Hope Is My Middle Name

Almost Heaven, West Virginia isn’t just coal mines and country roads. Called the Birthplace of Rivers, the state sits on the Eastern Continental Divide, where 40 rivers and 56,000 miles of streams provide drinking water for millions of people from the Chesapeake Bay out to the Gulf of Mexico. And yet, while West Virginia serves the country with her pristine headwater streams, there are entire counties in the state that have been on boil water alerts for years, with wells contaminated by coal mining and fracking, with no infrastructure for clean drinking water, with no funding, and no real plan. Compounding that are issues of food insecurity, poverty, and addiction. With limited access to well-paying jobs, education, and broadband, West Virginia’s population continues to dwindle, and it leads the nation in opioid deaths. Where is the hope for a place like West Virginia? It’s in the people, and it's in the water, according to Angie Rosser, West Virginia’s Headwaters WaterKeeper and executive director of West Virginia Rivers Coalition. As Angie says, “We're well-positioned geographically, resource-wise, to have this paradigm shift around what it means to develop natural resources [...] as something to preserve and hold up, as something we are the keepers of. You can experience this and it will make meaning for your life, your family, your connection to nature and the bigger world around us. So I'm excited about that and that’s why I'm not leaving. I'm staying here.”Join us for a delightful conversation on rivers, resilience, and restoration born in the hills of Appalachia on this season finale episode of HOPE.Learn more about Angie Rosser and West Virginia Rivers Coalition at https://wvrivers.org/If you liked this episode, listen next to Tim and Beth Reese: Building Small Town Resilience in West Virginia on HOPE Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 3. Follow Kate’s adventures through West Virginia on Made In America, now streaming on YouTube.com/ConsensusDigitalMediaConnect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

Terri Oyarzun can’t imagine life without goats. She grew up with goats, she met her husband out herding goats, and together they rescued 55 “Charlie Brown” goats and trained them to fight wildfires. Today, the 5,000 strong Goats R Us herd works with government agencies, universities, and communities to find innovative solutions for fire control and prevention, while advancing animal husbandry and livestock management in California’s increasingly challenging climate. “Fire season is twelve months out of the year now. The goats are protecting people. They're the four-legged firefighters of California.” Get ready for a fun and insightful conversation on goats–what we can learn from their many wonderful quirks and how they are helping us build a more resilient ecosystem.See Terri and her goats at GoatsRUs.comIf you liked this episode, listen next to Bayou Dave: Cleaning Up Trash to Save the World, Hope Is My Middle Name season 2, episode 7.Connect with Kate on instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

What do you do when your hometown has been ranked in the top 4 US cities most vulnerable to coastal flooding? If you’re Nancy Metayer Bowen, you run for office. And you become the first Haitian-American to be elected to office in Coral Springs, Florida. Now as a city commissioner, Nancy is hard at work, what storms may come – hurricanes, Imposter Syndrome, sea level rise – building a more sustainable future for her family, her community, and the rich and diverse ecosystem of the South Florida Everglades. Join us for a courageous and enlivening conversation on finding hope to outlast the storm.To learn more about Nancy and her work in Coral Springs, visit https://www.metayerbowen.com/ If you liked this episode, listen next to Transforming a Toxic Wasteland into a Wildlife Haven with Sally Sears on HOPE Is My Middle Name season 3, episode 3. Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

Out of prison and addiction into a full-time job with big-time responsibility, Kyle Wedge transformed his life in no small way, with the help of a whole host of folks who had faced that same hard recovery. Now, as Field Operations Manager at MaineWorks, he is helping people move from incarceration and addiction into aliveness and connection. Founded in 2010 by Margo Walsh, MaineWorks is an employment company offering support, structure, and accountability for people facing real barriers to employment, like felony convictions and substance use disorder, by providing quality, long-term job placement in the fields of construction, carpentry, masonry, roadwork, bridges, demolition, landscaping, and more.As Kyle says, “We can't define someone by everything that they've done in the past. The person that needs that second chance could be the most valuable person that you add to your company or team, because that person has hit all the pain in the world and they're willing to go to any lengths to be their best self.”Kyle’s voice is heartwarming, his story heart-wrenching, and ultimately– incredibly inspiring. Join us as he shares his perspective on the power of service, sobriety, and good hard work.Find out more at MaineWorks.us, and support the work at UnitedRecoveryFund.org Special thanks to Margo Walsh and to Sternman Productions, Tom Hildreth and Ian McCrudden, for clips from the amazing documentary, Hopeful: The Story of MaineWorks. If you liked this episode, listen next to Doug Naselroad: Building Instruments to Recover from Floods and Addiction in Appalachia. Connect with Kate on YouTube.com/KateTucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us! Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.If you or someone you know needs support now, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

Where’s your creek? Atlanta’s own Sally Sears asks, as she spills the tea on how she and her neighbors discovered an urban paradise, hidden in swaths of kudzu, swamped with sewage and asbestos, but there nonetheless, waiting for them to reclaim it. This is the story of Zonolite Park, an industrial wasteland abandoned for decades, declared a brownfield by the EPA, only to be rescued by a handful of locals who believed it could be done. From court battles to coordinated clean up, the people of South Fork Conservancy built a veritable wildlife haven between two major interstates. And it’s only the beginning… With five miles of pathway and three new public parks along Peachtree Creek, they plan to connect and restore 31 miles of thriving watershed. A lifelong journalist and co-founder and CEO of South Fork Conservancy, Sally shares her wealth of experience covering urban growth in the South. “When you can help a little thing like a creek, you start to see some of those intertwining connections that make for a much more rich life for yourself, as well as for the world around you, and you inspire other people to do it too. [...] It's a purpose. It's a unifier. We are not here alone. We are here as part of something bigger.”Learn more about the restoration of Zonolite Park at SouthForkConservancy.org And connect with Sally Sears on LinkedInListen to the podcast episode Sally referenced: Bayou Dave: Cleaning Up Trash to Save the World Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

When a young Alan Graham chided a homeless man panhandling next to a taco stand in Austin, he could not have imagined that 36 years later he’d be living in a vibrant neighborhood of formerly homeless people, a neighborhood that he built. In 1998, real estate developer Alan Graham launched Mobile Loaves and Fishes to help communities offer food, housing, and employment for neighbors coming up off the streets. What started out as one food truck and a mission to meet people where they are turned into a multi-million dollar operation with tens of thousands of volunteers who have never missed a night, delivering more than 6 million meals from their food trucks and lifting folks into permanent housing, jobs, and most importantly, community. Today, Community First! Village is a thriving neighborhood still growing to span 178 acres and eventually provide 1,900 permanent homes for people coming out of chronic homelessness, alongside those who support and care for them.As you'll hear, Alan didn't plan on dedicating his life to serving the homeless, but a twist of fate and a leap of faith changed everything for him and for so many others.For more on Alan Graham and Mobile Loaves and Fishes, visit mlf.orgRead Alan Graham’s book, Welcome Homeless Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic and please follow, rate, and review the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, it means a lot to us! If you liked this episode, listen next to Ron Pringle: An American Dream to End Hunger, from season 2, episode 2. Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

Kegan Hilaire was hard at work as a bouncer in Philly, with no plans to become an organic farmer. Until one day, he cracked open a pasture-raised egg with an impossibly orange yolk and he wondered, “Why is this egg so much better than the ones in the grocery store?”This is the story of a nightclub bouncer who found himself in the middle of a field with a handful of seeds and a dream to bring healthy, organic food to everyone, especially those who can least afford it. Today, Kegan Hilaire is the owner of Blackbird Farms, an organic vegetable farm in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, and as Small Farms and Diversified Vegetable Consultant for Rodale Institute, he’s helping folks start their own sustainable agriculture ventures. Kegan’s love for food, farming, and community is absolutely inspiring and he’s eager to share practical tips for how anyone can grow anything anywhere. To see what Kegan’s growing at Blackbird Farms, go to https://blackbirdfarms.square.site/And to learn more about how you can benefit from organic farming visit RodaleInstitute.org Connect with Kate on youtube.com/katetucker and instagram.com/katetuckermusic, and please follow the show and leave a review, it means a lot to us! If you liked this episode, check out Jon Turner: Veteran on a Life-Giving Mission (season 1, episode 2)Hosted and executive produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

Doug Naselroad says, “Recovery from a substance abuse disorder is not that different than recovery from a catastrophic disaster. It's a work that you're going to be doing for the rest of your life.” That understanding energizes Doug’s work helping people recover from addiction by teaching them to build stringed instruments. Doug lives in the small town of Hindman, Kentucky, which on July 28, 2022 was all but destroyed after severe rains caused the Troublesome Creek to rise into a thousand year flood. We heard Doug in a news interview as he stood in four feet of water trying to save 100-year-old instruments from rushing downriver, and it resonated that in the midst of utter disaster, people were working to recover instruments of song, of story, of Appalachian history, all the while holding on to hope. Learn more about Doug Naselroad and the Culture of Recovery at troublesomecreekguitars.com.This is the last episode of Season 2, but we’ll be back again next fall with more HOPE. In the meantime, connect with Kate Tucker on instagram.com/katetuckermusic and follow, rate, and review the show, it makes a BIG difference. Hosted and produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.

Bayou Dave, aka David Rivers, has a calling. It involves a whole lot of trash and a vision for a clean, healthy, vibrant world that his kids can grow up in. So every day, he goes out on Houston’s Buffalo Bayou on a big makeshift barge and picks up trash—167 dump truck loads every year. He’s been called King of the Bayou, and he notices every little shift in the ecosystem. To hear him talk about the return of the snakes, or the bald eagles—his delight is contagious and his commitment, compelling. To see Bayou Dave take on rivers of trash visit BuffaloBayou.orgConnect with Kate Tucker on instagram.com/katetuckermusicHosted and produced by Kate Tucker, Hope Is My Middle Name is a podcast by Consensus Digital Media in collaboration with Reasonable Volume.Please follow, rate, and review this podcast, it makes a BIG difference. Thank you!