Latest Stories

Aljona Tcherniavskaia: Turning Heartache Into Hope

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February of this year, Ajona (she/her), who is half Russian / half Ukrainian and living in Los Angeles, CA, felt called to action. Her Support for Ukraine t-shirts are raising funds for World Central Kitchen, United Help Ukraine, and Revived Soldiers Ukraine. Here is Aljona’s story written in her own…

The Cloth Option: A Sustainable Alternative

This is a story written by Kaitlyn Japikse.  Kaitlyn is a board member and distribution advocate who has been with The Cloth Option since it was started. “Matt flips through the last few diapers left until next payday: “one, two, three, four, five, six.” With just over a week left until that check comes, he…

Friends of Tonga: Rebuilding Classrooms and Communities

A story written by Michael Hassett, the President of Friends of Tonga. “We met in the Kingdom of Tonga, when we served as Peace Corps Volunteers from 2012-2014. We lived on different island groups: I was on the main island of Tongatapu and Chiara was on the outer island of ‘Eua. In 2018, Cyclone Gita battered the…

Raising Ralph Foundation: Being a Voice for Those Who Can’t

Tiffany Simon was writing a blog post about raising a son on the autism spectrum and decided she wanted to do more for her community. She created an online merch store on Bonfire to advocate for autism awareness and acceptance while donating the profits to public school autism programs that support their mission. Tiffany says,…

Shining a Light in Darkness

A story written by Jordan Combs. “I am the director of a nonprofit organization in South Dakota called Light of Mine Ranch. We help support foster families and children in foster care. Our ultimate goal is to build homes for foster families centralized on a ranch property. Instead of a group home, we want to…

Clothed in Strength: Support for Women in Rural Guatemala

A story written by Meagan Ephraim de Rios. “Women in Guatemala carry a great responsibility within the social dynamic of their family. While living in harsh conditions that oftentimes include no electricity and dirt floors, the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and daughters, women, work and sacrifice to maintain their households and families. I learned this…

A Passion Project Turned Into a Community Fundraiser

Flea Market Love Letters is a passion project that Liz Maguire started in 2017. Their mission is to digitally archive and preserve found, vintage ephemera (letters, postcards, photos, etc.) often found at flea markets. So far they’ve been able to collect over 400 letters. Liz always aspired that eventually, this project could give back to…

For The Community of Santa Cruz

A story written by Shelby Dunn. “A few months ago, Santa Cruz experienced uncharacteristic summer lightning storms which sparked wildfires throughout the county and displaced thousands of residents from their homes. Not only does Santa Cruz not experience summer lightning storms, but the area also does not usually experience wildfires to this degree and was…

Ella’s Dollhouse

“The start of COVID-19 quarantine was tough. Without much warning, the kids were sent home with their books, and we knew they weren’t going back.” In March 2020, everything changed for families, and some were left with little to no options. Ella’s Kindergarten school year was abruptly cut short. When Ella learned that not every…

Love Starts With A Full Belly

A story written by Ashley Brooke, a beauty and lifestyle blogger. “Over the holidays, my husband Ryan and I visited our local food bank (Second Harvest, which is under the national Feeding America umbrella) and were absolutely blown away by how they are supporting hundreds of thousands of families in central Florida. The need here…

Small Business Story: A Jar of Pickles

When Kirstie Wang was in college enrolled in public health classes, she caught herself teaching herself Photoshop and Illustrator rather than focusing in class. She began a simple Etsy shop during this time to satisfy her creative side, but she didn’t stop there. Kirstie has pursued a career as a designer, and also dedicated herself…

Wear Jeans for Rare Diseases

Since 2005, Coastal Kids Home Care has provided more than 64,000 visits to 8,700 medically fragile infants and children with rare illness and disability. They provide these services from Monterey, Santa Clara, San Benito, and Santa Clara Counties in California’s central coast. As the only nonprofit pediatric home health care agency in the community, they…