There I was riding a roller coaster I did not remember buying a ticket for. I was told my daughter had Cerebral Palsy, Cortical Visual Impairment, and Epilepsy, and told to strap in and hold on. "Get me off this ride!" I shouted. As I came down the first hill, I lost not only my stomach, but my dreams for my daughter’s future. I closed my eyes in shock as the ride whipped me about. When I got the courage to open my eyes, I realized that there was someone in the seat next to me – another parent of a child with Cerebral Palsy.

I was a standard-issue kid, more or less, until I got bitten by the performing bug 5th grade or thereabouts and joined the school band - followed, eventually, by the orchestra and stage band. I toured with my own magic act for a while as a pre-teen and even contemplated a career in music before deciding that I might be better off in experimental psychology.

Hilda Brown, Founder and President of The Umbrella Project, a 501(c)3 global children's non-profit, is an ordained Interfaith Minister with a Masters In Spiritual Counseling. In the early 1970's, she taught Parapsychology and Healing at NY University and was active in the Humanities Community. Since 1990, her dedication has been to heal the children of the world through creativity. Like the umbrella her heart opens whenever there is a storm in the world.

When Ecleamus Ricks, 62, retired from a career in public service, his intent was to relax and do some farming. But the social challenges surrounding him in Macon, Georgia, were too big to ignore, and so in 1997 he joined the Macon-Bibb County Health Department as an administrator. Ricks used a comprehensive approach to address local poverty and its underlying contributing factors - teen pregnancy, health disparities, violence, and educational limitations.