Public Needs

This series of messages focus on individuals who serve unmet public needs and who worked to provide for them.

    • The Royals’ Plumber

      Thomas Crapper was born in 1836 in England. As a young man, he became an apprentice plumber. He spent three years as an apprentice plumber before he began to practice a full range of plumbing services. When he was 25, he set up a brass foundry where he could produce a...

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    • Words Matter

      He was born in Scotland in 1847. To those close to him, he was called Aleck. His father was a phonetician, and his father’s interest in how words are produced and received became his lifelong interest as well. Aleck was filled with curiosity. He studied nature and...

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    • The Sandhogs – Working Underground and Under Water

      They were the first integrated workforce in America. Sandhogs were the name given to those who worked as underground miners in urban areas. They constructed the tunnels that connected parts of cities through subway systems. They worked underwater constructing bridge...

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    • Potter, Innovator, Abolitionist

      Josiah Wedgwood was born in England in 1730. When he was only 9 years old, he had already become a master potter. But when smallpox weakened his knee, he would no longer work the potter’s wheel. He changed his career from making pottery to designing it. Eventually,...

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    • Leaving a Fingerprint on Society

      Henry Faulds was born in 1843 in England to a family with limited resources. Forced to leave school to help support his family, he was employed as a clerk. He was eventually able to earn enough money to go to college, eventually becoming a physician. Henry had a...

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    • The Father of Europe

      Jean Monnet was born in Cognac France in 1888 to a family involved in cognac merchandizing. He became involved in the family business and never pursued a college degree. His business travels gave him a global perspective which helped define his eventual career as a...

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    • Fiscal Sanity

      He was born in 1761 in Geneva Switzerland to a prominent family. By the age of 10, he was an orphan and taken care of by a distant relative of his father. Feeling stifled by the social system in Switzerland, he emigrated to the United States. After living for a while...

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    • A Champion for the Working Class

      Mary (Hopkins) Norton was born in New Jersey in 1875. After her mother died, she became the housekeeper for her family. She attended business college and worked as a secretary. The death of her week-old son changed her life in a positive way although it would take...

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    • Food Packaging and Society

      A safe food supply is something that few people think about today, but that was not always the case. As Americans moved from rural areas of the country to urban areas, they came to rely upon the food they bought rather than the food they raised or grew. Even the...

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    • Habitat for Humanity

      Millard Fuller was born in 1935 in Alabama. He obtained an Economics degree from Auburn in 1957 and a law degree from the University of Alabama in 1960. By the age of 29, Millard was a millionaire. He gave up his wealth to devote his life to religious service. Fuller...

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