January 23 I sent a rather lengthy but descriptive email to several friends and family:
Dear Family and Friends,
Tomorrow we, Steve, Randy & I, will fly to Washington D.C. to share our story of Greg & Steve’s car crash January 2003 and our journey since then. All of you have been some part of this story and our journey. We first want to thank you for your support, your care, and most importantly…your prayers for us as a family and for Steve especially these past four years.
Since agreeing to tell our story as part of our local High School’s involvement with State Farm Insurance Company’s “Project Ignition” in 2005-2006, life has not slowed down for us or our local students. Their efforts to take a tragic story which they entitled “Shattered Dreams” and somehow effect change in the driving habits of their peers was successful in ways we only dreamed about at the beginning of the project. Lives were saved! The GCMS Project Ignition students were awarded “Best of the Best” nationally…and coverage by media which began at the opening assembly in September 2005 has snowballed to what is now about to happen this week on a National platform.
Thursday, January 25 USA Today will feature an article about Teen Driving and a report which will be released that same day to the press which summarizes a year long research project which has been conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance. Because of our involvement with Project Ignition and State Farm’s Steer Clear program, we were interviewed to be part of the article as well as our school’s Project Ignition Team Leaders/Teacher.
Also on Thursday, Randy, Steve & I will be interviewed at the local (Washington D.C.) CBS and FOX stations along with representatives from State Farm and CHoP. Nationally, we will be interviewed on Good Morning America. I do not know the specific time our story will be featured on GMA. At 10 a.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. Central time we will be present at a Press Conference at the National Press Club where the findings of this important study on Teen Driving will be unveiled. This will be web cast live at the following link: http://pressclub.tv/webcast/statefarmandchop/012507/. We will not be speaking at this event, but our story will be referenced.
We would request that your prayers would be with us during these next few days. Specifically, that we would have the physical strength to meet the challenges of tight time schedules and travel. Most of all, we covet your prayers as we share our story…the shock, the grief, and the HOPE. We have seen lives saved locally…we pray that many more will be saved nationally!
Tomorrow we, Steve, Randy & I, will fly to Washington D.C. to share our story of Greg & Steve’s car crash January 2003 and our journey since then. All of you have been some part of this story and our journey. We first want to thank you for your support, your care, and most importantly…your prayers for us as a family and for Steve especially these past four years.
Since agreeing to tell our story as part of our local High School’s involvement with State Farm Insurance Company’s “Project Ignition” in 2005-2006, life has not slowed down for us or our local students. Their efforts to take a tragic story which they entitled “Shattered Dreams” and somehow effect change in the driving habits of their peers was successful in ways we only dreamed about at the beginning of the project. Lives were saved! The GCMS Project Ignition students were awarded “Best of the Best” nationally…and coverage by media which began at the opening assembly in September 2005 has snowballed to what is now about to happen this week on a National platform.
Thursday, January 25 USA Today will feature an article about Teen Driving and a report which will be released that same day to the press which summarizes a year long research project which has been conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance. Because of our involvement with Project Ignition and State Farm’s Steer Clear program, we were interviewed to be part of the article as well as our school’s Project Ignition Team Leaders/Teacher.
Also on Thursday, Randy, Steve & I will be interviewed at the local (Washington D.C.) CBS and FOX stations along with representatives from State Farm and CHoP. Nationally, we will be interviewed on Good Morning America. I do not know the specific time our story will be featured on GMA. At 10 a.m. Eastern, 9 a.m. Central time we will be present at a Press Conference at the National Press Club where the findings of this important study on Teen Driving will be unveiled. This will be web cast live at the following link: http://pressclub.tv/webcast/statefarmandchop/012507/. We will not be speaking at this event, but our story will be referenced.
We would request that your prayers would be with us during these next few days. Specifically, that we would have the physical strength to meet the challenges of tight time schedules and travel. Most of all, we covet your prayers as we share our story…the shock, the grief, and the HOPE. We have seen lives saved locally…we pray that many more will be saved nationally!
Wednesday, January 24th we arrived in Washington D.C. as invited guests of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and State Farm Insurance Company. Within 2 hours of arriving we were interviewed for a segment on Good Morning America which highlighted some key findings of the Teen Driving Report released January 25th to the press. The entire report in PDF form can be downloaded at: http://stokes.chop.edu/programs/injury/files/PCPS_Reports/1289teen.pdf
Thursday was indeed a whirlwind of activity. We opened our hotel room door at 5 a.m. to see the USA Today paper on the floor which featured several articles about the Teen Driving Report and our story http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-01-25-teen-wrecks_x.htm. The day began early with Steve & Randy appearing with Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, one of the research physicians from CHoP, on the local FOX TV station. The press conference followed at the National Press Club http://npc.press.org/. The actual press conference is still available online at the link I placed above in the original email message. It will be there for just another week or so, however. While I said that we would not speak, that was not the case, as Steve actually spoke for about 2 minutes near the end of the conference. It was so fulfilling to be part of a project that hopefully will translate into teen lives saved as parents, educators, and lawmakers read this revealing study and contemplate the implications of our action or inaction in response.
We were interviewed by CNN at the conclusion of the press conference before leaving the press club that afternoon. We found out after we returned home that news coverage of the report and some pieces of interviews with us made its way on over 130 stations across the nation. Our own local media (WGCY radio and WCIA TV) gave expanded coverage to our story.
Our time was not all interviews and press conferences...as we were able to spend time taking in some of the sights and experiences of our nation's capitol. We had always intended on taking Steve & Greg to D.C. while they were still at home, but that never happened. So it was bittersweet that we were finally there with only Steve. Yet, how very thankful we were that Steve was able to experience it and enjoy it. Four years ago that was only a faint dream that we hardly dared to hope for.
We arrived home late Saturday evening, January 27. Within 12 hours we were preparing for yet another interview related to the Teen Driving Study and our story within the larger story. NBC Nightly News requested an interview with us on the farm. It was good to be home for that last interview. You can watch the entire video, which aired on Monday, January 29th on the NBC Nightly News webpage: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16874121/.
Our experiences with the media: Newspaper (Chicago Tribune - USA Today) and TV (ABC, CNN, FOX, NBC and our local WCIA & WICD) has been wonderful. Each writer, reporter, editor, photographer, producer, camera/sound person has been gracious and kind to us. We have met some incredible people who have influence and power to effect change for the good.
I can not say enough about our hosts in Washington D.C.; State Farm Insurance Company and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The behind the scenes people who conceptualized, compiled, and reported the study on Teen Driving are some of the most caring individuals we will ever meet. They are professionals who truly are passionate about saving lives, and they are using their gifts and talents to that end. We are honored to have met them all, and to have had a part in spreading the word about the leading cause of death in our nation's youth who are 16-19 years.
Was this a rewarding experience for us? Absolutely yes. Was it an easy one? No, not a moment of it. We never forget the pain of our loss of Greg. We never forget that Steve daily lives with disability from the crash. Yet it is HOPE that inspires, HOPE that lifts us from lives of stagnant existence to lives of action. Your prayers for us as we journeyed to D.C. and back meant so much. It was only by God's help and strength moment by moment that we were able to endure telling our story repeatedly, and not breaking emotionally. Thank you for praying to that end...and for being such an essential part of our Journey of Hope.
