YW Family Nurse Partnership

14 year old Angelica with her son Sebastian in front of her parents home.

The Campfire Creative traveled to Dallas, Texas to create a 6 minute film about young mothers that are part of the YWCA's Family Nurse Partnership Program. The program helps at risk mothers by assigning them a nurse that makes house calls throughout the unplanned pregnancy and the first year of the child's life. The program ensures a healthy start to a new life by teaching the mothers about nutrition and health for them and their child as well as educating them about other programs that will help them aspire to a higher standard of living. I worked with Justin Weiler, John Murillo, Josh Bray and Steve Deitz on this project.

CHeck out the video: http://www.vimeo.com/13346339

YWCA Fundraising Campaign from Campfire Creative on Vimeo.

Aging in Isolation

Campfire Creative recently journeyed to Co. Clare, Ireland to explore the effects of aging in isolation and how the community is combating this problem. Kathleen Ryan was one of the older people we interviewed. She has lived alone in a small house for two and a half years since her husband went to live in a nursing home. He past away a few months ago and now it is just her.

Some of the biggest challenges she faces revolve around getting food and social stimulation. The local Family Resource Center that helps her get groceries and attend weekly social functions of tea and learning opportunities is facing budget cuts and may soon not be able to help her with these things. Without them it will cost her 35 Euro ($50) to get a taxi to do just about anything as there are no buses where she lives.

Kathleen was one of many older people facing this isolation in Co. Clare and all over the world. Discarding the stories and wisdom of the older generations is not unique to any one place and is one of the biggest cultural mistakes of our day.

http://www.kilrushfrc.ie/

We are Campfire Creative!

After a long, arduous process of searching for the right name to represent our creative vision for telling stories we have finally chosen Campfire Creative for the new production company!

Community, warmth, travel, light, and telling stories are all things that come to mind when we think of a campfire. Those just happen to be the aspects that we focus on as well.

It all came together when Justin and I were in Dallas having a brunch with some clients after a long week of filming. A women asked the barista what was in the s'mores coffee and Justin said, "Campfires". A light bulb exploded in my head and I wrote down the word 'campfire' on a piece of paper and slid it over to Justin who's eyes lit up immediately.

During our quest for an identity our graphic designer and marketing specialist Damon Anderson (http://www.illfed.com/work) gave us some homework to help us along our journey. One of the tasks was to go through the alphabet and write down words that resonate with us for every letter and looking back on it 'camp' and 'fire' and 'creative' were all there. It was meant to be.

Teamwork makes the dreams work. Go Team!