Abigail Falik went to Brazil in her late teens to help street kids. The program she has since founded has sent more than 40 participants into the field to do similar work. (Tony Avelar/The Christian Science Monitor)
10:43 am ET -Volunteering abroad between high school and college in a 'Global Citizen Year' helps students learn teamwork and leadership skills
People Making a Difference (View all)
- Marc Gold travels Asia paying it forward through little acts of kindness
- In Pakistan, Asher Hasan brings innovation to health-care cost, at $1.80 per month
- He helps Polish poor and disabled get wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs
- John Alston turns kids in hoodies into a choral band of brothers
- After the Haitian earthquake: saving priceless murals, artifacts, and other treasures
- Pewee Flomoku saw Liberia's child soldiers through a camera lens. Now he promotes peace
- Publishing children's books – and delivering them by elephant
- Using a wood chipper to save cheetahs, Africa's most endangered big cats
- He's raising hope in southern Sudan by boosting crop yields
- Turning Bolivian street beggars into proud performers
More People Making a Difference
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A Nobel Peace Prize winner finds spiritual values in planting trees
Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt Movement, says spiritual values are the key to healing ourselves and our environment.
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'Girl Talk' youth program counters school bullying with mentoring
As a teen Haley Kilpatrick felt the sting of school bullying herself. She started the youth program 'Girl Talk' to stand up to it.
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Using hands-on philanthropy to bring Haiti relief
Millionaire contractor James Ansara wanted to do something for Haiti, so he's building a hospital as his charitable work.
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Children who lend a helping hand show they can make a difference and change the world
We highlight five kids and teens who are making a difference through volunteer opportunities, proving that helping hands can be child-sized too.
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She went to New Orleans to clean up after Hurricane Katrina – and stayed to start a charter school
After Hurricane Katrina, Channa Mae Cook cofounded Sojourner Truth, a charter school with an emphasis on community service and social justice issues, to help lift up New Orleans' embattled school system.
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How a college president toppled the ivory tower
Pine Manor College was once a haven for privileged white women. Now its seeing a surge in low-income and minority students.
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'Super-librarian' figures out secret to getting kids to read
Librarian Cynthia Dobrez uses e-readers, bibliotherapy, and her own intuition in her middle school library in Michigan.
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Her guiding principle when working with at-risk teens: Never, ever give up
Through project Roca (Spanish for 'rock') Mary Baldwin reaches out to teenagers in Massachusetts to keep them off the streets and out of jail.
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Helping South Korea's foreign workers win fair treatment
Using a message of love, Kim Hae Sung provides legal counseling, language training, and schools to help foreigners fit into a tight-knit society in South Korea.
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She uses paint, brushes, and volunteers to clean up graffiti and build communities
In Philadelphia, Jane Golden oversees the Mural Arts Program, which gets citizens involved in painting over graffiti while celebrating their history and culture.
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Matching kids with adults who live their dream
Chris Balme puts together at-risk teens and business-world mentors who show them a brighter future.
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Surviving floods, droughts, and poachers' bullets to save elephants
For four decades Iain Douglas-Hamilton has been an advocate for elephants, the endangered giants of Africa.
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Helping teens be a real guitar hero – by caring for others
Sandra Rizkallah and Tom Pugh founded the after-school music program "Plugged In" to help teens start rock bands – and learn about serving others.
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He invites suicide jumpers for a cup of tea
Don Ritchie moved to a house outside Sydney, Australia, for the clifftop view. But soon he was stopping suicides by inviting potential jumpers inside for a cup of tea.
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Hitting a high note by helping high school musicians in Seattle shed limitations
Orchestra leader Marcus Tsutakawa and jazz band conductor Clarence Acox inspire music students at Seattle's Garfield High School.
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She recruited Facebook friends to save Gulf Coast's hermit crabs.
When park ranger Leanne Sarco saw oil-covered hermit crabs on the Louisiana beaches, she started her own project to clean and save them.
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Liberia's only woman newspaper editor packs a 'Punch'
Ora Garway runs the tiny newspaper Punch, which despite its modest size has exposed the need for reform in Liberia, a West African country still recovering from a civil war.
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He teaches inner-city kids how to be smart about money
Douglas Coe has founded the Bulls and Bears summer camp, where kids can try being a stock analyst – and learn how to handle their own finances too.
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Jimmy Pham went back to Vietnam to help lift others out of poverty
His training program in Vietnam pulls poor youths off the streets and sends them into good jobs at hotels and restaurants.
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Once a high-tech exec, he now shares his passion for reading in Asia and Africa.
John Wood has turned his love of books, reading, and education into more than 10,000 libraries through 'Room to Read.'
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