Many people who work for airlines get the benefit of traveling for free or at a discount. Some of those people use the benefit to be ambassadors of goodwill around the world. Eddie Smith is one of them. He retired from American Airlines but now volunteers his time with Airline Ambassadors International.
Smith and other ambassadors gather and hand deliver humanitarian aid to children in need worldwide. They fly standby which means they travel for free or at a discount but have to wait for an available seat. Smith told me about his travels to Jordan and Dominica. "We took wheelchairs to some kids who were poor. They never had a wheelchair and so we assembled them, taught the parents how to operate them and the smiles on their face..Elated," Smith said. Airline Ambassadors also escort children here to the US for free. They come from poor, foreign countries and need to come to the US for medical care or adoptions.

Airline Ambassadors has more than four thousand...

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25 years is a long time to be in a demanding, often high stress job. But for Dr. Carol Klein it's also been 25 years of joy and reward. Dr. Klein treats the uninsured and people with other barriers to health care at Carrboro Community Health Center.

Dr. Klein is the longest serving physician in the history of the 36 year old organization. The health center is federally-subsidized. However, the largest population is the uninsured. They're seen on a sliding scale based on their income. Most of these patients have little or no income, so they qualify for the lowest charge, which is a flat fee of $20.

Director of Clinical Services Ann Zellmer said, "our doctors aren't getting rich! To stay here for 25 years you have to be mission to the bone - committed to the belief that everyone deserves affordable, quality health care." Zellmer also said if you ask Dr. Klein's patients what's so special about her they would say, "she's so nice" and "such a good doctor."
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Many teenagers have jobs, that's not unusual. What is unusual is teens working for free. A group of computer students at Sanderson High School in Raleigh work after school repairing and updating old, donated computers. The students then sell the computers at a deep discount, around $200. They don't keep a dime. They give the money away in scholarships to fellow students. For students who can't afford to buy one of the deeply discounted computers the students will provide one for free. "We're doing it because we want to help the community and because of that we want to give scholarships to people who need it for college", said freshman Kyle Johnson. Senior Bob Riddle has learned so much he was able to get a summer job at a technology company. "I've learned much more about hardware issues", he said. So far the students have awarded two 500-dollar scholarships and donated at least six computers. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?! If you have an old computer to...

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Chad Bullock can't stand smoking. He says his grandfather died from a smoking related illness and his grandmother can't quit the habit. The 17 year old is on a crusade to keep teens from picking up smoking. The Durham teenager went after big tobacco. Chad and other teens did surveillance of stores and found Brown and Willamson's 2004 Kool Mix marketing campaign was mainly in black neighborhoods. The ads used hip hop images and music. He wrote Attorney General Roy Cooper and helped spark a lawsuit by several state Attorneys General against the company. The ads were pulled. Now Chad is trying to get Golden Corral to go smoke free. "I'm in a project now where I'm working to get Golden Corral to adopt a smoke free policy. I've contacted the CEO of the company and talked with him on the phone a few times and through letters and we're just thinking of some strategies to use to approach this" Chad said. Leaders at the Question Why Youth Empowerment Center say Chad is fearless. "Chad...

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Rap music, basketball, and drawing are just hobbies to a lot of teens. But Willisa Covington believes they kept her away from gangs, drugs and alcohol. Now, she's using what she's learned to make an extraordinary difference in the lives of younger kids.

The Enloe High School senior conceived the idea and is now planning a fundraising concert that she will headline. Covington will donate a portion of the proceeds to one of her greatest loves, The Raleigh Boys & Girls Club. She has been an active member for 11 years.

"The Boys & Girls Club teaches you good morals and values, so you can have the strength and integrity to say no to drugs, to alcohol and violence," Covington said.
Covington said without the club, life probably would have been different. Now, she volunteers there. "I mentor and tutor the kids. I help them with schoolwork, learn how to surf the web," she said. "To hear Willisa come in and see kids acting up and say this is not the place...

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