Ruth Crane’s curly hair was one of her trademark features. So when chemotherapy for stage III breast cancer deprived her of her locks, she felt as if she was losing her identity, too. “My hair fell out and everything about my appearance changed,” says Crane, a mother of three who is from Granger Township, Ohio. “The transition was really tough.” But instead of dwelling on the toll that her treatments would take, she decided to focus on ways to help other women. Wearing jewelry allowed Crane to feel like her normal, girly self despite chemo’s effects on her looks, so she thought giving earrings to other patients would make them feel better, too.

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the October issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.

September 2010 Issue: Mary Tillman’s Private War

It is one of the defining stories of America’s long, heartbreaking war in Afghanistan. Less than a year after 9/11 and shortly after marrying his childhood sweetheart, Pat Tillman, 25, walked away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army’s elite Rangers, along with his younger brother Kevin. “Even though he loved football, Pat didn’t want to be part of some superficial game when there were people putting their lives on the line,’ says his mother, Mary Tillman, whose family saga is the subject of a riveting new documentary film, The Tillman Story. “I tried talking them out of it, but once I realized that wasn’t going to happen it was important that I support them.”

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the September issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.

August Issue: Made with Love

Darla Senecal had heard that children in Zambia need help but it wasn’t until she saw a talk show featuring Mothers Without Borders (MWB) founder Kathy Headlee Miner that she really understood why: There are millions of kids living in poverty there (more than 800,000 who lost one or both parents to AIDS). Inspired to take action, she told her friend Nancy Luke that the two of them had to find a way to pitch in. The prospect of making a difference in the poverty-stricken country definitely seemed daunting: Few of the children have access to the most basic necessities, like food, shelter, and clothing.

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the August issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.

July Issue: Beads That Give Kids Hope

One nurse has touched the lives of thousands of sick kids through a simple but powerful idea. Jean Baruch, a pediatric oncology nurse, was good at hanging IV bags and checking vital signs, but she had a harder time helping her young patients deal with the emotional effects of having cancer. “I wanted to encourage them to express their pain and fear, but I didn’t know how,” she says. “It was very frustrating.” She discovered a solution while working at one of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang summer camps. The camp, which hosts children and families coping with cancer and other serious illnesses, gave Baruch unique insight into how kids play. She noticed that campers of all ages love beading. They spend hours making necklaces and bracelets, then trade or share them with friends and family. “The kids wear the beads for days at a time, even in the shower,” she notes. “It seems to make them feel good.”

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the July issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.

June Issue: Suited For Success

Shara Mondy saw women totally turn their lives around while working with Dress for Success, the nonprofit group that provides clothes and career help to disadvantaged women, so she wanted to give men similar opportunities. In 2004 Suited For Success was born. “My guys get a complete outfit: suit, shirt, tie, socks, T-shirt, underwear the works,” Mondy says. But her vision expanded quickly. “I also wanted to make sure these men were the best candidates for the positions they were applying for,” she says. Because she has worked for years as a personal and professional development consultant, Mondy had the skills to coach her new nonprofit clients, too.

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the June issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.

May Issue: Giving Hope to the Homeless

When Terry Grahl, of Taylor, Michigan, was asked to lend her interior design expertise to the women’s dorm of a local shelter for the homeless, she was shocked at the rooms the women and children lived in. “It was so depressing,” says Grahl. The rusted metal beds were donations from a nearby prison and the tattered bedspreads were hand-me-downs from a nursing home. “Everything was broken. The carpet was torn and stained and the lights were busted,” Grahl recalls. “I just wondered, ‘How can these women go to bed and dream of a better future?’”

Click here to keep reading. Get even more Do Good stories in the May issue of Ladies’ Home Journal, on newsstands now.