Getting Stories From People

I am working with a co-editor on getting stories from people on certain topics. Lets say we wanted stories from people on death, or birth, or getting laid off, or love. One avenue is to search for pre-written stories, but we also want to get people to write and submit their stories. Does anyone have ideas of how we could do this? I am guessing that there are writing networks where we could facilitate submissions, but I don't know. Other ideas?
Thanks,
David