True Stories of Good People
Selections from GoFundMe’s Heroes Podcast
Hand-heart-eye graffiti in the River North Art District (RiNo), Denver, Colorado, 2016. Photo: Chris Goldberg
GoFundMe is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to raise money for events ranging from life events such as celebrations and graduations to challenging circumstances like accidents and illnesses. True Stories of Good People, a GoFundMe Heroes Podcast, features “people who are making a difference in other people’s lives, or who have had their lives changed by someone kind – and sometimes both.” In each episode, host Kelsea Little sits down with an everyday hero who is making an impact in the world. The conversations are deeply powerful — the kinds of stories that restore your faith in humanity.”
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, HTI Open Plaza has curated eight stories from the archive of True Stories of Good People whose works have shown our communities love.
Grupo Folklorico Izcalli: Annel Alvarez and Stacey Valdez
After Annel Alvarez had her son Adrian, she was going through a pretty dark time in her life, feeling a sense of losing her identity. She knew she needed to do something to pull her out of it, but also knew she couldn’t do it alone—so she called up an old friend with an idea: “let’s start a dance troupe!” A pretty simple idea on its face, but what turned out to have so much power to build community, celebrate Hispanic culture, and provide space for healing.
16 September 2022, 47 mins
The Power of Stories: Joseph Gutierrez
When Filipino-American Joseph Gutierrez moved to Nashville in 2017, he started to ask himself some honest questions about his new city. He wasn’t sure what the city meant to him, and vice versa. To explore these questions further, he started to have conversations with other local folks from the Asian and Pacific Islander community, and realized there was an existing lack of awareness and understanding about their cultures and identities. In response to the rising anti-AAPI hate crimes following the pandemic, Joseph and his community felt compelled to do something to help—and they believed the power of stories had the opportunity to make a big difference.
19 May 2022, 19 mins
A Bookstore on Wheels: Latanya DeVaughn
Bronx native Latanya DeVaughn knows that every neighborhood deserves a bookstore. Even if that store is in a converted bus....
29 October 2020, 40 mins
Empowering Cuts: Josh Santiago
Josh Santiago knew he wanted to be a barber from a young age. What he couldn’t have imagined is that he’d end up taking his skills to the streets and offering haircuts to those most in need—completely free of charge. In the last five years, Josh has used his talents as a barber to brighten thousands of people’s lives in his Philadelphia community and beyond, and he has no plans of stopping anytime soon.
29 October 2020, 40 mins
Every Body Farms: Jenny Hernandez and Jessica Nelson
Common Roots Farm in Santa Cruz, California is a very special place. Not only do they produce delicious fruits and vegetables, they are also a non-profit, volunteer-based farm whose mission is rooted in creating a space that fosters full inclusion of people of all abilities, to farm together in partnership.
25 September 2020 , 40 mins
Daniel Alvarado: Cancer Fighters to the Rescue
When Daniel was 6 years old, his brother, Diego, was diagnosed with Leukemia. When he would go to the hospital to visit his brother, Daniel remembers feeling very sad for all of the other kids suffering in the hospital, especially when they had to stay for so long and couldn’t go home. 6-year-old Daniel decided to organize a toy drive to bring cheer to the other kids and the results were more amazing than he ever could have imagined. Now 16, Daniel is currently in the midst of his 10th toy drive, and despite some incredible hardships, he hasn’t missed a single year.
17 December 2019, 33 mins
Sergio Cordova: Support for Asylum Seekers
Sergio lives in Brownsville, Texas, which is right on the Mexico border. Asylum seekers arrive daily but are simply dropped off at a bus station with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Many of them also need critical services, such as legal support, help finding family members, etc. The amount of need weighed heavy on Sergio and his friends’ hearts, and so they decided to help.
10 December 2019, 30 mins
Luis Garcia: USA Opioid Crisis Mortality Reduction 501c3
In his 28 years as a firefighter and paramedic, Luis Garcia responded to thousands of 911 calls for people who had overdosed. After he retired, he learned that the FDA approved a nasal spray called Narcan that literally brings people back from the dead minutes after they stop breathing, with no side effects. Luis knew that this was the way to save his community. So he took the $40k that he’d been saving for a new car and went out and bought 800 doses of the nasal spray to distribute.
11 October 2019
