What kinds of stories are deemed newsworthy by the media? "I wonder." Are they stories on murder, drugs, violence, war? Well, when I wanted other neighborhoods to adopt my idea of building a community where they live, I thought, "What better place to start than the my local media?" So I wrote ABC's affiliate WCVB, CBS's affiliate WBZ, NBC's affiliate WHDH and last but not least, FOX NEWS, about our community. Here's a copy of one of my letters:
Dear Sir/Madam,
This Saturday the 23rd from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, we having a "Get-To-Know-You" lunch at the Library in the Watertown Savings Bank room. All the food is being donated by our local community restaurants namely: Asiana Fusion, Main Street, Not Your Average Joe's, The Upper Crust and a few others. Drinks are being donated by Stop & Shop.
So, we would really like it if YOU could tell our story. I would like other people who long for some semblance of a community to see that if me, a single mom can say "hey neighbor" they can too.
I am writing because I am a Watertown resident and a finalist in a reality TV series on Lifetimetv.com, called the Clean Start Challenge.
It is a competition where all ten finalists are working to achieve their goals in ten weeks. My goal is to build a community.
Where
I grew up, it took a village to raise a child but lately, people hardly
know their next door neighbors, thus my quest to build a community. I
have named my endeavor: Hey Neighbor! Let’s Build A Community. It has
been four weeks into the competition and as a community, we are making
progress. We participated in a very successful blood drive at the
Watertown Free Public Library and sent a card to The New England Patriots letting them know that in our eyes, they will always be champions. I have many more activities planned.This Saturday the 23rd from 1:00pm to 5:00pm, we having a "Get-To-Know-You" lunch at the Library in the Watertown Savings Bank room. All the food is being donated by our local community restaurants namely: Asiana Fusion, Main Street, Not Your Average Joe's, The Upper Crust and a few others. Drinks are being donated by Stop & Shop.
So, we would really like it if YOU could tell our story. I would like other people who long for some semblance of a community to see that if me, a single mom can say "hey neighbor" they can too.
I proceeded to give them my contact information but to my surprise, none of them responded. I wrote again and still no answer. In the meantime, there was a mix-up with our hall which led to the event being postponed, giving me more time to make contact with my local TV stations. I kept writing in hope that someone would take an interest in our story, then it dawned on me that they just didn't consider it Newsworthy. If I were a reporter, I would have jumped on this one.
On a brighter report, I found that my town has it's very own community station, WCATV and they were thrilled to learn about what I am doing, and are happy to report on it and keep track of my progress. Now that is Newsworthy and I am happy to report that our community will be featured on WCATV in it's efforts to come together, help each other, inspire other communities and make a difference.
[this is good]
Sharline....I
Posted by: Lori | 04/10/2008 at 07:05 PM