It is Saturday and time to celebrate heroes in our midst. I feel very blessed. It has been a week filled with encounters with everyday heroes doing whatever they can to make a difference in the world. I was inspired by their courage and humility. I was deeply touched by their stories.

I am writing the Annual Report for an agency that provides affordable housing to Calgarians. In the course of my writing I have had the privilege to meet several individuals who exemplify what it means to be a hero. They soldier on in the face of life’s adversity. No matter what hardships life has delivered up they, speak from grateful hearts and continually give back. Chris, Sasha, Julie, Ed, Rose and John each touched my heart with their humility, their courage and their willingness to share their stories.

Chris, Sasha, Julie, Ed, Rose, John are heroes.

There are several agencies that provide affordable housing in our city who fulfill on their mission everyday to ensure people with disabilities and disadvantages have the opportunity to live in a safe, stable and supported environment. Without these groups whose commitment to taking care of their ‘brothers and sister’, there would be many more people lost to the streets, many more people living in fear.

Horizon Housing, Accessible Housing Society, and all those who take care of those who need support in taking care of themselves, you are heroes.

Craig Lester is committed to ensuring depression comes into the light. He wants people to know they don’t have to suffer in the darkness, there is hope. This week, Craig ran a five-part series about depression on 660 News and he organized a two-hour online chat to provide people with the opportunity to learn more. In sharing his story of moving out from under the cloak of depression, and making it possible for others to find the courage to share theirs, he is changing the world, one mind at a time.

Craig Lester is a hero.

At 28, John Christensen’s world changed forever when the plane he was piloting crashed and burned. Locked in his seatbelt, unable to escape until a man came to his rescue, John feared for his life. Since the accident, John has been in a wheelchair, but it hasn’t stopped him from making a difference. Today, the 72-year-old is a beacon of hope for disabled people all over the world. In 2003, a trip to Vietnam opened John’s eyes to the plight of individuals for whom lack of government support amidst the ravages of disease, insufficient medical services and the after-effects of war have left people of limited mobility struggling to get around. Inspired by his journey, John created, Global Disability Foundation (GDF) a not-for-profit committed to ‘distributing mobility devices globally to those in need’. GDF rebuilds and refurbishes wheelchairs destined for the junk heap and delivers them to third world and emerging countries whose governments to not have the social services necessary to serve people in need. Thousands of individuals whose mobility was determined by the willingness of  someone to carry them, or their strength to drag their bodies across the ground by use of their hands and arms, are now able to regain dignity and mobility through the use of a functioning and comfortable wheelchair from GDF.

John has also written a book, The 13th Rope,  about his life journey. I started reading it last night when I returned from an evening at the symphony, and I quickly became engrossed. What an amazing human being.

John Christensen and Global Disability Foundation are heroes.

Who are the heroes in your world? Have you celebrated their brilliance today?