April's Most Inspiring Person of the Month

The Nominees Are ...

National Volunteer Week will be celebrated this month in recognition of those who seek out imaginative ways to get involved and give back to their communities and inspire others to do the same. In honor of this event, Beliefnet is featuring 10 inspiring volunteers for Most Inspiring of the Month this April. From a 14 year-old blind jazz singer and pianist’s fight for blind and visually impaired children, to a husband and wife team whose housing ministry has allowed families across this country and around the world to own their own homes, this month’s candidates are inspiring individuals around the world to get up, get involved and make a difference!

To vote for the person you feel is most inspiring, click the Facebook Share button above the slide containing your favorite nominee.

Paul Yoo

Co-founder of volunteerAKITA and The Fruit Tree Project, Paul Yoo started these organizations following the destruction of the 2011 Japanese tsunami. volunteerAkita was created to provide a forum to share and discuss volunteer opportunities for those willing to come together in the recovery process to help those in need now and for future endeavors. The Fruit Tree Project was inspired after a trip for Yoo to Kesennuma to drop off supplies at a shelter where many of the victims expressed their need for fresh fruit. After leaving the shelter Yoo and his team began soliciting donations and made arrangements through a local store to have fresh produce delivered to victims each week. Today, Yoo continues his volunteer efforts through both of these organizations with the hope that he will inspire others to do the same for cities and towns affected by the disaster.

Clayton and Ellen Kershaw

Left-handed LA Dodgers pitcher, Clayton Kershaw and his wife Ellen are actively involved in helping impoverished African children through the nonprofit organization Arise Africa. Earlier this year, the couple announced the release of their co-authored book, “Arise: Live Out Your Faith and Dreams on Whatever Field You Find Yourself”. The book chronicles their 2010 trip to Zambia where Clayton and Ellen along with the organization, Arise Africa worked on an orphanage. The couple returned for another mission to Zambia in January, a 13-day journey to further plans of building and furnishing another orphanage they've called Hope's House after Hope, a 9 year-old HIV positive orphan that Ellen met during a visit to Africa before marrying Clayton. Now nearly 13 years old, Hope is also the inspiration for the Kershaw Challenge, a promise by the pitcher to donate $100 for every strike he pitches to Arise Africa.

Audrey Hepburn

Television and screen actress Audrey Hepburn was appointed a UNICEF ambassador of goodwill in 1989. Shortly thereafter Hepburn went on a mission to Ethiopia, where years of drought and civil strife had caused terrible famine. After visiting UNICEF emergency operations, she talked about the projects to the media in the United States, Canada and Europe. Over the years, when not traveling for UNICEF, Hepburn testified before US Congress, took part in the World Summit for Children, launched UNICEF's State of the World's Children reports, hosted Danny Kaye International Children's Award ceremonies, designed fundraising cards, participated in benefit concert tours and gave speeches and interviews promoting UNICEF. She received the United States' highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in December 1992. During that year, while battling cancer, Hepburn continued to travel and promote UNICEF around the globe inspiring millions to take a stand.

Samantha Allen-Wise

Samantha Allen-Wise is a founder and director of C.E.O. (Community Enrichment Organization), an Oakland nonprofit organization formed in 2004 that sponsors about a dozen events and activities per year to enrich the lives of low-income families, children and seniors—from Easter egg hunts and holiday gift-giving, to cheerleading camps and flag football games. Allen-Wise created the organization with the main goal to uplift our community, by assisting the elderly, homeless, and orphaned by providing them with the tools they may need to have a more rewarding life spiritually and economically. Through her personal life and this organization she labors to make positive things happen in the lives of others, in hopes that this in turn will promote a lasting effect on those lives touched teaching others, especially our children that it is everyone's job to give back to their communities.

Rocco Fiorentino

14-year-old Rocco Fiorentino is not only an accomplished jazz singer and pianist; he is also an award-winning humanitarian advocating for children who are blind or visually impaired. Blind, as a result of premature birth, Fiorentino is the Ambassador of The Little Rock Foundation, named for him. He also serves as an educator and lobbyist. Lobbying since the age of 5, he is responsible for $1.2 million being dedicated to Braille services and education in the State of New Jersey and saving the jobs of 50 employees, valued at $611,000, at the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Fiorentino is the inspiration behind a resolution signed into law in the states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania declaring every October is named “Blindness Awareness Month”. Other awards include: Great Friends to Kids Award, Helen Keller Award, National Braille Press Hands on Award and Kohl’s Kids Who Care.

Martha Bandy

Stanwood, Washington resident Martha Bandy who recently celebrated her 100th birthday is still giving back to others. This inspirational woman believes that volunteering isn’t a job; it is a way of life that comes instinctually for her. Throughout her life she has always lived by the standard that if something needs to be done, you should just do it. And do it she has! Over the years she has made quilts for Grange raffles, lap robes for people in nursing homes, and when her daughter worked as a pediatric nurse and told stories about needy families with new babies, Bandy collected used clothing and sewed new infant items to give away. Now at 100 years old, this inspiring woman continues her volunteer work regularly delivering meals to the residents in her senior apartment complex that are not able to get out.

Millard and Linda Fuller

Linda Caldwell and Millard Fuller married in 1959. A successful businessman and lawyer, Fuller became a self-made millionaire by age 29. In 1968, after giving up their wealth to refocus their lives on Christian service, Fuller and his wife, Linda, moved with their children to an interracial farming community in southwest Georgia. Koinonia Farm, founded by Clarence Jordan in 1942, became home to the Fuller family for five years until they moved to Zaire as missionaries in 1973 with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). After returning to the United States, they began a Christian ministry at Koinonia Farm building simple houses for low-income families in their community using volunteer labor and donations, and requiring repayment only of the cost of the materials used at no interest. These same principles guided the Fullers into creating one of this nation’s leading nonprofit housing ministries, Habitat for Humanity International.

Dakota Meyer

23 year-old Kentucky Marine, Dakota Meyer, was given the highest military honor last September: the Medal of Honor. The award was given based on Meyer’s success in saving 13 American and 23 Afghan soldiers’ lives in a grueling 2009 firefight in Afghanistan. The military’s public statement on the battle said Meyer “personally killed at least eight Taliban insurgents, while providing cover for his team to fight their way out.” Meyer’s dedication to his fellow countrymen has not changed since returning to the United States. In fact, Meyer and several of his friends are currently camping out in his home state of Kentucky volunteering daily in the recovery and cleanup efforts following the deadly March 2nd tornado that swept through the tiny community of Woods Bend. His work both on the battlefield and here in the states is an inspiration to people across this country.

Earle Lee, Jr

Florida State University social work professor, Earle Lee Jr. founded the Boys’ Choir of Tallahassee 5 years ago with financial help from Target Stores, the Freuauff Foundation and a diverse group of community leaders as a way to address the spiraling youth crime problem in Tallahassee. The Boys’ Choir of Tallahassee is a community based outreach program for males, ages eight to eighteen, enrolled in schools throughout the Tallahassee area. Its mission is to foster academic excellence, build character and self-esteem, develop interpersonal skills, and help young men realize their fullest potential while acquiring life skills. Under Lee’s direction, the choir has experienced tremendous success in musical performance and academic achievement. His efforts have inspired these young men to maintain rising grade point averages and continuous enrollment in local colleges and universities.

Eric Adler

Before 1997, Rajiv Vinnakota and Eric Adler did not know each other. They did however, the same dream—to open a public boarding school for underserved children. By chance of fate, Eric and Raj had a mutual friend with whom they shared this dream. The friend introduced them to each other, and shortly after meeting they began to discuss the possibility of opening such a school. Vinnakota and Adler eventually quit their corporate jobs and started The SEED Foundation. Under their leadership, SEED’s innovative model integrates a rigorous academic program with a nurturing boarding program that teaches life skills and provides students with a safe and secure environment. SEED nurtures positive contact with families and community leaders, thereby strengthening students’ support structures and surrounding communities. These inspirational men have given their lives to the service of others, taking risks and defying the odds.