Thank you for the "Making a Difference" feature on the Nightly News. We come away with a feeling of hope for the good in humanity rather than despair for the evil. It gives us a reason to watch.

Thank you so much for "MAKING A DIFFERENCE". How powerful the "good" is in such a "bad" world. Please keep delighting us with these stories often!!

Making a difference?? At this point, I can't think of anyone mor deserving of this honor that Houston Mayor Bill White. He was just reelected by a 90% majority, so that speaks of how his constituency views him. He's at the forefront of the "Urban Heat Reduction" efforts, (green advocate, white-roof and greenery-topped roof adherent), the controversial mandatory towing program on Houston freeways, and many other issues confronting the nation's fourth largest city.
However, where he made a BIG difference to the Nation as a whole, and the Gulf States in particular, was his (and County Judge Eckels) swift reaction to the plight of Katrina victims. And he continues to do so.
Some Rita evacuees are a little annoyed that they aren't being offered some of the same benefits, like free housing for a year, etc. I am a Rita evacuee, but didn't want to live in Houston (nor Dallas or San Antonio) so I have no beef with him. (Hunt County, Texas offered some of the same benefits to Katrina victims, including rent, medical care, furniture, etc. but not to Rita evacuees, because as the judge in charge said at the time "Sorry. We have no authorization for Rita, and may never get it." I haven't checked back with him. I didn't want to live in an apartment, and was unsure that the program extended to houses. I only went to him because a Real Estate Agent insisted that I do so!)

So all programs are not equal...so what?? I could leave and relocate (not that I wanted to, but felt pressured by the circumstances..I couldn't go back...there was no power and none expected for 6 to 8 weeks. I was in rental housing where I'd been for 5 years. I loved my life, home, neighbors and landlord.
However, I had to place my babies, (two small dogs in an SPCA Pet Haven (foster care) program in McKinney, Tx. (near Dallas) in order to search for a new home for us, to go to Lake Charles during "Look & Leave" and retrieve such of my belongings as I could, (at great cost in effort by friends and family and at a great price to a senior citizen, both in $$$ and in the emotional swamp of making a quick decision and a "radical" move, not near friends and family.

We're getting there. But a more positive effort by other Mayors or County officials or whomever, might have allowed a move nearer to more of my family and friends. I selected the best one open to me at the time. I had to think about how I'd pay for higher rent and utilities here vs. there in 6 months or a year. The Mayor of Houston, Bill White, gave the folks in Houston more time to adjust, mentally, physically, emotionally and financially. We are all suffering from PTSD to one degree or another. My case is very mild, but I'm sure that I will continue to second-guess my decision for a long time to come. Until a few more connections to the new community are made, and even after, I will miss my life in SWLA, though I am an East Texas native, and worked in Texas mega-cities for many years before retirement.

For my own personal reasons, the ones expressed above, and for the many New Orleans residents for whom Harris County, Texas offered a new, possibly better way of life, I think Bill White should be profiled on "People Who make A Difference". Oh, sure, there were problems in the Rita evacuation. One bus full of evacuated seniors caught fire and burned to the ground near Dallas, and there were unexpected results in evacuating 4 million people..highways tie-up for hours, no fuel, people stranded on the side of the road, etc. But for whom would you vote to "get it right next time"??? I'm betting on Houston, Mayor White and the surrounding counties! I just hope that next year, the residents listen and leave again. I alsmost didn't " Run From Rita" (from past experience with hurricane evacuations). Katrina put me in the car> I drove it to North Texas, thank God and the mayor of Lake Charles, La., Randy Roach. He's a better leader than Ray Nagin, but he also learned from Katrina and ordered a mandatory evacuation on 9/22. Rita destroyed Cameron Parish and devastated Calcasieu, Vermillion and several other parishes. Mayor Roach also has less money to work with than other Mayors. The City had extended themselves helping Katrina victims, before their own tragedy took place and they did a marvelous job of it. However, his metropolitan area is 200,000, not the 4 million Mayor White deals with on a daily basis.

With all the discussion of separation of church and state the last few years, may be the state needs to take a good look at some of the religious organizations and there effort and efficiency in helping victims of Hurricane Katrina. One example is of the Jehovah Witnesses. There were posed to go in to the hurricane zone with supplies and aid days before the hurricane struck and then there were at ground zero nearly two full days before the National Guard arrived.

The series is a wonderful idea and should — to borrow from the first paragraph — "inspire" people. An argument can be made that the truth of human achievement offers a television audience access to the thinking that leads to strategic action. The "good news" of which Brian Williams spoke can promote economic growth and political change.

Certainly, the Maasai are benefitting economically from the work of the children and the inspiration of their teacher. More than good feeling will come from a story like the one that begins the series if viewers become involved in expanding the impact of achievement by focusing their attention and the attention of NBC News on strategic action. Imagine what other children could do with a story like the one that launches the series. Some kids may choose to help children who have lost their homes and schools to a natural disaster like Katrina.

New media technology will make possible endless opportunities to learn from the examples of people who are "making a difference." I hope that the people of NBC News build a digital library of television clips that offer an ever larger audience the opportunity to learn how their contributions can take other forms to produce even greater impacts on the lives of people in need. Mr. Murrow would be pleased.

Two thumbs way up on bring something nice to end your show. I know you couldn't give the info on torture but thats ok. The word is out anyway. I like smiling for a change.

Hi,
I just saw the piece on Making a Difference and though I should tell you about Sustainable Harvest International. Started by Florence Reed, this amazing organization is teaching sustainable faming techniques to communities in South and Central America. Read more about them at:

http://www.sustainableharvest.org/whoweare.cfm