(applause)
- I'm all about shining a light
on amazing human beings and so is People Magazine.
That's why they're releasing their first
special kindness issue on Friday, which I love.
We have the editor in chief of People, Dan Wakeford, here
along with one of the amazing women featured
in this special edition, Stephanie Bowman.
Y'all give it up for them.
(applause)
So random, but Patricia, I heard
that you actually worked for People Magazine!
- In the 80s in New York, I ran the Xerox machine
at People Magazine for about three years.
- [Kelly] Oh my God! That's awesome!
- That was one of my survival gigs.
- Were we kind to you?
- Yes, very kind.
In fact I did a play while I was there
and everybody at People came and saw me in the play
(audience coos) - Aw! That's so nice!
Get it People! - Yeah.
- The kindness issue started way back then.
I like it! - [Patricia] Yes
So what inspired you though, Dan,
what inspired y'all at People to come out
with this Kindness, this special kind of issue?
- Because I came editor in chief seven months ago,
and I thought, how can I do some good with People Magazine?
And one of the many initiatives
we launched was the Kindness Issue.
I just felt, in the world at the moment,
it's very divisive and people are lost
in each other's phones and it can create mean behavior
sometimes and antisocial behavior.
- And it normalizes it.
- It does and I just think we just need to slow down,
focus, work out what we have in common with each other.
Everybody's got a problem behind the scenes
and to treat each other with kindness.
- Yes!
- So we created an issue.
We have Chip and Joanna on the cover of the issue.
- I love Chip and Joanna guys!
(applause)
That's some more Texas in there!
- And they're talking about their kindness initiative
where they're encouraging people to be kind.
We have a new writer for People Magazine.
Not Patricia, she's not coming back.
(everyone laughs)
- We have got none other than Julia Roberts
who's writing for the magazine.
- What? - Wow!
- She is celebrating-- - WHAT?
- She's celebrating, she surprising somebody
and celebrating the kindest person in her life.
You'll have to buy the magazine.
- [Kelly] To find out? I can tell you.
It's her sister and she doesn't know.
- Oh my God, I'm going to cry right now.
(applause)
- We're interviewing Mr. Roger's wife, Joanne Rogers,
who's telling us what she's learned
from living a life of kindness with her husband.
And it's really special.
But also launching our kindness awards,
where we're celebrating regular folks
who have gone above and beyond
and spread kindness in their world.
And one of these is Stephanie.
- I love it!
(applause) at one time in your life
you were really struggling right?
- Yes and--
- I think that's an understatement
since reading your story, but yes.
- Yeah and I tell you, I came from a amazing, loving family.
At 15 years old, something very tragic happened
and I was raped and got pregnant and--
- I'm so sorry.
- Thank you.
Had an abortion.
And if I would have gone to my family and friends,
and told them about it, they would have
just loved me and helped heal the hurt,
but instead I went to a very dark place
and I was in and out of addictions for next 17 years.
- But you had a life changing moment right?
- [Stephanie] I did - Yeah
- I did.
I ended up homeless.
I had two children, they were almost six years old
and five months old and we were homeless for a couple weeks,
and leaving a domestic violence.
And I was putting my kids in a dumpster,
putting my oldest daughter in a dumpster,
and a woman came out from the restaurant that we were behind
and she was screaming at me.
And I thought I was just in trouble
and quickly trying to get my daughter out of the dumpster.
And she said, Stop.
She said, let me make sure that you have food.
And so for the next, you know, while we were homeless,
she made sure at 6 o'clock, there was food
out in the back of the restaurant for us.
- And that's so-- (applause)
Isn't it interesting that that one,
that one decision that she did.
She could have screamed.
She could have been like get out of here,
we don't want this around here.
She could have done that, which wouldn't have been kind,
but she could have done that, people do that all the time
which is why you're expecting it,
but then it totally helped change your life
on the path back to where you are now.
That's amazing.
So when, when did you get sober?
- So 1999, my children, while we were homeless,
my children ended up in foster care.
And they were in for about eight months
and I went to treatment and learned
how to live my life very, very differently.
Had amazing people in my life--
- [Kelly] That's amazing. - That just really helped
to instill the, being kind, being kind to others.
We want-- - And being kind to yourself!
- Absolutely.
Life is what we make of it
and it's the people that we put around us
to help keep us filled up so that we, in return,
you know, can stay filled up and to give back.
- You are such a powerful being!
(applause) Like, it's crazy!
So how is One Heart for Women and Children
evolved since you started it?
- So I started it 10 years ago and really, I started it
because I didn't want moms to have to be putting
their kids in dumpsters-- - Yeah
- Or kids to really have to go through
that traumatic experience.
So we started with helping just 52 kids
at Christmas time - Yeah
- And it was absolutely amazing
that it was 52 children that didn't have Christmas that year
and here we are, 10 years later,
we are helping over a thousand children each Christmas,
but yeah. (applause)
- That's really beautiful
- I'm just in awe of you, Stephanie.
Wow!
So how did you get involved with doing the Kindness Issue?
How did you get involved?
- Well, one of our editors met her
and didn't realize all that what she had been through
and they were just dumbstruck by her personality
and her positivity and then they found out
about her story and then so we've got to cover this.
And we were just bowled over by the fact,
the one act of kindness helped her and that this spread
and how much good she's done,
and she's been to hell and back,
and how kind she is to other people
and spreading that joy and celebrating that.
And People Magazine's giving a thousand dollars
to every single participant so that
they can help continue spreading that kindness.
(applause) - That's really good!
In 2016, Stephanie and the organization stepped up
to help the victims of one of the deadliest shootings
in the US at Pulse Night Club in Orlando.
How did you get involved in that shooting?
Like how did that come about?
- Very quickly when we find out that
there has been something traumatic that's happening
in our community, we are feet on the ground.
And so our volunteers and I, it was a Sunday.
Volunteers and I, we went out, we were going to give blood,
and there were too many people in line
and they said, you know, I'm sorry,
we've cut it out, you know, we've cut everybody out
at this space right here. - That's a good thing though.
- Absolutely, it's amazing. - Yeah
- So we were like, okay, what else can we do?
So we went back to One Heart and grabbed bottles of Gatorade
and water and snacks and just started passing them out.
And so we started hearing some stories
of people that needed help and so we put it out
on social media that we knew some people
that wanted to have their family flown in
and we raised up-- - Oh, they couldn't afford.
- No, so we raised a lot of money.
We raised, well, I say a lot of money.
We raised $78,000. - That's a lot of money.
- Absolutely.
(both laugh) (applause)
- Well Stephanie doesn't know this yet,
but we have one of the women
who fled Pulse Night Club during the attack.
She says Stephanie is an answer to her prayers.
Passion come on out here!
(applause) (upbeat music)
- You look beautiful!
You look beautiful!
I love this!
(applause)
- We'll just-- - I had no idea.
- Play musical chairs.
- Hello.
- Hi Passion!
- [Passion] Hi
- First of all, you look beautiful.
- Thank you, thank you.
I try. (applause)
Oh God.
- So how did you, first of all,
how did you get to safety on the night of the shooting?
- Well, we were all hiding because we heard
the bullets going so when we saw the exit door open.
I saw a cue, I, to run.
I ran out, running over bodies,
whatever I could to get out.
And that was it, that was how I got out.
However, before then, I had to measure the time
from when the shooting was going on with the bullets,
the echoing of the bullets is what gave me time
to run from behind the bar-- - When he was reloading.
to the stage when he was reloading.
- Oh
- I had about five seconds.
And I had to get out so I made it for the run
when there was lady sitting
at the exit door and she was holding it.
She said, there were fireworks, there were fireworks
and they were clearly weren't fireworks, but I got out.
And I got out and I ran behind, I was in the parking lot,
and I ran behind the valet podium
where they hold the keys in the, ran behind that
and I stood behind that until I had seen
the first police officer come.
There was three others that were with me.
We made it safe.
We all made it safe.
- And just like-- (applause)
I mean, so how did you end up running into Stephanie?
- So, the date of Pulse, that Saturday, well Saturday,
my refrigerator went out in my house.
So, went out that night,
Pulse happened,
went to a vigil, Monday, and at the vigil
I met a volunteer that worked at One Heart Foundation
and she said, here's Stephanie's number.
You know, her and I talked there at the vigil.
She said, here's Stephanie's number, she's a dear friend.
She'll help you with anything you need.
And I held onto that number and I think
I messaged you on Facebook, like,
in the middle of the night or something
and she immediately responded back in the morning
and she was like, please come down to the, you know,
the pantry and whatever, whatever.
Her daughter, Amber, and now husband, right?
Came to my house with a refrigerator.
I had never had met her.
This lady has so much heart.
You guys don't even understand.
She got me out of a place, right after Pulse.
She was the light at the end of a tunnel for me,
cause it could have gone downhill really fast for me.
And thank you
- I love you.
- I love you so much, thank you.
- [Kelly] Oh my God. (applause)
I mean the whole story.
I mean, both of your stories individually,
and then them coming together and you helping each other.
(blows air)
Sorry.
I feel like it's exactly what we need.
- [Passion] Yeah
- I'm going to be fine
(laughing)