In This Episode:

• Share Detroit is a technology platform that allows charities to post their sites, raise funds, solicit volunteers, and communicate with anyone on the Share Detroit website. It is a terrific endeavor that Detroit needs as well as other major cities in our country.
• With me today are Jeanette Phillips, Executive Director, and Karly Moore, Director of Community Impact.
• They are helping small and mid-size charities get their message out and help them raise awareness about their mission. And how anyone interested can immediately get in touch and establish a relationship with a charity that you believe in that is important.
• We discussed Giving Tuesday on November 29, 2022.
• The platform was launched during COVID with 20-25 nonprofits, and they grew quickly by the previous Giving Tuesday 2021 to 120+ nonprofits.
• Now they have 320 nonprofits on the platform.
• Through a partnership with Wayne State University, they provided an alternative spring break allowing students to serve their communities.
• Join the Michigan region’s Giving Tuesday celebration! Support your favorite nonprofits through SHARE Detroit!
• Give on November 29th during Giving Tuesday. Let’s celebrate what we can do in just 24 hours!
• During this season of giving, it is easy and fun to donate to causes you are passionate about in just a few clicks. Support animals, children, veterans, or the environment. With SHARE Detroit, even more of us can unite to make a difference in our communities. Plus, bonus funds can stretch your dollar further when you give through SHARE on Giving Tuesday. Mark your calendar for Giving Tuesday on November 29th.
• We learn about how the platform works and how nonprofits benefit from the platform.

Links To Things We Talk About:

• Share Detroit
• Need Doesn't get a vacation
• Knowledge Exchange Events

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In This Episode:

• Jack discusses his trip walking the Camino in August of 2021.
• Dr. Jack Kirnan today specializes in helping folks explore new ideas and pathways to find success. Jack brings over 30 years of personal experience, financial services, and education to his professional coaching and counseling practice in New Jersey.
• Jack shares what the experience of walking the Camino had in his practice and in his life.
• This was a 34-day trek of challenging hiking at an elevation change of 4,000 feet. He trained extensively before the trip.
• Jack shares compelling stories of lessons learned along the way during his Camino experience.
  • Friends met along the way
  • Conversations about challenges, family, and work
• During the second phase of the Camino, you are walking through the Spanish Desert. It's hot and challenging and a great place for personal reflection. For Jack, it was grieving the loss of his brother and, later, his dream job.
• Jack shares how he carried four rocks for the first 25 days of the walk to have the experience of laying them down at the Cruz de Ferro.
• One of his main takeaways was learning to be in the present.
• We hear so many behind-the-scenes stories of the Christmas Carol throughout the years, from provisions cast members who have gone on to stardom to meeting members of the Charles Dickens family.

Quotes from This Episode:

"Pilgrims from all over the world walk the Camino for various personal reasons. However, everyone is seeking their own way toward clarity or a better understanding of a major loss or event in their lives." - Jack Kirnan.

Links To Things We Talk About:

• Walking the Camino
• Kirnan Coaching Associates, LLC - Creating New Pathways in Life and Career
• The Way with Martin Sheen
• Mi Buen Camino: The Place Where Everyone Becomes Your Brother and Sister - A Documentary about Jack's experience
• Jack Kirnan on LinkedIn

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In This Episode:

• The Good Eggs Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that works hard to identify childhood support programs, organizations, and families facing challenges in order to provide care and assistance. Once an organization is 'EGGED," it will receive the help that is needed. “EGGINGS” can take various forms, such as offering jackets/hats/gloves, offering school supplies to a group of students, or even helping with local children’s events for those in need.
• Sandy holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Detroit Mercy and has taught morality, ethics, and social justice courses at a private high school in Michigan.
• In addition to her teaching career, she has taught, developed, and implemented programs and curricula that are focused on helping children realize the importance of living altruistic lives centered on love.
• The Good Eggs series is her contribution to supporting children as they learn about virtues, diversity, and service – essential concepts to integrate into their lives as they grow into Good Eggs!
• Sandy is also the Founder and President of The Good Eggs Foundation, which is dedicated to helping children in need. The Foundation’s outreach can take many forms, including monetary assistance, educational resources, and basic needs. Part of the net proceeds from book purchases go directly to the Foundation. Improving quality of life at a local, state, national, and even a global level is key to helping others grow and succeed!
• Sandy shares the story of how she came up with the Good Eggs children books.
• We talk about how the foundation does "Eggings" and how they select the recipients and needs that they meet. Things like providing baby monitors, helping out families who have fallen on hard times, provided bedding for habitat for humanity, and about 30 more to date.
• The foundation is primarily funded through book sales.
• We discuss the animation projects for the Good Eggs on YouTube.

Quotes from This Episode:

"I wanted to put the books into action and I wanted the foundation to help kids since the books are for kids."

Links To Things We Talk About:

• The Good Eggs Foundation
• The Good Eggs Podcast
• The Good Eggs Books

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In This Episode:

• As Oakland County’s only comprehensive program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, HAVEN provides shelter, counseling, advocacy and educational programming to nearly 30,000 people each year.
• HAVEN has helped domestic violence and sexual assault victims and their families escape abuse and create safer lives for over 40 years.
• Their survivor-centered services honor survivors as experts of their own experiences.
• MiVida Burrus, Director of Development, has held key roles in fund development, grant writing and donor cultivation for area nonprofit organizations, municipalities and colleges.
• Jasmine Valentine is in the marketing and development program at HAVEN.
• We are pleased to have MiVida and Jasmine are join us today to has helped spread the word about the good works taking place 24 hours a day, seven days a week and to allow HAVEN to share more about their services and programs.
• HAVEN received a perfect score, perfect assessment score from the Michigan domestic and sexual violence prevention and treatment board. It was a first perfect score and their 14 year history.
• All their services are under one roof to better service their clients that can face up to 22 barriers to receiving services.
• All of their services are free of charge and they always appreciate donations of any kind.

Quotes from This Episode:

• "We operate on an empowerment. We do not tell survivors what to do. We empower them to make choices and decisions that are going to be positive for their own lives." ~MiVida Burrus

Links To Things We Talk About:

• HAVEN of Oakland County MI
• There are job opportunities available at HAVEN
• The HAVEN Gala on May 12

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In This Episode:

• In Christina's research and now her life she studies the practice of gratitude.
• Gratitude practices are something that anyone, no matter what they are going through can implement. They are all accessible and all free. This doesn't mean that they are easy, but they can make an incredible impact.
• Some examples include
  • Doing a gratitude list when you wake up in the morning
  • Writing letters to people you are grateful for and giving those letters to then in person or reading them on the phone
• We talk about some of her thoughts, poems and observations in her book, Kiss Your Brain: Diagnosis Diaries
• For Christina, she wanted to bring attention to the narrative of loving your body and brain even during the time she had the uninvited guest of cancer. Trying to articulate the difference between fighting brain cancer without fighting or blaming her brain.
• Christina was a neuroscience undergraduate, and has always thought of herself as a "brain-nerd."
• We talk about her Ted talk and what that experience was like for her.
• Christina defines a neurodivergent person.
• Christina shares the moving story of sharing her Ted Talk and her diagnosis with her middle school students.
• We discuss why she wrote her book during her diagnosis, treatment, and recovery and the response she has seen from it. She also used some of the funds to help go towards research.

Quotes from This Episode:

• Tragedy can kick you down and lift you up in the same breath. It can make friendships stronger. It can give you purpose. It can inspire, you can bring hope. It can strengthen faith and it can accelerate dreams. It can bring an unexplainable peace, a love for your body that you never knew. It can introduce you to the bravest people that walked this earth and the smartest people born to help you heal. And that's why I'm not scared. Thank you tragedy for what you've taught me. It's now time for you to go. - Christina
• But when you hear the word cancer, you then hear warrior fighter. You can fight this, you can beat this. And when I started hearing that, of course, I've seen that all around me in commercials and advertising, but when people started to say it to me, it was really uncomfortable. It didn't sit right with me and thinking about how much I love the brain and how much I tell my students, the brain is amazing. I thought I don't want to fight my brain for the rest of my life. -Christina
• I've learned in therapy is do focus on truths. On what I know is fact, I don't know what my life will be like in five years, 10 years or longer, but I do know I'm strong. I'm resilient. I can rise again. I have community behind me. -Christina

Links To Things We Talk About:

• Kiss Your Brain: Diagnosis Diaries - by Christina Costa
• Christina's Ted Talk
• The Michigan Medicine Multi-disciplinary Brain Tumor Clinic
• Kiss Your Brain for Research

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

In This Episode:

• Kimber is an active advocate for children and seniors that are struggling without food and shelter in Pontiac and throughout Oakland County, Michigan.
• We talk about the housing issue in Oakland County, in part because of the definitions of homelessness in HUD housing. Kimber explains and unpacks some of the challenges of the nationwide housing shortage.
• With children, the definition is much "kinder" you have to be sleeping in your car or doubled up in someone's home. This makes it easier for them to get some services through their school or other programs.
• Oakland County has 3200 children who are considered to be homeless.
• When Kimber brought up how the definition of homelessness was hurting and not helping with Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence it started a task force.
• The three missions of the task force
  • Identify legislative areas to make changes
  • Educate leaders about the barriers that people in homelessness face
  • Get everyday people involved in the solution
• Kimber shares stories of what it is like helping people dealing with poverty and homelessness navigate the government programs designed to give funds to people.

Quotes from This Episode:

• Engaging the community to solve our problems is one of our missions. ~Kimber
• I've probably worked 20, 30 hours on it to get the right person (about funding in a program to assist with rent). And if you can imagine that I'm completely exhausted from trying to find the organization and supposed to help. Can you imagine, having not sure where you're going to go that night? Not sure when you're going to be trying to call these places to get help. ~Kimber

Links To Things We Talk About:

• The HUD definition of homelessness.
• If you'd like to get involved you can reach out to kimber at kimber@kidsempowered.com, or call her at (248) 840-9858 or follow the Facebook page for Oakland County Task Force on Poverty and Homelessness
• Coats for the Cold - Coat Drive 2021
• Help a family in need this Christmas Season
• Kids Empowered On The Move

Episode Info:

This episode of the 3rd Act podcast is brought to you by WeAreThirdAct.com. Built on the pillars of illumination, compassion, and inspiration, it's your place to get involved, spotlights of non-profits, and 3rd Act Merch.

Join the 3rd Act Community to bring together connections, good stories, and a shared mission to help others.

If you like the 3rd Act podcast, visit our website to subscribe, listen to past episodes, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

Coming up on the one-year anniversary of their Book "Redefining Normal" Justin and Alexis update our audience what they have been up to and what is coming up for them.

Growing up, they didn’t believe they had a future. Together, they are building forever.

Alexis Black was six when her mother died and thirteen when her father went to prison for child endangerment. After subsequently surviving a long and abusive relationship, the college junior promised her foster parents that she would avoid romantic entanglements for at least a year. But when she met incoming freshman Justin on the first day of their scholarship program, they both felt the world melt away, leaving just the two of them in the room.

Justin Black lived in abandoned houses in the poorest section of Detroit before his parents surrendered him to CPS at the age of nine. He stayed in the child welfare system until he was graduated from high school. Determined to be the first in his family to pursue higher education, Black attended Western Michigan University, where he met beautiful third-year Alexis. At first, their past traumas--and their age difference--conspired to complicate their attraction. But the joy each took in the other eventually conquered those obstacles, and these two survivors journeyed hand-in-hand toward healing.

In their stark and often shocking story, Alexis and Justin reveal how two people brutalized in childhood managed to defy the odds, get healthy, and build a new life together. Guided by hope and a sense of purpose, as well as a desire to help others who have similarly suffered, they learned to reject the abusive patterns of their past, thereby breaking the cycle of generational violence and neglect.

Written in alternating accounts, Justin and Alexis offer a thoughtful exchange of ideas and personal experiences illustrating how anybody, no matter their background, can heal and find joy.

We talk to them about how they met and started their romantic relationship. They are now working as full-time entrepreneurs.

They started an organization called Redefining Normal to talk about mental health boundaries, healthy relationships, definitions of love, community success, and all of the things in the books.

They have several workbooks, graphic novels, and other items in the works. Justin has a podcast called ROSE from Concrete.

You can reach out at info@re-definingnormal.com or follow them on social media
| Facebook | Instagram | Tick tock @re.definingnormal

Steven is a disabled motivational speaker, based in London.

Themes he speaks about:

• Disability
• Forced Change
• Planning for Resilience, and
• Dealing with Uncertainty

Steven Dowd committed to get fit and agreed to compete in a charity cycling event.

He bought a bike, started training and rode to work like thousands of others.

Early one June morning he was headed to a friend’s flat to do the daily commute together, but never arrived…

A freak accident left him paralysed from the neck down.

With candour and humour in keynote talks for international corporate audiences Steven shares his story, the highest highs and the lowest lows of an against-all-odds recovery journey and how he approached the situation to achieve his greatest successes to date.

An ‘Everyman’ with a long corporate career himself, Steven genuinely understands the corporate audience and is highly relatable. He clearly underlines that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things with the right toolkit.

The insights and take-aways are specifically aimed at benefitting anyone going through personal or professional challenges, facing significant events or forced change.

After Steven was injured, in his a very dark time, he even started to talk to his wife about going to Switzerland for assisted suicide, but he decided against it and instead made a decision that after surgery he would give himself 200 days to get better.

He started to take steps after 90 days and lived by the advice try to be better than you were the day before and if you are celebrate that little step as a victory.

Stephan talks about how he decided to be a motivational speaker and what that process was like for him.

We discuss the importance of not comparing your biggest challenge to another persons biggest challenge.
Stephan talks about the rowing event he was apart of and how impactful it was