6 Inspiring Stories to Get You Through the Week

By B.A. Morelli
(Sponsored by Grape Nuts)

Did you hit the pre-weekend wall? Well, here's some inspiration to kickstarting the rest of your week. 

For more than a month now, Patch and Grape-Nuts have teamed up to present stories about your neighbors, neighbors who have faced challenges that would seem insurmountable to many of us. But not to the people we've featured in this series, Journeys.
Not surprisingly, the stories have generated dozens of comments on Patch and on Facebook: 

"Great story..." 
"Thanks for sharing..." 
"So wonderfully inspiring..." 

And, so, here they are again. Great stories shared to inspire. Take a look at what these people have faced. Then click on the story to see their responses. And hopefully it puts things in perspective as you try to grind out the rest of the week.

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Iowa Principal and Cancer Survivor Shares His Journal: When it comes to encouraging others, David Welter is an open book. After learning he had cancer in 2009, Welter, principal of Holmes Jr. High in Cedar Falls, started a journal — one he shared publically in the form of a blog. Welter hoped the journal he called “Reflections from the Home Team,” would inspire optimism and comfort in others struggling with cancer. 
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Iowa Breast Cancer Survivor Continues to Inspire a 'Crusade': Four years ago, Katie Mangan was still reeling from the shock of finding out she had breast cancer. Today, she can say she, her friends, and her family have helped 21 families face similar news. 

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Matt Shankles Responds to Bullying with Advocacy: Matt Shankles, a Marion resident, has faced bullying, depression, and self-hatred. When Shankles’ eighth-grade classmates learned he was gay, some harassed him. In response, Shankles decided to speak out as an advocate for bullying victims, including starting the Twitter account “linn_mar_love” to counter bullying remarks with supportive, positive tweets.

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Monte Halferty Connects with Nature by Keeping Trails Clean: Surrounded by tall trees and glittering creek water, Urbandale resident Monte Halferty feels he’s part of nature. But fast food bags and other trash don’t fit into his picture. So, he travels local trails in his wheelchair picking up litter to keep the place he loves beautiful.

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Iowa Middle School Principal Strives to Help Depressed Students: No student with depression should struggle alone, according to Brian Carico, the principal at Johnston Middle School. And, were his vision of success to pan out, he believes fewer would. After the death of both his father and son to suicide — the former in 1999, and the latter in 2012 — Carico made it his mission to help teachers recognize when students with mental illnesses need care and support. Earlier this month he lobbied for a bill before the Iowa Legislature that would require teachers to train in suicide prevention and trauma-informed care. 

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An Iowa Woman's Honesty Raises Mental Health Awareness: It was a harrowing story, but Sherri Sinclair told it. Last fall, Sinclair spoke out after the death of her daughter, Kelli Sly, and her grandson, Gavin Sly. Kelli killed Gavin, her son, and then died by suicide. Prior to her death, Sly showed signs of depression. By telling Sly’s story, Sinclair hopes to raise awareness of mental health-related issues in her community of Waukee, Iowa, and elsewhere. 

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Tell Us: What’s the Biggest Challenge You’ve Ever Faced? 

About this column: We’ve dedicating the past few months to telling the stories of people locally and statewide who have overcome the impossible, affecting positive change in their own lives, or in communities. Sponsored by Grape-Nuts.