It did not fly!

The last attempt to get the local paper to let people know about the coat and blanket collection finally resulted in a short story about their efforts. I sent a short email to an editor – saying that doing a story on an event after it was too late for the community to respond was of no value – that I’m very proud of these kids – and very ashamed of the local paper. What I said was “If these kids were fighting in the street, you would be there with lights, cameras, and reporters to make sure it hit the front page. But for kids trying to do something good in the community? Not one word of support or encouragement.”

Within 15 minutes a reporter called and the short story appeared in today’s paper.

Most of the information they asked for was not used – one collection location was not listed. It mistakenly says the Salvation Army will distribute blankets at the nursing home. (They will be distributing the ‘coats’ if we collect enough.) No appeal was made to individuals or to businesses to assist with collection. The kids’ website was not mentioned as a source for more information –  but at least ’something’ was published.

The rain should be over, at least for today. So we will try again! Ultimately, this will be a successful ‘event’ for the kids and some good will be done in the community. The reporter asked if we planned for this to become an annual event. Mixed feelings on that! Part of the slow start is due to my inexperience at planning something like this, part due to the weather, and very much due to the fact that there has been no prior publicity or advertising of it. By next year I will have decided if I’ve learned enough to make it worthwhile to continue with it as an annual event.