Dafna Michaelson is a woman on a mission.
She left her job as director of volunteer services at a 500-bed hospital in Colorado and cashed in her 401K savings with the goal of traveling to every state in the nation in one year to chronicle the stories of how people are positively changing communities and lives.
Michaelson recently made her way to Kentucky—and Somerset—for an exclusive visit on July 9 with The Center for Rural Development, which will become one of the latest additions to her traveling Web-based video blog project, the “50 in 52 Journey.”
In a video interview with Lonnie Lawson, president and CEO of The Center, and Michael Cornett, director of marketing and public relations, Michaelson was given examples of how The Center’s programs and services are impacting the lives of citizens in the region, state, and nation.
“The Center is honored to be part of a project that is spreading a message of hope and inspiration of how ordinary people in rural and urban America are doing extraordinary things to change their communities,” Lawson said. “We never pass up an opportunity to spread the word on The Center’s programs and services, and tell the stories of how we are changing the lives of the people we serve.”
Illustrating that point, Lawson shared the story of Emily Stapleton, a young cancer patient from Ashland, Ky. whose chemotherapy treatments suppressed her immune system and left her unable to attend classes with her fellow second graders.
In 2007, The Center’s national award-winning CenterNET2 statewide videoconferencing network made it possible for Emily, then 8 years old, to participate in live two-way videoconferences with her classmates and teacher from the comfort and safety of her home.
Using monitors and Web cameras, Emily could read along with other students and respond to her teacher—all of whom could also see and hear Emily, Lawson said.
“These are important messages,” Michaelson said. “To touch one life, that’s what it’s really all about.”
Michaelson said she was also impressed with The Center’s focus on youth education and training and its promotion of entrepreneurship. The Center sponsors and hosts three summer youth programs—Rogers Scholars, Rogers Explorers, and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI)—and honors the spirit of entrepreneurship in Southern and Eastern Kentucky through its Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA) program.
Michaelson said a seven-minute segment of her interview at The Center will be available for viewing in approximately two weeks on her Web site, www.50in52Journey.com.
The site contains a narrative journey of Michaelson’s travels and her catalog of hundreds of video interviews with people she has met along the way. Visitors can also use the site to nominate subjects for future interviews in states Michaelson has yet to visit.
Michaelson said Kentucky is the 27th stop on her journey, and that she plans to have visited all 50 states by the end of 2009.
According to her Web site, the “50 in 52 Journey,” inspired by Michaelson and funded by a diverse group of supporters, seeks to share and celebrate the incredible ways in which ordinary people do extraordinary things every day, and bring together both problems and solutions with idea-generators and problem-solvers.
Photo Caption: Dafna Michaelson, left, founder of the “50 in 52 Journey,” a non-profit organization that brings together people across the United States to share creative ideas and solve problems, interviews Lonnie Lawson, far right, president and CEO of The Center for Rural Development, and Michael Cornett, director of marketing and public relations, on the third-floor balcony at The Center. A seven-to-10-minute videotaped segment of the interview will be available in two weeks at www.50in52Journey.com. |
