“Stress is really the body’s response to some type of a challenge,” explains Dr. Patrick DeLone, a clinical psychologist, “whether it’s a physical challenge, an emotional challenge, or a combination of both.” At its core, stress triggers the familiar “fight or flight” cascade: cortisol and adrenaline spikes that sharpen focus, speed up your heart, and prime your muscles. “In fifth grade you learned about fight and flight…your metabolism goes up, you can see better, you focus better”—all reasons why short‐term stress can actually enhance performance.

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Since 2016, the Partnership for Better Health’s Match Madness campaign has raised over $5 million to bolster small and mid-sized nonprofits across the region. “We saw that our local nonprofits didn’t necessarily have the staff to do the fundraising they needed,” explains Carol Thornton, the Partnership’s Executive Director. “We spotted an opportunity to leverage our capacity…to bring in flexible funding into their organizations to meet their needs.”

The very first Match Madness matched $50,000 in partnership funds and galvanized 15 organizations to raise $116,790—more than doubling the match. Thornton recalls, “That first year showed that this was something that definitely was wanted and needed, and there was opportunity for growth.” Today, the campaign matches the first $1,500 of each nonprofit’s donations dollar-for-dollar, then allocates an additional $150,000 pool proportionally up to $30,000 per organization.

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On this week's edition of The Spark Weekly.

The Most Reverend Timothy Senior, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, joins us from Rome to reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis, who died the day after Easter. Religious and political leaders, along with the Catholic faithful, are gathering in Rome for the Pope’s funeral, which took place on Saturday.

Also on the program...

Johannes Kelpius was a German Pietist, mystic, musician, and writer. He was also interested in the occult, botany, and astronomy. He came to believe with his followers – called the "Society of the Woman in the Wilderness" – that the end of the world would occur in 1694.

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