Jeff Sovel works to get the word out about making donations to the hungry.
"GMA's" AmeriCAN series focuses on ordinary people committing extraordinary acts of kindness and bravery.
In challenging times, it's sometimes hard to be optimistic, but across the United States, there are people who focus on the greater good by helping their neighbors, friends and community.
CLICK HERE to tell Chris Cuomo what AmeriCAN means to you and to share stories of the people stepping up in your community, and CLICK HERE to follow Chris Cuomo on Twitter and share your AmeriCAN stories.
In Chicago, Frank Boyd helps keep kindergartners at Carver Elementary a little warmer by collecting money to buy new coats for a classroom full of students.
"To not have a coat in Chicago in the winter is not good for anyone ... and a kindergartner ... you know, we've got to give them a chance," Boyd said.
Kaitlin Brill, 8, and her friends at St. Christopher's in Buffalo, N.Y., started a club to help hungry kids. They sold painted rocks, and gave the money to charity. On Brill's eighth birthday, she donated all her presents to a children's mission in town.
"All ages can help," Brill said. "It doesn't matter how big or how small you are, you can change the world."
David Nagel of Bethlehem, Ga., told "Good Morning America" about his mother, Pheadra Spencer, who provides free child care for parents who have recently lost a job.
"She's been there before, and she knows how hard it is to come up with the money every single week to pay for day care, when she can give it to them for free so they can get back on their feet," Nagel said. "If everyone just donated 10 minutes of time every day, you know, we'd be in a better place."
The Loeckens are AmeriCANs truly going the distance.
They traded their 4,500-square-foot home for a 340-square-foot RV.
The family of six took to the open road on a mission, leaving behind a life of wealth in suburban Atlanta.
"I think we thought that the more we had and the more we owned, the happier we would be, and it was never-ending," Beth Loecken said. "And it ended up taking life more than it ended up adding to our life."
The family focused their efforts on desperate areas, added her husband Jay. "We decided to travel with a purpose, and so everywhere we would go, we would serve in rescue missions and homeless shelters around the country," he said.
It's a mission that they call crazy love in action. Dad is in the driver's seat or working as a traveling mortgage broker in his RV office, while Beth homeschools their four children, Ben, Bekah, Abigail and Noah.
"At first, I thought, oh, we are just crazy. We're going around the country in an RV, but then I got used to the idea," Bekah said.
So far, they have covered 35 states, traveling from shelter to shelter. The family has volunteered to do everything from crushing cans for recycling to painting walls to serving food. "It's interesting to see how people light up when they see a family coming together, just to see their eyes because they can look at somebody like little Noah," Jay said. "The hardest of the hardest people, they'll give a smile or a glimmer in the eye when they see Noah serving in the line."
Beth embraces the new ties the family has forged during the journey, "when we connect with people and we feel as though we have known them our whole life, and we are side by side and doing life for a little bit together," she said.
One of the new friends they've made along the way is Efraim Ramos, a homeless man from New York who's beginning to rebuild his life at the Bowery Mission.
"I think we appreciate it more that people just take the time," Ramos said. "That makes you feel like you are a regular person. Because you have regular people coming in with smiles on their faces, feeding you food, and they don't want anything. They just want to have a conversation and that's it. It doesn't get any better than that."
For the Loecken family, it doesn't get any better either.
"As a family we have grown closer together. We've also seen a lot of poverty and so we have just gained gratefulness and a richness in our lives that we didn't have before," Beth said. They are living their new American dream, serving one American neighbor at a time as they make their way across the country.
"There are opportunities all around us," Beth said. "It looks different every day, every moment, but you just have to keep your eyes open and see needs, whether they are physical needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, whatever it is, just be willing to give of yourself."
For more information, visit the family's Web site.
Aug. 26, 2009: Amazing AmeriCAN Updates:
We introduced you Krissi Fajgenbaum, the North Carolina teen who came up with an innovative way to help teens in need.
Knowing how important clothes are to teens - especially when they're going on college interviews - Krissi launched "Teens 2 Teens," which runs clothing drives and then sets up stores for teens, run by teens, where the clothes are free.
Since we brought you this story, Krissi has launched a website called Teens 2 Teens, which has garnered tons of donations and shares information on how kids around the country can start their own "Teens 2 Teens" stores.
Earlier this month, we told you about Jose Munoz, better known as the "Angel of Queens."
"GMA" learned about this story from Toan Lam, the creator of GoInspireGo.com and Huffington Post blogger.
For the past four years, Munoz, a New York City bus driver manages to prepare hot meals for those in need every night, making the food in his kitchen and often footing the bill. It's estimated that he was cooked and served 70,000 meals, many of them on a broken stove.
Philanthropists Debbi Spungen and her brother Glen were so touched, they flew in from Chicago to surprise Jorge with a donation of a new stove and refrigerator. Not only that, but A local appliance store, Len Harris, Inc. installed everything for free and threw in a gift of a microwave.
Aug. 20, 2009: 'Cash Man' Feeds the Hungry
Jeff Sovel, from Wixom, Mich., is a computer network specialist by day. But his alter-ego, "Cash Man," is a hunger-fighting superhero whose mission is to inform people how to make smart donations to help the hungry.
Sovel delivers his message with humor while dressed in a cape and muscle suit. He turned his car into a moving billboard, with "CashFeedsMore.com" emblazoned on the side.
Sovel's goal is for people to donate cash instead of cans, because food banks can stretch dollars to provide more meals for the hungry.
His message is simple: Donate a can and you feed one person. Donate a dollar and you feed 20 people.
Sovel says that if 10 percent of donors switch from giving cans to giving the same value in cash, three times as much food would be available to feed the hungry.
Aug. 6, 2009: An Angel in Queens
Toan Lam, GoInspireGo.com creator and Huffington Post blogger, sent "GMA's" Chris Cuomo a tweet about one special AmeriCan — a Queens, N.Y., bus driver who spends half of his weekly pay check to feed the needy.
Four years ago, Queens school bus driver Jorge Munoz saw a restaurant throwing out food. He knew that food was not something to be wasted when so many people in his own neighborhood were going hungry.
It inspired him and Munoz decided to feed the hungry himself.
Now after working 12-hour days, he begins his "second job," collecting food from churches and pantries. This is in addition to donations to his Web site.
CLICK HERE to read more.
July 30, 2009: Wes Higgins Feeds the Less Fortunate
Wes Higgins is a retired logger who runs a sort of back porch pantry for the poor. His thriving grass roots food delivery program is in rural Dixie County, Fla.
Higgins, who lives on a fixed income, has built a system of giving that now operates at 15 churches and distribution centers. It stretches from his porch in Old Town, Fla. across Dixie County and all the way to the gulf coast.
It feeds needy families in the rural area, which has been hit hard by poverty. Some pockets have an unemployment rate reaching 19 percent.
A dependable delivery for so many, Higgins has helmed the operation almost single-handedly until recently when his wavering health held the feisty 78-year-old back.
But in true AmeriCan spirit, neighbors and friends stepped in to help. Unable to drive, Higgins now gets a lift from neighbor Stan Struthers.
Together they travel Florida's country roads, to make pick-ups.
July 9, 2009: The Wounded Warrior Summer Water Sports Festival
Flip Mullen is a retired New York City firefighter who is giving back to those who have given their all for their country: servicemen and women injured in Iraq. Working with the Wounded Warrior Project, Mullen has started the "Wounded Warrior Summer Water Sports Festival," an annual weekend of activities celebrating the vets' service with parades, dinners and watersports in the water off Rockaway, Queens. Mullen has set up host families for the military families to stay with, and he hosts a block party in his neighborhood in honor of the "wounded warriors."
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Wounded Warrior Project. June 17, 2009: The Diaper Bank Helps Families One Diaper at a Time
When she was a social worker, Joanne Goldblum was shocked to learn that some of her clients were re-using diapers, because their state assistance did not cover this basic need for babies.
"You would see kids in diapers that you know they had been wearing all day, and the day before," said Goldblum, a mother of three who lives in New Haven, Conn . "And I saw parents empty diapers out and put them back on. Or leave diapers out to try to dry them out so they use them again."
In 2004, Joanne started the The Diaper Bank (TDB) -- a nonprofit agency in Connecticut that provides diapers to families in need -- with her own money, storing the diapers in her living room. Now, TDB provides over 200,000 diapers monthly to poor and low-income families in New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford through a distribution network that services health, child welfare and community agencies.
The economic downturn has led to a decrease in donations, and TDB has had to limit the number of diapers it can give to 50 diapers per child each month. Still, Joanne and the Diaper Bank are marching on, helping other towns and cities start their own Diaper Banks so no parent has to think twice about changing their child's diaper.
"I think that people who have the ability to make a difference should," Goldblum said. "And so, I feel very lucky that I can do that."
"GMA" is donating 5,000 diapers to help Goldblum in her mission. To find out how you can help, CLICK HERE.
June 10, 2009: AmeriCANs Save Youth Baseball
Greenfield, a town of about 5,000 in southeast Ohio, has been hit hard by the economic downturn.
Preparing for widespread unemployment -- and reduced tax income -- the town slashed its budget, reducing the funds for all the extras. The funds for youth recreation were slashed by 75 percent, but the man who oversees the recreation commission, local businessman Fred Everhart, refused to let the children of Greenfield go without summertime sports.
Everhart enlisted a group of fathers and a grandfather to find a way to keep baseball alive for the 450 boys and girls, ages 5 to 15, who participate in the program.
Calling themselves the "Gang of 9," Everhart and the men organized the town's grass-roots effort, taking over the groundskeeping of Mitchell Park, scheduling all games during the day to save on electrical costs and volunteering to umpire the games. They held raffles, rummage sales and fish fries to raise extra funds.
The story garnered national attention and donations started coming in from all over the country, as far as Alaska and Hawaii.
July 15, 2009 update: Greenfield has been chosen by the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes "Renovate a Field" program, which will help rebuild the playing field. The Columbus Clippers -- a nearby minor league team -- is pitching in with fundraising. And everyone in the Greenfield Little League will be the guests of the Cincinnati Reds at a game on August 16.
May 22, 2009: The Storehouse of Austin
Eight years ago, Sandra Cochrun lost her job, and her husband Jack's business was failing. The Pflugerville, Texas, couple burned through their retirement savings and found themselves at a food pantry.
"Jack and I never thought about doing this," Sandra Cochrun said. "I never thought about the poor until I became one."
"We didn't have a nest egg; we spent our nest egg," she added. "Looking back, I think that was God's plan for us."
When they finally found work at a storage center, the former evangelical ministers made a special request to owner George Castleberry to give them space in a storage unit to open their own food pantry, which is now called the Storehouse of Austin.
Find out more and make a donation at the Cochrun's Web site: http://www.thestorehouseofaustin.org/
May 29, 2009: Teens 2 Teens
16-year-old Krissi Fajgenbaum of Raleigh, N.C. was inspired by Diane Sawyer's special on the children of Appalachia special and the soaring unemployment in her state to start "Teens 2 Teens," an effort that partners teens from financially stable areas with teens whose families are struggling. It started when Krissi organized a clothes drive in her community and sent the donations to Robbinsville High School, where students were in need. The kids from Robbinsville now run "Krissi's Kloset," a free students-only clothing boutique.
Krissi says she has gotten "tons" of e-mails from people saying they have donations for her. The key part of the drive will come this fall, when the big shipment will go out to those in need. She is also working on getting other private schools in the area to partner with other schools in need.
May 13, 2009: N.Y. Doctor Comes Out of Retirement to Give Free Healthcare
While Congress debates health care, Dr. Lloyd Hamilton came out of retirement to set up a free medical clinic for the uninsured in Nyack, N.Y. A church donated his office space. The equipment is donated too. By the way, Hamilton is 81, but doesn't plan on slowing down.
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