Project: 911 Day of Service/MyGoodDeed was created in 2002 to encourage volunteerism as a way to honor the victims and heroes of 9/11 and preserve the spirit of unity and compassion demonstrated after the attacks. PainePR President and CEO David Paine founded the initiative with Jay Winuk, brother of firefighter and EMT volunteer Glenn Winuk, who died trying to save others at the World Trade Center, and Alice Hoagland, mother of Flight 93 hero Mark Bingham.
Challenge: In the days and months following September 11, 2001, the media was focused on hard news, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and various other stories about the 9/11 attacks, leaving little or no room for feature stories or soft news. MyGoodDeed was a story without controversy about how America could come together—a “feel-good story.”
Solution: We created a page on our website for volunteers to pledge their MyGoodDeed activity. We then contacted volunteers with interesting pledges in major markets and identified compelling human-interest stories among MyGoodDeed 9/11 family members. In addition, we generated bipartisan support among well-known lawmakers such as Senators Clinton and Schumer and Congressman Peter King. This put our story on the radar of political reporters.
Results: , Roth PR has secured hundreds of international, national and regional print and broadcast stories for MyGoodDeed.org and the 9/11 National Day of Service since the 2002 launch which contributed to recruiting over 3 million volunteers across the United States. Coverage has included live segments on NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, The Early Show, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, hundreds of TV and radio newscasts nationwide, as well as stories and editorials in The Associated Press, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, 4 features in the Washington Post and hundreds of articles in major newspapers across the country. In the Spring of 2009, the United States Congress passed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which included a provision that officially established every September 11 as a National Day of Service and Remembrance, which was then signed by President Obama. The public relations team earned a 2003 Silver Anvil for our media relations campaign to encourage Americans to observe 9/11 by doing something to help someone else
Coverage:
New York Times “9/11: Light a Candle or Party On