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What hope is there for children of women who are addicted to drugs? Or homeless? Desperate? They get so absorbed with their misery that they don't pay much attention to the baby they are carrying. Or maybe they care but their lives are so messed up they don't know what it's like to love another human being anymore. We can only give what we have. Speaking of giving, nobody does it better than Martha Ryan, a registered nurse who founded Homeless Prenatal Program. The idea behind it is to help end the cycle of childhood poverty. To read more about Martha Ryan visit www.thextraordinary.org

For Nicholas Lowinger, having a comfy pair of shoes is as important as having just the right size of clothing. Shoes can be a source of embarrassment and can trigger bullying. A good pair of shoes can motivate a person to go out there and mingle, confident and comfortable in his/her footwear. At five years old, he gave away shoes he had outgrown. But shoes that don't fit defeat the purpose. So when he was only 10 years old, he founded Gotta Have Sole, a foundation that gives away new shoes that perfectly fit kids and teens in homeless shelters. To read more about Nicholas Lowinger visit www.thextraordinary.org

Elizabeth "Liz" Murray's childhood was riddled with drugs, alcohol, and poverty. It's the kind of childhood that corrupts and molds a problem citizen. Fortunately, Liz did not turn out like her parents. She strove to break the cycle of hopelessness that ran in their family for generations. Despite being homeless, Liz completed high school in two years, won a New York Times scholarship, and made it to Harvard. Now, she inspires people as a motivational speaker and chairs her own company, Manifest Living. As soon as her life got better, she reached out to those who need help.

Narayanan Krishnan is a social worker and philanthropist who is most famous for being hailed as one of the CNN Heroes of the Year in 2010. A person filled with service and compassion, Narayanan is the founder and current head of the Akshaya Trust, a non-profit organization focused on feeding the homeless, poor and mentally ill, giving them free haircuts, and providing homes so they would not need to stay on the streets.

The power of compelling "story" and the ability of such story to go viral via the social web Also a testament to the importance of story in a presentation (Garr Reynolds, The Naked Presenter)