Chris Cuomo recognizes several people who went out of their way to help others.
"GMA" is launching a new series focusing on AmeriCANS — 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 embody the AmeriCAN spirit. They rise above their current personal circumstances and focus on the greater good by helping their neighbors, friends and community.
Do you know an AmeriCAN?
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.
Click here to submit your AmeriCAN story.
We find them in every corner of the country — the stories we love to tell, and the ones we need to hear about people going above and beyond to help out those in need in these hard times. They're AmeriCANS, like the contractor in Ohio hired to tear down a house but who instead fixed it up so a homeless veteran had somewhere to live.
Or the Florida State University students who raised $100,000 so their professors could keep their jobs, or the California dentist giving free cleanings to the unemployed.
Examples of the AmeriCAN spirit are all around us.
And it's not just the haves helping the have-nots. It's also people who've known hard times returning the favor.
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.
"This is a chance to share what we have, because you never know: Next week it might be you," Sandra said.
Do you have more information about this topic? If so, please click here to contact the editors of ABC News.
