10. Giving Back and Getting Better.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)

Byline: Amy Alexander

It started with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. That's how Bea Salazar changed her heart, neighborhood, life and ultimately, the world at large.

It was 1986. Salazar's life had taken a turn for the worse. A single mother of five, she worked nights to put food on the table until an accident left her with a separated pelvis.

She lost her job. She couldn't pay the rent. She became depressed. A local agency helped by giving her food, counseling and rent money until she could get back on her feet. But something was still missing.

Part one of two parts

One June day, while taking out the trash, she heard a rustle. A little boy was digging in the garbage.

"I got him out of the Dumpster and took the piece of dirty bread he had found out of his hand and threw it away. Then he started to cry, and I realized he wanted that bread because he was hungry," she told Jackie Waldman in "The Courage to Give: Inspiring Stories of People Who Triumphed Over Tragedy to Make a Difference in the World" (Conari Press, 2000).