Serving Stories – Serve the City International

"You have the chance to become part of something bigger than yourself!" This is what Professor Xavier told his team of X-Men. And it is what Serve the City project leaders guide their volunteers towards on a regular basis, as they enable their teams to serve successfully.In Part 1 of this double episode, we meet Mahmoud and Andrea, two project leaders from Serve the City Brussels. We hear their backstories — Mahmoud as a Syrian refugee and Andrea as a corporate volunteer — and how, as they support the others they lead, their leadership is also supported. This story from our founding city is part of our celebration of Serve the City's 20th anniversary this month!

While at the Amsterdam City Exchange, Nate Kohler from Serve the City Paris did not just to make friends and exchange best practices in volunteering. He tells us in this episode how his new friends stepped up to support him with a crisis that happened back at home.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

If you've ever been to Amsterdam, you know how they love their pancakes... and their bikes. In this episode we hear from Willem Dieleman, a volunteers with Serve the City Amsterdam, who has combined these twin Dutch passions into one creative serving project.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

When mighty heroes, each actively doing good in their own domains, unite as a force for the world... that's when amazing things happen! We see it with Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and the rest of the Justice League... and we see it as Serve the City communities worldwide work together for global good!In this episode, we hear how initiatives like the Global Volunteer Day, STC Forums and City Exchanges are bringing together change-makers from all around the world to work together as friends for transformation.

In these two little stories about creating beauty in the surroundings of people in need, Carlton Deal, the founder of Serve the City, emphasizes how simple projects can move the needle in people's lives... and help them perhaps to see their own beauty.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

When a multinational corporation and a values-based volunteering non-profit team up to use their unique superpowers to benefit the world... then they can truly become superheroes! In Part 2 of this exploration of the partnership between UPS and Serve the City, we see how it has moved from simply local community engagement to growing global impact.We see how the UPS Foundation has helped to start a new chapter of Serve the City in Cologne, upskill migrant workers in Dubai, and open the Impact Coworking Cafe in Paris. And we also see how STC works with UPS in their mission of delivering pathways to empower resilient, just, and safe communities around the world.

Giving time to volunteering can change the course of your life! That's what happened to Nicolo Sgrava, the representative for the UPS Foundation in Europe. In this story, Nicolo tells us how volunteering around the world led him into his present job, and how he sees volunteering benefiting his UPS colleagues.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

"When someone acquires great power, the use or misuse of that power is everything." These are the words of Professor Xavier to his X-Men, mutants who are normally feared by people for their unusual abilities. And these words could equally apply to big corporations in our cities.But as corporations demonstrate corporate social responsibility through community involvement, they build trust as they contribute to their cities. In this episode, we see how partnership between the global transportation giant UPS and Serve the City has employed the unique abilities of each to benefit their cities and amplify their impact... together.

This heartwarming story comes from our very first podcast episode, set at a Community Dinner in Lisbon in April 2019. A young volunteer came up with a creative way to support the Community Dinners, that also caused people often treated as worthless to see the dignity in themselves.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

Serve the City Portugal is well-known for its Community Dinners, events where volunteers eat a three-course meal at well-set tables alongside marginalized people from the streets. In this re-issued episode—our very first—we see the magic of creating community through treating people with dignity. Even though this episode was recorded six years ago and some of the personnel have changed, the Community Dinners continue to be a flagship project in all the cities in Portugal where Serve the City is active.

Early on, Serve the City had to learn the lesson that people in need were also people with something to give! Shannon Deal, the producer of Serving Stories, tells how a group of Afghan migrants in Brussels helped teach us the valuable lesson that volunteering is for everyone—no matter their situation.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can share with others.

Everyone knows that Batman's personal trauma—seeing his parents murdered in front of him—was what motivated him to become a superhero. And we too can transform the suffering we have gone through into compassion and action for others.In this episode, we explore how asylum seekers and refugees might become star volunteers, as they grow through their pain to reach out to others. In Cork, Ireland, we accompany volunteers on their first steps of friendship towards refugees. And we also meet two refugees who have found fulfillment—and a vocation—in serving their cities.

Sometimes when a person is stuck, they will accept help from strangers even when they refuse it from their family. Ronan Coffey of Serve the City Ireland tells us the story of cleaning out the house of a person trapped in hoarding and the amazing difference they were able to make, in a story called, "The Kindness of Strangers."Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

"This looks like a job for Superman!" When someone is stuck in an impossible situation they can't get out of alone, that's when Superman—or a team of volunteers serving like superheroes—is needed to help them make a new start!Whether it is cleaning up the garden of a disabled man, or decluttering a hoarder house, volunteers from Serve the City Ireland offer hope through helping people who have become trapped under burdens they could not shift to see a new way forward.

We usually think of volunteering as doing something which benefits others. But in this SHORT Story from Melinda Means of the STC Berlin team, we are reminded that when we volunteer, we are often the ones who benefit! We call this story: De-Junking Your Heart.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

“I never thought I would be able to do this stuff—but I can. Anyone can wear the mask.” This is what Miles Morales, the young Spiderman mentored by Peter Parker, says as he launches into his new role. And when you have this kind of support as a young person serving your city, it just might be that you discover your vocation while being mentored through volunteering.At the Community Kitchen in Brussels, Belgium (a Serve the City partner), we found out how being mentored while volunteering can change the course of a person's life... whether they are a teenager in a youth group, or a vulnerable person living on the streets.

When you hear the doorbell ring... you may be called to help save someone's life. In our previous episode we met chaplain Annie Bolger, from Serve the City Brussels partner, the Community Kitchen. Today, she encourages us about the importance of keeping doors open.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

When the Avengers assemble as a team, their united superpowers far surpass what each hero could do alone! And when Serve the City partners with other associations to make an impact on the city, the results are similarly impressive! In this episode, we visit the Community Kitchen, a close partner of Serve the City Brussels, to learn how the teamwork between the two is impacting the hungry people of the city. And we see how more superhero partners continue to join the team...

Everybody—really everybody—can make a difference when it comes to the environment. In this story from Serve the City Lisbon, Andre Mar and Austin Silva Mota tell us about how residents of a homeless shelter decided to go green.Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

Peter Parker was just an ordinary guy from Queens till he was bit by a radioactive spider. But the abilities that gave him—combined with compassion—turned him into the "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man." In the Philippines, a few ordinary people are also combining their compassion with their abilities to do some extraordinary things in their neighborhoods. The secret to neighborhood transformation is to connect concerns for both people and place. In this episode, we will hear about some innovative initiatives—not just in Manila, but also in Luxembourg, Lisbon, and Ulan Bataar—that are doing just that!

Small things done with love make a BIG difference! In this story from Serve the City Berlin leader Christine Thumm, we hear about three little acts of service that had a big impact. Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

While many of our Christmas carols are about getting cozy with loved ones by the fire, "Good King Wenceslas" is about going out in the snow to deliver food and fuel to a poor stranger seen out the window. In this episode, we see how, like Good King Wenceslas, volunteers are venturing out at Christmas time to share generously with those who are in need. We visit STC Berlin, where volunteers, together with elderly people, are wrapping packages for refugee children. And we hear about multiple other initiatives around the world where people have looked out their windows to see who else might need a helping hand this Christmas.

Ever wonder if the small things we do to serve others at Christmas make a difference? Carlton Deal, founder of Serve the City, tells a story of discovery that kindness need be no bigger than a shoebox. Serving SHORT Stories alternates with our regular-length episodes, to serve you bite-size bits of inspiration you can also share with others.

A superhero always strives to clean up their city... but these volunteers are taking that task literally! Join Serving Stories host Ani Deal as she leads a Trash Tour in Amsterdam, and discover innovative environmental projects in Luxembourg and Wavre, Belgium.

Serving SHORT Stories are mini-episodes that you can devour quickly and share with others! In this episode, Shan from STC Gold Coast in Australia, shares a story of how two small stones helped heal a difficult situation.

When Wonder Woman was told it was impossible to cross No-Man's-Land, she said, "But I'M going to do it!" Today we meet some wonder women from Serve the City Australia, who are persisting in starting a volunteer movement in their cities, despite obstacles. They want to encourage you too to just keep on going!

Serving SHORT Stories are mini-episodes that you can devour quickly and share with others! In this episode, Ingeborg from STC Maastricht in the Netherlands shares a story of hope that started with just making a hand-lettered card.

Every superhero has to contend with supervillains who menace their city. As volunteers, we too must stand up to villains such as poverty and instability, fighting them with kindness rather than force. In this episode, STC Kenya leaders tell us how they are standing against the villains of gender-based violence, destitution, and ignorance in their cities.

First Serving Short Stories episode! Carlton Deal, Serve the City founder, tells how a setback on the very first STC event turned into a catalyst that started the movement.

"Every superhero has to go through a moment when they have to examine and choose. Will they choose a path that Will I choose a path that follows my own desires, or will I choose to live a life that serves and helps others around me?" This moment of choice for a superhero is known as their ORIGIN STORY. For volunteers who choose to serve their city, their origin story is also an important part of the motivation that sends them out to serve. In this episode, we talk to STC founder, Carlton Deal, and three of his friends to find out what in their story compels them to serve.

Loneliness is one of the top mental health issues in cities—one touching people of all ages and backgrounds. Serve the City Maastricht, responding to their city's crisis of loneliness with hope, has introduced the Noah Friendship Platform. The team matches individuals with potential friends based on common interest and personalities, and host events where new connections are the goal. Whether you cherish a love for cats or an interest in sword fighting, there is hope for a friend to share it!

Who doesn't hope to be seen for their talents rather than their limitations? When four teenage girls from Amsterdam embark on a voyage of volunteering, they overcome the perceptions of themselves as "learning-disabled" and demonstrate abilities that inspire hope in all of us. And when a group of physically-disabled people in Kosovo step up to lead volunteer projects, we see that those we often perceive as beneficiaries have enormous potential to inspire others as they contribute to their community.

There's a line in every city that separates... and in Mitrovica, Kosovo, that line is a bridge. Serbs stay on one side and ethnic Albanians on the other—unless they just happen to be volunteering together with Serve the City, crossing the line with love. Volunteers at a Big Volunteer Weekend in Mitrovica tell us about what loving across the line means for them. And they also put it into action by crossing the line into the Roma community, building relationships for good with a widely marginalized people group. Love knows no boundaries!

A Big Volunteer Day gives the chance to spread love around a city! Every month, Serve the City Peninsula volunteers further multiple projects in a disadvantaged community in Newport News, VA, in the USA. As we accompany them on projects ranging from Bingo with the elderly, to Valentines for families facing hardship, to building a greenhouse for an urban farm, we discover how persistent love builds trust and community between people of every age, race and background.

The two most multicultural cities in the world are Brussels and Dubai (Belgium, UAE). People move there dreaming of opportunity... but what happens if opportunities fail to materialize, or when it is time to go back? Meet Marie and Karen, two ladies who help other women find the courage to dream new dreams in these cities... and also one more who has succeeded in making her dream come true. Marie Bennett relates how a Serve the City partnership in Brussels helps migrant women vulnerable to exploitation find courage to envision a new future in employment through volunteer experience. And Karen Ramirez Marine describes how Serve the City Emirates partners with the Sri Lankan Consulate to upskill women returning to their country after serving as guest workers in Dubai. You will be inspired by their courage... and that of the women they work with.

Violence in Haiti has again become world news. And in the midst of chaos, the Serve the City Haiti team continues to serve with courage, addressing the roots of the crisis. In this Serving Stories episode, we explore how Serve the City Haiti volunteers have been trying to address the root causes of this crisis, working on the very issues that have fed the rise of gang rule. We hear about projects with enslaved and abandoned children, as well with as single mothers living in poverty. The fight for their country's future is ongoing—but their perseverance in courage is inspiring.

Bonus episode! Ever wondered about the people behind the list of names as the end of our podcast? Our Serving Stories production team introduce themselves, and discuss their own experience of serving the city, as well as their favorite episodes!

Cead mile failte: an Irish phrase that means "a hundred thousand welcomes." That is what Lucy Alexia Dube wants to offer new migrant parents coming to Ireland. Having been a refugee herself, she compassionately supports them in the midst of cultural transition—and sometimes prejudice—through STC Ireland's Cairdeas (Friendship) program. Come meet a lady numbered among the "Top 50 People to Watch in 2024" by the Irish Times.

Let's combat compassion fatigue! On the 2nd anniversary of the Ukraine war, Nikita and Artur, two refugees in Krakow, recount their stories—and how kindness became contagious for them.

Safi Ebrahim and Peter DeWitt, of Serve the City Paris, lay out for us how compassion can change the trajectory of the life of an immigrant. And Safi should know, as he himself came to Paris as a refugee from Afghanistan! He shares his journey of finding first the means of communication, and then a door to community, as he encountered Serve the City volunteers and became one himself. Be inspired by the stories these two remarkable people helpers as they recount the changes in people's lives, nourished through kindness.

What if giving gifts to those in need could boost self-respect instead of creating dependency? Saint Nicholas understood this when he gave money anonymously to an impoverished family to supply dowries that would allow their three daughters to marry and have a future. And Serve the City volunteers step in St. Nicholas' stockings—not just on Christmas, but throughout the year—when they recognize that people in need are also people who have something to give to the world. Maybe they just need a little help in being able to realize this potential. The two stories we bring you this Christmas week demonstrate this Saint Nicholas principle, of giving that empowers vulnerable people to give back to their community. The first is a real Christmas story, where Serve the City volunteers gave a gift TO Santa, and the second a tale of marginalized women given the opportunity to take initiative in their own impoverished community. Whether in Luxembourg or Nairobi, the path of Saint Nicholas is one we can walk all year!

In Krakow, Poland, as in many other big cities around the world, respectable people pretend the homeless person they pass on the street is invisible. There are, the respectable feel, so many reasons not to respect the man sleeping on the bench: alcoholism, lack of a job, grubbiness, asking for handouts. And if he doesn't seem to respect himself, why should they? So they pretend blindness... until it turns out that the man on the bench has frozen to death in the winter cold. In this episode (originally recorded in December 2020), we listen to a Christmas story from Krakow in which volunteers relate their experiences of deliberately seeing those who are usually invisible, and of how offering respect to those trapped in shame can change their lives. Many people living on the street exist cut off from their families, ashamed of what they have done or who they have become. As Brené Brown says, "Shame corrodes the very part of us that believes we are capable of change.” But in these stories, plus another short anecdote from STC Brussels, we learn that shame can be abolished and relationships restored as people are given respect instead of judgment.

It's pretty easy to volunteer when you feel like the task you are doing is big and important. But when the job seems mundane and messy—maybe even smelly—some volunteers might hesitate. In Serve the City, however, volunteering with humility means we are not too proud to do the little things, and to clean up things that are are dirty. And this includes not just dirty streets, but dirty bits of history that pollute our cities.  This episode contains three stories from three continents in which people doing small, humble things together are making a big difference.  Our first story, from Lusaka, Zambia, features a massive crowd—including some people who might be considered too important for such tasks—who work together to clean their streets. In Berlin, Germany, the site of our second story, volunteers go down on their knees to clean, not just the streets, but a city's memories of persecution. And in Hampton, Virginia, in the USA, volunteers put their backs into paying respect to some long-dead residents who were not respected in their lifetimes.

Turns out: Randy Newman had it wrong. Short people have lots of good reasons to live! In this episode, focused on volunteering with Humility, we ask: Do you have to be big to do great things? We met with the shortest members of the Short family (the kids) to find out, and to ask them about their experiences and insights from serving. And along the way, we also meet their parents and other families from the core team of Serve the City South Jersey in the USA and find out what they think. Turns out, there's a lot of reasons to want those short people round here! These interviews, made in 2020, are  from our archives and unpublished. But even though the Short kids are taller now, we think their insights at the time have something to teach some of us tall people about serving with humility.

"Small people doing small things together can make a big difference." Meet Lucy, the 11 year old daughter of the Serve the City Baltimore director, Erin. Lucy has been volunteering for half her life in a variety of projects—including some on the mean streets of the inner city. She and her mom share with us how the humility of a kid serving others can make a big difference. This unpublished interview, recorded in 2021, was too good not to share with you.

When we encountered the Short kids in southern New Jersey (USA) last year, they showed us that Short people have lots of reasons to live… and lots of ways to give! In this episode, we discover how a few families coming together to serve their cities—with lots of kids of all ages—is motivating other families […]

"Small people doing small things together can make a big difference." Meet Lucy, the 11 year old daughter of the Serve the City Baltimore director, Erin. Lucy has been volunteering for half her life in a variety of projects—including some on the mean streets of the inner city. She and her mom share with us how the humility of a kid serving others can make a big difference, now and in the years to come.

“Respect is given, not earned.” In this episode of Serving Stories, we travel to Krakow, Poland to see how volunteers are showing respect to the homeless this Christmas season. We also voyage to Brussels, Belgium and Nairobi, Kenya to explore how service is giving self-respect to people in need. Welcome to our second season in which we will be exploring the six values of Serve the City-humility, compassion, respect, courage, love, and hope- as they play out in Serving Stories around the world.

For the year 2020, Serve the City chose as their theme, "Kindness Starts with Me." Little did they know how the events of this year would draw on the creativity of volunteers in showing kindness! In this episode, we hear stories from around the world (Geneva, Newport News, Nairobi, Accra, Paris, Luxembourg and South Jersey) about how they have seen a viral spread of kindness as a pandemic was being contained.

It's been a more than a good idea to stay inside during the COVID outbreak in Brussels— it's the law. But some residents have found that there are some important humanitarian reasons to venture out in the streets, motivated by compassion that fuels their courage.

As we revisit the first four cities in Season 1 — Lisbon, Chesapeake, Berlin and Tallinn — we find out that agility is everything. In each city, we discover how the expertise, partnerships, and concerns developed in everyday volunteering are being adapted to show kindness in this crisis—and the touching stories that result.