15 best Back on My Feet videos we made in a year

Short, compelling videos of interest travel well on the web.

That means video can take your brand, organization, mission, message or call to action with it. I served my media director role with Back on My Feet for less than a year, but I’m proud of moving the staff to more frequent video creation for those reasons and to give our members — people experiencing homelessness — a platform to share their stories.

Looking back, though I shared other metrics from my time there, I realized I never shared the best of what I thought was some meaningful video for just a start.

So, below, that’s what I do, highlight 15 of the best videos we created during my tenure as media director, clamoring on email that “everything is content!”

A Boston member of the month Jackie Kenyon talking about her path:

There were also some great write ups, like this one of a Boston member grappling with serious weight issues.

We highlighted new members each month, like Tyrone Collins in Philadelphia not long before I left.

One of the first member interviews we did on video was with Stacy Stone at Brotherhood Mission in Philadelphia:

One of the more powerful member speeches was from a Boston volunteer talking about her own past with addiction, one of physical and emotional abuse.

We took to tracking progress and interest of our members, by introducing them early in the process and planning on checking in later, as we did below with some new Chicago members.

We highlighted our corporate partners, like the Hauptman Wellness Center and, as seen below, tailor Henry A. Davidsen, which donated suits for our members.

Baltimore member Charlie Tiller was interviewed for the Baltimore Bash.

I grabbed video of Philadelphia alumni Eddie Smith speaking at the 2010 Bash.

I interviewed Philadelphia alumnus Kenny Herder at least a half dozen times.

We interviewed our volunteers, especially before they tried to run 100 miles straight in our 20in24 ultra-marathaon.

Philadelphia Member Antonio LaBoy spoke poignantly about losing a son and that affect on addiction. Below is one of several videos:

During the Boston chapter launch, Philadelphia alumnus Kevin Brown brought down the house with his emotional, honest story.

Video played a role in many ways other than member stories.

We amplified and archived what we shared at smaller events, like when our founder Anne Mahlum spoke at the National Press Club in Washington D.C..

We introduced our audience to our organization, like celebrating our staff running the Chicago Marathon or, as seen below, the tradition of staff signing a wall in our office.

We were able to share the many, many TV news stories, like D.C. member Chris Hatton, who returned from serious jail time to work for stability.

We used existing video to connect our running-crazed base, like with these great commercials.

Video also enabled us to share amazing opportunities our members had. I can’t embed the video and I can’t lay claim to having anything to do with this, but one of our Baltimore members and a Vietnam veteran spoke before a Congressional sub-committee on Veteran homelessness.

We offered a multimedia dimension to our events, like this Bash introduction video.

The devotion to video has continued. Recently I noticed that the staff made sure to record the Dallas chapter launch kickoff speaker, and Charlie Tiller made the organization proud.

And the second part

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