Public relations people get so wrapped up in promoting our clients that we sometimes forget we can use your skills to help friends.
Last week, I got an email from David MacNeill, who recorded me last fall for a musical project. Our families have hung out together a few times and become friends.
David said he, his wife and daughter were being evicted from their BSU-area home and they were asking for any work or barter opportunities. A few days later, he sent another email to his social network asking for “micro-loans” from people to help buy a mobile home, an affordable alternative to living in a traditional home (I gave David $50 a few days later).
I forwarded the email to Dave Staats, a Statesman editor, asking if The Statesman could somehow help this family and suggesting there could be a larger story in the issue of people making a run on mobile homes in the current economy. I have asked Staats for coverage of my clients many times in the past and, as always, it all boils down to what extent my story idea serves the public interest.
Later that day, I got a call and some Tweets from reporter Brad Talbutt, saying he had already interviewed David MacNeill and was researching the larger trend.On Sunday, The Statesman published a well-researched story about how “The Valley’s RV parks are being filled up with working-age people who can’t afford to live in a house.”
I like to see my “clients” make the front page of the paper, but the stressful situation of this family just makes me wish the coverage leads to more micro-loans, donations and sales of David’s CDs. Whatever your profession – law, medicine, sales, construction, development, Web design – consider how you can use your skills to help a friend who needs you.
The story also underscores the importance of newspapers and their ability to judge and define important trends. Without a daily newspaper or other large media, this family’s situation, and the larger trend they represent, would have a much harder time getting notice.
3 comments
David MacNeill
February 9, 2009 at 6:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Martin: We have been flooded with offers this morning from kind people who have contacted the newspaper and asked if they could help a family in need. We’ve been offered a clean, 32-foot 1987 Fleetwood Southwind Class A motorhome. We also have an offer to live for $450/month including utilities in a former Micron engineer’s remodeled duplex. Another couple offered us the use of their 5-year old 37-foot fifth wheel trailer for as long as we want it — they will even deliver it to the RV park of our choice. The kindness of the people of Boise has always impressed us as former Northern Californians, but this is just amazing!
I can never thank you enough for this, brother.
David MacNeill
March 9, 2009 at 2:42 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Our mighty 1988 Fleetwood Southwind 33L motorhome has landed at the
far eastern semi-rural end of Boise.
Roof leaks patched, spurting toilet valve replaced, ground supports in
place on all four corners to stop the rock ‘n roll, electrical systems
mostly working but still need three new batteries, small TV in place,
WiFi hub blazing, and my vodka/lime is doing its job well after days
of hard work on this boat. Most of our possessions are in a storage
space five minutes away, and Leslie has Elise’s clothes and toys
winnowed down to a manageable mass and has organized the kitchen so
well it’s almost like we are still living in a house. We still have
many many things left to to do but victory seems attainable now. We
are warm and dry and safe. I am cautiously optimistic this insane plan
will work as well in reality as it does in what’s left of my mind.
It snowed a bit yesterday and today while the sun shone down, very
windy and sharply cold as I rigged our sewer line to the septic tank.
We hear coyotes howling and yipping up on the mountain at night. Elise
now has a pet adolescent rooster named Noodles. The dogs found a deer
leg on the hill to the north of us. There’s a funky bar right across
the street that has live music outdoors in good weather and great
cheeseburgers with fat Idaho home fries.
Get this: ABC News is coming out here for a few days to film a story
on us for national broadcast on Nightline. I’ll be the most famous
underemployed man in America — look out Joe the Plumber, here comes
Dave the Writer! Maybe they’ll play Morningtown?
Follow up story in The Idaho Statesman last week:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/localnews/story/681447.html
That’s all folks. I’m so tired I can’t think.
~ David MacNeill
David MacNeill
April 14, 2009 at 8:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Martin, your PR efforts have saved not only our little family but now
our little dog too!
I had a bit of a shock when I got home Sunday early evening after band
practice. Muffy ran off into the hills and we could not find her after hours
of searching. We pretty much figured she’d been taken by coyotes after
searching all Monday for her. Elise was inconsolable! We took her across the
street to The Crow Inn but she wouldn’t order anything to eat. Then I got a
call from a hunter who found her miles away in BLM wilderness land, huddled
up by a creek! He brought her to us as we ordered our food to go, whereupon
the cooks (who had heard all about the missing dog) secretly packed a huge
t-bone steak cooked very rare in a box that said “Welcome Home Muffy!”. They
also put in three slices of chocolate cake for the humans. What a wonderful
end to a very bizarre 24 hours!
Muffy was still wearing old dog tags from El Dorado
County in California but the resourceful hunter who found her was able to
locate us with a Google search for “MacNeill” and “Boise”
which yielded a link to Brad Talbutt’s Idaho Statesman article, featuring a
photo of Muffy in the window of our motorhome! The hunter called the paper
and they gave him the number of our landlords who were interviewed for the
story, who then called us with the news that our daughter’s precious little
fluffball was coming home.
I love this town!
~ David MacNeill