Hunger TV

guest commentary by Ken Kupchick, director of marketing and development for the River Valley Regional Food Bank

Paul Harvey’s Rest of the Story comes to mind.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a three-part blog on The City Wire that chronicled the up and down, on again off again experience of trying to get a local story on national news. (The story would focus on Pastor Bob Caldwell, who, from his church in Havana, Ark., was working on his 90th food giveaway that would support more than 300 families and 760 people with 11 tons of food.)

The footage would air on a three-part ABC World News report entitled “Crisis in America: Hunger at Home.” Commercials advertised the special as early as Sunday, but as Libyan rebels advanced along with a nasty hurricane, the three-night series pared down to two nights and the entire storyline was placed in jeopardy.

A segment that took about five hours to film made it to air on Tuesday night. David Muir profiled a young urban boy and the producers used only about 10 seconds of that five hour sojourn for the piece. If you blinked, you would have missed it.

My first slice of humble pie.

But never mind that, the main segment would air the next day. Again, anticipation of what would make air consumed my every thought. And as things in Libya heightened further and Irene set a bee line up the coast, the hunger story was cut to three minutes with only 90 seconds devoted to Havana, Ark.

At least the story aired, thank goodness, as it could easily have been scrubbed. Evidence of all the hard work and seven hours of film, personal stories, and scenic Mt. Magazine were all left on the infamous cutting room floor.

The next day felt so anticlimactic; but late in the day, I get a call from the ABC producer.  Pastor Bob will be named ABC Person of the Week on Friday’s broadcast — my original goal. I’m asked for more details about people served and pounds of food distributed to go in a memo to another producer. It’s typed as I talk. I give a good guess that Bob has provided more than 1.5 million pounds of food to people in need over the last seven years. That’s well over 60 truckloads of food and about a million meals.

Imaginary trumpets sound and the excitement hits full tilt. What a wonderful pleasure I now have to call Pastor Bob and let him know about the honor. He’s underwhelmed, as is his nature. To a dry reception, I let him know that only 50 people a year receive the accolade.

“It’s a really big deal, Bob! Let everyone know.”

Fast forward to the news broadcast. Irene’s a bitch and she’s heading for New York City. In the last moments before air, the decision is made to not look back, but forward. At 5:55 p.m, as Diane Sawyer does her “coming up next” announcement, I learn that EMT workers working in haste to evacuate hospital patients have been named “Persons of the Week.”

Gosh how I dreaded coming to work on Monday and having to call the pastor with an apology knowing he had alerted his family and friends to watch.

Instead, he called me.

My apology was met with a “never mind that” response. A gentleman from Clinton, Ark., had watched the Thursday broadcast. He called Pastor Bob on Friday and in Saturday’s mail was a check for $10,000. And that’s not all. Cards and letters arrived that same day including cash and checks amounting to just under $3,000. The one that touched Bob the most, was an apologetic note along with a single dollar bill. The combined contributions will be three-fourths of what Pastor Bob needs for two years.

So off went another email to ABC World News at 9:44 a.m. telling of Bob’s good fortune.  At 10:32 a.m., I received a phone call from New York. ABC wants to do a follow up story. Could I arrange for a Skype interview – perhaps pictures of the check and notes?  Here we go again!

Indeed, they run a small segment on the Tuesday’s news. Here’s the earlier piece on Bob that is posted on line.

So I guess, in all, Pastor Bob got about five minutes of fame.

To celebrate the moment, I called Bob to see what he thought. Uncharacteristically, I can sense a smile coming through the phone. Sure enough, he’d received about another $1,500 in donations.

“And that’s not all,” Bob said a bit sheepishly. “A gentleman called me from Houston. He’s going to give me a box truck. Now it’s a used one, but I’m so grateful.”

“But there’s more,” he goes on. “He’s going to give me something I’ve always wanted. A walk-in cooler. Now it’s used, too, but it’s something that I never thought I’d have. And that truck … as long as I have it, this gentleman says he’s going to pay the insurance on it and the gasoline for it.”

At last count, the Havana Assembly of God church has received $15,008 in donations. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a little more sunshine doesn’t shine down. And for me? A radio personality read my three-part blog on The City Wire. I was interviewed live on WHAS radio in Louisville, Ky., about my ABC experience.

I got five minutes of fame, too.

And now you know … the rest of the story.

Ken Kupchick … good day.