Buzz4Good! Nonprofits + Marketing

On today’s show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill introduces a new segment, The Angel Effect, which is being produced in partnership with Angels of Assisi. Based in downtown Roanoke, Virginia, Angels of Assisi is a nonprofit Community Pet Clinic & Adoption Center whose mission is to create a world where every pet in our community gets the care they need and a home they deserve. So we kick off this new segment with a conversation with executive director Lisa O'Neill and development director Carol Jessee.

And just a few hundred feet down the road from Angels of Assisi is...

On today’s Buzz4Good, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about … bread! Specifically the nonprofit House of Bread, based in Roanoke, Virginia, that helps women who are struggling to overcome a past of addiction, abuse, incarceration and other challenges by teaching them to bake bread alongside a caring community of volunteers. House of Bread is holding its first annual Bake Off fundraiser on Sept. 19. Listen as Michael talks with House of Bread program coordinator Lisa Goad.

We also share some of our newest BUZZ television show that stars Calfee Community and Cultural Center, a revitalization of an h...

Today’s show is yet another reminder of the breadth and depth of the powerful work that nonprofits do to build better community for us all.

If you have a garden you know it’s almost harvest time, so BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill shares a conversation with Mo McGonagle, director of the Roanoke Foodshed Network, about its work strengthening our region’s agricultural ecosystem that now includes a Food and Farmers Trail.

We also share a nonprofit engaged in the historical preservation of an iconic Roanoke, Virginia landmark, Fishburn Mansion, aka Mountain View, and a new co...

On today’s show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about the power of POWHR (Protect Our Water Heritage and Rights). 

Whenever nonprofits have to go up against big for-profit companies it’s often like David vs. Goliath … but with David lacking any stones for his sling. But recently a Southwest Virginia environmental nonprofit used its power to successfully stymy – for now at least – construction of a massive 25-acre, 136,900 hp compressor station that Mountain Valley Pipeline wanted to build in a rural section of Montgomery County. 

Michael chats with POWHR community organizer Crystal Mello – who prefers to des...

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about one of his favorite days of the year, a day that celebrates more than 130 nonprofit organizations in the New River Valley of Virginia: GiveLocalNRV kicking off at noon on June 24 and ends noon on June 25. It’s a 24-hour fundraising marathon coordinated by our good friends at the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, which seeks to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the nonprofits that serve the NRV. To talk about the day and its impact, Michael chats with Community Foundation assistant director Lindsey Gleason-Reed.

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On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill talks with the founder of SHIELD Chaplaincy amidst this week's tragic killing of Carroll County Sheriff’s Deputy Logan Utt. Just before Utt's May 29 shooting death, the nonprofit SHIELD Chaplaincy reached out seeking some buzz for its work helping law enforcement officers throughout the Roanoke area handle the trauma and stresses of their work so that they can better serve our communities and their families.

Listen to our conversation with Darren Potter, founding chaplain of SHIELD Chaplaincy.

On today’s show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about Commonwealth Catholic Charities ... specifically its vital role welcoming to our communities some of the most incredible and inspiring people you’ll ever meet, though they're increasingly under attack by our very government: immigrants and refugees. 

Michael chats with the nonprofit’s Khalefia Dungee, volunteer extraordinaire Beth Ruffing, and Samim Noorzad, whose amazing journey from his native Afghanistan to Roanoke, Virginia, is sure to uplift you. Learn more about an upcoming CCC event for which Michael is providing some ... buzz!

On today’s show BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about about college … and the unaffordability of it for too many high school graduates who are getting ready to walk the stage this month and receive their diplomas. Thankfully some nonprofits have stepped up to work on this issue, and we speak with two that are headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia: Project Discovery and Friends of the Blue Ridge!

Conflict is natural, but can be painful, so on today show's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with Chelsea Cleary, program manager of The Bridge Institute, a nonprofit resource center that provides mediation and restorative justice for individuals, families, neighborhoods, and businesses in Roanoke Virginia. 

In increasingly unsettling times, The Bridge Institute helps people resolve conflict and create healing. Listen to Chelsea's  personal journey of family trauma, and her tips on how to bridge challenging relationships in a world that increasingly seeks to divide us.

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about food ...  specifically a Roanoke, Virginia nonprofit dedicated to supporting farmers and fresh, local food for all: the Local Environmental Agriculture Project, aka LEAP. 

LEAP is celebrating another milestone – a harvest if you will – on April 14 when it cuts the ribbon to a new $250,000 pavilion at its West End Farmers Market. Michael chats about that and all of LEAP’s incredible projects and program with executive director Maureen McNamara Best, a true buzz4good.

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about ... beds! Specifically a nonprofit founded in Idaho that builds and provides free beds for low-income children: Sleep in Heavenly Peace. Luke Mickelson founded Sleep in Heavenly Peace in 2012 in his garage. Today, it's a $25 million operation with more than 400 chapters throughout the U.S. and world, including here in Roanoke, Virginia.

Michael was buzzing to connect with Luke because of his nonprofit’s mission ... and, unbeknownst to Luke, the impact that Sleep in Heavenly Peace had on creating Buzz4Good! Not only does Luke share his founder story, bu...

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about Defending Democracy, founded in Blacksburg, Virginia, in response to what organizers say is the increasing authoritarianism of the second Trump administration. Michael chats with Virginia Tech professor emeritus Jim Bohland, and asks how Virginia Democrats' redistricting effort squares with Defending Democracy's mission. Regardless of your political affiliation, you'll want to listen.

This week BUZZ also began production on a new episode starring On Our Own of the Roanoke Valley, a drop-in center in Roanoke that is open 365 days a year for people struggling with addiction and mental health...

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about SML Gives Inc. SML stands for Smith Mountain Lake and the nonprofit SML Gives Inc. works to fight, poverty, hunger, and homelessness for the impoverished families and individuals living around the otherwise relatively wealthy lakefront property communities. Michael talks with founder, executive director and president Joey Donovant, who has an incredibly inspiring story to share about his own personal journey through addiction and pain that led him to found the nonprofit.

We also share our newest BUZZ episode highlighting the incredible work that has been done in...

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about two very different nonprofit educational institutions that are sure to tug at your heart, hopefully your wallets, and that nearby box of tissues to wipe away a tear from your eye. Michael talks with two parents from the tiny Noah-Christian Academy in Salem, Virginia that works with PreK through 2nd grade children who have struggled in traditional schools. 

And he visits with the nonprofit Masterpiece Alliance, which provides community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Masterpiece Alliance has formed a new partnership Shepherds College, a first-of-its-kind college i...

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill is buzzing about Black History Month. 

A couple of weeks ago we premiered our newest episode starring Harrison Museum of African American Culture as it moves into its new home at Melrose Plaza in Roanoke. Here we share the audio of that episode hope you’ll go to our YouTube channel to watch it in its entirety. Or better yet, go visit the museum for yourself!

Speaking of Black History Month, our next new BUZZ stars the Franklin County NAACP, which recently unveiled a new statue in Rocky Mou...

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 l...

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 wh...

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 c...

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:

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 ur...

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.

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill isn't buzzing today in his adopted state of Virginia or his homestate of Alabama, but way out in Montana and Washington to highlight a special nonprofit that is connecting prison inmates with the outside world … through art. How they got connected with Buzz4Good way across the country – and more importantly the heart-breaking, soul-healing work they do – is the subject of our conversation with Cyrus Lee.

Cyrus already had a heart for prison ministry when his son was convicted of second degree murder and began serving a 20-year sentence in Washington State Penitentiary. Cyrus...

We're buzzing about an incredible and inspiring arts project opening June 1 at a new nonprofit arts space in downtown Roanoke, Virginia. It features portraits of 10 of the city’s most iconic citizens, from Dick & Dave of the Q99 Mornin’ Show to Mayor Joe Cobb and former Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Agee. 

Today, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill talks with the founders of the nonprofit arts space, Art on 1st, and shares the inspiration behind the exhibit from its creator, Whitney Brock.

We also share portions of our newest BUZZ that aired on public television this week starr...

Reflecting on our newest shows highlighting nonprofits, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill has to ask:

We discuss these thoughts and more in today's Buzz4Good as w...

Today BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about a Blacksburg, Virginia nonprofit that provides hope to walk for thousands of amputees around the world. 

Appropriately named Hope to Walk, the nonprofit in May hopes to travel to Ukraine to provide prosthetic legs to some of the estimated 100,000 soldiers and civilians, women and children, who are now amputees because of the war. Listen to our recent BUZZ Live! that featured its cause and need for $15,000 to fund its trip.

We also share a clip from our newest BUZZ TV show that stars the nonprofit Masterpiece Alliance, which p...

In today's episode, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with Lisa Lietz about the upcoming SML Gives Day when 36 different nonprofits hope to raise $200,000 to better serve Bedford and Franklin counties in the Smith Mountain Lake area of Virginia. We also share a recent BUZZ Live talk show that features one of these Franklin County nonprofits, Healing Strides of Virginia, along with Apple Ridge Farm and the inspiring story of a cancer survivor turned internationally touring banjo player.

BUZZ is proud to present a new 30-minute talk show called BUZZ LIVE! that’s designed to be “The Tonight Show for Nonprofits!"

During the show – which we live-streamed to our Facebook and YouTube channels and later broadcast on Blue Ridge PBS – BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with the inspiring people who serve, and are served by, nonprofits in Roanoke, Virginia ... along with a musical guest affiliated with a local nonprofit!

February 6, 2025

Franklin County NAACP’s “Raising the Shade”
Musical Guest: Bryan “Harvest Blaque” Hancock
Masterpiece Alliance‘s Scott Habeeb

To kick off Black History Month, we are buzzing about Melrose Plaza in the historically African-American community of Northwest Roanoke. It's located in a once thriving Black neighborhood that was decimated in the 1950s and 1960s by discriminatory redlining and eminent domain.

Last time on our show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill talked with E.B. Smith, the new executive director of the Harrison Museum of African American Culture, which is considering a move from downtown Roanoke, Virginia, to Melrose Plaza.

Today Michael chats with Zenith Barrett, vice-president of advancement at Goodwill Industries of the Valleys...

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill chats with E.B. Smith, the new executive director of the Harrison Museum of African-American Culture in Roanoke, Virginia. E.B. Smith just started the job at a moment of exciting transformation for the museum, which Is committed to promoting, showcasing, and celebrating the art and history of African Americans for Roanoke Valley citizens and visitors.

Today we're buzzing about Masterpiece Alliance, a Roanoke, Virginia nonprofit with a mission of building community for adults with intellectual disabilities. BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill speaks with Scott Habeeb, who founded Masterpiece AlliancA in part to help people like his daughter who struggle to make friends and find social connections once they graduate from high school. One place where assume they can find community is the church. But as Scott shares, that’s often not the case for a variety of reasons, and his organization has created an upcoming conference designed to fix that.

Are you a no...

It's beginning to sound a lot like Christmas! In this episode of Buzz4Good! creator Michael Hemphill shares the recent Christmas concert by the Smith River Singers of Martinsville, Virginia – an incredible nonprofit community choir that we featured this fall on an episode of BUZZ. 

On December 9, 2024, the Smith River Singers celebrated its 10th annual Christmas concert by performing "The Messiah" by George Frideric Handel. In celebration of the holiday season we present highlights of the concert, which began with three contemporary Christmas anthems performed by the Smith River Singers' small group, Still Water.

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about coffee in today's Buzz4Good! Specifically, coffee from a Roanoke, Virginia, establishment that is brewed and served by adults with intellectual disabilities. A few years ago, Beth Woodrum founded Chris’ Coffee and Custard to help individuals like her son, Chris, who has Down Syndrome, find meaningful employment and community. Beth recently announced an exciting new venture for Chris’ Coffee and Custard – and her nonprofit that operates it, LovABLE Services – and so on today’s show we share our inspiring conversation with Beth!

Are you...

Why would we spend an entire show talking about diapers? Because diapers represent a whole lot more than just keeping a baby dry. So much so that there’s a Roanoke, Virginia nonprofit called Huddle Up Moms that just received among the largest grants ever awarded by the Roanoke Women’s Foundation: $100,000 to create a diaper bank for low-income moms and child caregivers in Southwest Virginia. 

This cause is near and dear to the heart of BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill’s because one of the first BUZZ episodes produced in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, starred the nonprof...

Today we're buzzing about the Blue Ridge Holler hurricane relief concert, held Nov. 24, 2024, in Roanoke, Virginia. Coordinated by the nonprofit Friends of the Blue Ridge, the concert featured 18 different artists who donated their time and talent to raise money for Blue Ridge communities devastated by Hurricane Helene. On today's show we share some of the music from the Blue Ridge Holler – bluegrass, classical, hiphop, Celtic and more!

On today's show, BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about the Blue Ridge Holler, a concert series coordinated by the nonprofit FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge to raise funds for communities impacted by Hurricane Helene. We share details about the 10-day series and preview the music of some of the 18 different artists and bands who have generously agreed to donate their time and talent for the benefit concert on Nov. 24, 2024, at the Jefferson Center in Roanoke, Virginia.

On today's Buzz4Good, creator Michael Hemphill buzzes about a fantastic musical collaboration between two nonprofits: Friends of the Blue Ridge and the Glencoe Mason and Museum in Radford, Virginia.

Called "The Glencoe Sessions," this collaboration is the brainchild of Radford's own Addie Levy, a bluegrass phenom who now splits her time between her hometown and Nashville. The next Glencoe Session is Oct. 4 starring the youthful and exceptionally talented group, Pythagoras, out of Johnson City, Tennessee. 

Today we chat with Addie Levy about her vision for The G...

Buzz4Good creator Michael Hemphill checks in with a nonprofit that recently made a giant "leap" – pun intended – by opening a new market stocked with locally grown produce and foods in an underserved neighborhood in Roanoke, Virginia.

The mission of LEAP, or Local Environmental Agriculture Project, is to create an equitable food and farming system which prioritizes health and abundance by supporting community initiatives, markets, farms, and farmers.

LEAP's newest venture is a standalone market in Roanoke's West End community. Here to talk about the project is executive director Maureen McNamara Best.

Are you...

Today we’re buzzing about the nonprofit No Bounds, which provides educational resources and workforce training for individuals with intellectual disabilities.

BUZZ creator Michael Hemphill talks with No Bounds' Aaron Hall, who shares the inspiring yet hard work they’re doing to give folks who suffer from autism, Down Syndrome and cerebral palsy the collegiate training and motivation they need to fulfill their professional ambition.

We also share a sneak listen to our next new BUZZ television show starring the nonprofit Mountain View Humane, which provides high quality and low cost vete...