These are the people who give us hope in humanity. They run into burning buildings, confront dangerous criminals, repair power lines in the middle of the night, and perhaps worst of all, walk into classrooms full of children. Then, there are those who medically treat the people who do these jobs; and, let’s not forget about the regular folks who jump out of their vehicles to help when something horrible happens. These people deserve recognition for their actions. Reward rarely comes, and heroes never ask, but the least we can do is help them when they’re in need. This is an interesting and challenging part of this initiative—in the tunnel, it’s easy to find people telling fish stories about how virtuous their lives were before tragedy struck, so there’s a lot of research to be done when somebody goes full-on John Bubber. Most of the time, it’s not even worth a phone call, but sometimes—very rarely—and it’s hard to verify, we find ourselves in the presence of someone worthy of a little repayment for their selfless act. Maybe someday we’ll catch wind of an unsung hero living beneath the streets who deserves something beyond gratitude for their deeds. Rare as that would be, we’d hate to think a true hero would be passed by.

We also love the volunteers. Of all the groups of people whose efforts result in the betterment of society, those who do it simply out of the kindness of their hearts are our favorite people. This is not to take away from those who receive a paycheck—there’s no shame in feeding your family by doing something noble—we just want to acknowledge those who tread closest to the definition of altruism. Ironically, they would say they are the furthest from it, gaining far more than they could ever give.