Merry Christmas! Yes, yes, we know it’s at least Jan. 3 if you’re listening to this, but in celebration of the 12 days of Christmas, on today’s show BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill shares 12 BUZZ highlights from 2025 in anticipation of even more BUZZ here in 2026.

We’ve gone back through the nearly 40 BUZZ episodes and BUZZ Live! shows we produced in 2025 and selected these 12 moments that highlight nonprofits that engage in everything from Black history, animal welfare, refugee and immigrant opportunities, Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities, poverty, literacy, unplanned pregnancies, and so much more.

It’s what we love about nonprofits: they literally do everything! Merry Christmas!

Something wicked this way comes on today's Buzz4Good. On Nov. 6 Radford University hosts The Wicked Festival in which hundreds of students grapple in public presentations with our world’s wickedest problems. BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with Paige Tan, Radford University political science professor and festival director.

Michael also share some "sneak listens" to two new episodes of the TV show BUZZ starring the nonprofits Greater Williamson Road Area Business Association and Elimisha Kakuma. Elimisha is the Swahili word for "educating." Kakuma is the name of a refugee camp in Kenya that is home to 300,000 people who have been forced to flee war and violence in their home countries. Why are we buzzing about Elimisha Kakuma? If you’re a Virginia Tech Hokie fan, you will want to listen.

Today BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about On Our Own of the Roanoke Valley, a nonprofit drop-in center that strives to improve the quality of life of people with mental health/substance use issues. We speak with executive director Robin Hubert, who knows all too well the need for such a place as she struggled for years with depression, alcohol abuse, and attempted suicides.

Michael also bids farewell to a real buzz4good, Brent Pry, now former head football coach of Virginia Tech. He was featured in our 2023 BUZZ show starring The Hokie Way. He is a class act and a great representative of not only Virginia Tech but Southwest Virginia as a whole.

On today's Buzz4Good, creator and host Michael Hemphill is buzzing live from the historic Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg, Virginia, to feature the inspiring people who serve, and are served by, the Blacksburg Refugee Partnership.

Blacksburg Refugee Partnership is an organization run entirely by community volunteers who believe all humans have the right to a safe, peaceful, happy home. They connect displaced families to the resources and ongoing support they need to successfully plant roots here in America.

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about the Athena Leadership Award, given by the Roanoke Regional Chamber that celebrates women who have achieved the highest levels of professional accomplishment while giving back to their communities and actively investing in the success of future leaders.

Today Michael chats with the three finalists – all exceptional women who helped build BUZZ – about leadership:

• Melissa Woodson, executive director of RAM House and the star of one of our first episodes we produced in 2020.
• Renee Brown, President and CEO of DePaul Community Resources, who has previously appeared on this show.
• Becky Freemal, who generously served as host of our pilot BUZZ in 2019 and this year helped launch BUZZ Live!

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The United States has more than 1.5 million nonprofits — from homeless shelters, food banks and rescue squads to children’s choirs, science museums and animal refuges — that employ one out of every 10 Americans. Like any company, nonprofits have salaries and bills to pay, a budget to balance. They require money. And if enough people don’t know about them, don’t believe in them, don’t support them — in short, if they lack BUZZ — they suffer and die.

On today's Buzz4Good creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about Melrose Plaza, Roanoke, Virginia’s new neighborhood center, which held its grand opening on July 31. The project, which began as a community conversation and research study, is now a transformative community initiative led by the nonprofit Goodwill Industries of the Valleys.

Hundreds of people from across the Commonwealth of Virginia helped cut the ribbon to the one-of-a-kind Melrose Plaza, which includes a wellness center, grocery store, cafe, adult high school, bank, public library and African-American history museum. Its mission is to revitalize a once-prosperous Black community decimated by urban renewal.

Listen to the inspiring leaders who have brought Melrose Plaza to life.

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F A C E B O O K ➜ http://facebook.com/buzz4good​​
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L I N K E D I N ➜ https://www.linkedin.com/company/buzz4good
Y O U T U B E ➜ http://youtube.com/c/buzz4good
W E B S I T E ➜ http://buzz4good.com​​
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The United States has more than 1.5 million nonprofits — from homeless shelters, food banks and rescue squads to children’s choirs, science museums and animal refuges — that employ one out of every 10 Americans. Like any company, nonprofits have salaries and bills to pay, a budget to balance. They require money. And if enough people don’t know about them, don’t believe in them, don’t support them — in short, if they lack BUZZ — they suffer and die.

This week BUZZ was privileged to shine a light on an aspiring nonprofit, Blacks In Technology of Southwest Virginia, as we broadcast live the art, history and promise of its Juneteenth Celebration.

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about two inspirational nonprofits that help people live better and die better.

DePaul Community Resources works to improving the lives of children, families, and individuals with developmental disabilities. Meanwhile, Spirit’s Rest offers comfortable housing and around-the-clock compassionate care and support to hospice patients and their families during their end-of-life journey.

Here are Michael's conversations with Caroline Stanfill, founder and executive director of one of Spirit’s Rest, and Renee Brown, president and CEO of DePaul Community Resources.