Any year is a good year for stories that inspire—but this year, the need for uplifting stories seems even greater.
Stories like Zoey Lewis, a senior at Indianapolis Metropolitan High School who worked hard throughout high school in a non-traditional home environment and will attend Indiana University after earning Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana’s Outstanding Student Achievement Award.
“I want to be a lawyer because I want to make changes in the system,” she says. “The injustices I see going on now, I would like to change from the inside. Help things be right.”
Or Jesse Hendrickson, who overcame many hurdles to build a career as a site leader at Goodwill and was awarded the Employment Achievement Award.
Each year, we partner with Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, working to communicate these stories to the Indianapolis community. This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, we had to work together and adapt the way the organization delivered these messages.
Typically, Goodwill hosts an annual breakfast that recognizes the achievements of individuals connected with their business and community outreach programs. They introduce these high-achievers through video stories and present their awards on stage to hearty applause from roughly 700 guests representing a wide variety of Indianapolis organizations.
“We were in the middle of producing a series of videos when COVID-19 forced the shutdown of all non-essential businesses. Westcomm was accommodating, flexible and worked with our organization to ensure we could see this project through to completion,” said Kent A. Kramer, President and CEO at Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana.
This year, rather than showcasing video stories of achievers at an event, Goodwill chose to release them week-by-week online, using email and social media to drive their audience. The campaign landing page received more than 2,500 views with an average viewing time around 4 minutes. By comparison, the most recent in-person event attracted 900 attendees.
Our most rewarding work comes when we partner with organizations like Goodwill to tell stories of individual triumph and achievement – no matter the circumstances.
For Zoey, her story is one of encouragement for other young men and women whose home lives may not mirror those of their peers. Raised by her older sister, Zoey wholeheartedly applied herself to her schoolwork enough to earn a full ride scholarship and enable her to continue her pursuit of criminal justice.
For Jesse, his story is one of redemption. Lacking other opportunities he was able to take a position at Goodwill, where he grew and thrived. Now, as a successful leader and mentor at Goodwill, he is in a position to make a major impact – providing others with the same opportunities he was provided.
“I’ve been given the opportunity to give other people an opportunity like I was,” he says. “I get to hire the person that couldn’t get hired on somewhere else. I can give them an opportunity to prove themselves like I had gotten.”
To learn more about how Westcomm can bring your stories to life, contact us at helloindy@westcomm.com.
