Serving Stories – Serve the City International

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.