Giving Back After the Newtown Tragedy
On December 14th 2012, as I was traveling back from California, I heard the news about what happened in Sandy Hook. I could hardly believe it. I know Newtown well. I spent many days of my childhood riding horses in the woods and hills of Newtown. It just didn’t seem possible that something so horrific could happen so close to home. But it did.
That following Sunday, John and I drove to Newtown. We weren’t totally sure why we felt drawn to go there. We brought flowers, said a prayer, made a donation to United Way and hoped in some small way the victim’s families and the Newtown community knew that we were there to support them. We left with the feeling of wanting to do so much more for our neighbors.
Our Way of Giving Back to Newtown
Less than a month later, I was contacted by a good friend of mine asking if Response would be interested in creating a video for a new, non-profit called “Newtown Kindness.” This is an organization that was founded by Aaron Carlson, the father of Ava, who was the best friend of Charlotte Bacon– one of the 26 children who lost their lives on December 14, 2012. My quest for finding a way to give back to Newtown was complete. I instantly knew this was my way, our way, to give back and help.
I became a board member shortly there after. We have accomplished so much with them in this short time, including 3 videos, 2 logos, a whole line of merchandise, banners, increased social media presence and engagement, database development, a refreshed website, among others. There is much more to do, but for the moment we are taking a moment to recognize the small victories and what we have achieved.
Giving Back to Newtown Goes Viral
In creating the Newtown Kindness organization video, we wanted custom music—music that conveys what Newtown Kindness is all about. I turned to The Alternate Routes, a Connecticut based band that I have been a fan of for many years and the other pro bono client we had taken on in 2013. They wrote this amazing song, “Nothing More.” Not only did we use it in the Newtown Kindness video,
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyOWc1GiwOc[/youtube]
but the band created a video for the song using old 8mm film of the lead singer, Tim Warren’s, sister.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tXzlVjU1xs[/youtube]
The Alternate Routes asked others to download the song on iTunes and make their own videos with it. It has spread like wildfire.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXb3qBRTtYk&feature=c4-overview&list=UUhMJjhZ5dA23CcRtc8B010Q[/youtube]
The song was picked up by NCIS and used in their Christmas show on December 18, 2013.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vADutITPQFs[/youtube]
NCIS – “Homesick” episode – featuring Nothing More by The Alternate Routes
Pauley Perrette (twitter handle is @pauleyp), who plays Abby on NCIS, tweeted about Nothing More and The Alternate Routes to her over 500k followers during both East Coast and West Coast airings of the show. As you can imagine, this set fire to the social buzz. The views of the music video on YouTube and number of downloads of the song went through the roof! Today, the song has over 90k views on YouTube and about 25k downloads on iTunes!
Continuing to Give Back After the Newtown Tragedy
On February 22, 2014, which would have been Charlotte’s 8th birthday, we will be celebrating and recognizing several kids that have done kind things over the past year at the Charlotte Bacon Acts of Kindness Awards ceremony. I am looking forward to the event with great anticipation, as I’m extremely proud to be a part of such a great organization and to have done some kind things ourselves in the process.
It was not without sleepless nights and 12+ hour work days, but the feeling of helping others has truly overwhelmed me and has more than compensated for the immense outlay in effort. This feeling, this gratitude from these two organizations surpasses any other gift that could be bestowed on us. We are honored and blessed to have been a part of their growth this past year.