People Doing Good

Stories of people making a difference in the world

Person wearing military camouflage uniform gestures while speaking, with hands raised in an explanatory motion.

This veteran is exposing the sexism women face in the military: 'Women have been serving and loving America long before America loved her'

Sergeant Cassandra Taylor served in the United States Army for 28 years.

Aerial view of a divided highway with an overpass crossing above it, surrounded by coniferous forest and a river visible on the right side.

Before he died, an Idaho truck driver worked to turn an old bridge into a wildlife overpass. Now it's a lifeline for animals

Before his death, truck driver Carl Wilson passed his mission onto a woman who had been in a car accident with a deer. Their shared legacy is now saving lives.

A woman with blonde curled hair wearing a denim jacket reads a book titled "Corduroy" to four children seated around her against a white background.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library had a proven impact on children around the world

Worldwide evidence shows that children enrolled in the Imagination Library were significantly more likely to display foundational early literacy skills and to develop an interest in reading compared to those not in the program.

A man wearing a yellow helmet and red jacket holds a brown and white dog inside a yellow boat cabin.

Rescue crew miraculously saves family dog who was swept out to sea: 'An emotional reunion'

Bean, an Australian Shepherd, had swept over 650 feet offshore, after a family walk went awry.

A person's hand holds a taco with a dark tortilla filled with reddish-brown cooked meat and garnished with small green leaves. A similar taco is partially visible in the lower left corner.

A Michelin-starred restaurant started a 'pay what you can' day. Now, 100 others in 14 countries follow their lead

Pay What You Can, or Paga Lo Que Puedas, originated at Michelin-starred restaurant Masala y Maíz in Mexico City. Now, it’s a global initiative.

Left: Street corner at 19th Avenue showing downed tree branches, street sign, and solar light. Right: Person with black dreadlocks smiling against an orange brick wall.

Gary, Indiana has been without power for 12 days. A food influencer and NBA player are coming to the rescue

Keith Lee and Tyrese Haliburton are hosting a supply drive for Gary, Indiana residents on Monday.

Yellow CAT bulldozer with tracked treads and front blade on sandy ground, rocky mountain visible in background, green vegetation surrounding the equipment.

Trump just paused border wall construction in Big Bend. Activists are still fighting to protect the region for good

A grassroots group of people across the political spectrum — No Big Bend Wall — is gaining momentum in the fight to keep a massive border wall project from moving forward.

Two people look at a large map of sea surface temperatures on a screen

All the places you can find the 'rescued climate data' the Trump administration has erased

The Trump administration has shut down websites like climate.gov and other climate data projects. Academics, journalists, and nonprofit organizations are working to rebuild what has been lost.

Two rangers talk to a group of park visitors.

The Trump administration wants to scrub 'disparaging' national park history. Meet the librarians preserving it anyway

The revisions have scrubbed or softened accounts of violence, slavery, activism and lived experiences, raising questions about whose stories the government considers worth telling.

An older man wearing glasses and a gray shirt holds a cream-colored dog with a blue collar in a wooden-beamed interior. Two similar photos show the man and dog in slightly different positions.

A hospice patient's last wish was to snuggle a golden retriever with 'puppy breath.' Gladdie was the girl for the job

The patient received his diagnosis at the same time as his previous dog, who had recently passed away. These strangers gave him some “golden retriever love” one last time.

A uniformed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer crouches on a wooden dock, reaching toward a dark-colored otter lying on the planks.

Man saves otter strangled by fishing net using mouth-to-mouth CPR

The otter has made a full recovery and has been reunited with its family in the wild.

John Oliver has beef with Buc-ee's. It's led him to raise $500K to end hunger

The “Last Week Tonight” host has gone after the convenience store chain’s tendency to sue small businesses by opening his own “Buc Off” shop.