J. J. Abrams and Bryan Burk

When we began work on Star Trek Into Darkness, we realized it would be released in May 2013, a moment when our nation would have the opportunity and responsibility to make sure we help these post-9/11 veterans transition back to jobs, higher education, or ongoing careers of service.

Spencer Kympton

President, The Mission Continues

He was an Eagle Scout. He was an athlete. He loved American cars. He wore shorts in the dead of the winter. On May 21, 2009, an insurgent with a bomb in Baghdad's Dora market ended Jason George's life. Our country lost a great soldier that day. And I lost a good friend.

Ken Berger

President & CEO, Charity Navigator

Think about what it is you want your donation to accomplish and then make sure you select the charity that is doing that type of work.

Dakota Meyer

U.S. Marine; Medal of Honor recipient

Make this Memorial Day weekend meaningful and positive. Take a moment to remember the fallen and celebrate those who still serve. For Those Who Gave All.

William B. Bradshaw

Author, 'The Big Ten of Grammar: Identifying and Fixing the Ten Most Frequent Grammatical Errors'; 'Sinister Among Us' (a novel about demons); and 'Fundraising: the System that Works." See www.williambbradshaw.com

I wish the entire United States could have a Memorial Day celebration similar to the ones of old, when we forgot our problems, our differences that separate us, and just enjoyed each other's company. Is that too much to wish for?

A. Cornelius Baker

Senior Policy Advisor, National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy Coalition; Technical Advisor, FHI 360

In three decades we have made tremendous progress in the battle against the HIV epidemic. There are now over three dozen approved drugs and combination regimens that, when taken correctly, can extend life for decades.

Marian Wright Edelman

President, Children's Defense Fund

America has a spiritual problem when it protects guns rather than children. Why are we not all calling our legislators and expressing outrage? How can we let the voices of gun dealers and manufacturers drown out the cries of children?

Michael Sargeant

Executive director, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee

Supporting our veterans is not cheap; it involves a real investment in both policy and budget priorities. But our veterans put our country first and stepped up, and on this Memorial Day, state legislators of both parties need to be standing up for veterans with real resources as well.

Sandi Bachom

Filmmaker, Author, Digital Journalist

On Memorial Day, as a child, I recall frayed old men in tattered uniforms handing out Red Paper Poppies. And as I dropped a dime into the bucket, a donation to the veterans of past wars, I was more enamored with the brightly colored lapel garnish than with any deeper significance.

Zester Daily

Zester Daily: The culture of food and drink.

Recently returned from protecting U.S. interests overseas and having traded in their fatigues for overalls, hundreds of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq are now committed to growing organic produce and selling it to local communities from Seattle to Florida.

Robert Walker

President, Population Institute

Gender equality is a moral imperative, but it is also an economic and social imperative. No country, no society, however industrious or blessed with resources it may be, will ever reach its full potential so long as women are denied theirs.

Sarah David

Nurses for Edna

Working in a hospital that treats all patients despite their ability to pay made it very difficult to stomach the struggle that pregnant women face when accessing health services in poor countries.

Rodney Newman

University Chaplain, Oklahoma City University

When confronted with difficult times, especially disasters, we try to bring some order to the chaos. We tend to turn inward, a natural reflex toward self-preservation.

Glen Browder

Former Congressman, Alabama; Professor Emeritus, Jacksonville State University

Lilly Ledbetter never dreamed of being a feminist heroine; and she's not a politician. But she now finds herself at the forefront of the movement for gender pay equity and women's rights.

Christine Pelosi

CoFounder, DNC Veterans and Military Families Council

The physical and emotional toll of these deployments is a cost of war we Americans have only begun to pay, yet all too often a war-weary public tends to look the other way. But this Memorial Day we cannot look away.

Jeffrey Bland, Ph.D

President, Personalized Lifestyle Medicine Institute

More and more, health professionals from varied fields put their energies, time and money toward gaining the knowledge and experience necessary to effectively embrace the power of nutrition. But astonishingly, health professionals with nutrition tools to reverse chronic health conditions are gagged in many states.

Carey Fuller

Homeless mother

From what I've seen, most homeless people aren't like everyone else because most of them care when everyone else gave up on them and they have learned to survive and even overcome situations others can't even imagine but for those who cling to their judgmental views, think before you speak.