This special year-long podcast project reveals special people—unsung heroes—in our midst. For a whole year, podcast host and producer Karen Hendricks asked TheBurg Podcast guests the same question: If you could identify an unsung hero in the Harrisburg area, who would it be and why?

Except, instead of airing all their answers, we’ve been saving and compiling them, so that we could release them all collectively in this special Unsung Heroes of Harrisburg Podcast on Valentine’s Day.

Think of this show, released on Valentine’s Day, as an audio Valentine that shares some community love for Harrisburg!

Hosting: Karen is joined by Lawrance Binda, publisher and editor of TheBurg.

Many thanks to two podcast sponsors:

Hero in the Fight, whose mission is to break the stigma often associated with addiction, because living in active recovery is a heroic act, every day. For help, support and facts, visit herointhefight.org/.

Goodwill Keystone Area: And you probably know that the Goodwill store is a great community thrift store. But there’s a story behind the store that puts “goodwill” into action, advancing sustainability in our communities. Check out their story at yourgoodwill.org.

Guests include (but tune in to hear who they reveal as unsung heroes):

Kristin Messner-Baker of The Vegetable Hunter

Chad Eric Smith of Mural Arts Philadelphia

Speaker and historian John Maietta

Otis Harrison of OD’s Fish House

Soccer coach Toan Ngo of Eagle-FC’s USL W team

Kim Rice of the Harrisburg Area Riverboat Society

Local journalist-turned-teacher Dennis Reardon

Elle Lamboy formerly of the Gettysburg Foundation

Peter Leonard of Little Amps Coffee

Lt. Adam Reed of the Pennsylvania State Police

Josiah Peay of the Central PA Kings basketball team

Amy Kaunas of the Humane Society of the Harrisburg Area

Weston Kensinger of Penn State Harrisburg’s Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research

Julie Fitzpatrick of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center

Ellen Min of the Harrisburg Asian American and Pacific Islander Community (HAAPI)

Carl Shuman, retiree-turned-children’s book author

David Morrison of Historic Harrisburg Association

Andrea Grove of Elementary Coffee

Greg Czarnecki of Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources 

Jessica Rudy of Gettysburg’s Majestic Theater

Sue Kunisky of Visit Hershey and Harrisburg

Lesa Brackbill, newborn screening advocate

Karen Good, clinical nurse specialist with UPMC Harrisburg

Thomas Sweet, retired pastor of Market Square Presbyterian Church

Nathan Reigner, Pennsylvania’s director of outdoor recreation

Also see our February 2023 magazine feature, “Unsung Heroes of Harrisburg,” expanding several of our unsung heroes’ stories.

For more information on award-winning Harrisburg-area journalist Karen Hendricks, visit her website and subscribe to her free monthly writer’s newsletter at WriterKarenHendricks.com.

Every month, TheBurg Podcast expands stories from the pages of TheBurg magazine because “there’s always more to the story.” TheBurg is a monthly community magazine based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lawrance Binda, publisher/editor. TheBurg Podcast has received three prestigious podcast journalism awards over the past two years, including First place, Excellence in Journalism, Society of Professional Journalists, Keystone Chapter, 2021.