Claudette was single and pregnant. She felt hurt, angry and confused, so she made an appointment at Sacramento’s Alternatives Pregnancy Center.

Alyssah Schafer was born with a congenital heart defect and has never been able to run or compete in sports. Over time, her friends drifted away, and the girl became depressed. But then she met a mustang named Montana at All About Equine, a horse rescue and rehabilitation organization in El Dorado Hills.  

Bill Coibion’s commitment to transforming lives in his Del Paso Heights neighborhood began in the mid-1990s when he launched the nonprofit Shoulder to Shoulder. He had just become a Christian and felt called to encourage men to be “servant-leaders” at home, in church and in their communities. 

The Trade is making a difference in the lives of impoverished and abused women, one haircut at a time. 

John Lewis Sullivan was addicted to drugs at age 13, stealing to support his habit and generally making mischief of varying degrees. He’s since spent 18 of his 42 years in jail or in California’s prison system.

Doug Pringle lost a leg to the Vietnam War in 1968. He was recovering at the Presidio of San Francisco hospital the day World War II veterans stopped by for a visit.

Where Scalehouse Street meets Township Nine Avenue is, for now, a crossroads on 65 acres of dirt between Richards Boulevard and the American River Parkway. In less than a decade, this swath of land — offering striking views of both the downtown Sacramento skyline and one of the city’s beloved rivers — could be home to thousands.

The hand-carved Italian frame hanging in the back of Archival Framing is priced at $1,400. It surrounds a $10 plastic clock.

Before opening his first retail coffeehouse in a midtown Sacramento alley, Jason Griest roasted a lot of beans.

It didn’t take German immigrant Martin Hermann long to see California as the land of sunshine. And within that bounteous golden glow, he imagined opportunity.

Emile “Whitey” Boisclair was 47 years old in 1963 when he quit his job as a sheet-metal worker and bought a struggling West Sacramento burger joint called Jolly Kone.

He had no experience in the restaurant business, and friends worried he’d fail.

Emile “Whitey” Boisclair was 47 years old in 1963 when he quit his job as a sheet-metal worker and bought a struggling West Sacramento burger joint called Jolly Kone.

He had no experience in the restaurant business, and friends worried he’d fail.

Charities come in all sizes, dedicated to myriad causes, and generous donations to a small, do-good organization sometimes will make a big difference.

Doris Hobbs threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Sacramento River Cats game. Harriet Antonides at last became a Girl Scout at age 100. And Mino Ohye, who hadn’t seen his beloved brother in 60 years, in January would fly to Japan for a reunion.

It’s 2 p.m., and John Packowski must design an entire house from scratch by 5 o’clock.

When Sacramento-based Breuner’s furniture store chain closed its in-house upholstery shop in 1971, the eight seamstresses and upholsterers were told that, if they opened their own shop, Breuner’s would send its work their way.

Juliana Espinoza was a bashful teenager until last summer when she began a year-long internship at Junior Achievement of Sacramento.

A teenage boy walks through dangerous gang territory to reach the train that will take him from his low-income neighborhood to a private high school in Sacramento where almost no one knows his story.

At age 15, Erik Self sneaked into the home of a friend’s mother and, when she got out of bed to investigate the noise, stabbed her repeatedly with a survival knife. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder and burglary.

Each year, Rancho Cordova-based Vision Service Plan provides free, annual, comprehensive eye examinations and eyewear to 50,000 underserved children throughout the country.

Sacramento’s performing arts organizations are struggling to keep the curtains from closing for good during the worst economic slump they’ve seen.

Women in some parts of the United States are dying younger than they did a generation ago.

Blair Sapeta isn’t setting aside money for her retirement. She’s just 31 years old and has more immediate financial concerns.

The ponderously named Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act, signed into law last December by President Barack Obama, brought good news to generous millionaires — and the larger population of nonmillionaires in this country — who have giving on their minds.

Kevin Manzer gave up being a cop to clean carpets.

Hair rollers went the way of old-time beauty shops, but rollers of a different sort are in vogue at Bella Capelli Salone in downtown Yuba City, where owner Carol Milani sometimes styles hair in her skates.