The Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) has a fundraiser each year to raise money for all the helpful programs the hospital facilitates. I was brought onto this project to provide a video that would showcase the Runaway Intervention Program — the program was chosen as the CHA Fund-a-Need for 2014, and the attendees of the fundraiser needed to know how much of an impact the Runaway Intervention Program is having on the community.
The audience at the 2014 Storyland Gala (the lavish fundraiser hosted by Joe Soucheray) responded very positively to the cause and the challenging narrative — the video, along with the efforts of CHA (thank you Shelley Palmquist and Peggy Radio) and the nurses of the Runaway Intervention Program, was able to inspire attendees to donate tens of thousands more than was expected. This helped the program to march on. This collaboration was so rewarding.
Without a doubt, this was the most difficult project I’ve ever tackled — both in terms of the production itself, the editing process, as well as the nature of the material itself. (I also had more than a few hiccups in post production as well.)
The video features some of the young girls who have been abused and it was an inspiring process to work with these resilient teenagers. Each interview with the three Certified Pediatric Nurse Practitioners was over 30 minutes — we also had the opportunity of sitting down with Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, an interview that lasted over ten minutes.
Cutting down all that material into minutes was difficult — so my approach was to create a mini-documentary that could illuminate the problem in the community, showcase the women who are seeking the help these stricken youth and finish the narrative with a call to action.
I also created two ads for the brochure that was handed out to all the attendees of the fundraiser.
I am so proud to have been a part of this project. It was a career highlight, the opportunity to work with such heroic medical practitioners, the resourceful leadership of CHA and these strong young teenagers.
© Copyright 2021 Matthew Deery.
