As CNN celebrates the heroes of 2008, showcasing people who have made a big difference with little resources, only one had a nutty job…literally. Jock Brandis went to Africa in 2002 and was struck by a particular image. He encountered a woman who had bleeding hands from her domestic job of shelling hardened peanuts to feed her family. This was actually a common phenomenon.

This bothered Landis enough that when he returned to the states, he was determined to create a device that would help these women. He eventually found his way to ex-Peanut farmer Jimmy Carter who lent his library for his purposes. Eventually he worked with a Bulgarian scientist and developed an invention that was cost effective and efficient - a universal nut sheller.

He then joined forces with a group of former Peace Corps volunteers and co-created the Full Belly Project in 2003, a nonprofit organization developed to create technologies like the universal nut sheller and distribute them on a worldwide level.

Again, regular people like you and I, making universal differences.

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