All Stories

As a doctoral student in archaeology, I lived and led excavations near remote villages. Every evening, after the work was done, I would spend time ...

For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with mental illness. It got worse in my early 20s. All my friends used drugs and drank and, before long, ...

I was born and raised in Loudoun County and my parents taught me to treat everyone with respect. At 16, I volunteered to work at a camp for children ...

As a boy growing up in Egypt, I always dreamed of living in the U.S. When I was in my late 20s, I won a visa lottery that allowed me to follow that ...

I lost my son, Ryan, to suicide. He had been bullied from a young age and struggled fitting in socially because he was different. One day, life just ...

Music saved my life as a kid. Fleeing a terminally destructive household, I found church and church music. I learned how to sing and play the piano. ...

I grew up in a middle-class home where giving back was just routine—a part of daily life. My Mom, a cook at a local restaurant, made sure that no one ...

  I was in my mid 30s and pregnant with my first child when I went in for an echocardiogram. I knew something was wrong the minute they put me in ...

I moved into Loudoun County in 2003, and I have been a deputy sheriff here since 2005. In 2010, my middle child began having serious health issues. ...

My son Mason was 2 years old when he started to bang his head against the wall—all the time. I took him to many doctors and therapists, and they all ...

I was literally one day away from death when my adoptive mother rescued me from a local hospital in Central America. After high school, I moved to New ...

I started my nonprofit career working with people struggling with HIV/AIDS. This work opened my eyes to the many and diverse barriers that often ...