Good People with Kelsey Timmerman

Americans associate a piece of chocolate cake with guilt. The French associate it with joy. American culture has a broken relationship with food, how we talk about food, diet culture, weight, and health. Kelsey and Jay are joined by Claire Moorman (Jay's daughter!) to help us sort it all out. Claire is a registered dietician who helps people have a healthy relationship with food.

Giving shouldn't be transactional, it should be transformational. Kelly Shrock, president of the Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County, joins Kelsey and Jay to share info on community foundations and Donor Advised Funds. Does Jay hoard his money at Gringot's? Does Kelsey know anything about the tax code? Why is 1 out of every 9 community foundations located in Indiana? Kelly brings the answers for all of our questions.

Pam Mandel left suburbia for a lifetime of travel when she was only 17. She writes about her early travel days in her new memoir THE SAME RIVER TWICE. Pam joined Kelsey and Jay to chat about hitchhiking, travel, questioning intentions while doing good, the time she went to the airport to help a refugee, founding a nonprofit, and, of course, jamming in a ukelele rock band.

Seren Fryatt didn't want to tape ankles the rest of her life. She quit her job to volunteer internationally with Mercy Ships. In Liberia she was recruited to play professional soccer. She saw what the sport meant to the women on her team and its potential to be a force of positive change. Eventually she founded L.A.C.E.S., an NGO that works to create a sustainable, replicable model of community development using sports as a tool to reach at-risk youth and empower their local communities.

Eric Henry’s T-shirt business and North Carolina community were turned upside down by NAFTA. Ever since, he’s focused on the triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit. Eric is a champion for his community, cooperatives, chickens, electric cars, local economies, farmers, and now he’s seeking to represent all of these interests in the North Carolina House of Representatives.

In the summer of 2019, a violinist stood up at a city council meeting in Muncie, Indiana, and expressed concern over a factory that was coming to town. A local reporter wrote a story about the meeting. That story was passed around to concerned citizens who started asking questions. A few weeks later more than 1,000 people showed up at the courthouse protesting the Waelz Sustainable Products factory. A factory that would likely be the #1 polluter of airborne Mercury in the nation. Ultimately the billion-dollar corporation left town. Kelsey talks with Josh Arthur, a local pastor, and Bryan Preston, a county employee, who were both in early on the action. This is a two-part episode. On this episode we discuss the build up to the 1,000-person protest and what happened at the city council meeting . . . it was like something out of a movie.

In the summer of 2019, a violinist stood up at a city council meeting in Muncie, Indiana, and expressed concern over a factory that was coming to town. A local reporter wrote a story about the meeting. That story was passed around to concerned citizens who started asking questions. A few weeks later more than 1,000 people showed up at the courthouse protesting the Waelz Sustainable Products factory. A factory that would likely be the #1 polluter of airborne Mercury in the nation. Ultimately the billion-dollar corporation left town.

What does an economy of living within the means of our planet look like? Welp, according to economist Kate Raworth it looks like a doghnut. Kelsey and Jay are joined by John Motlotch and Scott Truex of the Sustainable Communities Institute for a discussion on Raworth’s TED Talk.

For kids, “The System” doesn't work in the best of times. And during a time of global pandemic, there are even fewer supports. Psychologist Janay Sander joins Kelsey and Jay to discuss how best to support kids facing traumatic circumstances.

Kohl Crecelius believes that jobs matter almost more than anything. He has helped lead the modern movement integrating social good and business, as he founded Krochet Kids and KNOWN SUPPLY. Kohl joins Kelsey and Jay to discuss Fair Trade, B-Corps, and how his journey started with crocheting.

Victoria Milko has reported from health clinics in rural Bangladesh, protests in the streets of Myanmar, and refugee camps in Thailand. She joins Kelsey & Jay from her apartment in Jakarta to discuss the global impact of COVID-19, the importance of journalism in today's society, and her path to becoming a Southeast Asia-based science reporter for The Associated Press.

Live from Patagonia! Kelsey tells Jay about his experiences visiting with the Arhuaco, an indigenous group in Colombia. This is Kelsey's first update from the road while researching his new book about regenerative agriculture.

Drop a quarter into a turnstile and you can cross from the U.S. into Mexico. Easy. The reverse journey is much more difficult, especially for immigrants searching for a better life. Scott Truex, who has spent his career learning and teaching about sustainability and community development, talks to Kelsey and Jay about his recent visit to the Mexican border and the infamous wall.

To be good you have to feel small. Kelsey and Jay discuss transcendent moments and what astronauts, meditators, and monks can teach us.

Give a man a fish? Teach him to fish? But what if he doesn’t want to fish? What if he wants to open a store, or sing, or be mechanic, or a pilot? Joe Huston, The CFO of GiveDirectly, joins Jay and Kelsey to discuss giving money to the poor and the positive ripple effects it makes in a community. Show notes at: kelseytimmerman.com/GiveDirectly

Kelsey and Jay discuss corporate social responsibility and launch their 2020 presidential bid based on a platform of no taxes but forced giving. #TimmermanMormon2020

Happy Halloween! Not a full episode here, but a snack-sized story of the time I spent a night alone in Castle Dracula in Romania.

Roger Grein wouldn't be alive if not for the gifts of others. Against many odds, Roger has paid it forward. As the founder of Magnified Giving, Roger now encourages high school students to give.

Olivia Alaso, while growing up in Uganda, was told "white is right." White people visited her hometown and brought candy and "solutions." But then she went to college and became a social worker and begin to question the structures that elevated white people and suppressed Ugandans. She's a founder of the #NoWhiteSaviors Instagram account and organization. She joins Kelsey and Jay to share her experiences and views.

Kelsey and Jay discuss Kiva's microlending model and Kelsey's experiences in Bangladesh and Cambodia.