WaPo: Highlighting the volunteers
Source: Washington Post
This is a cool idea:
"Travel Television," the first half-hour show aired on Access Montgomery Channel 21 on Aug. 29, the second anniversary of the storm hitting Louisiana, and featured interviews with five local volunteers of organizations such as the Washington, D.C. Jewish Community Center and Common Cause.
Randy Bacon, the director of Behrend Builders, a volunteer group that repairs shelters, low-income homes and community centers in the District, appeared on the premiere. Video footage of the volunteers attempting to clear dilapidated homes with mold-blackened walls and rooms cluttered with debris and tattered furniture was shown.
"When we were working in our first house, we were still taking their belongings out of the house," Bacon said. "Their refrigerators hadn't been emptied and they had no electricity for that time so everything was stagnant. The smell on the streets was pretty horrible."
So far, six shows are in production, with two additional shows coming each month. The series is currently airing in Montgomery, Fairfax and Howard counties on public access channels as well as on the Dish Network. Future guests will include Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of NBC's "Today Show," Tim Zagat, the co-founder of Zagat Survey, and Eric Anderson, the co-founder of Space Adventures Ltd.
"We know, after all, that viewers may have a hard time tuning in on just a group of stories on Katrina volunteers, so we have to hook them with something," said Friedman, a member of the Montgomery Community Television board of directors.
The group has a website to keep track of upcoming projects.
