Removing Barriers Transforms Lives & Creates Lasting Legacy
Written by Kristy Wolfe, Level 2 CLDST Facilitator
Rocky Mountain Adaptive Volunteer.
Photo by Kristy Wolfe Photography
Before creating their digital stories, Rocky Mountain Adaptive was seeking a powerful tool in stakeholder communications and advocacy. Creating digital stories added dimension to their marketing and communications strategies and allowed them to connect with their stakeholders in a deeper, more meaningful way.
When founder, Jamie McCulloch, shared the inspiration behind Rocky Mountain Adaptive (RMA) and how they remove barriers to participation in mountain sports, their origin story became an impactful visual asset. Participate, Learn, Excel: The Origin Story of Rocky Mountain Adaptive outlined the organization’s vision and mission and their belief that “mountain sport and recreation positively impacts physical and mental wellbeing and should be available to everyone.” This digital story has created meaningful connections with their Board, their staff, sponsors, donors, volunteers and supporters.
A single digital story can celebrate a milestone, document a complex personal experience, or create a legacy. When a collection of digital stories is created and shared, the impact can have a ripple effect on stakeholders, employees, and end users alike, revealing a full picture of the organization and its impact to the world.
Melanie Birch’s story Skiing Uphill is one of hope, based on her seven-year-old daughter Ella’s adaptive ski lessons with RMA. Ella’s journey with Rett Syndrome and her experience with RMA is part of the organization’s collection of digital stories and exemplifies the impact the organization is having on the community.
Recently, a newly diagnosed family wrote to Melanie and said, “We are at the start of our journey and stories like yours fill me with hope and strength for the journey ahead. There’s heartbreak of course but there’s more hope.”
Ideally, your organization’s unique collection of stories will represent all the different stakeholders who are involved in your organization. The final content can be used across multiple platforms in a variety of ways, resulting in a collection of digital stories that move people to action.
““It was an absolute pleasure working with Kristy on this project. It started out with just the main objective of creating a story that educated people about the reasons why our charity got started. Through the work in putting it together, events made it turn even more personal and through Kristy’s empathy, professionalism, and all round awesomeness, the whole project was positive on many levels and far exceeded all expectations going into it. I could not recommend this opportunity enough to partner with Kristy and tell your story.””
