year program, the kids clock 600 hours of volunteer time at community hospitals like St. Rose in Hayward, Calif.

    “This builds self-esteem and also looks great on a college application,” explained Magaña.

    Felicity Harris, 25, now attends a master’s program in public health at San Francisco State. Her ultimate goal is to become a physician assistant.

    “I didn’t have a very sturdy family life so I kind of raised myself. A lot of times in high school I felt alone. It would have been easy to have just given up,” said Harris.

    FACES “grounded and motivated” her, she said. “Here I knew people were happy to see me, who wanted me to flourish and grow.”

    ‘Life is just so overwhelming’
    In addition to the hospital experience, each student is assigned a mentor -- an adult to rely on when life gets tough.

    For Angela Kath, 17, who is raising her daughter alone, that person is Brooke Briggance, the program director and a fiercely protective substitute mother many of these kids seem to need in their lives.

    “Life is just so overwhelming. Sometimes I just need a shoulder to cry on,” admitted Angela, who balances high school, working two part-time jobs and caring for 4-year-old Kamiya. “Mrs. Brooke is the person I turn to so I can be strong for my daughter.”

    Before FACES, Angela was on the verge of dropping out of school. Now she dreams of one day working with teenage mothers. 

    “Mrs. Brooke tells me I’m smart,” she said. “She helps me stay focused, keep my mind on my goals.”

    Since FACES started 13 years ago, about 500 kids have passed through both the two-year program and the summer program. Almost all have graduated high school. Many went on to college.

    An impressive feat when you consider that initial acceptance is not based on grades. In fact, lots have poor academic track records.

    What they possess is the motivation to change their lives.

    “Even with so much trauma, poverty and hopelessness, many children still dream of a better life -- a life full of opportunities,” said Magaña.

    Just like he did as a kid.

     

  • Free music program keeps traditions alive in 'Folk Music Capital of the World'

    Free music lessons offered in Mountain View, Ark., are sustaining the folk music tradition ingrained in the town's history. NBC's Chelsea Clinton reports.

    By Craig Stanley, NBC News

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Ark. – Even at two years old, Clancey Ferguson knew one day she wanted to become a country music star.

    “She saw the fiddler from the Dixie Chicks on the Country Music Awards and she fell hard,” remembered Clancey’s mother, Babbie Ferguson. “She said, ‘I want to do that!’”

    Watch the story tonight on "NBC Nightly News"

    At five, Clancey convinced her mother to sign her up for classical violin training and at nine, Clancey finally picked up a fiddle. At the time, her hometown of Pine Bluff, Ark., afforded her few opportunities to master the faster-paced style so often found in folk music.

    Undeterred, Clancey and her mother packed up and moved three and a half hours north to Mountain View, Ark.: the “Folk Music Capitol of the World.”

    An ‘awe-inspiring’ experience

     

     Soon after settling in Mountain View, Clancey found a fiddle instructor and discovered Music Roots – a music education program that teaches 4th through 8th graders the fundamentals of folk music. Kids are given free instruments such as banjos, autoharps and mandolins, along with weekly lessons on how to play them. Locally home-schooled children -- like Clancey -- are also invited to participate at the school sessions.

    The program’s advanced students are generally invited to join the ensemble group, which takes their folk music training to the next level by performing at local venues and recording CDs.

    Clancey thrived in Music Roots and was asked by her instructor to help assist with teaching the other students. As she and her mother hoped, Mountain View was cultivating her musical talent. Unexpectedly, it was also nurturing her young soul.

    “It was an awe-inspiring experience, seeing everybody playing music and being so welcoming,” Clancey said of Music Roots. “Helping the kids and seeing people opening their hearts and homes and their talents up to help me.”

    A musical tradition begins

    Settlers first took root in Mountain View after the Civil War, bringing with them the rich acoustic folk music that reverberates within the region today. Day and night, townspeople of all ages congregate on porches and in grass lots where they “pick and grin” until bedtime.

    Danny Thomas, a former school superintendent, started the “Music Roots” program in the 1990s to pass down the town’s treasured historical legacy, preserved in the musical traditions of their ancestors.

    Children at the Ozark Folk Center play fiddles, guitars and banjos preserving a rich musical heritage.  Here they play "seven and a half" a tune that has been around as long as anyone can remember, but whose author is unknown.

    "Our forefathers who lived in this isolated, remote area in the mountains made a lot of sacrifices to make life better for their children," Thomas said. "A lot of the stories that took place here are told in the songs and the music.”

    In the 1960s, Thomas and his neighbors met regularly at the courthouse in the epicenter of Mountain View where they’d jam into the night, echoing the heartfelt acoustic melodies of their forefathers and improvising new ones. Music was embedded in the town’s culture, fueling the preservation of its rich history while solidifying the town’s unique communal bond that has lasted more than a century.

    "The kids and the old-timers, we knew the same songs, we played the same instruments, we had a good time together," Thomas said.

    'Every child is motivated by something different'

    Music Roots, a joint effort of the Mountain View Public School System and the Ozark Folk Center State Park, is supported in part by grant funding, but largely by the hospitality of the town’s residents.

    Shay and Scott Pool own the music store on the town square, where they fix students’ broken instruments for free. And when time permits, they build new instruments from scratch.  Shay teaches Music Roots in the school once a week and provides two additional days of free lessons at her store for those interested – a conditional gesture.

    “I'll say, 'here's your song for the week, go home and learn it,’” Shay said. "'If you don't learn it when you come back next week, you owe me for the lesson.' But if they learn it, then they don’t have to pay me for the lessons."

    More than 1000 kids have matriculated at Music Roots since its inception, and everyone has completed the program at varying levels of mastery. The Pool’s son Lukas, an alumna of Music Roots, earned a full scholarship to attend the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston.

    The Cobb brothers, also program alumni, have made a name for themselves on the Bluegrass circuit -- along with Clancey, who has begun to live out her dream, too.  Now 14 years old, she tours across the country with her band “Clancey and the Ragtags,” whom she found in Mountain View. Sometimes she also performs as a solo act.

    "Every child is motivated by something different," Shay said. "Some are motivated by just the joy of playing. And others are motivated by a possible performance – or, down the road, instead of working in a local food joint, they can play music and make money."

    Regardless of why kids choose to participate, Thomas said he’s glad Music Roots is keeping the community’s legacy alive among those poised to carry Mountain View into the future.

    “It makes me feel good that [the young people] haven't forgotten their heritage," Thomas said. "And that they know that people before them had some wonderful things to tell in their music."

    To learn more about Music Roots, please visit the website http://www.ofcmusicroots.com/

     

     

  • Learn more about JP Aerospace

    A volunteer space program is making it possible for kids around the world to send their own science projects to the edge of space, sparking a new passion for outer space. NBC's Diana Alvear reports.

    Tonight "NBC Nightly News" profiled a volunteer space program in California that is helping kids from around the world send science projects to the edge of space. If you would like to learn more about JP Aerospace please visit their website. 

    The fifth grade class of Mather Heights Elementary School is on a mission. They're putting the finishing touches on their homemade science projects - housed in - before launching them to the edge of outer space. The class described their big ideas - in their own words - to NBC's Diana Alvear.


     

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