Optimism in Action Welcomes Richard Walden, Founder and CEO of Operation USA

Since 1979, Operation USA has worked in 101 countries delivering over $450 million in aid for relief and development projects around the world.

MONTEREY, CA, UNITED STATES, May 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast, a collaboration of KAZU 90.3 and Monterey College of Law, welcomes Richard Walden, founder and CEO of Operation USA. Operation USA is a Los Angeles-based, nonprofit international disaster relief and development agency helping communities at home and abroad overcome the effects of disasters, disease, violence, and endemic poverty. Since 1979, Operation USA has worked in 101 countries—delivering over $450 million in aid for relief and development projects around the world.

As CEO, Walden explains that the 100% privately funded Operation USA works without any government financial support or the constraints that support may bring. Operation USA’s focus is to provide support to children and families so they can recover, grow, and thrive in the wake of disasters. Many of the programs emphasize education and health. The organization believes that providing cost-effective aid opens minds, builds futures, strengthens lives, and transforms communities. The key is to allow the impacted communities direct the right resources to the right people at the right time.

Richard Walden’s episode on SideBar: Optimism in Action goes live Tuesday, May 5, 2026, on www.kazu.org/sidebar.

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KAZU 90.3 radio and SideBarMedia are excited to collaborate to add SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast to KAZU’s digital programming on the station's website (www.kazu.org/sidebar). KAZU is the NPR affiliate station for Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Cruz. The SideBar: Optimism in Action podcast - sponsored by Monterey College of Law, a long-standing nonprofit sponsor of KAZU 90.3 radio - has become the first non-newscast, locally produced podcast featured on the KAZU website and mobile application.

SideBar: Optimism in Action is hosted by former law deans Mitch Winick and Jackie Gardina, produced by David Eakin, a local theater composer, media consultant, and podcast producer, and promoted by Dena Dowsett, social media specialist. “The podcast features nonprofit leaders, advocates, and community members who represent extraordinary work that is improving the humanitarian, public policy, and charitable needs of our local, national, and global communities. Our focus this season is on the amazing individuals who are pursuing positive change during challenging times,” explained Winick.

New episodes of SideBar: Optimism in Action are published on the first and third Tuesdays of each month at www.kazu.org/sidebar. To learn more about the podcast, read our blog, and to preview and listen to more than 90 previous episodes, go to SideBarMedia at www.sidebarmedia.org. To learn more about Richard Walden and Operation USA, go to https://www.opusa.org/about.

Mitchel Winick
SideBar Media
+1 831-241-8999
email us here

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