Good Hope Awards Great Unveiling- Part II

Stone Soup Films - Community Organization - Although Liz Norton, founder of Stone Soup Films, had supported Bread for the City for years, she had no idea how comprehensive our services were. That all changed last winter when she attended a film conference at American University and (lucky for Bread for the City) happened to sit down next to former BFC Communications Associate, Adrienne Ammerman.

Liz started Stone Soup Films last January with the dual goals of assisting small non-profits in highlighting their work and providing a venue for aspiring filmmakers to gain experience and industry contacts. Liz admits that she was initially skeptical of working with Bread for the City because the goal of her company was to help organizations that are much smaller. But Adrienne convinced her to come for a tour and pleaded - quite accurately - that our communications budget is minimal.

As they toured our NW center, Adrienne told Liz about the many services we provide (food, clothing, legal, medical, and social services) and expressed her frustration at the lack of publicity materials for our upcoming capital campaign. Understanding the need for increased medical space and believing in BFC's mission, Liz decided we would actually be the perfect organization for Stone Soup Film's first video series. With that, Liz and her team of talented film students, assisted by pro bono consultants from the film industry, got to work.

After interviewing staff and clients they created an approximately 5 minute film about our medical clinic, highlighting both the work we do and our need for expanded space. They also created 4 shorter films (approximately 1.5-2 minutes long) highlighting Dr. Randi (Director of the BFC medical clinic) and the stories of 3 medical clinic patients. Looking back, Liz does not regret the decision at all. In fact, she said "The truth is, Bread is incredibly deserving...they don't do anything half-way. They do whatever they can to help people in every aspect of life which really distinguishes them."

These films perfectly capture the clinic and our patients and we are so grateful to Stone Soup Films for creating them for us. In recognition of their long hours of filming and editing we are pleased to honor them with the 2008 Community Organization award.

PS Don't take my word on how great the films are...see them for yourself under "Our Videos."