Born in China with a cleft palate, Jessica Carscadden was left at an orphanage, where she was put in a room to die. But Jessica was adopted by a California family and given the many surgeries she needed. Throughout those painful procedures, she held onto soft, comforting plush toys. Despite a remaining speech impediment, and a shyness about talking to strangers, Jessica goes all over her city, asking for donated plush animals and taking them to fire and police departments so they can be given to traumatized kids. www.wecarebears.com

Ghettos are dead-end places for kids if there's no way to move up and out. Brazilian favelas are dangerous, no-hope places-- until kids find their way to Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, founded and run by Anderson Sa (left) and Jose Junior (right). Once favela kids themselves, Sa and Junior are now world class musicians who could have just walked away. Instead they've stayed their ground, against drive-by shootings, arson, and constant threats from the drug cartels, who do not like Grupo's programs to help favela kids become dancers, musicians, and teachers rather than drug runners and users. www.afroreggae.org

Donna Busche was the Manager for Environmental and Nuclear Safety at Washington State's Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Doing her job, she found serous safety hazards and informed her superiors. They ignored her findings, demoted and harassed her. When she was called to testify before the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, her bosses told her to falsify her reports. She wouldn't; she was fired. Busche is suing, not just for her own reinstatement but for the safety of the millions of people who could be harmed by hazards at this installation.