Lillian Leal comforts her son David Leal, 3, at the scene of a deadly fire Sunday morning, which claimed the life of David's cousin Joshua Rivas, 2. Michael Leal, 8, inspects the remains of a bicycle. The Leals, who live next door to the Rivas family, came to inspect the damage and to salvage what was possible. Lillian Leal said Joshua was in the bedroom when the fire broke out while the two families were barbequeing outside. Tice District firefighters believe the cause was faulty wiring.

Chauntavia Thomas, 11, prays during an Ecumenical Service the Sunday before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day, at Friendship Baptist Church. The service featured a choir as well as a number of speakers, who addressed the congregation on Dr. King's legacy.

Aaron Fletcher waves the flag of his native Grenada during a celebration for the 30th anniversary of independence at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, Florida. Grenada gained its sovereignty from the United Kingdom in 1974.

Tempers flare during a hotly contested game of chess between Gregory Parks, 12, and his mentor Vishal Yajnik, during an after school program at the Village Learning Place, a community library in Baltimore, Maryland. Yajnik and Parks are a part of the America Reads, and meet three days a week to do homework and play chess. The Village Learning Place is struggling to keep programs such as America Reads, amid a $75,000 budget cut by the state of Maryland and the city of Baltimore.

Nicolas Plancher buries his head in his hands while reading an English textbook during his ESOL class at Fort Myers High School. Plancher came to the United States from his native Haiti in 2000. He speaks some English, but is more comfortable in Haitian Creole. A senior, Plancher enjoys math and aspires to become an engineer, but needs to strengthen his English skills on order to go to college.

These days, Miami Beach residents exercise where once World War II soldiers trained for combat.

Chef Erik Berlin celebrated the opening of his first restaurant in Columbia, MD. Berlin has been working as a chef for the past 21 years.

Bishop MacLeord O'Chola III left his native Uganda after his wife and daughter were killed in the ongoing civil war in his country. He is currently seeking refuge at St. Raphael's Episcopal Church in Fort Myers, FL, where he is writing a memoir.

"When I got home, I just wanted to rinse it all off," said nurse Brooke Simon of her traumatic experience caring for a rape victim. Simon wrote an essay about her work caring for the patient, which won a Clinical Excellence in Writing award from the Southwest Florida Nurses Association. She ended her essay, writing "we are sisters. I took it pretty hard."