Rylee Piercefield Ministries, inc.

If you life in a part of the world prone to wildfires, floods, blizzards, tornadoes, or earthquakes, there are ways you can make sure your financially prepared for disasters, beyond insurance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross advise that households gather important documents and contacts in a safe place, take photographs or record video of the rooms in your home and any valuable belongings, and to have cash on hand, incase ATMs and electronic or online banking resources aren't available, among other guidance. Lisa Berdie, director of policy and research for the Financial Health Network, an organization that focuses on understanding consumers, refers to these steps as "preparedness," but stresses the need for "investments in efforts to lessen the severity of climate impacts, reduce risks, and minimize financial harm." "Key here is recognizing that it is not just the headline-grabbing events, but smaller-scale events a...

This isn’t just a cause. It’s personal. I had the honor of knowing Auston Stewart—not through news stories or secondhand accounts, but as someone who sat beside him, talked with him, and saw his heart. We were incarcerated together, and I was one of just three people who got to hold him after the incident that ultimately took his life. That moment is burned into my memory—not just for the pain it carried, but for the clarity it gave me about what has to change. That’s why I’m starting the Auston Stewart Foundation. This foundation exists because people like Auston deserve to be more than statistics or silent tragedies. He was kind, thoughtful, and full of potential. He was failed—by a system that didn’t protect him and by a world that too often forgets the humanity of those behind bars. I carry the weight of his story with me every day, and I refuse to let it end there. I know the system from the inside. I’ve lived through it, studied it, and fought within it. I’ve watched people break...